I have been very busy the last few days and have been away from the computer. I have been doing some major house cleaning and also torn one room apart, the office, and have started painting it. Of course this means my little house is a complete mess with the office contents stuffed all over the place. Hopefully I can get this completed tomorrow. I really want to steam clean the carpet after this but I think I will what until after I paint the living room.
Saturday night I went and saw the North Mississippi Allstars and Hill Country Revue. Both are excellent bands and highly recommended. They have had three of their albums nominated in the blues category. A live band not to be missed.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Enemy Combatant
First of all i hate the term "enemy combatant". To me it says we are illegally holding somebody prisoner, besides it sounds plain stupid.
However the post tonight concerns Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar, who legally entered the United States on September 10th, 2001 with his wife and family. He was to attend Bradley University where be had gotten a degree 10 years earlier. He was arrested in December 2001 through events that seem to be of his own doing. The problem I have is that the government ultimately charged him with being an enemy combatant before his criminal could come to trial 18 months after his arrest. At that time they transferred him out of Justice Department custody and sent him to a Navy brig in South Carolina and not charged with anything. The detention in the Navy brig had nothing to do with the original arrest. He was in isolation for most of the time he was in the brig. During his imprisonment he was repeatedly questioned using various techniques and they never got any information from him. He repeatedly told the gov't he was innocent. This frustrated John Ashcroft and Bush as they were convinced otherwise. During all this time he never was able to meet with his lawyers, has not seen his family and was not receiving due process. Through many legal challenges by his legal team he was transferred out of the brig and the case is now back in the civilian court system where his fate will ultimately be decide.
You need to read more on the case to get the whole gist of the case if you are interested in due process.
The problem I have is that we as a nation should not be holding people as enemy combatants, not charge them with anything and not let them take the case to court. The gov't should charge these people with crime and then let the case go to court. They also need to give the defense access to the evidence. There is no evidence that should be deemed "too sensitive" for "We The People" to hear. When I hear this it makes me think we are hiding things that puts the case in doubt.
Remember that Ali was legally in the United States. He was arrested in the United States and had not gone to court to hear his charges until very recently. He has been in prison since December 2001. Remember that you as an American citizen can be charged as an enemy combatant and have this happen to you. I have no idea if he is innocent or guilty and I do not care at this point. The point is that if you are a citizen of this country or if you are legally here from another country you should NEVER be held under any circumstances without due process. These are not the things we as citizens should accept or be proud of. These are the things that makes much of the rest of the world despise American government policies. We are supposed to be the ones showing the rest rest of the world how to be free and when we do things like this it makes us look no better than the countries we are fighting. In fact I think it makes us look like hypocrites. Charge them, let the case go to court and deal with the outcome. We are supposed to be a fair country, we need to act like one.
Watch this case. The implications are big.
However the post tonight concerns Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar, who legally entered the United States on September 10th, 2001 with his wife and family. He was to attend Bradley University where be had gotten a degree 10 years earlier. He was arrested in December 2001 through events that seem to be of his own doing. The problem I have is that the government ultimately charged him with being an enemy combatant before his criminal could come to trial 18 months after his arrest. At that time they transferred him out of Justice Department custody and sent him to a Navy brig in South Carolina and not charged with anything. The detention in the Navy brig had nothing to do with the original arrest. He was in isolation for most of the time he was in the brig. During his imprisonment he was repeatedly questioned using various techniques and they never got any information from him. He repeatedly told the gov't he was innocent. This frustrated John Ashcroft and Bush as they were convinced otherwise. During all this time he never was able to meet with his lawyers, has not seen his family and was not receiving due process. Through many legal challenges by his legal team he was transferred out of the brig and the case is now back in the civilian court system where his fate will ultimately be decide.
You need to read more on the case to get the whole gist of the case if you are interested in due process.
The problem I have is that we as a nation should not be holding people as enemy combatants, not charge them with anything and not let them take the case to court. The gov't should charge these people with crime and then let the case go to court. They also need to give the defense access to the evidence. There is no evidence that should be deemed "too sensitive" for "We The People" to hear. When I hear this it makes me think we are hiding things that puts the case in doubt.
Remember that Ali was legally in the United States. He was arrested in the United States and had not gone to court to hear his charges until very recently. He has been in prison since December 2001. Remember that you as an American citizen can be charged as an enemy combatant and have this happen to you. I have no idea if he is innocent or guilty and I do not care at this point. The point is that if you are a citizen of this country or if you are legally here from another country you should NEVER be held under any circumstances without due process. These are not the things we as citizens should accept or be proud of. These are the things that makes much of the rest of the world despise American government policies. We are supposed to be the ones showing the rest rest of the world how to be free and when we do things like this it makes us look no better than the countries we are fighting. In fact I think it makes us look like hypocrites. Charge them, let the case go to court and deal with the outcome. We are supposed to be a fair country, we need to act like one.
