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Dec 26, 2011
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This Weeks Sound Off
Family: Illegal-Immigrant Student Martyred Himself For Dream Act
An illegal-immigrant student in Texas who committed suicide the day after Thanksgiving left letters saying he felt trapped by his lack of opportunities and, according to his family, he “decided to sacrifice himself for the cause.”
High school senior Joaquin Luna, 18, put on a suit, kissed family members, went into the bathroom and shot himself Friday, according to his brother, Diyer Mendoza. In the letters he left, his brother said, Luna expressed despair at the chances for the federal Dream Act, which would legalize illegal-immigrant students and young adults.
Congress blocked the legislation last year.
“He was actually doing this for the cause, mainly the Dream Act,” Mr. Mendoza said. “He was doing this to show politicians, to show that something had to be done because there are a lot of kids out there in the same situation.”
The case casts a dramatic spotlight on the hundreds of thousands of illegal-immigrant students who are caught between a decision their parents made when they were young and the realities of U.S. immigration law.
Immigrant rights advocates said politicians in Washington should take notice of Luna’s act.
“His death is an indictment on the failure of this administration to move an inch forward on fixing a broken immigration system,” said Jorge-Mario Cabrera, communications director for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, which has planned a commemoration on Friday for Luna.
“I certainly don’t want to give you the impression that we’re going to use his death as a football or anything like that. We need to honor his memory, and we need to remind other Americans what this young man was about - because that’s the kind of people we’re talking about,” Mr. Cabrera said.
A local news report said the letters were turned over to the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Department.
That office did not return a message Monday seeking information.
Luna was a student at Benito Juarez-Abraham Lincoln High School in Mission, Texas, where he earned A and B grades, and was a regular worshipper at a Baptist church, his brother said.
Mr. Mendoza said the rest of the family has legal status but not all are citizens. His mother went into labor while she was in Reynosa, Mexico, which meant her Luna was not a U.S. citizen.
Luna applied to colleges. Although some showed interest, Mr. Mendoza said, his brother’s legal status made him ineligible for some scholarships and meant he wouldn’t be able to work legally once his schooling was finished.
“His world just closed,” Mr. Mendoza said. “He saw that there was everything he was doing was just for nothing. He was never going to be able to succeed.”
Students in Luna’s position are among the most difficult of immigration cases. In most instances, they were brought to the U.S. by parents when they were young and have grown up in the U.S. without ties to any other country.
Congressional Democrats tried to push through the Dream Act during the lame-duck session last year. Although the legislation was approved in the House, it was blocked in the Senate after falling five votes shy of the 60 needed to break a filibuster. President Obama backed the legislation.
Opponents said the legislation was too broad, applying to illegal immigrants well past their days as students, and argued that the requirements on those who were eligible weren’t strict enough.
Under a Supreme Court ruling, illegal immigrants are entitled to public education at the primary and secondary levels.
Alabama this year enacted a law that requires public school students and their parents to disclose their legal status, though the law doesn’t bar those students from attending school. A federal court has blocked that provision from being implemented.
Decisions on public higher education, however, are left to the states, which have differed on whether to charge illegal immigrant students in-state or out-of-state tuition. Many states argue that illegal immigrants can’t be legal state residents and must pay out-of-state rates, but Texas and California have gone the other direction.
With Texas Gov. Rick Perry running for the GOP’s presidential nomination, his state’s stance has drawn national attention.
“In the state of Texas where Mexico has a clear and a long relationship with this state, we decided it was in the best interest of those young people to give them the opportunity to go on to college and to have the opportunity,” Mr. Perry said at a debate in September. “They’re pursuing citizenship in this country rather than saying, ‘You know, we’re going to put you over here and put you on the government dole for the rest of your life.’”
In a comment that infuriated some conservative groups, Mr. Perry said critics of the Texas law did not “have a heart,” although he later tempered his criticism.
Other candidates said the favorable treatment in Texas and other states effectively rewards illegal behavior.
“The American way is not to give taxpayer-subsidized benefits to people who have broken our laws or who are here in the United States illegally,” said Rep. Michele Bachmann, Minnesota Republican.
In the absence of the Dream Act, Mr. Obama has tried to take administrative action. The Homeland Security Department has issued a memo to its immigration services saying those who would have qualified for the Dream Act should be low on the priority list for deportation. It also listed other factors, such as caring for a family, that would lower the risk of deportation.
Immigrant rights groups say the administration could go further and issue a blanket stay of deportations for illegal immigrant students. Mr. Obama said he does not have the authority to take such action. –Washington Times
An illegal-immigrant student in Texas who committed suicide the day after Thanksgiving left letters saying he felt trapped by his lack of opportunities and, according to his family, he “decided to sacrifice himself for the cause.”
High school senior Joaquin Luna, 18, put on a suit, kissed family members, went into the bathroom and shot himself Friday, according to his brother, Diyer Mendoza. In the letters he left, his brother said, Luna expressed despair at the chances for the federal Dream Act, which would legalize illegal-immigrant students and young adults.
Congress blocked the legislation last year.
“He was actually doing this for the cause, mainly the Dream Act,” Mr. Mendoza said. “He was doing this to show politicians, to show that something had to be done because there are a lot of kids out there in the same situation.”
The case casts a dramatic spotlight on the hundreds of thousands of illegal-immigrant students who are caught between a decision their parents made when they were young and the realities of U.S. immigration law.
Immigrant rights advocates said politicians in Washington should take notice of Luna’s act.
“His death is an indictment on the failure of this administration to move an inch forward on fixing a broken immigration system,” said Jorge-Mario Cabrera, communications director for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, which has planned a commemoration on Friday for Luna.
“I certainly don’t want to give you the impression that we’re going to use his death as a football or anything like that. We need to honor his memory, and we need to remind other Americans what this young man was about - because that’s the kind of people we’re talking about,” Mr. Cabrera said.
A local news report said the letters were turned over to the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Department.
That office did not return a message Monday seeking information.
Luna was a student at Benito Juarez-Abraham Lincoln High School in Mission, Texas, where he earned A and B grades, and was a regular worshipper at a Baptist church, his brother said.
Mr. Mendoza said the rest of the family has legal status but not all are citizens. His mother went into labor while she was in Reynosa, Mexico, which meant her Luna was not a U.S. citizen.
Luna applied to colleges. Although some showed interest, Mr. Mendoza said, his brother’s legal status made him ineligible for some scholarships and meant he wouldn’t be able to work legally once his schooling was finished.
“His world just closed,” Mr. Mendoza said. “He saw that there was everything he was doing was just for nothing. He was never going to be able to succeed.”
Students in Luna’s position are among the most difficult of immigration cases. In most instances, they were brought to the U.S. by parents when they were young and have grown up in the U.S. without ties to any other country.
Congressional Democrats tried to push through the Dream Act during the lame-duck session last year. Although the legislation was approved in the House, it was blocked in the Senate after falling five votes shy of the 60 needed to break a filibuster. President Obama backed the legislation.
Opponents said the legislation was too broad, applying to illegal immigrants well past their days as students, and argued that the requirements on those who were eligible weren’t strict enough.
Under a Supreme Court ruling, illegal immigrants are entitled to public education at the primary and secondary levels.
Alabama this year enacted a law that requires public school students and their parents to disclose their legal status, though the law doesn’t bar those students from attending school. A federal court has blocked that provision from being implemented.
Decisions on public higher education, however, are left to the states, which have differed on whether to charge illegal immigrant students in-state or out-of-state tuition. Many states argue that illegal immigrants can’t be legal state residents and must pay out-of-state rates, but Texas and California have gone the other direction.
With Texas Gov. Rick Perry running for the GOP’s presidential nomination, his state’s stance has drawn national attention.
“In the state of Texas where Mexico has a clear and a long relationship with this state, we decided it was in the best interest of those young people to give them the opportunity to go on to college and to have the opportunity,” Mr. Perry said at a debate in September. “They’re pursuing citizenship in this country rather than saying, ‘You know, we’re going to put you over here and put you on the government dole for the rest of your life.’”
In a comment that infuriated some conservative groups, Mr. Perry said critics of the Texas law did not “have a heart,” although he later tempered his criticism.
Other candidates said the favorable treatment in Texas and other states effectively rewards illegal behavior.
“The American way is not to give taxpayer-subsidized benefits to people who have broken our laws or who are here in the United States illegally,” said Rep. Michele Bachmann, Minnesota Republican.
In the absence of the Dream Act, Mr. Obama has tried to take administrative action. The Homeland Security Department has issued a memo to its immigration services saying those who would have qualified for the Dream Act should be low on the priority list for deportation. It also listed other factors, such as caring for a family, that would lower the risk of deportation.
Immigrant rights groups say the administration could go further and issue a blanket stay of deportations for illegal immigrant students. Mr. Obama said he does not have the authority to take such action. –Washington Times
Though it’s sad that Joaquin Luna felt it necessary to take his own life in order to make a statement, still the truth remains, he was here in the U.S. illegally.
I am not about giving amnesty to those who came to this country illegally … family or not, if you didn’t come here legally you have no rights to be here, let alone take advantage of our country and all it has to offer. Furthermore, those who are illegally here should not be afforded constitutional rights … these rights belongs solely to American citizens. And those who are found to be here in this country illegally should be deported as soon as they are picked up.
I believe in immigration … my parents immigrated to this country, but did so legally. Yes, they had to jump through hoops and from start to finish it took about six years to complete the process, but they did so legally. The same MUST be expected from all who wish to be a part of our country.
America is a melting pot and we welcome just about everyone, but don’t take advantage of our welcome mat by coming here and remaining here illegally. Do the right thing … get in line just like any other immigrant and the American dream will become a reality.
I am not about giving amnesty to those who came to this country illegally … family or not, if you didn’t come here legally you have no rights to be here, let alone take advantage of our country and all it has to offer. Furthermore, those who are illegally here should not be afforded constitutional rights … these rights belongs solely to American citizens. And those who are found to be here in this country illegally should be deported as soon as they are picked up.
I believe in immigration … my parents immigrated to this country, but did so legally. Yes, they had to jump through hoops and from start to finish it took about six years to complete the process, but they did so legally. The same MUST be expected from all who wish to be a part of our country.
America is a melting pot and we welcome just about everyone, but don’t take advantage of our welcome mat by coming here and remaining here illegally. Do the right thing … get in line just like any other immigrant and the American dream will become a reality.
