Rolla Mornings Live

Amateur Night at the Gallows

2007-01-03T14:39:00.000-08:00

Congratulate the Kurds, swing with the Shiites; get in sync with the new government, Sunnis.

Whatever is next, the wicked witch of the Middle East is dead, despite the muted complaints from the Munchkins of appeasement in Europe, the Vatican , and the American right and left.

Oh the hand wringing!

You’d think the Iraqi’s had murdered Jesus and all the apostles…on Good Friday.

Flame throwers are expert at producing hot air

They’d have you believe Saddam; was executed too soon, too late, on a holiday, before a holiday, was tortured, was danced around, was argued with…teased, had too tight a rope…too loose a rope, was unfairly tried, was executed before he was supposed to, was dangled too long…not long enough, should have gotten life, execution will cause more violence, etc., etc., ad nausea.

And, Oy Vey, the pick ‘em up truck his body was transported in? Who was driving it, Larry the Cable guy? SHOCKING!

And to top it off, the Sunnis won’t like us.

SO WHAT???

They didn’t like us before the war. Remember Osama?

At least Iraqi Sunnis can recognize the destruction Saddam caused fellow Iraqis just to keep himself, Uday and Qusay in business.

At least 80% of the Iraqi population is thrilled Saddam and his rape room sons aren’t coming back, despite what the liberal press says. In a country where very little is accepted as fact, Saddam has been feared for over 25 years…justifiably so. Smuggled or not, the images were clear. Saddam and his evil seed are gone…forever. Seeing is believing.

Besides if left alive, President Hillary RODHAM/clinton would have Hussein pardoned for a modest million or three contribution to her “Library”. Saddam’s net worth was estimated at $57 billion. (It’s good to be the despot…until they string you up.) After all, this week’s story is she made a boo-boo voting for the war, greens fee for running on the Democratic ’08 ticket.

The pardon would happen just after she was sworn in and before Bill had a chance to interview the new flock of interns to the White House.

Hello, information here. This is Saddam Hussein we’re talking about. The man murdered and tortured enemies, many the very same Iraqis that Bush Senior told to trust us in ‘91…then abandoned for the UN. Hussein dispatched whole families, their friends, and their babies. These enemies were made an example of, as a warning to anyone who was considering stepping out of line.

Men, women, children.

It mattered not to Saddam. Hell, he dispatched his members of his own family when he felt threatened. It must have been Hell contemplating that last serving of falafel at the palace dining room table with Hussein staring at you.

Almost all were tortured and murdered without benefit of even a thought of a trial that Saddam received. The lucky ones were spared by having a quick death without seeing family members ripped apart before them. The bodies were summarily dumped in mass graves, without the religious cleansing and proper Muslim burial, demanded by some for the very monster that perpetrated his form of “justice” for his fellow Muslims.

Where was the outrage then? Where was the UN? Where was the Vatican ? Where was Europe ? Where was France ?

Most were in his pocket in one way or another. The others? Who can explain the mental illness of appeasement?

I can’t.

Besides, the Iraqi Dictator was a mortal enemy to the USA , AND his neighbors.

I know because I have Democrats on record telling us so, then voting for war twice, the first time under Bill Clinton, before 9/11 changed us forever.

The most important inheritance you can leave your country is the example you set in life.

If anything, Saddam was outraged because he was being “tortured” by pure amateurs. I’m sure he would have gleefully postponed his swing under the gallows just to give a few pointers on how to be a real beast.

On the other end of the world, President Bush has set the example of what even a beleaguered commander in chief can accomplish with a weak, yet voted in Democracy.
The most important reason to rejoice in Saddam’s demise is exactly why he murdered so many.

It should serve as a deterrent to some of the other leader mongrels. They don’t want to die. They just want others to die for them. Osama, Ah’m Mad, Zawahiri, and Jong, may not give up…yet, but they have been put on warning.

Remember our new buddy Gaddafi? He wised up when the first Marine hit Iraqi sand.

Winning is not a four letter word.

The only way to win this war…and it’s a long way from being won, is to kill enough of the leaders. They aren’t in the dying business. They’re in the power business. Dying is for the expendable.

On the other end of the world, President Bush has set the example of what even a beleaguered commander in chief can accomplish.

Now if only those Munchkins can just follow the yellow brick road long enough to let our president win this war…

The great, great, great grandson of Frankenstein

2006-12-27T06:14:00.000-08:00

Noted politician, Internet inventor, public decrier of all things Bush, and all around Liberal Extraordinaire, ex-VP Al Gore has come down from the clouds. He was doubtlessly in conference with the almighty, Willard Scott. Al declared global warming as an "Inconvenient Truth." Alas, the common folk blamed for their contribution, have been ordered to buy fuel efficient vehicles, called hybrids.

For my part, I now carry four hybrids in my bag and use a battery driven golf cart VS my old gas guzzler. No sacrifice here. I've cut my handicap by two and have saved enough on gas to buy my wife a cheap boob job…a clearance rack.

I hear the History Channel was cancelled…too many repeats

Sadly for Al, many have not given up their TV. Occasionally, my remote ends up pointing at the History Channel. I was watching the history of Napoleon and his disastrous retreat from the frozen Russian tundra in December of 1812. I heard it was cold because of a strange epoch called the Little Ice Age or LIA.

You see, the LIA began in 1250 and lasted to 1850.

A 600 year's Ice Age. Just 157 years ago. WOW! Who woulda thought? I didn't catch that on CNN.

Professors dumped on Al so much, he had to take out a permit as a landfill.

While some scientists inexplicably side with Gore in blaming the current earth population for future dooms and gloom, many experts dissent. Even I know the industrial revolution and its' epidemic of pollutants and ozone eating Freon and Co2 came after the entire world's cooling and warming history.

Of course there's ample evidence that man made Co2 does NOT create global warming.
Paleoclimatologist Professor Tim Patterson explained when Co2 levels were 10 times more than they are today some 450 million years ago, the earths' temperatures were the coldest than at any time in the last 1/2 billion years.

Professor Bob Carter of Marine Geophysical Lab at James Cook University, Australia, used the words "pathetic," "weak," and "circumstantial" to describe Al's "Inconvenient Truth."

Our fabulous and fair UN has declared man half as much responsible for global warming as Al has accused him of.

However, the pressure not to contradict Al Gores' hot flashes has brainwashed some in the senate that believe free speech ends with Al Gore's nutty theories. Senators Snowe and Rockefeller have demanded Exxon Mobil cease and desist in funding any scientist with a view contrary to Al Gore and the rest of the weathery nuts.

This may be far-fetched, but I believe Al Gore has an ulterior motive for wanting us to believe we're in for a scorching.

History has a way of burning off the fog of propaganda.

You see, in 1816, 34 years before the end of the LIA, a young woman named Mary Shelley took a June vacation to Lake Geneva She was hoping to get a lot of R&R outside on the water and shore.

Those 12 months were notorious as the "year without a summer." The people Mary was with decided to stay warm indoors and have a ghost writing contest. One guest, Dr. John Polidori came up with The Vampyire, later used by Bram Stoker to create the modern shocker.
Mary could think of nothing.

However, in the middle of the night of that wintry summer, she had what she called a walking dream where the story of "Frankenstein" played before her eyes.

Other than the obvious physical similarities between them, if you Google Al Gore with Shelley and Frankenstein, you find 677,000 hits…coincidence?

"24 cans of beer in a case, 24 hours in a day…coincidence?" (Steven Wright.) Methinks not.

There is as much evidence that Al Gore is the Great, Great, Great grandson of Frankenstein as is the global warming "truth" frothing from his mouth.

So, I ask. Is Al Gore interested in so-called Global Warming? Or is it a deke to hide his real identity and its' cause, the 600 year Little Ice Age from which Al's spiritual forbears, if not literal ones came from.

In fact, according to the UN, the most devastating effect on the environment is caused not by planes, SUVS, or Co2. What's more harmful?

Cow manure.

That brings us back to Al Gore. Even Frankenstein couldn't overcome the wrath of the pitchfork wielding villagers.

Al Gore has been deemed irrelevant by something a little lower on the food chain: fertilizer, better known in popular vernacular as bullsh-t.

Harry's Leftovers (12/23/06)

2006-12-23T14:17:00.001-08:00

"'tis the season to be jolly....". Maybe....maybe not! Things seem to be a little slow on the local news front this time of year. I'm not sure if it's lack of effort on the part of the newsies or if we really go into a lull at this time of year. But it always seems a good time to be out with the old (leftovers) to make room for the new. So here is some of my end of year house cleaning.

TCOB.....It is the holiday time so there always seems to be some holiday expectations. I think I'm starting to notice some real backlash with all the PC crap (oops!) about this time of year. Seems like I get one or two emails a day poking fun at the PCness of some businesses and people around this time. I am absolutely tired of it myself and I don't think I want to play anymore. So, let's take care of this holiday business: For me and from me it's Merry Christmas. That's my holiday and I wish everybody the best of what it means. And it's OK for my family to also be wishing a Happy Chanukah. But if that's not enough for you, I hope you have a good--whatever you're into--but my wishes have to come from what I believe.

CHRISTMAS SEASON IS JUST TOO LONG! If you know me, you know that I am an avid TV watcher. In browsing the TV guide this week, I noticed that networks are even showing reruns of Christmas shows that played only a couple of weeks ago! When the hype and advertising for the holiday have gone on for so long that the media mogels can't even fill a schedule, it's gone on too damned long! No wonder people get shopped out and worn out over the holidays. I couldn't carry-on for five weeks even when I was 40 years younger!

I TOLD YOU SO! You may recall that I bemoaned the departure of Martin Schwartz as the editor of the RDN. I also wondered how long it would take to slip back to the "old" RDN. Have you noticed that we no longer get a posting of gasoline prices on the front page (or anywhere else)? These disappeared about the time Rolla's prices started going all over the board and Rolla suddenly jumped to some of the highest in the state. Is that a coincidence (insert your favorite conspiracy theory here) or laziness? Have you noticed that the Monday front page is usually features and fluff rather than hard news? I guess nothing happens in our sleepy little town from early Friday til Monday morning. I guess I miss the passion that Martin brought to the paper for the brief time he was among us.

ANOTHER CONSPIRACY THEORY? Seems that President Bush just signed into law a series of tax changes (deductions) that will benefit many tax payers. The problem is that these changes came about AFTER the IRS printed tax forms for this year. So there is a good chance that a lot of people who could benefit won't notice or know how to apply the deductions. The result--overpayment by many tax payers. At a time when we have one of the biggest deficts in ages and have a costly war to pay for, is this "overcollecting" just a coincidence?