Watch this case. The implications are big.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Its only money
Wow, it our debt ever piling up. The thing of it is I do not see it coming in the pockets of the average American. I see corporate America getting rich and most of us getting screwed.
I bet there are many people who voted for Obama who are very disappointed right now.
Very depressing when you really look into the future. I am not at all convinced we are heading in the right direction. Not even sure what I need to see that will convince me. We have liars and schemers running the Congress and Senate who just play CYA all the time. It would be nice if they really cared. We really need to vote them all out and get some new people who have some vision and direction for the country.
I bet there are many people who voted for Obama who are very disappointed right now.
Very depressing when you really look into the future. I am not at all convinced we are heading in the right direction. Not even sure what I need to see that will convince me. We have liars and schemers running the Congress and Senate who just play CYA all the time. It would be nice if they really cared. We really need to vote them all out and get some new people who have some vision and direction for the country.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Idiot
I am such an idiot. Over the last two weekend I have taken close to three hundred pictures, including a 8 hour roadtrip last Saturday, only to find out I had screwed up my camera settings.
I had been showing my father some things on my camera and had changed the settings for the size of the pictures. All the pictures I took were no larger than 1.4mb, with most being around half that size. Nice job, what a damm waste of time.
I had been showing my father some things on my camera and had changed the settings for the size of the pictures. All the pictures I took were no larger than 1.4mb, with most being around half that size. Nice job, what a damm waste of time.
This weekend and random thoughts
So this weekend I will be attending the Tampa Bay Renaissance Festival and on Sunday I am going to the Tampa Bay Blues Festival. I have never been to one of the Renaissance Fests and I think it should be pretty cool. Sunday at the Blues Fest I want to see Tinsley Ellis, he is a fantastic guitar player. Should be a good weekend of relaxation and fun.
Some things I wonder about are:
1. When people go to the bank and cash their checks why do they always get their money in envelopes from the teller. Are you going to use that as your wallet or purse. Seems kind of stupid to me.
2. Why is my house a damm dust factory? I hate dusting.
3. Who is going to replace Chris Dodd as the Senator from Ct?
4. How long before the internet is a totally censored entity?
Some things I wonder about are:
1. When people go to the bank and cash their checks why do they always get their money in envelopes from the teller. Are you going to use that as your wallet or purse. Seems kind of stupid to me.
2. Why is my house a damm dust factory? I hate dusting.
3. Who is going to replace Chris Dodd as the Senator from Ct?
4. How long before the internet is a totally censored entity?
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Lying Liars
It now seems that Senator Chris Dodd ans some members of the administration negotiated the bonus plans back into some of the bailout bills they passed last month. So the senate knew this was a possibility and they had the gall to sit there today and grill AIG about this. What a bunch of idiots. No wonder people have so little respect for them anymore. Now they want to manipulate the tax code to get the money back. I say no way to that. Leave the tax code alone, thank you very much. That is a dangerous road to go down. Make AIG pay it back or maybe we should make the senate pay it back since ultimately they had the power to stop this weeks ago.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Bonus my Ass
Wow, I did not know you could get a bonus for doing a shitty job. I have been doing it wrong my whole life. I knew I was a moron.
Really how does this crap happen. We are actually going to let them get those bonus checks. I say no way. Its rather simple really. We tell them if they give the bonus to those employees that they get no more money from us. One of the arguments is that if we do not let them get the checks we will get sued. So what. I really do not care if it cost us 5 times as much in court to deny them those checks. If we had let AIG go under there would have been no checks or jobs for these sleazebags. Once they took all that money they gave up the right to be independent. Maybe we the stockholders need to fire the board and get somebody in there with a little spine. These people made all kinds of money screwing up the economy and now they get more, pathetic. We need to pressure them until they wilt under our power. Another proposal is we take the money from what we have already given them. Not acceptable. The only solution is the bonus checks are canceled. So what if they quit. You are not the best or you would have not gotten us into this mess.