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China Prepares For Big Entry Into Vaccine Market
The world should get ready for a new “Made in China” product — vaccines.
China‘s vaccine makers are gearing up over the next few years to push exports in a move that should lower costs of lifesaving immunizations for the world’s poor and provide major new competition for the big Western pharmaceutical companies.
However, it may take some time before some parts of the world are ready to embrace Chinese products when safety is as sensitive an issue as it is with vaccines — especially given the food, drug and other scandals the country has seen.
Still, China‘s entry into this market will be a “game changer,” said Nina Schwalbe, head of policy at the GAVI Alliance, which buys vaccines for 50 million children a year worldwide.
“We are really enthusiastic about the potential entry of Chinese vaccine manufacturers,” she said.
China‘s vaccine-making prowess captured world attention in 2009 when one of its companies developed the first effective vaccine against swine flu — in just 87 days — as the new virus swept the globe. In the past, new vaccine developments had usually been won by the U.S. and Europe.
Then, this past March the World Health Organization announced that China‘s drug safety authority meets international standards for vaccine regulation. It opened the doors for Chinese vaccines to be submitted for WHO approval so they can be bought by U.N. agencies and the GAVI Alliance.
“China is a vaccine-producing power” with more than 30 companies that have an annual production capacity of nearly 1 billion doses — the largest in the world, the country’s State Food and Drug Administration told the Associated Press.
But more needs to be done to build confidence in Chinese vaccines overseas, said Helen Yang of Sinovac, the NASDAQ-listed Chinese biotech firm that rapidly developed the H1N1 swine flu vaccine. “We think the main obstacle is that we have the name of ‘Made in China‘ still. That is an issue.”
China‘s food and drug safety record in recent years hardly inspires confidence: In 2007, Chinese cough syrup killed 93 people in Central America; one year later, contaminated blood thinner led to dozens of deaths in the United States while tainted milk powder poisoned hundreds of thousands of Chinese babies and killed six.
The government has since imposed more regulations, stricter inspections and heavier punishments for violators. Perhaps because of that, regulators routinely crack down on counterfeit and substandard drugmaking.
While welcoming WHO’s approval of China‘s drug safety authority, one expert said it takes more than a regulatory agency to keep drugmakers from cutting corners or producing fakes.
“In the U.S., we have supporting institutions such as the market economy, democracy, media monitoring, civil society, as well as a well-developed business ethics code, but these are all still pretty much absent in China,” said Yanzhong Huang, a China health expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. “For China, the challenge is much greater in building a strong, robust regulative capacity.”
Last year, a Chinese newspaper report linked improperly stored vaccines to four children’s deaths in northern Shanxi province, raising nationwide concern. The Health Ministry said the vaccines did not cause the deaths, but some remained skeptical.
Meanwhile, Chinese researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine earlier this year that a pandemic flu vaccine given to 90 million people in 2009 was safe. –Washington Times
Yes, we buy and enjoy products made in China because it’s cheep. However, being injected with a vaccine made in China? Not so fast!
Products made in China don’t last and in years past we have found that China has produced products that did not meet U.S. safety standards. Therefore, do you think that their vaccine will be any different?
Before made in China vaccines are distributed here in the U.S. it is hoped that our government will test their vaccine thoroughly before releasing it to the general population.
Personally, I prefer and feel safer if the vaccine I get annually was made here in the America.
The world should get ready for a new “Made in China” product — vaccines.
China‘s vaccine makers are gearing up over the next few years to push exports in a move that should lower costs of lifesaving immunizations for the world’s poor and provide major new competition for the big Western pharmaceutical companies.
However, it may take some time before some parts of the world are ready to embrace Chinese products when safety is as sensitive an issue as it is with vaccines — especially given the food, drug and other scandals the country has seen.
Still, China‘s entry into this market will be a “game changer,” said Nina Schwalbe, head of policy at the GAVI Alliance, which buys vaccines for 50 million children a year worldwide.
“We are really enthusiastic about the potential entry of Chinese vaccine manufacturers,” she said.
China‘s vaccine-making prowess captured world attention in 2009 when one of its companies developed the first effective vaccine against swine flu — in just 87 days — as the new virus swept the globe. In the past, new vaccine developments had usually been won by the U.S. and Europe.
Then, this past March the World Health Organization announced that China‘s drug safety authority meets international standards for vaccine regulation. It opened the doors for Chinese vaccines to be submitted for WHO approval so they can be bought by U.N. agencies and the GAVI Alliance.
“China is a vaccine-producing power” with more than 30 companies that have an annual production capacity of nearly 1 billion doses — the largest in the world, the country’s State Food and Drug Administration told the Associated Press.
But more needs to be done to build confidence in Chinese vaccines overseas, said Helen Yang of Sinovac, the NASDAQ-listed Chinese biotech firm that rapidly developed the H1N1 swine flu vaccine. “We think the main obstacle is that we have the name of ‘Made in China‘ still. That is an issue.”
China‘s food and drug safety record in recent years hardly inspires confidence: In 2007, Chinese cough syrup killed 93 people in Central America; one year later, contaminated blood thinner led to dozens of deaths in the United States while tainted milk powder poisoned hundreds of thousands of Chinese babies and killed six.
The government has since imposed more regulations, stricter inspections and heavier punishments for violators. Perhaps because of that, regulators routinely crack down on counterfeit and substandard drugmaking.
While welcoming WHO’s approval of China‘s drug safety authority, one expert said it takes more than a regulatory agency to keep drugmakers from cutting corners or producing fakes.
“In the U.S., we have supporting institutions such as the market economy, democracy, media monitoring, civil society, as well as a well-developed business ethics code, but these are all still pretty much absent in China,” said Yanzhong Huang, a China health expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. “For China, the challenge is much greater in building a strong, robust regulative capacity.”
Last year, a Chinese newspaper report linked improperly stored vaccines to four children’s deaths in northern Shanxi province, raising nationwide concern. The Health Ministry said the vaccines did not cause the deaths, but some remained skeptical.
Meanwhile, Chinese researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine earlier this year that a pandemic flu vaccine given to 90 million people in 2009 was safe. –Washington Times
Yes, we buy and enjoy products made in China because it’s cheep. However, being injected with a vaccine made in China? Not so fast!
Products made in China don’t last and in years past we have found that China has produced products that did not meet U.S. safety standards. Therefore, do you think that their vaccine will be any different?
Before made in China vaccines are distributed here in the U.S. it is hoped that our government will test their vaccine thoroughly before releasing it to the general population.
Personally, I prefer and feel safer if the vaccine I get annually was made here in the America.
Ragbag Headliners
The Smokers’ Surcharge
More and more employers are demanding that workers who smoke, are overweight or have high cholesterol shoulder a greater share of their health care costs, a shift toward penalizing employees with unhealthy lifestyles rather than rewarding good habits.
Policies that impose financial penalties on employees have doubled in the last two years to 19 percent of 248 major American employers recently surveyed. Next year, Towers Watson, the benefits consultant that conducted the survey, said the practice — among employers with at least 1,000 workers — was expected to double again.
In addition, another survey released on Wednesday by Mercer, which advises companies, showed that about a third of employers with 500 or more workers were trying to coax them into wellness programs by offering financial incentives, like discounts on their insurance. So far, companies including Home Depot, PepsiCo, Safeway, Lowe’s and General Mills have defended decisions to seek higher premiums from some workers, like Wal-Mart’s recent addition of a $2,000-a-year surcharge for some smokers. Many point to the higher health care costs associated with smoking or obesity. Some even describe the charges and discounts as a “more stick, less carrot” approach to get workers to take more responsibility for their well-being. No matter the characterizations, it means that smokers and others pay more than co-workers who meet a company’s health goals. –Big Health Report
More and more employers are demanding that workers who smoke, are overweight or have high cholesterol shoulder a greater share of their health care costs, a shift toward penalizing employees with unhealthy lifestyles rather than rewarding good habits.
Policies that impose financial penalties on employees have doubled in the last two years to 19 percent of 248 major American employers recently surveyed. Next year, Towers Watson, the benefits consultant that conducted the survey, said the practice — among employers with at least 1,000 workers — was expected to double again.
In addition, another survey released on Wednesday by Mercer, which advises companies, showed that about a third of employers with 500 or more workers were trying to coax them into wellness programs by offering financial incentives, like discounts on their insurance. So far, companies including Home Depot, PepsiCo, Safeway, Lowe’s and General Mills have defended decisions to seek higher premiums from some workers, like Wal-Mart’s recent addition of a $2,000-a-year surcharge for some smokers. Many point to the higher health care costs associated with smoking or obesity. Some even describe the charges and discounts as a “more stick, less carrot” approach to get workers to take more responsibility for their well-being. No matter the characterizations, it means that smokers and others pay more than co-workers who meet a company’s health goals. –Big Health Report
Giffords’ Office Urges Supercommittee To Give Congress A Pay Cut
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) may not be back to work on Capitol Hill yet, but her influence is still felt in Washington.
In a letter to the debt-reduction supercommittee organized by Giffords’ Washington office, 25 lawmakers urged the supercommittee to cut lawmakers’ salaries to reduce the federal deficit.
The letter, sent Thursday and signed by 11 Republicans and 14 Democrats, said a paycut would be a “commonsense” way to cut the required $1.5 trillion from the federal budget, as well as “a powerful message to the American people that Congress should not be exempt from the sacrifices it will take to balance the budget.”
Slashing lawmaker salaries was one of the last major issues Giffords advocated before she was shot in the head at a January 2011 constituent event. Only days before the shooting, Giffords had proposed legislation to cut the salaries of senators and representatives by five percent.
“Members of Congress can’t ask any American to cut back before we are willing to make some sacrifices of our own,” Giffords said at the time.
The five percent pay cut that Giffords advocated would add up to $50 million in savings over ten years, according to Thursday’s letter, which also notes that U.S. lawmakesr receive salaries that are 3.4 times higher than the average full-time wage for an American worker.
Reps. Dave Schweikert (R-Ariz.), Jason Altmire (D-Pa.), Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) and Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) joined Giffords office in leading the effort to write and gather signatures for the letter, Politico reported.
Giffords gave her first public interview since the shooting to ABC’s Diane Sawyer Monday night, just before teh release of the couple’s new book, “Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope.” -Washington Post
In a letter to the debt-reduction supercommittee organized by Giffords’ Washington office, 25 lawmakers urged the supercommittee to cut lawmakers’ salaries to reduce the federal deficit.
