miscellany

The United Church of Christ has a new ad slated for release on TV in April. See it here. Ya know, just 'cause of how cool they seem to be, I'm almost tempted to check them out. It might just be fun. Still, my spirituality doesn't jibe all that well with religion, any religion. Though, I might just go on a lark sometime.

Hat tip to AMERICAblog.

cbs2.com - Spanish Media Organized Nationwide Mass Protests

In Milwaukee, where at least 10,000 people rallied last week, one radio station manager called some employers to ask that they not fire protesters for skipping work.

In other words, he called businesses to ask that they not fire the illegal aliens they had illegally hired. (Yes, I realize some or all of them may have been legal citizens. Still...)

Here's a wake-up call, America! There are too many illegal aliens in this country. If you're surprised by this action, imagine what else they can do. These people may be just fine people, salt of the earth, but they are here illegally. Why should I have any respect for them when they have no respect for this country's laws? It's time to stop catering to illegal aliens, time to stop their influx, time to send them home. If they have children, tough. They should've considered what would happen; birthing a child on US soil does not naturalize the parents. Either leave and take the child or leave the child here in foster care. Tough choice, I know, but I'm not responsible for their actions and the consequences; they are.
__________________________________________

Here's an excellent Op-Ed in the Washington Times:
Mexican illegals vs. American voters

National polling data could not be more emphatic — and has been so for decades. Gallup Poll (March 27) finds 80 percent of the public wants the federal government to get tougher on illegal immigration. A Quinnipiac University Poll (March 3) finds 62 percent oppose making it easier for illegals to become citizens (72 percent in that poll don't even want illegals to be permitted to have driver's licenses). Time Magazine's recent poll (Jan. 24-26) found 75 percent favor "major penalties" on employers of illegals, 70 percent believe illegals increase the likelihood of terrorism and 57 percent would use military force at the Mexican-American border.
An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll (March 10-13) found 59 percent opposing a guest-worker proposal, and 71 percent would more likely vote for a congressional candidate who would tighten immigration controls.
An IQ Research poll (March 10) found 92 percent saying that securing the U.S. border should be a top priority of the White House and Congress.
Yet, according to a National Journal survey of Congress, 73 percent of Republican and 77 percent of Democratic congressmen and senators say they would support guest-worker legislation.

...

But if they would be dictators, it would be nice if they could at least be wise (until such time as the people can electorally forcefully project with a violent pedal thrust their regrettable backsides out of town). It was gut-wrenching (which in my case is a substantial event) to watch the senators prattle on in their idle ignorance concerning the manifold economic benefits that will accrue to the body politic if we can just cram a few million more uneducated illegals into the country.

...

Regarding the Senate's and the president's guest-worker proposals, The Post's Robert Samuelson writes: "Gosh, they're all bad ideas ... We'd be importing poverty. This isn't because these immigrants aren't hardworking, many are. Nor is it because they don't assimilate, many do. But they generally don't go home, assimilation is slow and the ranks of the poor are constantly replenished ... [It] is a conscious policy of creating poverty in the United States while relieving it in Mexico ... The most lunatic notion is that admitting more poor Latino workers would ease the labor market strains of retiring baby boomers ? Far from softening the social problems of an aging society, more poor immigrants might aggravate them by pitting older retirees against younger Hispanics for limited government benefits ... [Moreover], [i]t's a myth that the U.S. economy 'needs' more poor immigrants.

Hat tip to Ray for linking me to these articles.

My Way News - Elderly Couple Hurt in Raid on Wrong House

"It was the wrong house," Beshears said. "The house was totally dark and the TACT members went through to the bedroom looking for the suspects."

A man and a woman - both in their 80s - were injured as TACT team members secured the house although no drugs were found. There were children in the house also, but they were not awakened, Beshears said.

Beshears said the woman received a dislocated shoulder and the man received bruised ribs. Both were taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto, but both asked police not to identify them.

...

Police Chief Darryl Whaley said a full investigation would be made into the operation to determine what happened when officers confronted the elderly couple. He said he believes his officers acted correctly and followed procedures when they entered the first home.