WHERE OR WHERE HAS MY CABLE TV GONE...? Are you aware that both the Fidelity Cable franchise and the City's agreement with Channel 16 expire in a couple of months and, although the City had a "blue ribbon" panel working this year, we could be facing screens of gray fuzz in the near future? No one officially seems to be too concerned, but that's the way we often do business--the big rush at the last minute. The combined meeting time for two City Council meetings in December was less than an hour and a half. Wouldn't this have been a good time, without any other pressing issues, to get some of this taken care of instead of waiting for the clock to run out?

SPEAKING OF BUSINESS AS USUAL.... The City Council did approve a new agreement with the Chamber for the tourism tax. And it's far better than the previous agreement! At an earlier meeting, Councilman Magdits called for more specific benchmarks--measurable points of progress--to be included in the agreement. Approval was actually postponed so this could happen. Councilman Magdits missed the last meeting and others pushed to approve the agreement without the new benchmarks. We'll learn what the Chamber is really supposed to do and how we will measure their progress in March or April--AFTER the agreement has already taken effect. Seems like business as usual between the City and the Chamber--here's the money and tell us sometime how you spent it for us.

AND JUST A TASTE OF THE NEW.... Is TIF really going to happen? Will UMR still be here next year? Will be getting a "Lions Club" upscale grocery? What new I-44 exit? These are a few of the issues to be addressed during my predictions for 2007. Tune in this week and see!

And finally, I'll close with my usual prayer: Lord protect me from those who have no sense of humor and take themselves too seriously. And protect them from me! Grant me the knowledge to recognize the idiot in the room...and give me the wisdom to keep my mouth shut when the idiot is me!

P.S. Have a Happy New Year! If this isn't your new year--have a nice day!

The Borough Park Playoffs

2006-12-19T10:13:00.000-08:00

By Joni Weinbaum

My first anniversary trip with my new husband was an obvious choice. New York has always been one of my favorite places.

OK, Rio was close behind but I hadn’t updated my passport with my newly married name, Weinbaum.

Yep, I married a Jew.

I knew my husband shared the same love of NYC as I did and it seemed appropriate that we would spend our first anniversary in the city that never sleeps. David doesn’t sleep either. He often wakes in the middle of the night to write…something that makes me envious. We are usually on the same page on most issues but mostly, I am drawn to his passion for writing and baseball.

Being in the city for five days, we did our share of theatre and comedy as well as enjoy the natives in the local sports bars. We were missing our own St. Louis Cardinals home games during an incredibly exciting week of playoffs. Marriage is indeed a sacrifice; but who knew, that the Cards would ever make it to the World Series, much less win the whole thing?

Our busy schedule included a first time meeting with the chief editor of Jewish World Review, Binyamin L. Jolkovsky. We planned a lunch with Bin in Brooklyn ’s Flatbush at a kosher restaurant, The Jerusalem II. What was as much of surprise as the menu was the man who was waiting for us. A younger than expected, man of thirty five or so, Bin was dressed to the tees in suit, tie, and yamulka.

Bin’s eyes were soft and quiet, and he sat as if he was uncomfortable with the time he was about to commit to us. He immediately assured us he was happy to meet us and time was not a problem and yes, he had not been to sleep since the day before and it was approaching one in the afternoon. After lunch and few photos, Dave and I were ready to catch a subway back to Time’s Square for the three o’clock Cardinal game.

Bin, eager to show off his beloved Brooklyn, insisted Dave and I would benefit from a walking tour of an area that boasts the highest population of Jews next to Israel ; Flatbush and Borough Park .

I guess the Cardinals would have to wait.

Borough Park was a bit of a hike so we chased a bus for two blocks. David played track star making sure the driver wouldn’t outpace us.

I think the men hadn’t noticed I wasn’t wearing my track shoes. Flagging a cab had to be easier but this wasn’t Manhattan and I didn’t want to seem a sissy; after all I am the only one who got a night’s sleep.

We didn’t have enough change for the fare but Bin got us on with one word to the grumpy driver: “Tourists”. The driver rolled his eyes and grudgingly let us on board while the locals chuckled.

Upon arriving at the main drag in Borough Park I was overwhelmed by an amazing feeling of festivity in the air. All thoughts of Busch Stadium would have to wait as I stepped off the bus and into another world.

This was fascinating!

Sukkot, another Jewish holiday, was tomorrow and all the pedestrians were rushing to get ready. Preparation for this holiday is serious business as families with small children, all in conservative dress, walked on the crowded street to finish their days shopping. We were elbow to elbow with baby strollers and shoppers carry bags. The smell from nearby bakeries hovered with fresh bread.

Bin, explained earlier, his household was expecting several guests and his job was to do buy the food as his wife had a full time career and a long commute. He also had to return home to finish editing AND he had afternoon prayers.

I begged him to stop walking and get some of his shopping done. Besides, my high heels were starting to pinch my toes. Painstaking activities had to be done before dusk prayers and something was telling me our host was running out of time.

On the other hand, the wig stores and toy shops along with tailors and tanners…darn I wanted to join the fun. The women’s hats stores had the most ornate and colorful designs so I took it upon myself to stop the men and wander. I was clearly a tourist and didn’t want to be rude by schlepping one of their beautiful headdresses on my untidy coif. Oh, did I mention that I was the only woman in the entire borough to sport slacks? There wasn’t a female without a long, modest dress.

I grabbed my camera to capture one of the most beautiful sights I have witnessed in the American landscape. Young boys, behind endless tables that lined crowded sidewalks, were dressed in the formal attire of the culture and calling out as vendors in a ballpark. All claimed to have the best, not to mention the most affordable, merchandise.

Two plants were displayed meticulously: a long green palm and an etrog, a bumpy green fruit that resembles a lemon. Later I found out the long straight palm branch represents the spine and the etrog fruit represents the heart. Separately, these parts have the potential to be used for sin, but were joined together in the performance of mitzvoth or commandments. These symbols weren’t cheap either and each man held them up to study as if buying a diamond. WOW!

“Bin, what’s the scoop here?! You’d think it was a groom picking out his bride’s ring!”

“Well, that’s not a bad analogy.”

Analogy, I thought. Boy, am I clever but how am I going capture this on paper?

What was most apparent was the amount of peace I felt being in the midst of these people and the number of children being led by pregnant young moms, insurance the traditions this Judaism, a religion which is father to my own, will live on.

I felt connected to this culture yet I felt and looked so out of place. I could only be a tourist here but the questions I had kept coming and time was running out.

We finally thanked and bid Bin Shalom.

David and I made it back to Manhattan in time to catch the last couple of innings of our beloved Cardinals. But, I couldn’t stop thinking about what I had just experienced in Brooklyn .

As we walked back to the hotel that evening, we began making plans for next year.

Forget Rio, NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM !

RUN LIKE A LIB, GOVERN LIKE A BUSH

2006-12-19T10:07:00.000-08:00

Elections are like Mistletoe. Ya get under ‘em and you gotta kiss who’s already there.

Dems promised in exchange for our votes to:

Impeach Bush
Cut and run Murtha style.
Enact ALL 9/11 committee recommendations.
Impeach Bush.
Bring back the draft.
Raise taxes.
Impeach Cheney.
Amend the Constitution to include a Terrorists Bill of Rights by trying them in American courts defended by American lawyers instead of military tribunals like was done in previous wars. The anti-USA ACLU is licking its collective chops.
Rid the country of that nasty NSA wiretap of terrorists, lest we make Bush look like he’s been effective at warding off ALL ATTACKS SINCE 9/11/2001 on American soil.
Impeach Bush.

Elections humble what power corrupts.

Okay, so Dems won with leading the fanatics in a fantasy of Lib ecstasy. That particular dream of watching Bush, Cheney, Condi, Rummy, Rove, Card and Bolton perp walked in cuffs down the White House front lawn wasn’t very realistic anyway, was it?

Getting to the peak is one thing. Before you can fly off you have to check your bearings, fuel, wings and resistance. Reality and political logic seem to have set in.

Impeaching the President? Dropped quicker than new Senator Webb’s intended left hook to the President’s jaw.
Rangel’s daffy draft dredge? He was last seen with his pie hole duct taped, on his way to Cheney’s old office. Heard Nancy had to use two rolls.
Link up the Bush Administration to a chain gang in Alabama ? Except for soon to be acquitted or pardoned Libby, not even an indictment, much less a conviction.
9/11 recs? Buried lower than John Kerry’s presidential chances.
Cut and run? Carl Levin now “listening to the generals in the field.” Sound familiar? Murtha was Swift boated by his own party.
Tax increases? Dems NOW want to make a whole slew of Repub tax cuts permanent! The party of billionaire and multi millionaire leaders has realized their faux passé.
The terrorist bill of rights and NSA/ Patriot Act are still up in the air, but give the Libs a chance. The next election isn’t for almost 2 years!

The nutty left must be livid!

Never kiss a woman with botoxed lips, unless you’re carrying the antidote

I consulted Democratic meeting facilitator, Oprah Seed, on what all this meant. She believes that the Dems are getting smart.

Pelosi, Reid, Schumer, and Emmanuel, played their cards to power via a hate Bush, wrong war, Repubs are corrupt hand. The flop paired up with the voters desires. The Repubs, all in, folded like a cheap towel.

Now in control, Dems seem to be acknowledging we are at war and if it wasn’t Iraq , it’d be somewhere over “there”, that Bush isn’t running in ’08, and they have as much of a corrupt mess to clean up of their own congressmen before the next election cycle.

They ran to the left and are governing to the center. Clinton did the exact opposite, at least until he lost both houses in ’94.

Could it be the Dems plan to STAY in power?

As Oprah said, the way to find the politician in a snowball fight is to look for the one throwing curveballs.

Let’s see how long their arms last, before their Lib money managers pull ‘em for a true southpaw.

Harry's Leftovers (11/9/06)

2006-11-09T16:05:00.000-08:00

Wow! It's been a month since I've done some housecleaning. So I guess that makes it time to clean the shelves and clear the air. So here is some stuff I haven't been able to throw out in a while.

"We hardly knew ye...." I am saddened and disturbed by the departure of Martin Schwartz from the Rolla Dailey News. I feel some pride in saying before that the guy was too good and too smart to be at the RDN very long. In the short time he was here, he raised the level of professionalism at the paper, restored a lot of faith in that medium, and gave us an unbiased look at the workings of the City, RMU, and other organizations which pretended to be "public bodies." And it was obvious that some of those entities were not used to having their actions reviewed publically. I thank Steve Sowers for giving us Martin, even for a short time, but I worry about how long it will be before we regress to the old "Rolla Dailey Snooze" without someone like Martin at the helm. Time will tell.

An observation. Next time you are out-and-about in a rain storm, notice the number of people who still haven't caught on that State law requires your car lights to be on when the wipers are being used.