The letter, sent Thursday and signed by 11 Republicans and 14 Democrats, said a paycut would be a “commonsense” way to cut the required $1.5 trillion from the federal budget, as well as “a powerful message to the American people that Congress should not be exempt from the sacrifices it will take to balance the budget.”
Slashing lawmaker salaries was one of the last major issues Giffords advocated before she was shot in the head at a January 2011 constituent event. Only days before the shooting, Giffords had proposed legislation to cut the salaries of senators and representatives by five percent.
“Members of Congress can’t ask any American to cut back before we are willing to make some sacrifices of our own,” Giffords said at the time.
The five percent pay cut that Giffords advocated would add up to $50 million in savings over ten years, according to Thursday’s letter, which also notes that U.S. lawmakesr receive salaries that are 3.4 times higher than the average full-time wage for an American worker.
Reps. Dave Schweikert (R-Ariz.), Jason Altmire (D-Pa.), Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) and Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) joined Giffords office in leading the effort to write and gather signatures for the letter, Politico reported.
Giffords gave her first public interview since the shooting to ABC’s Diane Sawyer Monday night, just before teh release of the couple’s new book, “Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope.” -Washington Post
^^^*^^^
25 "Worst Passwords" Of 2011 Revealed
If you see your password below, STOP!
Do not finish reading this post and immediately go change your password -- before you forget. You will probably make changes in several places since passwords tend to be reused for multiple accounts.
Here are two lists, the first compiled by SplashData:
1. password
2. 123456
3.12345678
4. qwerty
5. abc123
6. monkey
7. 1234567
8. letmein
9. trustno1
10. dragon
11. baseball
12. 111111
13. iloveyou
14. master
15. sunshine
16. ashley
17. bailey
18. passwOrd
19. shadow
20. 123123
21. 654321
22. superman
23. qazwsx
24. michael
25. football
Last year, Imperva looked at 32 million passwords stolen from RockYou, a hacked website, and released its own Top 10 "worst" list:
1. 123456
2. 12345
3. 123456789
4. Password
5. iloveyou
6. princess
7. rockyou
8. 1234567
9. 12345678
10. abc123
If you've gotten this far and don't see any of your passwords, that's good news. But, note that complex passwords combining letters and numbers, such as passw0rd (with the "o" replaced by a zero) are starting to get onto the 2011 list. abc123 is a mixed password that showed up on both lists.
Last year, Imperva provided a list of password best practices, created by NASA to help its users protect their rocket science, they include:
It should contain at least eight characters
It should contain a mix of four different types of characters - upper case letters, lower case letters, numbers, and special characters such as !@#$%^&*,;" If there is only one letter or special character, it should not be either the first or last character in the password.
It should not be a name, a slang word, or any word in the dictionary. It should not include any part of your name or your e-mail address.
Following that advice, of course, means you'll create a password that will be impossible, unless you try a trick credited to security guru Bruce Schneir: Turn a sentence into a password.
For example, "Now I lay me down to sleep" might become nilmDOWN2s, a 10-character password that won't be found in any dictionary.
Can't remember that password? Schneir says it's OK to write it down and put it in your wallet, or better yet keep a hint in your wallet. Just don't also include a list of the sites and services that password works with. Try to use a different password on every service, but if you can't do that, at least develop a set of passwords that you use at different sites.
Someday, we will use authentication schemes, perhaps biometrics, that don't require so much jumping through hoops to protect our data. But, in the meantime, passwords are all most of us have, so they ought to be strong enough to do the job. –Yahoo Finance
Do not finish reading this post and immediately go change your password -- before you forget. You will probably make changes in several places since passwords tend to be reused for multiple accounts.
Here are two lists, the first compiled by SplashData:
1. password
2. 123456
3.12345678
4. qwerty
5. abc123
6. monkey
7. 1234567
8. letmein
9. trustno1
10. dragon
11. baseball
12. 111111
13. iloveyou
14. master
15. sunshine
16. ashley
17. bailey
18. passwOrd
19. shadow
20. 123123
21. 654321
22. superman
23. qazwsx
24. michael
25. football
Last year, Imperva looked at 32 million passwords stolen from RockYou, a hacked website, and released its own Top 10 "worst" list:
1. 123456
2. 12345
3. 123456789
4. Password
5. iloveyou
6. princess
7. rockyou
8. 1234567
9. 12345678
10. abc123
If you've gotten this far and don't see any of your passwords, that's good news. But, note that complex passwords combining letters and numbers, such as passw0rd (with the "o" replaced by a zero) are starting to get onto the 2011 list. abc123 is a mixed password that showed up on both lists.
Last year, Imperva provided a list of password best practices, created by NASA to help its users protect their rocket science, they include:
It should contain at least eight characters
It should contain a mix of four different types of characters - upper case letters, lower case letters, numbers, and special characters such as !@#$%^&*,;" If there is only one letter or special character, it should not be either the first or last character in the password.
It should not be a name, a slang word, or any word in the dictionary. It should not include any part of your name or your e-mail address.
Following that advice, of course, means you'll create a password that will be impossible, unless you try a trick credited to security guru Bruce Schneir: Turn a sentence into a password.
For example, "Now I lay me down to sleep" might become nilmDOWN2s, a 10-character password that won't be found in any dictionary.
Can't remember that password? Schneir says it's OK to write it down and put it in your wallet, or better yet keep a hint in your wallet. Just don't also include a list of the sites and services that password works with. Try to use a different password on every service, but if you can't do that, at least develop a set of passwords that you use at different sites.
Someday, we will use authentication schemes, perhaps biometrics, that don't require so much jumping through hoops to protect our data. But, in the meantime, passwords are all most of us have, so they ought to be strong enough to do the job. –Yahoo Finance
Matrimonial Tails
Love Your Enemy
· From his death bed, the husband told his wife, "After I die, I want you to marry Sammy."
· From his death bed, the husband told his wife, "After I die, I want you to marry Sammy."
· "Sammy? But he is your enemy!"
· "Yes, I know. . .but after my having suffered all these years, so let him suffer now."
The Wedding Ring
The Wedding Ring
· At a cocktail party, one woman asked another, "Aren't you wearing your wedding ring on the wrong finger?"
· The other replied, "Yes I am. . .I married the wrong man."
Same Service
· A husband told the marriage counselor, "When we were first married, as soon as I come home from the office, my wife would bring my slippers and our cute little dog would run around barking. Now, after 10 years of marriage, it's all different; when I come home, the dog brings my slippers and my wife runs around barking."
Same Service
· A husband told the marriage counselor, "When we were first married, as soon as I come home from the office, my wife would bring my slippers and our cute little dog would run around barking. Now, after 10 years of marriage, it's all different; when I come home, the dog brings my slippers and my wife runs around barking."
· "You're still getting the same service, aren't you!" replied the counselor.
Speak No Ill
One woman told another: "My neighbor is always speaking ill of her husband, but look at me, my husband is foolish, lazy and a coward. . .but have I ever said anything bad about him?"
Kiss And Love
· One day, a wife drew her husband's attention to the couple next door and said, "Do you see that couple? How devoted they are? He kisses her every time they meet. Why don't you do that, too?"
Speak No Ill
One woman told another: "My neighbor is always speaking ill of her husband, but look at me, my husband is foolish, lazy and a coward. . .but have I ever said anything bad about him?"
Kiss And Love
· One day, a wife drew her husband's attention to the couple next door and said, "Do you see that couple? How devoted they are? He kisses her every time they meet. Why don't you do that, too?"
· "I would love to, but I don't know her well enough," replied the husband
Coming Home Late
· A woman complained to a neighbor that her husband always came home late, no matter how she tried to stop him.
The neighbor responded, "Do what I did. Once my husband came home at 3 o'clock in the morning, and I called out from my bed: 'Is that you, Jim?' And that cured him."
· "Interesting. . .but how did that cure him?"
· "You see, his name is Bill."
Problem Fatherhood
· "You looked troubled. . .what's seems to be the problem?" a fellow asked his pal.
Problem Fatherhood
· "You looked troubled. . .what's seems to be the problem?" a fellow asked his pal.
· "I'm going to be a father," the pal replied.
· "But that's wonderful. . .there's nothing wrong with it, is there?"
· "Oh yes there is. . . my wife doesn't know anything about it!"
Author Unknown
Author Unknown
A Journey Called Life
A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. "What food might this contain?", the mouse wondered. He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.
Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed this warning: "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"
The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it." The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"
The pig sympathized, but said, "I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers." The mouse turned to the cow and said, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"
The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose."
So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap . . . Alone.
That very night a sound was heard throughout the house -- the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it. It was a venomous snake whose tail was caught in the trap. The snake bit the farmer's wife.
The farmer rushed her to the hospital. When she returned home she still had a fever.
Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup. So the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient:
But his wife's sickness continued. Friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.
But, alas, the farmer's wife did not get well ... She died.
So many people came for her funeral that the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them for the funeral luncheon.
And the mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness. So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and you think it doesn't concern you, remember ---
When one of us is threatened, we are all at risk. We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another.
YOU MAY WANT TO SEND THIS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS EVER HELPED YOU OUT ... AND LET THEM KNOW HOW IMPORTANT THEY ARE.
EACH OF US IS A VITAL THREAD IN ANOTHER PERSON'S TAPESTRY. OUR LIVES ARE WOVEN TOGETHER FOR A REASON.
One of the best things to hold onto In this world is a FRIEND.
~ Author Unknown ~
Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed this warning: "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"
The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it." The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"
The pig sympathized, but said, "I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers." The mouse turned to the cow and said, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"
The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose."
So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap . . . Alone.
That very night a sound was heard throughout the house -- the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it. It was a venomous snake whose tail was caught in the trap. The snake bit the farmer's wife.
The farmer rushed her to the hospital. When she returned home she still had a fever.
Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup. So the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient:
But his wife's sickness continued. Friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.
But, alas, the farmer's wife did not get well ... She died.
So many people came for her funeral that the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them for the funeral luncheon.
And the mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness. So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and you think it doesn't concern you, remember ---
When one of us is threatened, we are all at risk. We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another.
YOU MAY WANT TO SEND THIS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS EVER HELPED YOU OUT ... AND LET THEM KNOW HOW IMPORTANT THEY ARE.
- REMEMBER -
EACH OF US IS A VITAL THREAD IN ANOTHER PERSON'S TAPESTRY. OUR LIVES ARE WOVEN TOGETHER FOR A REASON.