"Obviously, a mistake was made and it was regrettable," he said. "But, I stand by my officers. I think they acted properly."

This is absolutely disgusting. Unfortunately, I can easily believe that these yahoos did this and that similar occurs regularly. The police, like many other governmental entities, are entirely out of control and are hungry for more power. Their disdain for citizens' rights is deplorable. Something has to give...

My Way News - Man Is Charged $4,300 for Four Burgers

Terri Woody, the restaurant manager, said Burger King officials tried to get the charge refunded. But the bank said the funds were on a three-day hold and could not be released, Pat Beane said.

The hold is designed to prevent customers from spending money that no longer is available in their accounts and to let the bank confirm a transaction is legitimate before transferring funds, said Bank of America supervisor Joel Solorio.

Burger King did not charge the Beanes for their meal, and the couple got their $4,334.33 back on Friday.

Years ago, I experienced a similar incident. Since then, I avoid using my debit card as much as possible. Fortunately, it doubles as a credit card, so I have all purchases with it run as credit. It causes a bit of a hassle at some stores and no place seems to have the same procedure for bypassing the default debit method. Still, it's worth the peace of mind.

Don't you think it was mighty nice of Burger King to not charge them $4.33 for their meal? That's a wonderful recompense for having all of their money unavailable to them for three days! Because a BK employee was at fault, BK should be coughing up a bit more of an apology and implementing procedures to prevent future occurrences of such potentially damaging negligence.

On a similar note, I also do not allow any company to automatically draft monthly bills from my account. A coworker experienced negative side effects from such. He had BellSouth drafting payments for his monthly phone bill. In a billing error, they charged him significantly more than they should have and, of course, they took the money from his checking account. This resulted in all kinds of problems for him and to top it all, he had to wait 4-6 weeks to get his money refunded!

Be wary of whomever you allow to fiddle with your checking account. The consequences of blind trust can be painful.

Watching this video just puts a smile on my face. I like the music, too.

I WANNA DO THIS!!! I think I'll make some of these and have a little fun, at least at work. There's also a neat fridge LED canvas (think Lite Brite) on the Instructables site, but that's a little more involved (and permanent) than I want to do.

Another video is here.
How-to is here.

The Dixie Chicks are back and it would seem they're a bit pissed. Good for them. Here is a snippet of the lyrics of one of their latest songs:

I made my bed and I sleep like a baby
With no regrets and I don't mind sayin'
It's a sad sad story when a mother will teach her
Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger
And how in the world can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they'd write me a letter
Sayin' that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over

I'm not ready to make nice
I'm not ready to back down
I'm still mad as hell and
I don't have time to go round and round and round
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
'Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do what it is you think I should

You can hear this song on the front page of their website; it starts immediately.

I'm not one to buy an album often at all, but I very may well buy their TAKING THE LONG WAY album, scheduled to release on May 23, 2006. These women have a kick-ass sound and, even better, they say and stand behind what they believe. (and, obviously, their beliefs are in line with mine...)

Best of luck to you, ladies. I think you're gonna be just fine.

JJ just sent me a nice little diversion. Thank you, JJ! Check out the Cleaning Hunk here.

A co-worker just had a book published in January. How cool is it to learn that these people we only know at work actually have interesting lives away from work? Matt actually hasn't been at Konica Minolta for awhile; he's been on military leave. He's an engineer battalion commander currently serving in Northern Iraq. I occasionally see some of the pictures he sends to friends here at work when his emails get caught in the spam filter. Knowing him puts a face on our soldiers for me. I wish him the best.

His book is available here from Barnes & Noble.

Greg just sent me a link to this. I didn't even know such an act existed. I've tried, on occasion, to juggle and I am not all that coordinated. My attempts have been just that: "attempts". I can only just imagine juggling AND keeping the movements well-timed. Juggling three balls, ensuring each throw is of the right force, memorizing a long routine (more than 4 minutes), not dropping a ball... All these alone are feats in my view. Together, they really do make for an Amazing Juggling Finale.