Are these folks for real???? I am increasingly concerned and alarmed by the number of tv ads which use stylized video-game type characters to hawk products and services instead of flesh and blood people. Charles Schwab investment ads come to mind. Here is my concern: has this generation played so many video games with these stylized characters that they no longer realize these folks aren't real. It appears so, if a noted brokerage house uses them to market and endorse their services. Sad,....tres sad!!!!!!!

I raised a question on the morning show a couple of weeks ago: Are some people too dumb to be allowed to vote? I think the folks in the above will fall into that group for me.

Is UMR (or whatever) behind the curve? Based on comments by Councilperson Wiggins and the need to do something with our own Rolla National Airport, I proposed on-air this morning that UMR take on the airport as a project with the city--establishing their new research park and being creative in addressing new energy and infrastructure needs. This very afternoon, I read in the Columbia Tribune that the City of Columbia is going to buy wind-generated electricity from a company founded by (formerly Rolla's own) Tom Carnahan, who is a lawyer--not an engineer! Doesn't that put the home of THE state technological university a little behind the curve? It does in my mind.

PS. Has the Chancellor realized his folly? I noticed this name change thing has certainly been under the radar and out of the news lately. I just hope we are not in for a big surprise!

Some final election follow-up: It's not my job to be the election commentator, but here are some things I find interesting as a voter and a citizen. I'm sure some of my Republican friends will be offended.

Mr. Ashcroft lost his senate seat to a dead guy and got a job in the Bush Administration. At least Mr. Talent lost to a living candidate, so what does Mr. Bush have in line for him? (Is that too irreverent?)

I like that we have senators from different parties. This puts the concept of representing Missouri to the test--shouldn't they now vote together more than differently, if they are truly putting Missouri first? Can't wait to see the finger pointing and hear the excuses on that one!

I thought Mr. Bush was very presidential at his post-election news conference. He did and said things I would expect from my president. (Yes, he is my president, even if I didn't vote for him). He said he believes everyone wants the same things--good education, strong economy, feeling safe--even if we disagree on the methods. That's a starting point for working together. So here is the challenge and the test--anybody can lead when all the advantages are yours. Now that the Republicans don't control congress, but still control the veto pen, it becomes a test of leadership to get things done. For both sides!!!!

I am amazed when I listen to the excuses and explanations as to why the Republicans lost ground, especially in Missouri. Senator Bond said he felt the recent Republican scandals contributed. Another explanation was that stem cells brought out a large vote and the Democratic success paralleled that issue. Another was the minimum wage issue brought out people who don't usually vote. I know it is important to analyze, but at the same time, don't overlook the obvious--just maybe after being in power for so long, they are a bit out of touch. I think this happens when any party is in power too long--party arrogance. I also see stories about finding a strategy to regain power or control. I may be naive, but shouldn't it be about something on a little higher plain than power and control?

Was I the only one disappointed when Senator Talent said he did not regret the tone of his campaign?

And finally, I'll close with my usual prayer: Lord protect me from those who have no sense of humor and take themselves too seriously. And protect them from me! Grant me the knowledge to recognize the idiot in the room...and give me the wisdom to keep my mouth shut when the idiot is me!

JOHN KERRY’S TO DO LIST FROM 10/30/06

2006-11-02T09:37:00.000-08:00

JOHN KERRY’S TO DO LIST FROM 10/30/06

1. Service the “cash cow”-ugh! X
2. "Hunt” for Thanksgiving feast in downtown Boston . X
3. Throw out rejection letters from MENSA. X
4. Check out widowed Billionaireses on Match.com. X
5. Buy his Lerch costume for Halloween. X
6. Go to ATM and cash $20 million check from –ugh- Teresa. X
7. Schedule Teresa on next space shuttle. X
8. Call US Troops, that he’s already called baby-killers and terrorists, idiots. X
9. Single handedly wipe out any chance at all of the Democrats gaining majority in next weeks’ elections. X
10. Reserve himself a picture bio next to the word “loser” in dictionary. X

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

2006-11-02T09:22:00.000-08:00

10. Politicians put their foot down on those that refuse to kickback.
9. I put the cherry on the bottom of my sundae. I wanted to feel like I’ve earned it.
8. Hold your head high without looking down on others.
7. Unless you’re in the dictionary, you might as well define yourself.
6. If you can’t say anything nice about someone, write about him and get paid.
5. Be on the ball, but don’t lose your balance.
4. Last one late to class always sits in the squeaky chair.
3. A flame thrower is never as happy as when he is in pitched battle.
2. My doctor auditioned to set my broken arm, but he didn’t make the cast.
1. Let truth become your persuasion.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

2006-10-30T06:39:00.000-08:00

DR. PHIL:
The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must
first deal with the problem on "THIS" side of the road before it goes
after the problem on the "OTHER SIDE" of the road. What we need to do is
help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his "CURRENT"
problems before adding "NEW" problems.

OPRAH:
Well I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he
wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn
from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to
give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and
not live his life like the rest of the chickens.

GEORGE W. BUSH:
We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to
know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is
either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.

DONALD RUMSFELD:
Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image
of the chicken crossing the road.

CHENEY...
Where's my shotgun?

ANDERSON COOPER/CNN:
We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been
allowed to have access to the other side of the road.

JOHN KERRY: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now
against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the
chicken's intentions.

JUDGE JUDY:
That chicken crossed the road because he's GUILTY! You can see it in his
eyes and the way he walks.

PAT BUCHANAN:To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.

MARTHA STEWART: No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was
going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs
when the price dropped to a certain level.

DR SEUSS:
Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the
chicken crossed the road, but why i t crossed I've not been told.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY:
To die in the rain. Alone.

JERRY FALWELL:
Because the chicken was gay! Can't you people see the plain truth in
front of your face? The chicken was going to the "other side." That's
why they call it the "other side. Yes, my friends, that chicken is gay.
And if you eat that chicken, you will become gay too. I say we boycott
all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the liberal media
white washes with seemingly harmless phrases like "the other side." That
chicken should not be free to cross the road. It's as plain and simple
as that!

GRANDPA:
In my day we didn't ask why the chicken cros sed the road. Somebody told
us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.

BARBARA WALTERS:
Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the
chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it
experienced a serious case of molti ng, and went on to accomplish its
life long dream of crossing the road.

JOHN LENNON:
Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together - in
peace.

ARISTOTLE:
It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.

BILL GATES; I have just released eChicken2006,which will not only cross
roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance
your check book. Internet explorer is an integral part of chicken. The
Platform is much more stable and will
never cra...#@&&^( C \..... reboot.

ALBERT EINSTEIN:
Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the
chicken?

BILL CLINTON:
I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What is your definition of
chicken?

COLONEL SANDERS:
Did I miss one?

LARGE PRINT GIVETH. Fine print taketh away.

2006-10-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

Did you ever notice how many variations of the truth always seem to surface at election time? We hear a campaign ad that states "My opponent voted against aid for widows and orphans.", and we think "What a jerk!" Later the opponent runs an ad stating that he voted against extravagant spending on salary increases for politicians. The confusing part is, both statements can be true, and they can even be referring to the same bill.

There is nothing to keep a legislator from taking a great sounding and beneficial piece of legislation like our "Widows and Orphans Benefit Act" and tacking on an amendment which, if the bill passes, will result in a huge pay increase for the legislator and his staff. The incumbent legislator may find himself having to vote against the widows and orphans in order to kill the huge political salary increase. Then, later, at election time, his opponent is waving that vote against the widows and orphans like the American flag on the fourth of July. This is why every Governor and the President needs line item veto. With line item veto, the executive branch could veto the budget busting salary increase for the politicians, while allowing the Widows and Orphans Benefits to be signed into law.

An even more devious practice is writing a prohibition for some measure into an issue to be placed on the ballot, then, way down in the fine print, adding language to specifically allow the very measure voters thought the prohibition measure on the ballot did away with.

Sound familiar?.....It should. You will have an opportunity to vote on just such a measure on November seventh. It is called amendment 2, otherwise known as the Stem Cell Initiative. Lets look at it closely. Section 38(d) Paragraph 2, subparagraph 1 states "No person may clone, or attempt to clone a human being."

On the surface, this looks to be iron clad, but let's look deeper. Buried down on page 3 of 4, paragraph 5 states "Human embryonic stem cell research," also referred to as "early stem cell research," means any scientific or medical research involving human stem cells derived from in vitro fertilization blastocysts or from somatic cell nuclear transfer. For purposes of this section, human embryonic stem cell research does not include stem cell clinical trials.

What nobody includes in the ballot information is this very important fact. Somatic cell nuclear transplant, when done with sheep cells, made world wide news when we all got our first look at Dolly the Sheep. That's right...A CLONE, and the very process used to produce it is specifically allowed in amendment 2.

You have got to watch these people every second, and read every word. If you are like me, you have got to have someone who knows all these medical terms translate it for you. In this ballot issue, I see a very deliberate attempt to lull the voter considering it into a false sense of security regarding the prohibition of human cloning, then do exactly the opposite of what he thinks he is voting for. The prohibition was right up front on page one where nobody would miss it. The specific language allowing this particular cloning technique was tucked away over three quarters of the way through lots of legal and medical terminology where nobody will see it.

If Amendment 2 passes, and someone asks you what Missourian has red bushy hair, big floppy shoes, and lives in a test tube, the answer is.....Bozo the Clone.

Be careful at the polls!

Playing Catchup with Tech Soup!

2006-10-24T10:13:00.000-07:00

Tech Soup Episode 4 - September 20, 2006

Have you ever wondered what Windows Services are and why you need them? What they are: Processes that support functionality for the operating system and user accounts. Why you need them: Well...you don't need ALL of them. Actually, you can run Windows applications and surf the web without using ANY services according to Mark's Sysinternals blog. If you're not ready to disable or set all of your services to manual, you can find out what they do by visiting an excellent tutorial at PCStats.com.

Tech Soup Episode 5 - October 11, 2006

If you surf the 'net on a regular basis, then you've been hearing about the new release of Internet Explorer 7. If you're preferred browser happens to be Firefox, you've also been breathlessly awaing the release of Firefox 2.0. Both should be ready for download by the end of October. If you don't download and install IE7, it will be pushed out to your computer via Windows Update (I didn't know that when we did this show, Steve...) beginning November 1. If you want to know more about IE7 and the automatic delivery, visit Microsoft. If you want to keep up with what's happening with Firefox 2.0, visit Mozilla.

Desperate Ex-Presidents

2006-10-20T05:39:00.000-07:00

Great presidents never die…but they do know when to SHUT UP!