One of the best things to hold onto In this world is a FRIEND.
~ Author Unknown ~
A Writing By Ben Stein
Apparently the White House referred to Christmas Trees as Holiday Trees for the first time this year which prompted CBS presenter, Ben Stein, to present this piece which I would like to share with you. I think it applies just as much to many countries as it does to America .
The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.
My confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are, Christmas trees.
It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God ? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.
In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.
Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Hurricane Katrina).. Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'
In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.
Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said okay.
Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.
Are you laughing yet?
Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.
Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.
Pass it on if you think it has merit.
If not, then just discard it.... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.
My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,
Ben Stein
The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.
My confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are, Christmas trees.
It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God ? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.
In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.
Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Hurricane Katrina).. Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'
In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.
Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said okay.
Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.
Are you laughing yet?
Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.
Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.
Pass it on if you think it has merit.
If not, then just discard it.... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.
My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,
Ben Stein
Americans Preparing For Possible Collapse
Voter confidence in the government to recover from our current woes is at an all-time low. The Party ideologies are so far apart that Washington is as useful as snow blower in the desert. Congressional approval is at single digits and the president’s approval ratings are not much higher. The stock market’s record of late looks like one of the roller coasters at a major amusement park. The situation in Europe is not any better and many experts over there are conducting a ‘Euro death watch’.
National elections are a year away and while most of the Republican candidates claim they have solutions to help the nation climb out of the slough of despair, most Americans are skeptical of it happening. Talk is cheap and the proof is in the pubbing, however, these days the pudding has a bitter taste to it.
With all of the gloom and doom in the news, there seems to be one industry that is thriving and that’s the survival industry. Stores that sell survival gear and meals are finding their business picking up. One survival company which operates three stores in Missouri said that they normally sell about 20-30 cases of ready to eat survival meals in a year, but have just had to order an additional 50 cases in the past few months to keep up with demand.
The owner of the survival stores reports that he has had families come in and purchase a backpack for each member of the family and then purchase enough essential survival gear to fill each backpack. His clients have been telling him that with all of the uprisings in the Middle East, the state of the American economy and the growing social unrest here with the Occupy movements, that they are preparing for the eventual collapse of American society and they want to be ready for when it happens.
Families are buying large quantities of freeze dried meals and other supplies and then stashing in locations away from the city. Some families are even joining forces with several other families in stocking up on property they’ve purchased. One group reported that they’ve even built a small watchtower on their property where they can see trouble coming from a distance and be prepared for when it arrives.
I’ve seen other reports of people reviving old bomb shelters that were built back in the 1950s and 60’s against the threat of a nuclear attack. They’re filling them up with containers of water, food, clothing and weapons.
In some areas of the country, gun and ammunition sales have been skyrocketing as well. Americans are arming themselves so that they can protect what they have from looters and against any insurgent forces that come their way. Families are taking shooting and self-defense lessons so they can protect themselves and each other.
Many of them are also converting large portions of their savings into gold and silver. They believe that the economy will soon collapse resulting in the complete devaluation of the dollar. The values of precious metals like gold, silver and platinum may be the only stable currency left at the time.
All of these signs do not bode well for the confidence in our current leaders or in those wanting to be the leaders. Americans are losing hope for the future and are preparing for the end of America as we know it.
How well are you prepared if our nation’s government and economy collapses and anarchy takes its place? Where is your money stored? Do you have a place to go where you will be safer than in your own home? Do you have supplies stored up to help you survive the day store shelves go bare?
Or do you believe that everything will be okay and that thousands of Americans are over reacting and that there is nothing to fear? Are you willing to take that chance with your family? -Godfather Politics
National elections are a year away and while most of the Republican candidates claim they have solutions to help the nation climb out of the slough of despair, most Americans are skeptical of it happening. Talk is cheap and the proof is in the pubbing, however, these days the pudding has a bitter taste to it.
With all of the gloom and doom in the news, there seems to be one industry that is thriving and that’s the survival industry. Stores that sell survival gear and meals are finding their business picking up. One survival company which operates three stores in Missouri said that they normally sell about 20-30 cases of ready to eat survival meals in a year, but have just had to order an additional 50 cases in the past few months to keep up with demand.
The owner of the survival stores reports that he has had families come in and purchase a backpack for each member of the family and then purchase enough essential survival gear to fill each backpack. His clients have been telling him that with all of the uprisings in the Middle East, the state of the American economy and the growing social unrest here with the Occupy movements, that they are preparing for the eventual collapse of American society and they want to be ready for when it happens.
Families are buying large quantities of freeze dried meals and other supplies and then stashing in locations away from the city. Some families are even joining forces with several other families in stocking up on property they’ve purchased. One group reported that they’ve even built a small watchtower on their property where they can see trouble coming from a distance and be prepared for when it arrives.
I’ve seen other reports of people reviving old bomb shelters that were built back in the 1950s and 60’s against the threat of a nuclear attack. They’re filling them up with containers of water, food, clothing and weapons.
In some areas of the country, gun and ammunition sales have been skyrocketing as well. Americans are arming themselves so that they can protect what they have from looters and against any insurgent forces that come their way. Families are taking shooting and self-defense lessons so they can protect themselves and each other.
Many of them are also converting large portions of their savings into gold and silver. They believe that the economy will soon collapse resulting in the complete devaluation of the dollar. The values of precious metals like gold, silver and platinum may be the only stable currency left at the time.
All of these signs do not bode well for the confidence in our current leaders or in those wanting to be the leaders. Americans are losing hope for the future and are preparing for the end of America as we know it.
How well are you prepared if our nation’s government and economy collapses and anarchy takes its place? Where is your money stored? Do you have a place to go where you will be safer than in your own home? Do you have supplies stored up to help you survive the day store shelves go bare?
Or do you believe that everything will be okay and that thousands of Americans are over reacting and that there is nothing to fear? Are you willing to take that chance with your family? -Godfather Politics
Dec 4, 2011
This Weeks Sound Off
Herman Cain on Saturday announced he is suspending his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
“One of the first declarations that I want to make to you today is that I am at peace with my God. I am at peace with my wife, and she is at peace with me,” he said prior to making the announcement.
Cain said the decision was a result of the "cloud of doubt" that had been cast over his family in light of what he called false allegations.
Cain's once-surging bid for the nomination began to falter in recent weeks after allegations of sexual harassment surfaced.
Most recently, Ginger White of Atlanta claimed that she and Cain, who is married, had carried on a 13-year affair.
Cain this week told a newspaper he had repeatedly given White money to help her with "month-to-month bills and expenses." But he denied the relationship was sexual, as White contends. He said the two were friends.
Cain earlier told staffers he was reassessing his campaign in the wake of the allegation of the affair, and he acknowledged to reporters that her account had led to a drop in contributions to his campaign.
"Suspending” a campaign allows a candidate to continue raising and spending campaign funds. –CNN Reports
From the get go and of all the Republican candidates for President, Herman Cain was just to good to be true. When the first allegations of sexual harassment surfaced I knew there was more to come.
Though Cain tried to talk his way out of the sexual harassment allegations, his handling of the situation reminded me of former President Clinton and his affair with Monica Lewinsky, and from that point forward I just waited for the other foot to fall, which it has, thus causing Cain to walk away from his bid for the White House. A thirteen year affair is pretty hard to lie about, specially since the woman had enough proof to seal Cain’s fate … so sad, but good reddens!!
“One of the first declarations that I want to make to you today is that I am at peace with my God. I am at peace with my wife, and she is at peace with me,” he said prior to making the announcement.
Cain said the decision was a result of the "cloud of doubt" that had been cast over his family in light of what he called false allegations.
Cain's once-surging bid for the nomination began to falter in recent weeks after allegations of sexual harassment surfaced.
Most recently, Ginger White of Atlanta claimed that she and Cain, who is married, had carried on a 13-year affair.
Cain this week told a newspaper he had repeatedly given White money to help her with "month-to-month bills and expenses." But he denied the relationship was sexual, as White contends. He said the two were friends.
Cain earlier told staffers he was reassessing his campaign in the wake of the allegation of the affair, and he acknowledged to reporters that her account had led to a drop in contributions to his campaign.
"Suspending” a campaign allows a candidate to continue raising and spending campaign funds. –CNN Reports
From the get go and of all the Republican candidates for President, Herman Cain was just to good to be true. When the first allegations of sexual harassment surfaced I knew there was more to come.
Though Cain tried to talk his way out of the sexual harassment allegations, his handling of the situation reminded me of former President Clinton and his affair with Monica Lewinsky, and from that point forward I just waited for the other foot to fall, which it has, thus causing Cain to walk away from his bid for the White House. A thirteen year affair is pretty hard to lie about, specially since the woman had enough proof to seal Cain’s fate … so sad, but good reddens!!
Ragbag Headliners
Vt. artist: I'll Fight Chick-Fil-A For My Kale
Vt. folk artist says he'll fight Chick-fil-A giant for rights to phrase 'eat more kale'
A folk artist expanding his home business built around the words "eat more kale" says he's ready to fight root-to-feather to protect his phrase from what he sees as an assault by Chick-fil-A, which holds the trademark to the phrase "eat mor chikin."
Bo Muller-Moore uses a hand silkscreen machine to apply his phrase, which he calls an expression of the benefits of local agriculture, on T-shirts and sweatshirts. But his effort to protect his business from copycats drew the attention of Chick-fil-A, the Atlanta-based fast-food chain that uses ads with images of cows that can't spell displaying their own phrase on message boards.
In a letter, a lawyer for Chick-fil-A said Muller-Moore's effort to expand the use of his "eat more kale" message "is likely to cause confusion of the public and dilutes the distinctiveness of Chick-fil-A's intellectual property and diminishes its value."
Chick-fil-A, which trails only Louisville, Ky.-based KFC in market share in the chicken restaurant chain industry, has a long history of guarding its trademark, and the letter listed 30 examples of attempts by others to co-opt the use of the "eat more" phrase that were withdrawn after Chick-fil-A protested. The Oct. 4 letter ordered Muller-Moore to stop using the phrase and turn over his website, eatmorekale.com, to Chick-fil-A.
Muller-Moore, 38, of Montpelier, says he won't do that.
"Our plan is to not back down. This feels like David versus Goliath. I know what it's like to protect what's yours in business," he said.
So he has enlisted the help of Montpelier lawyer Daniel Richardson and the intellectual property clinic at the University of New Hampshire School of Law's Intellectual Property and Transaction Clinic.