Really how does this crap happen. We are actually going to let them get those bonus checks. I say no way. Its rather simple really. We tell them if they give the bonus to those employees that they get no more money from us. One of the arguments is that if we do not let them get the checks we will get sued. So what. I really do not care if it cost us 5 times as much in court to deny them those checks. If we had let AIG go under there would have been no checks or jobs for these sleazebags. Once they took all that money they gave up the right to be independent. Maybe we the stockholders need to fire the board and get somebody in there with a little spine. These people made all kinds of money screwing up the economy and now they get more, pathetic. We need to pressure them until they wilt under our power. Another proposal is we take the money from what we have already given them. Not acceptable. The only solution is the bonus checks are canceled. So what if they quit. You are not the best or you would have not gotten us into this mess.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Classic Movie Weekend
Today i am going to photo shooting in north of Florida and see what I can come up with. Should be a nice day for a roadtrip.
The rest of the weekend will be spent watching some good movies. They are as follows.
1. Chinatown
2. McCabe and Mrs. Miller
3. The Warriors
I have not seen these in a long long time and it will be good to see these. I watched The Warriors many times in college. It was a favorite of the guys on our floor.
Should be a good time.
The rest of the weekend will be spent watching some good movies. They are as follows.
1. Chinatown
2. McCabe and Mrs. Miller
3. The Warriors
I have not seen these in a long long time and it will be good to see these. I watched The Warriors many times in college. It was a favorite of the guys on our floor.
Should be a good time.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
South Carolinian moron
So it seems that Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina does not want any of the stimulus money for South Carlina. I am sure that they have no need for the money. I guess he has never traveled the many miles of shitty roads that lace the state. He also must not have visited the many towns that have been devastated by all the factories that have moved out. I guess he wants to keep the state a little backwards compared to the rest of the country. I suggest he dust off his resume if he intends refuse the money. With leaders like this no wonder we are so screwed up.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Busted
Today I found out the my 16 year old nephew was hanging around a bunch of kids at school yesterday and somebody thought they were dealing drugs. They got hauled into the office and searched, nothing was found. However they called all the parents. When he got home with his father, his father tore the room apart and found some weed. Oops, not good. He does very well in school. He is a junior and has made the deans list every semester but one and he wants to be an engineer. I am not one to preach so much, and he knows I smoked in high school. It is not a family secret. However I told him that things are not the same as when I was in school and if he gets busted things will be much different for him. Being 16 he of course has no clue about this and I explained this too him. Hopefully he understand and is not giving me lip service. However being 16 I am sure he does not really want to listen to any adult.
Things
This past weekend while I over on the east coast I got to see the latest rocket launch from NASA. They launched a Delta rocket late Friday. There was not a cloud in the sky so you could see it quite well. It is very cool. If you ever get the chance to see one lift off I urge you to go. This one you could see it several hundred miles down range because to weather was so nice.
On Sunday my father and I went to a flea market on there was a guy in drag walking around. He was getting pissed because people were laughing at him. Well he did actually look quite odd as he looked like and like a big old guy with scraggly hair wearing a women's outfit. No attempt to hide the fact he was a guy by any means. He just looked strange.
On Sunday my father and I went to a flea market on there was a guy in drag walking around. He was getting pissed because people were laughing at him. Well he did actually look quite odd as he looked like and like a big old guy with scraggly hair wearing a women's outfit. No attempt to hide the fact he was a guy by any means. He just looked strange.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Melbourne
Off to the east coast this weekend to visit my parents who are down from Ct. on vacation.
It should be a good time as I only see them once or twice a year. The weather will be great so we should be out and about having fun.
My cold has about run its course finally. There are a lot of people with colds, sinus problems right now. Pollen count is very high.
Its a good thing the stock market keeps falling so my IRA continues to fall like a stone. I always planned on working until I was 80 or so. They better get that shit fixed. Many more people have been affected by that crap than anything else and nobody really says anything about it. Nice job guys.
It should be a good time as I only see them once or twice a year. The weather will be great so we should be out and about having fun.
My cold has about run its course finally. There are a lot of people with colds, sinus problems right now. Pollen count is very high.
Its a good thing the stock market keeps falling so my IRA continues to fall like a stone. I always planned on working until I was 80 or so. They better get that shit fixed. Many more people have been affected by that crap than anything else and nobody really says anything about it. Nice job guys.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Pollen, Snot and Aches
Wow, the pollen is kicking my ass. I have been down for the count for the last three days. Can't breathe one minute, runny nose the next. Headache and body ache all day long. I even went out to my truck at lunch today and slept the whole hour. I did feel a little better after that but not much. I would have called in sick if I did not have to use vacation time for work missed. I will not call in sick unless I am at deaths door. I wish we would get some damm rain and wash the pollen away I can not take much more of feeling like crap.
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