Whoever said politicians are all alike, haven’t studied recent ex-presidents. Ford, Reagan, and Bush 1, were all succeeded by Dems, Ronnie one removed. To my knowledge, they maintained their quiet over policies and behaviors they would deem ridiculous.

Even Nixon remained quiet while rebuilding his reputation, after his deserved self banishment from office.

Thus, the Republicans maintained the dignity of their country, party, themselves, but most of all; the Presidency itself.

Some leave their mark, others just a stain

The opposite is true of our most recent Democratic commander in chiefs. They can’t resist any and all attempts to attack their successors, even on foreign turf.

Since Clinton has befriended the emir of Dubai , Sheik Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Matoum, he has been paid to bestow several speeches to the UAE for about $400,000 a sermon. This Arab country, supporter of the Israeli boycott, also contributed about $500,000 to the Clinton Library.

No wonder our most recent ex-president danced on his wife’s presidential chances when he urged Dubya to give over our ports to recent backers of the Taliban, the UAE. During the last speech he criticized his successor for the Iraq war, ignoring the fact that removing Saddam was one of the major tenets in his own pre-9/11 administration.

Carter has been equally busy.

While visiting Castro in 2002, Carter lavished praise on the Cuban health and education systems while forgetting to mention the thousands of political prisoners Fidel had languishing in his prisons. Two years later President Jimmy felt it necessary to confirm Hugo Chavez’s controversial “election” as el-presidente of Venezuela , despite evidence of murders by Hugo’s brown shirts and a 59% exit poll that revealed the Devil pointer lost.

Now Carter wants to blame Bush for the anti nuke deal he made as a Clinton assignee to appease Little Kim in 1994. What chutzpah! It proves that a fool and his policies are never parted.

Never leave a dullard alone with a sharp knife.

Why the difference between Republican and Democrat ex-presidents?

History hasn’t been kind to Carter, his mishandling of the economy and failure to do anything effective in the kidnapping of our embassy personnel from Tehran until his embarrassing performance helped Ronald Reagan get elected.
Clinton , always the selfish prick, was more concerned with popularity polls than protecting his country. Instead of making decisions that a real commander in chief would make he hid behind his self imposed impeachment struggle.
Both are so arrogant they believe the country can’t do without their “expert” leadership. One is so eager to get his former residence back he’s pushing (I mean supporting) his wife to run.
The number one reason they won’t shut up is the CC boys can’t stand to be out of the spotlight. They both have a relentless need for attention.

Let’s not go overboard. As my good friend and liberal lobbyist, Phil A. Buster, reminded me, “Hey Bushbot, those guys have done great things since they were in office.”

He’s right. Carter has been tireless in his work for Habitat for Humanity, building homes for the needy donning hammer and nails himself alongside wife, Rosalynn.

Clinton and George Senior have raised billions for Tsunami victims (mostly Muslim), and hurricane victims.

Deny truth and you must rationalize the lie

On balance though, it’s plain to most that ex-presidents shouldn’t interfere with the new commander in chief. It’s no longer their job to protect America and Americans from Islamofacist slaughter, the likes we seem to forget about until 9/11 movies suddenly remind us of the horrible deaths suffered by 3,000 of our brethren on that awful day.

Besides, both Carter and especially Clinton bear much of the responsibility for enabling and encouraging terrorists to attack and attack and attack. They convinced the likes of Osama, Saddam and Zarhawi that the USA was a paper tiger and would eventually back down.

Bush and future presidents need a chance to disprove Osama’s skepticism. Carter and Clinton can help. All they need do is keep doing what they’re good at, helping the poor and troubled…and stay out of what they never had a talent for, foreign policy.

The Purpose of Government

2006-10-17T03:15:00.000-07:00

At the October 16 meeting, the Rolla City Council completely lost sight of the purpose of governments, be they local, state, or federal. The purpose of government is to do things for us that we as individuals can not do. Prime examples are the construction of roads, utilities, and other infrastructure, the maintenance of armed forced to defend us, police to protect us, etc. The Rolla City Council has just put itself into the recycling business, and with a monopoly on service!

With only one dissenting vote, that from Lou Magdits who is without doubt the councils most expert member on recycling, the council established the solid waste division of the City of Rolla as the only legal entity allowed to pick up recyclables. They did allow themselves an out, for things they can't or don't want to mess with. They just say that "This service is not provided". This allows the City of Rolla to "cherry pick" (John Butz's term) the recyclables, taking high value items like aluminum cans, cardboard boxes, etc, but leaving other less desirable materials. The only difference here in the use of the term is that when John Butz discussed it before the council, "cherry picking" was bad.

How these people think of trash and recyclable materials as being one and the same is beyond me. The difference is a no brainer. Trash does not have value. Recyclable materials do.

The council has totally forgotten that their place is not to compete with private enterprise. The fact that recycling as a private enterprise is alive and well is easily verified with nothing more than a quick look in the telephone directory yellow pages. There are numerous recyclers listed, each sorted by the materials they recycle.

The solid waste department receives monetary value from everything these private enterprise businesses recycle. That value comes from the fact that these tons of material do not enter Rolla's waste stream. The solid waste department does not have to buy and maintain trucks to haul these materials in, pay people to operate the trucks, or pay tipping fees on this material at whatever landfill they are dumping it into.

The City of Rolla is becoming a poster child for how not to treat a business. In additional to countless fees, charges, and general snafus, we now have an instance where a local recycler's money was accepted and he was issued a business license. Then the solid waste department comes to the council with a changed ordinance, declaring a monopoly on the right to pick up recyclable materials, and sends him letters telling him to cease and desist recycling.

Lets examine this absurdity by simply projecting it a little. If the City of Rolla is going to start taking over services provided by private enterprise, why not open a gas station, a restaurant, or how about an accounting firm or a real estate agency? Instead of going to court to sell Buehler Park, keep it and open a mini-mall!

If local recycling entrepreneur Russ Falkenrath sues the city, and justice prevails, he will win. There is a host of charges he can bring, restraint of trade among them. This doesn't even deal with the fact that the owner of anything of value, (the recyclable materials) may not have it taken from him. The Rolla City Council has no place interfering with business decisions between the holder of recyclable materials and whoever he deals with for recycling them.

Coach Gary Miles had nearly everyone in Rolla saving aluminum cans for donation to the Rolla Bulldogs. We read the articles in the Rolla Daily News, and took pride in his actions so our team could travel in chartered air conditioned Tiger Coaches. Now, instead of being credited for his original thinking and support of his team, he would get a nasty latter from Brady Wilson, telling him to cease and desist, and that only the City of Rolla has a right to collect and recycle those cans. What a truly dismal turn of events.

There is still time to reconsider this colossal screw-up before it goes too far. Any of the council members voting in favor of this totally misdirected ordinance can ask that it be reconsidered.

It's time for the council to reconsider this action, correct their mistake, and realize that their purpose is not to compete with private business, but to provide an atmosphere in which it can grow and flourish. If private enterprise were not successful here, we wouldn't need a Rolla City Council, because there wouldn't be a Rolla.

Harry's Leftovers (10/12/06)

2006-10-12T08:06:00.000-07:00

Been gone for awhile, so there hasn't been much cookin' at my place. But now I'm back and stuff has started to pile up. So, it's time to start cleaning out the ol' frig!

Congratulations...and it looks like they finally got it right! Have you noticed what the local gas shieks have done with our gas prices lately? NOTHING!!! And what makes that significant is that it's so unusual. One Friday of last week, teachers from all over the area were in town for a teachers' conference. And the locals didn't try to push up the prices. The past weekend was homecoming at RHS and at least three graduation classes had big-time class reunions. And the local oil magnates didn't try to gouge the folks migrating back home. I also bet that everyone, including the dealers, were better off because of it. THANK YOU!

Is it just me....(probably)? Didn't it seem appropriate that the last debate between U.S. senate candidates was held at a high school? The whole thing seems a little high schoolish to me--he said/she said/no I didn't/yes you did!!! I have just one election question or issue: "Tell me what you can/will do for me that the other person can't/won't do?" Cut through the crap (that word again)--when you get me that answer, you probably have me!!!

Rolla's GREATEST political asset... Without a doubt it is Martin Schwartz, the new editor of the RDN. In fact, I'll go as far as saying he's the best I've seen, but I've only been here for 22 years. Here's why: He reports on things like the RMU board meetings,which we never see; he attends city committee meetings which might have long range impact, which is where the city really does much of it's business; and he asks tough questions that need to be asked and doesn't just accept the pat-answers. I'm sorry to say, I think Martin may be too smart or too good to last in Rolla. That will be a shame.

It should be a fun time ahead for ol' UMR...or what's its name! At risk of repeating the on-air rant, I am really intrigued with the name changes and "morfing" that is going on with the State's colleges (oops...I guess they are all universities now). As if the name suddenly changes your mission or what you do or what you pretend to do. If you want names that will market your institution and get people in your door, I have a few to try. How about SUDSU, BABESU, UPLA.

UMR (whatever) wants a new name which will help folks identify its technological mission. Like somebody who is too dumb to find UMR or know its rep would even make it here! Well, here's a few suggestions for you, too. I guess Rolla Technical Institute is already taken--besides, that's probably too regional. How about University of Missouri Observatory of Knowledge (UM-OK). Or Special Missouri University of Technology (SMUT). Since they seem to want to change into something else, try University of Missouri Offering Research Focus (UMORF). Or finally, State Higher Institute of Technology (No, I can't do this but you can draw your own conclusion).

If they are really serious, I suggest adding "T" to the old name: MSMT -Missouri School of Mines, Metallurgy, and Technology. See, I really do like tradition and have some respect for institutions.

And finally, I'll close with my usual prayer: Lord protect me from those who have no sense of humor and take themselves too seriously. And protect them from me! Grant me the knowledge to recognize the idiot in the room...and give me the wisdom to keep my mouth shut when the idiot is me!

Candidate Discussion Nights

2006-10-04T12:40:00.000-07:00

For Immediate Release
FFI: Steven R. Leonard 364-6794

Rolla Television will be conducting live candidate discussion nights over the next two weeks on Rolla Television Channel 16. This will be the ninth year of candidate discussion nights held on local television. The forum offers voters the opportunity to call in and ask questions of those running for public office. Candidates for 16th District State Senate, Phelps County Prosecuting Attorney, and 149th State Representative will be present to answer questions from viewers.

The format for the Rolla Television Candidate Discussion Night Series is a free-flowing and casual discussion of the issues facing Rolla residents. Candidates will receive topics for debate and discussion from the host and will be available to answer questions from live telephone calls. The Rolla Television Candidate Discussion Night Series will also broadcast live on the Internet at www.voiceofrolla.com .