"Bo's is a very different statement. It's more of a philosophical statement about local agriculture and community-supported farmers markets," Richardson said. "At the end of the day, I don't think anyone will step forward and say they bought an 'eat more kale' shirt thinking it was a Chick-fil-A product."
Chick-fil-A spokesman Don Perry said the company does not comment on pending legal matters.
Muller-Moore, who describes himself as a folk artist who earns a living working as a foster parent for an adult with special needs, said he started using the phrase "eat more kale" in 2000. A farmer friend who grows kale, a leafy vegetable that grows well in Vermont and is known for its nutritional value, asked Muller-Moore to make three T-shirts containing the phrase for his family for $10 each.
A few weeks later, the friend told Muller-Moore that people kept asking for the shirts. The phrase helped him get his silkscreen business going, which he later expanded through the Internet. Now, he prints "eat more kale" on hooded sweatshirts too. And he has the words printed on bumper stickers that are common throughout central Vermont.
Five years ago, Muller-Moore said, he received a similar cease-and-desist letter from Chick-fil-A, telling him to stop using the phase. A pro bono lawyer traded a handful of letters with Chick-fil-A on his behalf. After the letters stopped, Muller-Moore assumed the issue had been decided in his favor and kept making the products.
But as his business grew, Muller-Moore decided to protect the phrase that became his unofficial trademark. He filed an application last summer with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to protect "eat more kale." The application is pending.
Vermont Law School professor Oliver Goodenough, who specializes in intellectual and property law, said the kale versus "chikin" fight reminded him of a case two years ago, when a Morrisville microbrewer that makes a beer called "Vermonster" ran afoul of the Monster energy drink company. That case was settled when the makers of Vermonster agreed never to go into the energy drink business.
Goodenough said there was little likelihood consumers would confuse kale with chicken.
"This looks a bit like an example of over-enthusiasm for brand protection," he said. "There are (law) firms in the United States that take this over-enthusiasm for brand protection seriously and believe the more they can scare away the better. If folks aren't deeply committed to this and it's a funny byproduct, maybe they won't fight it." -Yahoo Finance
Vt. folk artist says he'll fight Chick-fil-A giant for rights to phrase 'eat more kale'
A folk artist expanding his home business built around the words "eat more kale" says he's ready to fight root-to-feather to protect his phrase from what he sees as an assault by Chick-fil-A, which holds the trademark to the phrase "eat mor chikin."
Bo Muller-Moore uses a hand silkscreen machine to apply his phrase, which he calls an expression of the benefits of local agriculture, on T-shirts and sweatshirts. But his effort to protect his business from copycats drew the attention of Chick-fil-A, the Atlanta-based fast-food chain that uses ads with images of cows that can't spell displaying their own phrase on message boards.
In a letter, a lawyer for Chick-fil-A said Muller-Moore's effort to expand the use of his "eat more kale" message "is likely to cause confusion of the public and dilutes the distinctiveness of Chick-fil-A's intellectual property and diminishes its value."
Chick-fil-A, which trails only Louisville, Ky.-based KFC in market share in the chicken restaurant chain industry, has a long history of guarding its trademark, and the letter listed 30 examples of attempts by others to co-opt the use of the "eat more" phrase that were withdrawn after Chick-fil-A protested. The Oct. 4 letter ordered Muller-Moore to stop using the phrase and turn over his website, eatmorekale.com, to Chick-fil-A.
Muller-Moore, 38, of Montpelier, says he won't do that.
"Our plan is to not back down. This feels like David versus Goliath. I know what it's like to protect what's yours in business," he said.
So he has enlisted the help of Montpelier lawyer Daniel Richardson and the intellectual property clinic at the University of New Hampshire School of Law's Intellectual Property and Transaction Clinic.
"Bo's is a very different statement. It's more of a philosophical statement about local agriculture and community-supported farmers markets," Richardson said. "At the end of the day, I don't think anyone will step forward and say they bought an 'eat more kale' shirt thinking it was a Chick-fil-A product."
Chick-fil-A spokesman Don Perry said the company does not comment on pending legal matters.
Muller-Moore, who describes himself as a folk artist who earns a living working as a foster parent for an adult with special needs, said he started using the phrase "eat more kale" in 2000. A farmer friend who grows kale, a leafy vegetable that grows well in Vermont and is known for its nutritional value, asked Muller-Moore to make three T-shirts containing the phrase for his family for $10 each.
A few weeks later, the friend told Muller-Moore that people kept asking for the shirts. The phrase helped him get his silkscreen business going, which he later expanded through the Internet. Now, he prints "eat more kale" on hooded sweatshirts too. And he has the words printed on bumper stickers that are common throughout central Vermont.
Five years ago, Muller-Moore said, he received a similar cease-and-desist letter from Chick-fil-A, telling him to stop using the phase. A pro bono lawyer traded a handful of letters with Chick-fil-A on his behalf. After the letters stopped, Muller-Moore assumed the issue had been decided in his favor and kept making the products.
But as his business grew, Muller-Moore decided to protect the phrase that became his unofficial trademark. He filed an application last summer with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to protect "eat more kale." The application is pending.
Vermont Law School professor Oliver Goodenough, who specializes in intellectual and property law, said the kale versus "chikin" fight reminded him of a case two years ago, when a Morrisville microbrewer that makes a beer called "Vermonster" ran afoul of the Monster energy drink company. That case was settled when the makers of Vermonster agreed never to go into the energy drink business.
Goodenough said there was little likelihood consumers would confuse kale with chicken.
"This looks a bit like an example of over-enthusiasm for brand protection," he said. "There are (law) firms in the United States that take this over-enthusiasm for brand protection seriously and believe the more they can scare away the better. If folks aren't deeply committed to this and it's a funny byproduct, maybe they won't fight it." -Yahoo Finance
<><><>*<><><>
Obama Administration Bans Knowledge Of Islam
The Obama administration’s censoring of photographs of the late Osama bin Laden, lest they “offend” Muslims, is one thing; but what about censoring words, especially those pivotal to U.S. security?
Weeks earlier, the Daily Caller revealed that “the Obama administration was pulling back all training materials used for the law enforcement and national security communities, in order to eliminate all references to Islam that some Muslim groups have claimed are offensive.”
The move comes after complaints from advocacy organizations including the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and others identified as Muslim Brotherhood front groups in the 2004 Holy Land Foundation terror fundraising trial. In a Wednesday Los Angeles Times op-ed, Muslim PublicAffairs Council (MPAC) president Salam al-Marayati threatened the FBI with a total cutoff of cooperation between American Muslims and law enforcement if the agency failed to revise its law enforcement training materials. Maintaining the training materials in their current state “will undermine the relationship between law enforcement and the Muslim American community,” al-Marayati wrote. Multiple online sources detail MPAC’s close alignment with CAIR. In his op-ed, Al-Marayati demanded that the Justice Department and the FBI “issue a clear and unequivocal apology to the Muslim American community” and “establish a thorough and transparent vetting process in selecting its trainers and materials.”
Accordingly, after discussing the matter with Attorney General Eric Holder, Dwight C. Holton said “I want to be perfectly clear about this: training materials that portray Islam as a religion of violence or with a tendency towards violence are wrong, they are offensive, and they are contrary to everything that this president, this attorney general and Department of Justice stands for. They will not be tolerated.”
Even before these Muslim complaints and threats, President Obama alluded to censoring words when he said soon after taking office: “Words matter … because one of the ways we’re going to win this struggle [“war on terror”] is through the battle of [Muslims’] hearts and minds” (followed by oddities like commissioning NASA to make Muslims “feel good” about themselves).
As if there were not already a lamentable lack of study concerning Muslim war doctrine in the curriculum of American military studies—including in the Pentagon and U.S. Army War College—the administration’s more aggressive censorship program will only exacerbate matters. Last year’s QDR, a strategic document, does not mention anything remotely related to Islam—even as it stresses climate change, which it sees as an “accelerant of instability and conflict” around the world.
This attempt to whitewash Islam certainly has precedents, such as a 2008 government memo that not only warned against “offending,” “insulting,” or being “confrontational” to Muslims, but tried to justify such censorship as follows:
Never use the terms “jihadist” or “mujahideen” in conversation to describe the terrorists. A mujahed, a holy warrior, is a positive characterization in the context of a just war. In Arabic, jihad means “striving in the path of God” and is used in many contexts beyond warfare. Calling our enemies jihadis and their movement a global jihad unintentionally legitimizes their actions [emphasis added].
Aside from the fact that the above definitions are highly misleading, the notion that the words we use can ever have an impact on what is and is not legitimate for Muslims is ludicrous: Muslims are not waiting around for Americans or their government—that is, the misguided, the deluded, in a word, the infidel—to define Islam for them. For Muslims, only Sharia determines right and wrong.
The U.S. government needs to worry less about which words appease Muslims and worry more about providing its intelligence community—not to mention its own citizenry—with accurate knowledge concerning the nature of the threat.
Without words related to Islam, how are analysts to make sense of the current conflict? What are the goals and motivations of the “jihadists”? What are their methods? Who might be “radicalizing” them? Whom are they affiliated to? Who supports them? These and a host of other questions are unintelligible without free use of words related to Islam.
Knowledge is inextricably linked to language. The more generic the language, the less precise the knowledge; conversely, the more precise the language, the more precise the knowledge. In the current conflict, to acquire accurate knowledge, which is essential to victory, we need to begin with accurate language.
This means U.S. intelligence analysts and policymakers need to be able to use, and fully appreciate the significance of, words related to Islam—starting with the word “Islam” itself, i.e., submission to a worldview based on Sharia, a code of law antithetical to Western common law. It means the U.S. military needs to begin expounding and studying Islamic war doctrine—without fear of reprisal, such as when counter-terrorism strategist Stephen Coughlin was fired by the Pentagon for focusing on Islamic doctrine and therefore being politically incorrect. In short, it means America’s leadership needs to take that ancient dictum—“Know thy enemy”—seriously. –Front Page Mag
The Obama administration’s censoring of photographs of the late Osama bin Laden, lest they “offend” Muslims, is one thing; but what about censoring words, especially those pivotal to U.S. security?
Weeks earlier, the Daily Caller revealed that “the Obama administration was pulling back all training materials used for the law enforcement and national security communities, in order to eliminate all references to Islam that some Muslim groups have claimed are offensive.”