The schedule for the programs leading up to the November 7th election is:

October 9, 7:30 PM - 16th District State Senate - Frank Barnitz, Susie Snyders
October 11, 7:30 PM - Phelps County Prosecuting Attorney - Ken Clayton, Courtney George
October 19, 7:30 PM - 149th State Represenative - Bob May, Wayne Bledsoe

Rolla Television will also televise election returns and reaction live on November 7.

###

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

2006-10-03T13:22:00.000-07:00

10. One round world…so many squares.
9. Rearranging your past makes your future a lie.
8. Blond 1: “I think I need to diet.” Blond 2: “What color?”
7. When you submit to the will of others, your soul goes on standby.
6. I tried to reinvent myself, but the patent expired.
5. Woman that claims equality to man, suffers low self esteem.
4. While dressing up is overrated, I never leave the house without pants on.
3. I had an accountability partner. The state called him a parole officer.
2. Even a Lazyboy stretches out every once in a while.
1. Beware the loophole that fits like a noose.

Open Letter to the Cable TV Franchise Renewal Committee

2006-10-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

Dear Committee Member

I am writing this to inform you of a highly undesirable situation that has developed involving the business practices of Fidelity Communications.

When the present cable television franchise agreement was adopted, channel assignments were set aside for access operations. The City of Rolla was established as the steward of the access channels. At this point, local television in Rolla consisted only of spectrum space on the cable assigned to the city. No programming or locally originated signal existed.

Just prior to the establishment of Channel 16 operations, a series of breakfast meetings was held at Shoney’s to discuss establishment of the operating parameters of the channel. Lou Magdits represented the Rolla City Council, Bob Tucker represented Fidelity Communications, Larry Vance and I represented Rolla Video Productions and KTTR.

The purpose of these meetings was to determine if it was financially feasible for us to attempt to operate a local channel on the cable system. We were advised that the City of Rolla had no interest in originating a local television channel. Mr. Magdits also advised us that no funds were available from the city for any type of local television channel. Bob Tucker, representing Fidelity Communications, informed us that no funds or materials would be provided. He also stated that Fidelity had no interest in operating a local channel and did not possess the equipment, experience, or know-how for such a project.

I also served as Chief Engineer for KTTR-KZNN, owned by Mahaffey Enterprises of Springfield. KTTR operated KTTR CABLE SIX on channel six, which was rented from Fidelity. Since KTTR already operated CABLE SIX as an electronic graphics channel, I inquired and was personally informed by John Mahaffey that Mahaffey Enterprises would definitely not attempt to operate a local television channel.

These decisions and the resulting assurances were crucial for Larry and me. It would be financially difficult or even impossible for two local entrepreneurs, whose only assets were a small amount of pocket money, their knowledge of broadcasting and electronics, and lots of hard work to try to compete successfully with multimillion dollar corporations holding comparatively unlimited assets.

The prospect of operating a local television channel was a very high-risk venture. The Sowers family, with their considerable funds, the combined income, sales, and reporting assets of the Rolla Daily News, had previously attempted a Low Power Television Station on Channel 7. Due to their complete lack of broadcasting and engineering knowledge and experience, Channel 7 was a failure.

Many local merchants spent large amounts of money getting local spots produced prior to the station’s going on the air. When the Channel 7 signal was received by less than 10% of it’s projected viewing audience, local merchants realized the money they had spent on production costs was lost. Support of the operation plummeted. Channel 7 was soon off the air and giving away their equipment. Needless to say, this costly failure muddied the waters greatly for two local entrepreneurs with very limited assets who wanted to start a local television channel. The entire business community was understandably very difficult to convince that any type of local television origination could succeed.

Having been assured that Mahaffey Enterprises and Fidelity Communications would not attempt operation of a local channel, we developed a proposal, which the City of Rolla accepted. Channel 16 was assigned to Rolla Video Productions for the operation of Rolla TV16. We rented building space from the City of Rolla. We cleaned up and remodeled the space now occupied by TV16. The space we rented did not meet several City Building Codes when it was received. It did not even have a bathroom.

With a little money and lots of sweat, we renovated the building space. We hand built much of the electronic equipment necessary for the operation of the channel, and Rolla TV16 began telecasting our signal to Rolla. Rolla TV16 has, from day one, existed solely upon funds from program underwriters. We have never received one cent of subsidy from the City of Rolla, or Fidelity Communications. We have honored our promise to be self-sufficient.

Shortly after TV16 went on the air, Fidelity Communications expressed an interest in supplying an “intern”, paid by them, to learn how to operate a local channel. We were promised that Fidelity wanted to operate a local channel on another cable system they owned in the City of Sullivan. Absolutely nothing was ever disclosed to us about operating a local channel in Rolla and operating it in direct competition with TV16.

Relying upon Fidelity’s assurance that they had no intention to originate local programming in Rolla, we saw no reason not to assist them. Their proposal was agreeable to us. Their “intern” worked with our personnel and was taught the basics of our operation and local television origination.

Shortly thereafter, when their “intern” had mastered the basics of how we operated. Fidelity Communications terminated its rental agreement with KTTR Radio. They removed KTTR CABLE SIX, and took over cable channel six. From Fidelity’s first hour of programming, they duplicated our Bulletin Board. They have since been in direct violation of their agreement with us, not to operate a local channel. They immediately began duplicating our Bulletin Board, using all the techniques their “intern” learned while working with us.

When we began our operation, most people did not know how to write copy for use on a bulletin board format. Our underwriters sent us the basic details of their business or community event, and we assisted by writing up the actual copy to be aired. Not only was Fidelity violating their promise to us that they would not operate a local channel, they actually copied verbatim and aired on channel six the original copy we wrote for our underwriters.

At the time, I owned a local business called Complete Exteriors. We were in the home improvement business and sold seamless siding, soffit and fascia, windows, doors, etc. I advertised my business on Rolla TV16. As soon as I began advertising, a sales representative from Fidelity Communications contacted me. I was personally solicited to move my advertising from TV16 to Fidelity’s channel six. I was promised that Fidelity would “beat any price or offer that TV16 could make”. This was done before the Fidelity sales rep knew that I was a part of TV16. Needless to say, I did not move my advertising to channel six.

I advised their salesman that I, as a Rolla merchant, was offended by their use of an out of town radio station (KTUI – Sullivan) for the audio on their channel. I asked, “Why should I pay to advertise on your video when your audio is carrying commercials from competing out of town merchants?” I am still waiting for an answer to that one.

Why should Rolla's franchise agreement allow the franchisee to operate a local channel upon which he promotes out of town businesses, and encourages Rolla residents to spend their money in Sullivan instead of Rolla?

Fidelity Management, in recent months, has also lied to the editor of the Rolla Daily News. The RDN Editor investigated Fidelity’s duplication of programming appearing on RollaTV16. Editor Janese Heaven, after writing her front-page article, told me personally that Fidelity Management had, on three separate occasions, specifically denied any programming duplications. I spoke with her and stated that they did indeed duplicate every feature of our programming they were capable of. They have attempted both football and basketball coverage as well as parades and other local events. She then told me that she had only recently subscribed to Fidelity Cable. She seemed confused as to whom to believe, and told me she remained unconvinced.

I suggested that she watch the upcoming telecast of the Rolla Lady Bulldogs versus the St. James Lady Tigers. We taped the game in the St, James High School Auditorium. The Fidelity camera operator set up his camera on the right end of the stage, at floor level, and inadvertently appeared in TV16’s coverage of the game every time the action swung to the stage end of the gym.

All of Fidelity management’s lies to the RDN about not duplicating our programming were verified as such by their own camera guy. It must have been a total embarrassment for Fidelity’s Managers to be quoted three times claiming they were not duplicating Channel 16 programming, only to have their camera man appear on TV16 for all to see doing the very thing their management denied to the RDN Editor on three separate occasions.

Fidelity can have no other reason for paying to produce local programming on channel six, than to prevent as many underwriters as possible from trading with TV16. A perfect example is the programming from East Central College presently carried by Fidelity. Fidelity gives this airtime to the college for free, rather than have the college trade with TV16. They lose money doing it, just to deny TV16 the income.

Fidelity cannot be trusted to keep their original promise concerning local television programming. They make every possible effort to prevent potential underwriters from programming on TV16. Their management then, gets caught lying to the community in a front-page newspaper article, denying their course of action.

TV16 furnished years of programming logs to Daily News editor Janese Heaven so she could verify all the programs we telecast and check Fidelity’s program logs for duplications. We received an inquiry from her a few days later, asking if program logs could be accessed under the sunshine law. I informed her that there is nothing secret about the programming logs of any broadcast facility. There is nothing to prevent any broadcaster from showing their program logs to anyone who might ask to see them. Reputable broadcasters freely provide copies of their program logs along with their invoices, so program sponsors can verify when their ads were broadcast. The RDN already had our logs. The only possible people failing to produce their programming logs had to be Fidelity.

If the Fidelity management told the Daily News they could not reveal their program logs, then they lied about that, too. This deplorable conduct is the very reason we are asking that prohibition of Fidelity Communications to operate a local television channel be specifically set forth in the renewed Cable Franchise Agreement.

Fidelity has numerous honest ways of making money legitimately with their cable system. In addition to the television programming offered to their subscribers, they are now marketing both telephone and Internet services on their cable system.

They have also deleted entertainment channels and replaced them with product sales channels such as QVC. Every time a purchase is made from subscriber in zip code 65401, QVC pays Fidelity Communications a percentage of the sale. Fidelity also sells local television spots on national network programming, such as Fox News, TNT, ESPN, Etc. These networks originate “Local Avails” and provide control tones to allow local cable operators to sell and insert local spots into the network programs. The networks fill these “local avails” by airing promotional announcements of upcoming programs. These are called “promos”. Viewers watching these networks on systems that do not insert local spots never notice, because they see the “promos”. Those that do insert local spots air them in the selected “local avails”. We have no objection to these local spot sales. Fidelity has aired local spots for years, and we have no problem with that.

Giving away product to prevent possible clients from trading with a legitimate business is not now, nor has it ever been, an honorable business practice. We want Fidelity Communications to honor its original promise to us. We want them to cease and desist from their operation of a local channel. We also suggest they use channel 6 to return one of the entertainment channels they took away from their subscribers when they added the income producing product sales channels.

These less than honorable practices have been my only disappointment with Fidelity. The technical quality of the product delivered to our homes by Fidelity is better by several degrees of magnitude than the offerings of the previous franchisee. I personally purchase my telephone and internet services from Fidelity and am very pleased with these services.

I remain convinced that, with all the legitimate ways of producing income available to Fidelity Communications, there is no necessity for them to break their promise not to produce local television. They should also immediately discontinue their use of highly dishonorable business practices, their attempt to eliminate TV16, and their efforts to take over as a Rolla’s local television provider.