The move comes after complaints from advocacy organizations including the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and others identified as Muslim Brotherhood front groups in the 2004 Holy Land Foundation terror fundraising trial. In a Wednesday Los Angeles Times op-ed, Muslim PublicAffairs Council (MPAC) president Salam al-Marayati threatened the FBI with a total cutoff of cooperation between American Muslims and law enforcement if the agency failed to revise its law enforcement training materials. Maintaining the training materials in their current state “will undermine the relationship between law enforcement and the Muslim American community,” al-Marayati wrote. Multiple online sources detail MPAC’s close alignment with CAIR. In his op-ed, Al-Marayati demanded that the Justice Department and the FBI “issue a clear and unequivocal apology to the Muslim American community” and “establish a thorough and transparent vetting process in selecting its trainers and materials.”
Accordingly, after discussing the matter with Attorney General Eric Holder, Dwight C. Holton said “I want to be perfectly clear about this: training materials that portray Islam as a religion of violence or with a tendency towards violence are wrong, they are offensive, and they are contrary to everything that this president, this attorney general and Department of Justice stands for. They will not be tolerated.”
Even before these Muslim complaints and threats, President Obama alluded to censoring words when he said soon after taking office: “Words matter … because one of the ways we’re going to win this struggle [“war on terror”] is through the battle of [Muslims’] hearts and minds” (followed by oddities like commissioning NASA to make Muslims “feel good” about themselves).
As if there were not already a lamentable lack of study concerning Muslim war doctrine in the curriculum of American military studies—including in the Pentagon and U.S. Army War College—the administration’s more aggressive censorship program will only exacerbate matters. Last year’s QDR, a strategic document, does not mention anything remotely related to Islam—even as it stresses climate change, which it sees as an “accelerant of instability and conflict” around the world.
This attempt to whitewash Islam certainly has precedents, such as a 2008 government memo that not only warned against “offending,” “insulting,” or being “confrontational” to Muslims, but tried to justify such censorship as follows:
Never use the terms “jihadist” or “mujahideen” in conversation to describe the terrorists. A mujahed, a holy warrior, is a positive characterization in the context of a just war. In Arabic, jihad means “striving in the path of God” and is used in many contexts beyond warfare. Calling our enemies jihadis and their movement a global jihad unintentionally legitimizes their actions [emphasis added].
Aside from the fact that the above definitions are highly misleading, the notion that the words we use can ever have an impact on what is and is not legitimate for Muslims is ludicrous: Muslims are not waiting around for Americans or their government—that is, the misguided, the deluded, in a word, the infidel—to define Islam for them. For Muslims, only Sharia determines right and wrong.
The U.S. government needs to worry less about which words appease Muslims and worry more about providing its intelligence community—not to mention its own citizenry—with accurate knowledge concerning the nature of the threat.
Without words related to Islam, how are analysts to make sense of the current conflict? What are the goals and motivations of the “jihadists”? What are their methods? Who might be “radicalizing” them? Whom are they affiliated to? Who supports them? These and a host of other questions are unintelligible without free use of words related to Islam.
Knowledge is inextricably linked to language. The more generic the language, the less precise the knowledge; conversely, the more precise the language, the more precise the knowledge. In the current conflict, to acquire accurate knowledge, which is essential to victory, we need to begin with accurate language.
This means U.S. intelligence analysts and policymakers need to be able to use, and fully appreciate the significance of, words related to Islam—starting with the word “Islam” itself, i.e., submission to a worldview based on Sharia, a code of law antithetical to Western common law. It means the U.S. military needs to begin expounding and studying Islamic war doctrine—without fear of reprisal, such as when counter-terrorism strategist Stephen Coughlin was fired by the Pentagon for focusing on Islamic doctrine and therefore being politically incorrect. In short, it means America’s leadership needs to take that ancient dictum—“Know thy enemy”—seriously. –Front Page Mag
Lawyer Myra’s Advice For Holidays Without Headaches For Divorced Parents
Serious fears about non-custodial parent abductions and unsupervised visits can arise.
Most attorneys would rather enjoy the holidays with their own families than rush into court to file emergency legal documents during the season. Think ahead and consider these tips so you can enjoy your holiday season with minimum stress for you and your children. Bonus: you’ll also avoid the added financial expense of legal bills.
Get out your most recent court order. Is there a holiday schedule included in it? It may be a while since you looked it over. Get familiar with specific dates and times your children are with you, and when they are supposed to be with the other parent. Holiday visitation might supercede the regular routine.
Be proactive and send a friendly confirmation of the holiday schedule to the other parent so that expectations are clear. It is better to find out early if there is going to be a battle. See if there are any areas of disagreement you can solve through reasonable discussion now.
Attorneys are usually happy to review your holiday schedules for minimum or no cost. Whatever the cost, it will save time, money, and stress in the long run if you end up hiring an attorney to work out a schedule at the last minute.
Draw up a holiday schedule for your kids and post it. Make sure everyone is familiar with it so transitions are smooth. No one needs any surprises other than the ones from Santa.
Be flexible and adapt to unusual circumstances. If family members are making a special visit from out of town, do not punish your children by prohibiting visitation even if it’s your regular time. It might be the only time of the year seeing them is possible. Encouraging ongoing relationships with all of your children’s family members is always in their best interest.
Do your kids have to travel to visit a parent who lives far away? Each parent should have a copy of the specific holiday schedule, contact numbers and addresses so the non-visiting parent can stay in touch during the visitation period. If there are any gray areas, get your custody order clarified and get consent from the other parent in writing so there are no misunderstandings.
If your concerns about out-of-town visitation rise to the level of fear for a child’s safety or suspicions about child abduction, you may want to discuss your concerns with a family law attorney and decide whether you need to ask a court for a modification of visitation. You must normally show that a change of circumstances has occurred and that modifying visitation is in the best interests of a child.
As a general rule, you cannot take minor children out of your state without the other parent’s express written consent. The other parent should be informed right away if you plan to leave town. Don’t forget and then expect him or her to agree to your prearranged holiday the day before the trip. Provide an itinerary and contact telephone numbers.
Stay positive and assure your kids they will enjoy happy holidays with both of you, even if you are personally disappointed your kids may not be with you on a particular day. Your anxiety will create anxiety in your children. Don’t make them take sides and don’t make them feel guilty for enjoying time with the other parent’s side of the family.
It may be a good time for new traditions. If you feel sadness about familyactivities that remind you of a time your family was together, forget about struggling to keep everything the same. Accept change as positive and introduce some new, fun activities into your holiday. But don’t upset your kids by making changes all at once.
If your divorce is fresh, sitting down with your ex and his or her family at the dinner table might be beyond your capacity right now. Once the wounds start to heal, see if you can be the bigger person and invite grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins – and yes, the ex - to dinner. While your relationship with them has changed, your child’s relationships with them have not. See if you can’t manage to be polite for a few hours to allow your children to enjoy a family meal or event.
A minimum effort on your part could save you and your family from an emotional or financial disaster. Having to hire a family law attorney during the holidays can be a nightmare and a distraction at an already busy time of year. This is supposed to be a special time of the year for everyone, most of all your children.
By Myra Fleischer-The Washington Times
Note: Myra Chack Fleischer founded Fleischer & Associates in 2001 and serves as Lead Counsel with a focus on divorce, property, custody and support, settlement agreements, mediation, asset division and family law appeals. Read more Legally Speaking in the Communities at The Washington Times. Follow Fleischer & Associates on Facebook and on Twitter @LawyerMyra
Below is a video of the GOP presidential debate in New Hampshire. Among the panel of commentators and journalists, who asked the GOP aspirants questions about current major issues affecting the nation, is PBS' Charlie Rose.
While Newt Gingrich was not the front runner of the GOP presidential aspirants, the video is a Gingrich masterpiece. The "gotchas" ran into a wall of Gingrich history, who knows very well what he's talking about. The video is about seven minutes long; it bares/exposes some plain realities and truths about the US government, which the mainstream news media has never talked [or is afraid to talk] about.
Take off your "political party blinders & ear plugs", and, for a change, listen to the eye-opening comments on the video with an open mind.
^^^*^^^
Presidential Candidate Newt Gingrich in GOP Debate
US Employees Deserve What They Paid Towards Social Security!
Remember that, if you worked for a legitimate US company or organization, not only did you contribute to Social Security but also your employer did. It totaled about 15% of your income before taxes. If you averaged only $30K over your working life, that would have been close to $220,500.00.
If you calculate the [future] value of $4,500 per year -- i.e., your & your employer's contributions -- at a simple 5%, which is less than what the government pays on the money that it has borrowed to satisfy its careless, mindless, and profligate spending, after 49 years of working, you'd have $892,919.98 in retirement money!
And if you took out only 3% per year of that total contribution to Social Security for your retirement, you'd receive $26,787.60 per year, and it would last more than 30 years (if you retire at age 65); and that's with no interest paid on that final amount on deposit! If you bought an annuity which paid 4% per year, you'd have a lifetime income of $2,976.40 per month.
And now Washington D.C. talks of your and my Social Security which we paid for all the years that we worked as "entitlement"? My ass! You and I paid cash for our Social Security benefits! Just because they borrowed and wasted the money and have no decency to pay it back, does it make our SS benefits some kind of government charity or handout!
The feds are fooling the American public and pulling a Ponzi scheme bigger than Bernie Madoff's!
Members of Congress receive benefits which consist of free healthcare, outrageous retirement packages, 67 paid holidays, three weeks paid vacation, unlimited paid sick days -- now that's welfare, and yet they have the nerve to call my Social Security retirement benefit which I paid for in advance as "entitlement"?
And while Washington reports that the country is "broke" and can't help our own senior citizens, veterans, orphans, homeless, yet billions of US taxpayers' dollars have been sent as foreign aid to Chile, Haiti, Turkey, and now even Pakistan aside from millions of voluntary contributions by US citizens to various American charitable (church) organizations! And the administration has the unmitigated gall to call one's pre-paid Social Security benefits as "entitlement"?
Most importantly, it is about time that the general American public know the truth that while US health authorities have claimed that the "average U.S. life expectancy" is now up to almost 80 years, the truth is: the biggest number of recorded deaths in the USA is between the ages of 45 and 65 years---that is BEFORE a big segment of population even collect any of the Social Security benefits which they have contributed to the Social Security Fund.