In view of these facts, I again urge you to include in the new franchise agreement a specific prohibition to prevent Fidelity Communications from the operation of a local channel or production of any type of local television programming on its Rolla system.

The question here is very simple. Do we, or do we not, have a franchisee that can be trusted only to engage in honest business practices, to be truthful, and to honor its agreements with the City of Rolla and other entities it does business with?

William P. Botts
Director of Local Programming
Rolla TV16
1014 Pine Street
Rolla, Missouri

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

2006-09-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

10. My wife and I stopped flying. It’s too hard to check in her implants.
9. Sometimes you have to put your foot down to get a leg up.
8. I flirted with death but found out it was too much of a commitment.
7. Writers are the glue that keeps actors attached to their jobs.
6. Too many fans spoil the hairdo.
5. My pony got a sore throat. He was a little horse.
4. I called the suicide hotline. No one answered. Maybe next time I’ll use the phone.
3. A common thread weaves a brilliant mosaic through adversity and dismay.
2. If superglue is so adhesive, how does it come out of the tube?
1. Sometimes you have to go out on a limb to turn over a new leaf.

THE LIGHT IS BETTER OVER HERE!

2006-09-22T03:43:00.000-07:00

A policeman was walking his beat when he observed a man crawling around beneath a street light. When he inquired as to the nature of the problem, the officer was informed that the man had lost his keys. The policeman joined the search, and after several meticulous trips over the entire area, asked the man "Are you sure you lost them here?" "No," replied the man. "I lost them half a block back there in the dark." When the officer asked why they were crawling around where they were, the man replied "Because we can see better up here under the light."

This stupid sounding story perfectly describes the restrictions placed upon or petroleum companies and exploration engineers by environmentalist extremists, and their Democrat allies in congress.

We know perfectly well where the oil is, but they have passed laws making it impossible for us to drill where we need to in order to use it! No drilling off the coast of Florida. No more drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. No more drilling off the California coast. No drilling in the Arctic National wildlife Refuge (ANWR)!

These extremists have hamstrung our oil industry, and done everything possible to keep us depenant on oil upon which we get price gouged by people who hate us. They then funnel the petro dollars by the billions into terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. If we want to get to the bottom of who is funding terror around the world, we will find that WE ARE! Excessive oil profits going to nations like Iran, and Syria, formerly to Saddam Hussein's Iraq, and even some of what we pay the Saudis goes for weapons that arm the terrorists we fight every day. These funds helped Iran pay for Hezbollah troops and the rockets they fired into Israel during the recent war in Lebanon.

Huge new oil discoveries were just recently announced in the Gulf of Mexico. In fact, if we add up the proven oil available off the California and Florida coasts, previously located oil in the Gulf of Mexico, and in ANWR, the total is Amazing.

WE HAVE MORE OIL THAN THERE IS IN THE MIDDLE EAST! The only thing keeping us from drilling wells and breaking our addiction to Middle East oil is the work of the environmental extremists and their Democrat allies in Congress! Remember all those NO DRILLING areas I mentioned above? If you look at the list of the places these huge oil deposits are located, they match exactly!

Drilling into these vast pools of oil would change the way the world works. How much better off would we all be if the BILLIONS of petro dollars we pay nations who hate us were circulating in our economies instead of theirs? How much would the Islamic Fascists be crippled without those same BILLIONS of petro dollars? How many fewer weapons could these oil rich dictators buy and build without our BILLIONS?

Yes, the world would be a much better place if the United States of America were ENERGY INDEPENDENT. We can be, if we simply demand that Congress repeal these stupid laws which forbid our petroleum industry from doing the common sense thing and drilling where the oil is.

If he had looked where the keys actually were, the man in the story would have found them immediately and been quickly upon his way!

Christianity vs Islam

2006-09-19T19:31:00.000-07:00

The faith of “forgiveness” VS the religion of “peace”

Saturday night…the battle for all of Heaven and Earth!!! No rules, no holds barred, A FIGHT TO THE DEATH!! Judgment provided by the One and Only L-rd! $49.95 on pay-per-view. BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!!!

I know…I know. This is no joke. But finally Jews saw a break in the heated focus of fanatical Islam and its’ qualms about Israel and the Hebrews’ reluctance to convert or conveniently disappear under the waves of the Mediterranean .

Inadvertently, the Pope has taken the heat off the Jews and other infidels.

What did the Pope say? He referred to a thirteenth century text quoting an emperor as saying that Muhammad commanded the spread of Islam by the sword, in the hopes of starting a “dialogue.”

What was he thinking? Didn’t G-d send him the memo? One does not speak of Islam as Islamofacists speak to the rest of us…the unofficial 11th commandment.

So what did that quote bring so far from fanatical Muslims?

An Italian nun murdered in Somalia .
A demand that the Pope apologize. When the Pope offered his regrets, some Muslims claimed the Pontiff didn’t show enough personal remorse and must repent…even more!
Threats of a Holy War against Christianity and the West. Gee, I thought we were already well into one.
An English Muslim Cleric/lawyer, Anjem Choudary, calling for the head of the Pope…just like he did for the Dane that depicted Muhammad in less than flattering light…in cartoons, no less.
The firebombing 5 Christian Churches by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank , some thousands of years old. This follows the burning and desecration of Synagogues there.

And this has taken place in just the last 72 hours!

Just one question…When does the majority of “moderate” Muslims rise up and stop this nonsensical violence?

At least the Jews will see a break in the heated focus of radical Islam and its’ qualms about the Hebrews’ religion for and of “monkeys and pigs”.

Right?

Wrong!

“Just when I thought that I was out they pull me back in.” Michael Corleone

Almost instantaneously, Iranian newspapers came out and stated that Israelis and the USA were to blame for what the Pope said.

As quoted in the Iranian paper, Jomhuri Islami. “The reality is if we do not consider Pope Benedict XVI ignorant of Islam, then his remarks against Islam are a dictat(e) that the Zionists and the Americans have written for him…”

Yep, you heard right. The Jews now control the Pope.

As Larry the Cable guy says, “I don’t care who you are, THAT’S FUNNY!”

I come from a neighborhood so tough we used .38 specials as toenail clippers

This brings me to a childhood memory. As a boy, the bigger kids in my gang would get into verbal fights with the leaders of a competing gang. The next thing I knew they taunted the toughest guy in their gang. Words were short and quickly led to the threat of putting me, the “little one” out on the frontline. Not very bright, I ended up fighting in a lot of those street battles, while the “tough guys” watched.

Will the so called “big” guys in the UN back off the sanctions the Security Council established against Iran and leave the “little guy”, Israel , with a survival obligation they can’t refuse?

France has just backed down from the sanctions against Iran they voted for.

What a surprise!

If Hitler came to the UN today and demanded to build gas chambers for local “energy”, France would have given him the ovens, as long as he agreed not to actually murder any Hebrews. .

Never stick your neck out for someone that’s threatened to behead you.

Muslim nations are actually contemplating a global campaign to increase tourism.

I’m not kidding.

For once, I’m speechless…probably the only way one would be allowed to visit.

I’d go, but I have to fold my laundry.

I’ll be watching for Islamic Tours on the Discovery Channel.

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

2006-09-19T13:30:00.000-07:00

10. My Asian friend gave me a shirt with Chinese written on the back. It took a year and a severely bruised but to find out it said, “KICK ME.”
9. Celebrate persistence and good results will follow.
8. Every judge expects you to lie. If they can’t catch you in one, they’ll accuse you anyway.
7. Hear about the bankrupted tech company? It was a Geek Tragedy.
6. Never strike your caddy in the fairway. The rough is more private.
5. Arrogance will be tolerated as long as you’re the only game in town.
4. I was going to be a mountain climber, but I peaked at the first plateau.
3. What is a “smithereen” and why do we want to beat people to it?
2. My neighborhood was so tough the Italians called themselves the Baritones.
1. It takes two to foreplay.

Selective Indignation

2006-09-18T23:12:00.000-07:00

For years, I have admired Paul Harvey. I can easily see why his three daily news programs are the top three news programs in the country. Years ago, he coined the term "Selective Indignation" to cover the kind of situations we have in the news this week.

Pope Benedict XVI (16th for those of you not skilled in Roman numerals) was speaking at a university where he quoted a Byzantine Emperor regarding Muslims. The Emperor stated (paraphrased) that no good thing came as a result of spreading the Islamic Faith by use of the sword. (Bottom Line.....Believe as we tell you or we'll kill you.)

Who did the quotation actually hurt?...NOBODY! But the whole Muslim world has had their turbans wrapped extra tight ever since he made the speech. They have demanded his execution. They have rioted. They have destroyed property and injured each other. All this over a quotation from a 14th century Emperor!

I have tried ever since the other huge Muslim upheaval over some cartoons that were published back in January, to understand how these people can get so bent out of shape. Muslims were maimed and killed in the riots that followed the publication of the cartoons. Who did the cartoons actually hurt?....NOBODY!

If these Muslims want something to get really warped over, let me suggest that they pour into the streets by the millions in protest against the Muslim Extremists and Terrorist who are killing about one to two hundred of them a day from Iraq to Afghanistan.

Every evening newscast carries a story about the latest homicide bomber who drove a car bomb into a public area inhabited by women and children and detonated it. A few days ago, terrorists set off a roadside bomb to attack a passing patrol, even though they saw Muslim children who were unknowingly playing next to it. The children were blown apart when the terrorists detonated the bomb.

It is long past time for the peace loving Muslims, if indeed there are any, to take action. They must denounce the deranged clerics who teach their young children by leading chants of "Death to Jews." and "Death to America" in their schools. They must stop collecting money in their mosques and directing it to those who finance terrorist operations. They should be in the streets demonstrating and burning in effigy the Muslim Terrorist Extremists who would watch as Muslim children are ripped apart by explosives they set off to try to kill or injure those in a military or police patrol.

I saw a newscast last night (Monday) in which a Muslim official was telling the audience what a bad rap Muslims are getting. As I watched the B-Roll, (that's the tape you see in the background while interviews are being conducted), The Pope was being burned in effigy simply for quoting the words of an Emperor who died in the 14th century. This is ridiculous!

Until the Muslims start denouncing and demonstrating against the terrorist extremists and Islamic Fascists who have hijacked their religion, put the boot to clerics who teach their children to hate and kill, and stop using their mosques to house and launch weapons and to fund terrorism, they are going to keep getting painted with the same brush wielded by the terrorists, the homicide bombers, and the militant clerics.

One can only imagine the world wide protests and demonstrations that would occur instantly if an American pilot took an F-18 and bombed a shopping mall toasting a hundred fifty or two hundred Muslims to a crackly crunch. There would be howls of protest from every civilized nation on the planet. Muslims everywhere would demand the trial and execution of the pilot.