So, the BIG QUESTION is: WHAT has the US government done with all those billions of dollars of US workers' contributions --- payroll tax deductions --- to the Social Security Fund, which have been left UNPAID to contributors who have DIED before they could collect even a single cent of Social Security benefit?
And the feds now have the gall to call those contributions as mere "entitlements"?
Author Unknown
If you calculate the [future] value of $4,500 per year -- i.e., your & your employer's contributions -- at a simple 5%, which is less than what the government pays on the money that it has borrowed to satisfy its careless, mindless, and profligate spending, after 49 years of working, you'd have $892,919.98 in retirement money!
And if you took out only 3% per year of that total contribution to Social Security for your retirement, you'd receive $26,787.60 per year, and it would last more than 30 years (if you retire at age 65); and that's with no interest paid on that final amount on deposit! If you bought an annuity which paid 4% per year, you'd have a lifetime income of $2,976.40 per month.
And now Washington D.C. talks of your and my Social Security which we paid for all the years that we worked as "entitlement"? My ass! You and I paid cash for our Social Security benefits! Just because they borrowed and wasted the money and have no decency to pay it back, does it make our SS benefits some kind of government charity or handout!
The feds are fooling the American public and pulling a Ponzi scheme bigger than Bernie Madoff's!
Members of Congress receive benefits which consist of free healthcare, outrageous retirement packages, 67 paid holidays, three weeks paid vacation, unlimited paid sick days -- now that's welfare, and yet they have the nerve to call my Social Security retirement benefit which I paid for in advance as "entitlement"?
And while Washington reports that the country is "broke" and can't help our own senior citizens, veterans, orphans, homeless, yet billions of US taxpayers' dollars have been sent as foreign aid to Chile, Haiti, Turkey, and now even Pakistan aside from millions of voluntary contributions by US citizens to various American charitable (church) organizations! And the administration has the unmitigated gall to call one's pre-paid Social Security benefits as "entitlement"?
Most importantly, it is about time that the general American public know the truth that while US health authorities have claimed that the "average U.S. life expectancy" is now up to almost 80 years, the truth is: the biggest number of recorded deaths in the USA is between the ages of 45 and 65 years---that is BEFORE a big segment of population even collect any of the Social Security benefits which they have contributed to the Social Security Fund.
So, the BIG QUESTION is: WHAT has the US government done with all those billions of dollars of US workers' contributions --- payroll tax deductions --- to the Social Security Fund, which have been left UNPAID to contributors who have DIED before they could collect even a single cent of Social Security benefit?
And the feds now have the gall to call those contributions as mere "entitlements"?
Author Unknown
Happy Winter
Ya got to love this bird!
THE BLUE BIRD OF HAPPINESS? MY ASS!
It's friggin' freezing, the snow's up my ass,
all the food is covered with three feet of this white shit,
and you want me to sing? What? Anne Murray's Snowbird?
Forget it!
Next winter, I'm flyin' to Jamaica and smokin' dope!
~ Author Unknown ~
It's friggin' freezing, the snow's up my ass,
all the food is covered with three feet of this white shit,
and you want me to sing? What? Anne Murray's Snowbird?
Forget it!
Next winter, I'm flyin' to Jamaica and smokin' dope!
~ Author Unknown ~
20 Signs That America Is Going Crazy
Has anyone else noticed that America seems to be going crazy? I'm not talking about the "woo hoo - let go out and have some fun" kind of crazy. I'm talking about the "lock them up in the looney bin" kind of crazy. Our society is rapidly coming apart at the seams and people are seriously starting to lose it. Criminals are going crazy, young people are going crazy, children are going crazy, law enforcement authorities are going crazy and the federal government is most certainly going crazy. Way too many Americans seem to be losing all sense of what is right and what is wrong. Way too many Americans seem to be losing all sense of what it means to treat others with dignity and respect. Yes, the economy is falling apart and people are feeling the stress of hard times, but it goes much deeper than that. It is almost as if some sort of mental illness is spreading throughout our society that is expressing itself in thousands of different ways. We are seeing anger, rage, malice and brutality rise to very dangerous levels. Our population has become way too greedy, proud, selfish and hateful. America is on a very dangerous road and we need to wake up.
The following list could contain thousands of examples, but hopefully the 20 signs listed below will be enough to convince you that America is rapidly going crazy.…
#1 We are continuing to see mobs of criminals looting retail stores all over the United States. For example, last Saturday night a "flash mob" of approximately 50 young people looted a 7-11 in Silver Spring, Maryland. You can see video of this crime in progress right here.
#2 Respect for the elderly has totally gone out the window in America. For example, down in Georgia two "caregivers" were recently charged with waterboarding an 89-year-old woman that they were supposed to be taking care of....
The following list could contain thousands of examples, but hopefully the 20 signs listed below will be enough to convince you that America is rapidly going crazy.…
#1 We are continuing to see mobs of criminals looting retail stores all over the United States. For example, last Saturday night a "flash mob" of approximately 50 young people looted a 7-11 in Silver Spring, Maryland. You can see video of this crime in progress right here.
#2 Respect for the elderly has totally gone out the window in America. For example, down in Georgia two "caregivers" were recently charged with waterboarding an 89-year-old woman that they were supposed to be taking care of....
Police charge two caregivers at a Jonesboro facility with waterboarding an 89-year-old woman.
Clayton County police said Jermeller Steed and Cicely Reed held down Anna Foley after an argument that started over ice cream.
#3 When the federal government first began putting naked body scanners into airports and began implementing "enhanced pat-downs" of travelers, many warned that hordes of sicko perverts would start applying for jobs with the TSA. Well, it turns out that one TSA employee is now being charged with a nightmarish sexual assault. The following is how WJLA in Washington D.C. describes what he is being charged with.…
The suspect, Harold Glen Rodman, 52, allegedly was wearing his uniform and displayed a badge to the victim, a 37-year-old woman.
Police arrested Rodman on Nov. 20. He is charged with aggravated sexual battery, object sexual penetration, forcible sodomy and abduction with intent to defile.
#4 We have been seeing some really bizarre sexual crimes all over the country lately. The following examples comes from a town where I once lived.…
Multiple male victims have reported being sexually assaulted by a male suspect in a series of nighttime incidents at residences near the University of Virginia, according to police and university officials.
#4 We have been seeing some really bizarre sexual crimes all over the country lately. The following examples comes from a town where I once lived.…
Multiple male victims have reported being sexually assaulted by a male suspect in a series of nighttime incidents at residences near the University of Virginia, according to police and university officials.
Larceny is not a motive, and in each case victims reported awakening to find themselves being groped, officials said.
#5 Sadly, our society has become so "sexualized" that now even little children are raping each other. Just check out the following recent example from Ohio....
Authorities in southwest Ohio have charged a 13-year-old boy with raping a 5-year-old girl at a McDonald’s play area.
The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office said Monday that the alleged assault occurred Oct. 29 at a McDonald’s in the Cincinnati suburb of Anderson Township. Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Barnett says the girl’s grandmother was nearby in the restaurant at the time.
#6 Today, there are millions of Americans with STDs that are running around thoughtlessly passing them on to others. According to the CDC, there are 19 million new cases of STD infection in the United States every single year.
#7 As I wrote about the other day, all over the United States law enforcement authorities are spraying pepper spray directly into the faces of unarmed protesters. Pepper spray can kill you. According to Wikipedia, the use of pepper spray by police has been associated with dozens of deaths in the United States....
#6 Today, there are millions of Americans with STDs that are running around thoughtlessly passing them on to others. According to the CDC, there are 19 million new cases of STD infection in the United States every single year.
#7 As I wrote about the other day, all over the United States law enforcement authorities are spraying pepper spray directly into the faces of unarmed protesters. Pepper spray can kill you. According to Wikipedia, the use of pepper spray by police has been associated with dozens of deaths in the United States....
For those with asthma, taking other drugs, or subject to restraining techniques which restrict the breathing passages, there is a risk of death. The Los Angeles Times has reported at least 61 deaths associated with police use of pepper spray since 1990 in the USA.
#8 Predators are increasingly using websites such as Craigslist to find victims for their next crimes. The following comes from a recent article in the Columbus Dispatch.…
Lost, covered in his own blood and unsure if the men who hunted him were still nearby, a man from South Carolina hid in the forested hills outside Caldwell until after dark on Nov. 6. Deciding it was safe, he then made a painful 2-mile journey to the nearest farmhouse to call for help.
#8 Predators are increasingly using websites such as Craigslist to find victims for their next crimes. The following comes from a recent article in the Columbus Dispatch.…
Lost, covered in his own blood and unsure if the men who hunted him were still nearby, a man from South Carolina hid in the forested hills outside Caldwell until after dark on Nov. 6. Deciding it was safe, he then made a painful 2-mile journey to the nearest farmhouse to call for help.
Investigators say he was the lucky one.
On Tuesday, they found the body of a man buried in a shallow grave near the site where the other man was attacked.
By surviving his ordeal two weeks ago in Noble County, the victim, whose name authorities haven’t released, helped uncover an elaborate scheme by at least two men to lure people with the promise of work from across the country to Ohio. Authorities say the real plan was to rob and kill them.
#9 With all of the other problems we are having all over the nation, you would think that authorities would not be too concerned about little kids that are trying to sell cups of lemonade. But sadly, over the past year police have been sent in to shut down lemonade stands run by children all over the nation.
#10 The family unit continues to crumble in America. According to a study by the Pew Research Center, 68% of all twenty-somethings were married in 1960. By 2008, that number had fallen to 26%.
#11 Many Americans would rather not deal with all of the problems in society and would rather "check out" instead. For example, a recent Gallup poll found that alcohol consumption in the United States is now at a 25 year high.
#12 The federal government has become so paranoid that they have been putting GPS tracking devices on the vehicles of thousands of people that have not even been charged with committing any crimes. The following is a short excerpt from a recent Wired magazine article about this issue.…
The 25-year-old resident of San Jose, California, says he found the first one about three weeks ago on his Volvo SUV while visiting his mother in Modesto, about 80 miles northeast of San Jose. After contacting Wired and allowing a photographer to snap pictures of the device, it was swapped out and replaced with a second tracking device. A witness also reported seeing a strange man looking beneath the vehicle of the young man’s girlfriend while her car was parked at work, suggesting that a tracking device may have been retrieved from her car.
Then things got really weird when police showed up during a Wired interview with the man.
The young man, who asked to be identified only as Greg, is one among an increasing number of U.S. citizens who are finding themselves tracked with the high-tech devices.
The Justice Department has said that law enforcement agents employ GPS as a crime-fighting tool with “great frequency,” and GPS retailers have told Wired that they’ve sold thousands of the devices to the feds.
#13 Many Americans are so frustrated right now that even the smallest things will make them go crazy. For example, one man down in Georgia recently firebombed a Taco Bell because they did not put enough meat in his Chalupa.
#14 All over the state of California, copper thieves are ripping the wire right out of thousands of streetlights and are leaving huge areas completely dark at night. For example, just check out what is happening in the Sacramento area.…
Sacramento County officials said 1,000 street lights have been affected by wire theft in recent weeks, and the county has already spent $160,000 repairing street lights this year.
#15 The way that our government has treated those that have served in the military has been absolutely shameful. For example, according to the Washington Post between 2003 and 2008 the remains of large numbers of our war dead were actually dumped into a Virginia landfill.…
The Dover Air Force Base mortuary for years disposed of portions of troops’ remains by cremating them and dumping the ashes in a Virginia landfill, a practice that officials have since abandoned in favor of burial at sea.
#16 Nothing is too big for thieves to steal these days. In the San Francisco area, thieves recently took off with a copper bell that weighs 2.7 tons.
#17 Some thieves have become so bold that they will literally steal thousands of animals at a time from ranchers. All over the United States, livestock is being stolen from ranchers in unprecedented numbers. The following is from a recent Associated Press article.…
While the brazenness may be unusual, the theft isn't. High beef prices have made cattle attractive as a quick score for people struggling in the sluggish economy, and other livestock are being taken too. Six thousand lambs were stolen from a feedlot in Texas, and nearly 1,000 hogs have been stolen in recent weeks from farms in Iowa and Minnesota. The thefts add up to millions of dollars in losses for U.S. ranches.
Authorities say today's thieves are sophisticated compared to the horseback bandits of the rugged Old West. They pull up livestock trailers in the middle of the night and know how to coax the animals inside. Investigators suspect it's then a quick trip across state lines to sell the animals at auction barns.
#18 The federal government is way too large and is interfering way too much in our lives. All of us should be horrified that the feds are spending a significant amount of time and energy on raiding organic farms. The following example comes from Natural News.…
It is the latest case of extreme government food tyranny, and one that is sure to have you reeling in anger and disgust. Health department officials recently conducted a raid of Quail Hollow Farm, an organic community supported agriculture (CSA) farm in southern Nevada, during its special "farm to fork" picnic dinner put on for guests -- and the agent who arrived on the scene ordered that all the fresh, local produce and pasture-based meat that was intended for the meal be destroyed with bleach.
#19 Most of the big regulatory agencies of the federal government have totally gone crazy. For example, the EPA is now specifically targeting Americans that use traditional wood-burning stoves.
#20 Large numbers of Americans simply do not seem to care what happens to those around them any longer. As I discussed in another recent article, some of the things that we are now seeing young people do are almost unbelievable. For example, just check out this video of a young punk walking up to a defenseless elderly man in a Chicago subway station and knocking him out cold. What makes this incident far worse is that the friends of the young thug are cheering him on and laughing at how easy it was to knock the old man out cold.
It is so very sad to watch what is happening to this country.
Things could have been so much different. But now we are watching the consequences of decades of really bad decisions unfold right in front of our eyes.
So what do you all think?
Do you believe that America is going crazy?
The America Dream
#9 With all of the other problems we are having all over the nation, you would think that authorities would not be too concerned about little kids that are trying to sell cups of lemonade. But sadly, over the past year police have been sent in to shut down lemonade stands run by children all over the nation.
#10 The family unit continues to crumble in America. According to a study by the Pew Research Center, 68% of all twenty-somethings were married in 1960. By 2008, that number had fallen to 26%.
#11 Many Americans would rather not deal with all of the problems in society and would rather "check out" instead. For example, a recent Gallup poll found that alcohol consumption in the United States is now at a 25 year high.
#12 The federal government has become so paranoid that they have been putting GPS tracking devices on the vehicles of thousands of people that have not even been charged with committing any crimes. The following is a short excerpt from a recent Wired magazine article about this issue.…
The 25-year-old resident of San Jose, California, says he found the first one about three weeks ago on his Volvo SUV while visiting his mother in Modesto, about 80 miles northeast of San Jose. After contacting Wired and allowing a photographer to snap pictures of the device, it was swapped out and replaced with a second tracking device. A witness also reported seeing a strange man looking beneath the vehicle of the young man’s girlfriend while her car was parked at work, suggesting that a tracking device may have been retrieved from her car.
Then things got really weird when police showed up during a Wired interview with the man.
The young man, who asked to be identified only as Greg, is one among an increasing number of U.S. citizens who are finding themselves tracked with the high-tech devices.
The Justice Department has said that law enforcement agents employ GPS as a crime-fighting tool with “great frequency,” and GPS retailers have told Wired that they’ve sold thousands of the devices to the feds.
#13 Many Americans are so frustrated right now that even the smallest things will make them go crazy. For example, one man down in Georgia recently firebombed a Taco Bell because they did not put enough meat in his Chalupa.
#14 All over the state of California, copper thieves are ripping the wire right out of thousands of streetlights and are leaving huge areas completely dark at night. For example, just check out what is happening in the Sacramento area.…
Sacramento County officials said 1,000 street lights have been affected by wire theft in recent weeks, and the county has already spent $160,000 repairing street lights this year.
#15 The way that our government has treated those that have served in the military has been absolutely shameful. For example, according to the Washington Post between 2003 and 2008 the remains of large numbers of our war dead were actually dumped into a Virginia landfill.…
The Dover Air Force Base mortuary for years disposed of portions of troops’ remains by cremating them and dumping the ashes in a Virginia landfill, a practice that officials have since abandoned in favor of burial at sea.
#16 Nothing is too big for thieves to steal these days. In the San Francisco area, thieves recently took off with a copper bell that weighs 2.7 tons.
#17 Some thieves have become so bold that they will literally steal thousands of animals at a time from ranchers. All over the United States, livestock is being stolen from ranchers in unprecedented numbers. The following is from a recent Associated Press article.…
While the brazenness may be unusual, the theft isn't. High beef prices have made cattle attractive as a quick score for people struggling in the sluggish economy, and other livestock are being taken too. Six thousand lambs were stolen from a feedlot in Texas, and nearly 1,000 hogs have been stolen in recent weeks from farms in Iowa and Minnesota. The thefts add up to millions of dollars in losses for U.S. ranches.
Authorities say today's thieves are sophisticated compared to the horseback bandits of the rugged Old West. They pull up livestock trailers in the middle of the night and know how to coax the animals inside. Investigators suspect it's then a quick trip across state lines to sell the animals at auction barns.
#18 The federal government is way too large and is interfering way too much in our lives. All of us should be horrified that the feds are spending a significant amount of time and energy on raiding organic farms. The following example comes from Natural News.…
It is the latest case of extreme government food tyranny, and one that is sure to have you reeling in anger and disgust. Health department officials recently conducted a raid of Quail Hollow Farm, an organic community supported agriculture (CSA) farm in southern Nevada, during its special "farm to fork" picnic dinner put on for guests -- and the agent who arrived on the scene ordered that all the fresh, local produce and pasture-based meat that was intended for the meal be destroyed with bleach.
#19 Most of the big regulatory agencies of the federal government have totally gone crazy. For example, the EPA is now specifically targeting Americans that use traditional wood-burning stoves.
#20 Large numbers of Americans simply do not seem to care what happens to those around them any longer. As I discussed in another recent article, some of the things that we are now seeing young people do are almost unbelievable. For example, just check out this video of a young punk walking up to a defenseless elderly man in a Chicago subway station and knocking him out cold. What makes this incident far worse is that the friends of the young thug are cheering him on and laughing at how easy it was to knock the old man out cold.
It is so very sad to watch what is happening to this country.
Things could have been so much different. But now we are watching the consequences of decades of really bad decisions unfold right in front of our eyes.
So what do you all think?
Do you believe that America is going crazy?
The America Dream
Americans With No Abilities Act (AWNAA)
The US Senate is set to pass sweeping legislation that will provide new benefits for many Americans: The Americans With No Abilities Act (AWNAA). President Obama said he will sign it as soon as it hits his desk. The AWNAA is being hailed as a major legislative goal by advocates of the millions of Americans who lack any real skills or ambition.
"Roughly 50 percent of Americans do not possess the competence and drive necessary to carve out a meaningful role for themselves in society," said California Senator Barbara Boxer. "We can no longer stand by and allow people of Inability to be ridiculed and passed over. With this legislation, employers will no longer be able to grant special favors to a small group of workers, simply because they have some idea of what they are doing. We are legalizing another protected class of Americans."
In a Capitol Hill press conference, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) pointed to the success of TSA which has a longstanding policy of providing opportunity without regard to performance. Approximately 74 percent of employees lack any job skills, making this agency the single largest U.S. employer of persons of inability. Private-sector industries with good records of non-discrimination against the inept include retail sales (72%), the airline industry (68%), and home improvement "warehouse" stores (65%). At the state government level, the Department of Motor Vehicles also has an excellent record of hiring persons of inability (a whopping 83%).
Under The Americans With No Abilities Act, more than 25 million "middleman" positions will be created, with important-sounding titles but little real responsibility, thus providing an illusory sense of purpose and performance. Mandatory non-performance-based raises and promotions will be given so as to guarantee upward mobility for even the most inept employees. The legislation provides substantial tax breaks to corporations that promote a significant number of persons of inability into middle-management positions, and gives a tax credit to small and medium-sized businesses that agree to hire one clueless worker for every two talented hires. Finally, the AWNAA contains tough new measures to make it more difficult to discriminate against the non-abled, banning, for example, discriminatory interview questions such as, "Do you have any skills or experience that relate to this job?"
"As a non-abled person,I can't be expected to keep up with people who have something going for them," said Ken Cox, who lost his position as a lug-nut twister at the GM plant in Flint, Michigan due to his inability to remember 'righty tightey, lefty loosey'. This new law should be real good for people like me," Cox added.
With the passage of this bill, Cox and millions of other untalented citizens will finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Said Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois): "As a senator with no abilities, I believe the same privileges that elected officials enjoy ought to be extended to every American with no abilities. It is our duty as lawmakers to provide each and every American citizen, regardless of his or her inadequacy, with some sort of space to take up in this great nation and a good salary for doing so."
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