Why don't we see any of the same protests and demonstrations when a Muslim homicide bomber delivers the explosives that do the same thing to the same people in the same shopping mall using a booby trapped panel truck in place of the F-18?

Until we start to see corrective action in the streets, in the newspapers, and on television, Muslims are going to take it on the chin. They have nobody to blame for it but themselves.

They rioted when they said cartoons showed disrespect for the Prophet Mohammad. Do they think Mohammad is being honored by blowing up their children in order to get a shot at a passing convoy?

If this is what Islam has to offer, then their prophet and his teachings are totally disgusting and they certainly don't deserve any respect!

Do Dems Convert to Bushbots in Booth?

2006-09-16T19:22:00.000-07:00

“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain”-The Wizard of Oz

Despite loony left conspirator enthusiasts, Ohio has finally been conceded by c-BS. Yep, Bush actually won that election, despite the debate Senator Kerry seems to be having with himself.

What never added up was the inconsistency of the exit polls. Early returns from Ohio foretold a Kerry massacre. Yet we still address GWB as Mr. President.

How could this be?

Here’s the answer.

It depends on what the meaning of the word “vote” is

Democrat/liberal/supposed Bush haters lied to the pollsters. Once the curtain was drawn, in the privacy of the booth, they voted their true conscious, or maybe just their hidden capitalistic avarice. But when the exit questions came, they fibbed like the true Clintonites they are. Maybe they parsed responses as meaningless gestures as long as they gave lip service to the cause.

Examples are rife within my own family. My cousins from Chicago, Michael and Susan (not their real names) are both double PhDs. Susan runs a college and Michael is a famous psychiatrist, and tenured English Lit Professor. They’re great people and I love them, but are so liberal; they think Howard Dean is right wing. They travel hundreds of miles in their tinny tangerine gas efficient Volvo to stay a day or two at my house every year on their way to vacation in New Mexico, just to demolish their conservative Cuz, me.

My odds are low facing these two Mensa Mafiosi. When I asked Susan just what it was that made her hate Bush, she said, “He’s stupid.” When I asked how she knew this, her response was, “Everyone knows this,” with an upward roll of her eyeballs.

Mike and I go round and round on abortion. Finally, I attained a small victory when I convinced him of the obvious evil of late term abortion.

Then, after I subdued his Lib loquaciousness with an amazingly potent merlot, he fessed up. Seems, as a businessman/psychiatrist he liked Bush’s tax cuts. No, he didn’t admit voting for Dubya, but indicated that it was a possibility. Without benefit of merlot buzz, or friendly confines of a relative’s home, do you think Dr. Mike would admit to voting Republican to a pimple faced innocent Democratic youth Bush hater?

Could Susan have followed suit after Mike talked to her of their impending financial windfall? To her, admitting to voting for the “brain-dead” Bush would be tantamount to opposing the NEA in public.

“Can’t we all just get along?” - Rodney King

Then there’s my Cousin, Ted, also a Chicagoan. He’s of a mind that we can talk with al-Qeada, feel their pain, show sensitivity, and Walla; we can all hold hands around the campfire and sing Kumbaya.

Any chance he got, he blasted Bush…that is, until Hezbollah, started lobbing ball baring Katushas into Israeli civilian areas. The worm turned on this issue. Guess he saw the run and cut Democrats as pulling the plug on our only trustworthy ally in the Middle East .

He could have voted for Bush, had he sensed this in 2004. Admit it? Not in the name of Lenin, not even Putin! He now fills my e-mail with tough anti-terrorist, anti Islamofacist essays.

Teddy has turned.

You can’t build a legacy sitting on the fence

When you’re in the voting confines on November 7th, or in future elections, remember the Clintonese efforts to play hide and seek with history.

Anyone with an open mind, watching the hubris Clinton and his cronies raised over the Disney/ABC 9/11 presentation, had to wonder what he was so distressed about. After watching it, one can only speculate why he wanted to bring more attention to his administrations’ irrefutable lameness. Terrorists attacked us time after time after time during his scandal ridden 8 years as president. His response ranged from nothing to ridiculous.

The house of mouse outted Clinton and the Democrats for the horrible position they left our country in.

Aussies are taking revenge on innocent stingrays for the one that attacked and killed Steve Irwin the crocodile man, killing at least 10 so far. No conspiracy or cooperation was alleged amongst the Ray Clan to murder Irwin.

Knowing Bubba’s track record, if I were Mickey and Minnie, I’d apply for the Witness Protection Program…especially Minnie.

Moral of the story? Listen to advice; vote your conscious.

Harry's Leftovers (9/16/06)

2006-09-16T09:06:00.000-07:00

Some things have been stewing with me for awhile, but some things just never got served. Here's this week's dishes in the 'frig.

You should see the city from ground level sometime! I've made comments from time to time about my new habit of jogging and walking around town. This really is a great way to get acquainted with our city. For example, did you realize that our city has different smells? Pine Tree Rd. actually smells like diesel exhaust, while the air is sweeter a block away (and quieter, too!). I also see what's in your recycle bin on trash day. I get a perspective on how tall the weeds really are that grow in the cracks in the streets. Traffic is another crazy item: I have seen a guy driving with a (real) dog sitting on the dash. I've seen a lady brushing her hair while driving and talking on her cell phone. I've seen a woman putting in her earrings while driving and talking on her cell. I'm used to the cell phone and driving thing by now, but how many hands do these people have???

Thanks to some and poop on others. During my tours, I have noticed more conscientious dog owners carrying bags to protect some of us from having to wade through dog-mess. I know some of these folks and they were probably doing this before it became an issue with me, so I take no credit here. Ber Juan and Green Acres seemed better the last time I was there. My newly designated "Walk of S(hame)" is now Lovers Lane.

There really is some good news out there but we need to hear it! About the first of September, the State Department of Education (DESE) released the preliminary test results for school districts from last spring. This was the first view of whether or not schools were making expected annual progress and meeting standards of "No Child Left Behind". This is also an unbiased indication of whether or not the Rolla Public Schools is doing the job we pay them to do. AND THEY ARE!!! But the disappointment is that I had to track this down on the DESE website. I think the board of education and the district administration should be blowing this horn. I don't understand the silence here, but maybe it just business as usual. We usually don't hear much unless they want something.

I'm really curious about St.John's/Mercy Medical's new building project. The Council just rezoned land at the corner of Lions Club and 72 for a new medical arts center. I'm really curious about how all this plays out. Do we need that much space for new doctors? Are we getting new docs and can we support them? How does this play with PCRMC's new office complex? And what happens to the old medical arts facility across from the hospital? Seems like we might be getting alot of empty office space around town.

The Story that Martin Weinbaum Would Not Let You Hear!!!! Is the Parks Department the Next Big City Boondoggle? Did you know that it actually took a special act of the legislature to establish our tourism tax? The contract with the Chamber gets all the talk, but looking at the actual law that set this up can be insightful. I think the law may actually raise a question of whether or not the tax can actually be used to buy a park (Forest Service property), which the city is trying to do. (Mr. Leonard disagrees with me on this.) I am curious about how we can afford to pay for trails at the Audubon area but we can't keep our restrooms clean and open. I'm not sure we didn't avoid that discussion in budget hearings. We have another park up for sale in Meadowbrook. I think this is risky without the Beuhler Park decision. The judge's ruling may say that the city cannot sell any dedicated park--and I believe Meadowbrook, even though it is undeveloped, was parkland dedication from a contractor. Didn't he expect it would be used as a park? It's interesting that Mr. Sibley asked about this park a couple of meetings ago when Audubon was discussed. I think he was told there may be something coming up, but we haven't heard any more except sell the park.

And finally, I'll close with the usual prayer: Lord protect me from those who have no sense of humor and take themselves too seriously. And protect them from me! Grant me the knowledge to recognize the idiot in the room...and give me the wisdom to keep my mouth shut when the idiot is me!

A Quiz

2006-09-14T06:42:00.000-07:00

AN average person only gets 7 correct.

This is based on U.S. info, so use all lobes of your brain. This can be more difficult than it looks - it just shows how little most of us really see!

There are 25 questions about things we see every day or have known about all our lives. How many can you get right? These little simple questions are harder than you think-- it just shows you how little we pay attention to the commonplace things of life.

Put your thinking caps on. No cheating! No looking around! No getting out of your chair! No using anything on or in your desk or computer!

Can you beat 23?? (The average is 7) Write down your answers as you go. Check answers (on the bottom), AFTER completing all the questions.

REMEMBER - NO CHEATING!!! BE HONEST!!! That means no looking at your phone or anything on your desk...

Then, before you pass this on to your friends, change the number on the subject line to show how many you got correct. Forward to your friends and also back to the one who sent it to you.

LET'S JUST SEE HOW OBSERVANT YOU REALLY ARE.

> Here we go!
>
> 1. On a standard traffic light, is the green on the top or bottom?
>
> 2. How many states are there in the USA ? (Don't laugh, some people don't know)
>
> 3. In which hand is the Statue of Liberty's torch?
>
> 4. What six colors are on the classicCampbell's soup label?
>
> 5. What two numbers on the telephone dial don't have letters by them?
>
> 6. When you walk does your left arm swing with your right or left leg? (Don't you dare get up to see!)
>
> 7. How many matches are in a standard pack?
>
> 8. On the United States flag is the top stripe red or white?
>
> 9. What is the lowest number on the FM dial?
>
> 10. Which way does water go down the drain, counter or clockwise?
>
> 11. Which way does a "no smoking" sign's slash run?
>
> 12. How many channels on a VHF TV dial?
>
> 13 On which side of a women's blouse are the buttons?
>
> 14. Which way do fans rotate?
>
> 15 How many sides does a stop sign have?
>
> 16. Do books have even-numbered pages on the right or left side?
>
> 17 How many lug nuts are on a standard car wheel?
>
> 18. How many sides are there on a standard pencil?
>
> 19. Sleepy, Happy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Dopey, Doc. Who's missing?
>
> 20. How many hot dog buns are in a standard package?
>
> 21 On which playing card is the card maker's trademark?
>
> 22 On which side of a Venetian blind is the cord that adjusts the opening between the slats?
>
> 23. There are 12 buttons on a touch tone phone. What 2 symbols bear no digits?
>
> 24. How many curves are there in the standard paper clip?
>
> 25. Does a merry-go-round turn counter or clockwise?
>
> ANSWERS
>
> 1. On a standard traffic light, is the green on the top or bottom? BOTTOM
>
> 2. How many states are there in the USA ? (Don't laugh, some people don't know) 50
>
> 3. In which hand is the Statue of Liberty's torch? RIGHT
>
> 4. What six colors are on the classicCampbell's soup label? BLUE, RED, WHITE, YELLOW, BLACK & GOLD
>
> 5. What two numbers on the telephone dial don't have letters by them? 1, 0
>
> 6. When you walk does your left arm swing with your right or left leg?
>
> RIGHT
>
> 7. How many matches are in a standard pack? 20
>
> 8. On the United States flag is the top stripe red or white? RED
>
> 9. What is the lowest number on the FM dial? 88
>
> 10. Which way does water go down the drain, counter or clockwise?
>
> CLOCKWISE (NORTH OF THE EQUATOR)
>
> 11. Which way does a "no smoking" sign's slash run?
>
> TOWARDS BOTTOM RIGHT
>
> 12. How many channels on a VHF TV dial? 12 (no #1)
>
> 13 On which side of a women's blouse are the buttons? LEFT
>
> 14. Which way do fans rotate? CLOCKWISE AS YOU LOOK AT IT
>
> 15 How many sides does a stop sign have? 8
>
> 16. Do books have even-numbered pages on the right or left side? LEFT
>
> 17 How many lug nuts are on a standard car wheel? 5
>
> 18. How many sides are there on a standard pencil? 6
>
> 19. Sleepy, Happy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Dopey, Doc. Who's missing? BASHFUL
>
> 20. How many hot dog buns are in a standard package? 8
>
> 21 On which playing card is the card maker's trademark? ACE OF SPADES
>
> 22 On which side of a Venetian blind is the cord that adjusts the opening between the slats? LEFT
>
> 23. There are 12 buttons on a touch tone phone. What 2 symbols bear no digits? *, #
>
> 24. How many curves are there in the standard paper clip? 3
>
> 25. Does a merry-go-round turn counter or clockwise? COUNTER

Where are the accolades?

2006-09-09T14:49:00.000-07:00

Recently every network newscast started with this scenario:

Fade up from black on wide angle shot of a gasoline price sign, pan to the nearest pump, and zoom in tight on the reporter. Cue the reporter to begin a conversation with a customer, allowing the customer to bemoan the high price of fuel, wonder aloud how his or her family will pay for it, and continue filling the tank. Pan back to the reporter and zoom in tight for the "analysis" part of the story. That's the part where the reporter lays the high price of fuel, along with everything else, squarely on the shoulders of President Bush...Fade to black...Anchor introduces next Bush bashing story.

Simple reason dictates that if the Bush Administration is responsible for the price of gasoline, then that same administration should receive proper credit and accolades when the price decreases. "What decreases?" Oh...Sorry...I mean the decreases the entire main stream media has totally ignored.

Motorists didn't have to depend upon media stories to tell them about gasoline price increases. Every time you drove past a station (except for the ones with the new electronic price displays) there was some yutz hanging from a ladder raising the price. Personally I think that if a motorist "accidentally" hit the ladder and knocked the guy raising the price for a loop, perhaps the price might not go up as often. This situation should, of course, exonerate the motorist from any criminal or civil liability connected with the incident. After all...He was just doing his part to keep fuel prices affordable for everyone.

If you don't think the media is biased against the Bush administration, remember the reporting you have seen connected with the simple issue of gasoline prices. When prices were increasing, main stream reporters were howling like coyotes beneath a full moon. Now that the price has fallen nearly a dollar a gallon...NOT A PEEP!

Claire McCaskill is still harping in her radio ads about "three dollar a gallon gasoline" and blaming Jim Talent for it, totally oblivious to the recent price reductions. When the price actually comes down, these people can't even acknowledge it, let alone tell the truth about it. The price was $2.29/9 as I drove home today, lower even than yesterday.

Economists are pointing to the recent huge oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico, and predicting two dollar a gallon gasoline by Thanksgiving, possibly sooner.
The indisputable fact is this. The united States of America, with these recent huge oil finds, and proven reserves in the arctic north, has MORE OIL THAN THERE IS IN THE MIDDLE EAST. All we have to do is drill for it! We have enough for a whole generation, to keep us going while we search for and perfect alternate and renewable energy sources. There is no more reason to have to pay billions of our petroleum dollars that eventually wind up in the hands of people who hate us and have sworn to kill us just because we exist.

Let the Arabs drink their damned oil!

What we absolutely MUST DO is get corrective legislation passed which allows us to drill where the oil is, and keep these billions of dollars flowing in our own economy instead of into the hands of some Oil Sheik who funnels these dollars to Islamic Fascists. These are people who are our sworn enemies and have taught their past two generations of children that they exist upon the earth for two reasons.

1. To kill Jews
2. To kill Americans and destroy our country.

This is all these little towel heads have been taught from the day they drew their first breath. There won't be any negotiating with them. They have been taught that the highest honor they can ever achieve is to die trying to kill an American or a Jew. This is the reason that suicide bombers are not even mentioned in news coverage anymore. It is just understood in today's reporting that when a car bomb goes off, some brainwashed Islamic Fascist drove into the intended target and detonated it.

The inescapable conclusion is that there now exists upon this planet a whole generation of these Muslim Extremists who hold exactly the beliefs I have just described. These same warped beliefs are being taught to the next generation of their children as you read this. The only way anyone will be able to live in peace is to use whatever weapons and tactics are necessary to wipe out those whose only aim is the destruction of our country, and to start reeducating their progeny properly.

Taking the Ahmadinejad Debate Challenge

2006-09-08T06:41:00.000-07:00

Iran ’s’ leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, (Ah’m Mad), has challenged President Bush to a debate.

Bush, a busy man, is fighting a vicious never ending war…with the liberal press, the Supreme Court, and congressional democrats. Then there’s the war on terror in Iran (OOPS! Mebad!) I mean Iraq , silly me. Finally his duties require he give some attention to al-Qeada, and all the other jihadists sworn to our genocide!

Let’s not forget the siege of illegals swarming our southern Border. Guess that one slipped his otherwise steel-trap mind.

Face it; our President is busier than Bill Clinton in a room of 20 year old interns.

So on behalf of President Bush and freedom loving people from throughout the world, I accept the Iranian President’s debate dare.

Here’s the deal, Ah’m Mad, I lose you get to make your nukes. You lose; you cut the genocidal crap and become an honest peace broker to insure the safety of Israel and all her neighbors and allies, including the USA . We’re talking treaties here, not lip service.

Sometimes you have to go out on a limb to turn over a new leaf

I know, I know, I risk Ah’m Mad’s accusation that, “I know George Bush. George Bush was a friend of mine. Dave, you’re no George W. Bush.”

He’s right, you know. After all, George cleaned Al Gores’ clock in three straight debates and Kerry in two out of three.

Other than my diatribes with fellow high school wrestler, Stuttering Newtie, in the back of the school bus, on road matches, I have no “official” debate experience. Newtie kicked my butt on most occasions, stutter and all, but only because he had better “Your Mama…” insults.

Based on the above, I get to set the rules and subjects.

Weinbaums’ issues, based on Ah’m Mad’s quotes:
Quote 1: “Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of Islamic nation’s fury.”
Ø Jews lived in Iran 1,000 years before there was a Muslim. By your own logic, Ah’m Mad, if you espouse Jews displaced a Palestinian population, that was there before 1948 but can’t prove an independent country run by them, as Israelis can, you must turn over Iran to the Jews, and Persians immediately. They lived there a thousand years before there was a Muslim. Oh and BTW, you don’t get to take the oil with you.

Quote 2: “No doubt the new wave (of attacks) in Palestine will soon wipe off this disgraceful blot ( Israel ) from the face of the Islamic world.”
Ø Guess you were referring to the recent Lebanese war started by your puppet, Hezbollah. Seems to me that you got the wrong country destroyed. Also, there were a hell of a lot of Hezbos and the civilians they hid behind, killed. Not one inch of Israeli territory was captured.
Ø Your pathetic attempts to target civilians with your ball bearing filled missiles, was duly witnessed by the UN members you’re now trying to convince to let you develop your nukes.
Ø You ought to apologize to the Lebanese and take your Hezbo fighters back where they belong, Tehran . Maybe they could raid another embassy, like you and the boys did in ’79 against America . I hear the French Embassy is ripe for the picking. You could personally lead the Hezbos on THAT mission, couldn’t you, Ah’m Mad? France won’t be upset. They’ll probably send you a Renault dealership and a case of Champagne (alcohol free, of course.)

Quote 3: “The wave of the Islamic revolution will soon reach the entire world.”
Ø Finally, a point we agree with. Heck, it’s already here! Can you loudly repeat the above, for the liberals in the audience? They have their heads stuck so deep in the sand; they threaten finding a new oil field any second.

Quote 4: “Today students should shout at the president and ask why liberal and secular university lecturers are present in the universities.”
Ø Aw, did your profs object to your nasty little Holocaust cartoon show? We don’t debate within Iran , do we? Now here’s something we can get together on. We have a slew of the type of lecturers you’d be interested in. Just get David Horowitz’s book, “The Professors: the 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America .” We’ll make a trade!

Finally, Ah’m Mad, you should know, I’m no Mike Wallace, either.

Your coat sucks and, your hair is messy and, and…Your Mama wears a burhka!!!

Newtie would be proud.

The whole Nest of Them? No Thanks!!!

2006-09-03T07:47:00.000-07:00

The recent attacks by Hezbollah against Israel got a truly "measured" response from the Israelis. If the entire military might and fighting expertise of Israel were unleashed against Hezbollah, they would have been wiped out and Lebanon leveled within days.

Now Hezbollah knows why you don't go up to a hornet's nest and give it a good poke with a stick. The whole world knows that you just don't do this. Why not? Because if you do, the whole nest of hornets attacks with but one goal, and that is to sting you to death! You might not intend to kill any...All you want to do is give them a little poke with your stick. But, knowing what has happened to others who pursued that course of action, you think it over, and take your stick elsewhere.

The result of this is peace. The hornets stay quietly in their nest, doing whatever hornets do inside those things, and you go about whatever else you want to do. See? Peace!

The Israelis are a lot like the hornets. I have not seen instances where Israel left its borders and attacked others without having first been attacked. I would suggest that Iran and Syria study up on hornets, and learn to leave these folks alone.

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

2006-09-02T15:46:00.000-07:00

10. Many a man has drowned from a shallow relationship.
9. I called the Suicide Hot Line. No one answered. Maybe next time I’ll use the phone.
8. Car with bra has beaming headlights.
7. My girlfriend was in a band. She had sax appeal.
6. The more painful the practice the easier the game.
5. The boundaries of good minds can penetrate the toughest borders.
4. How do skunks find their mates? Common Scents.
3. The meek won’t inherit the earth until they go condo.
2. Baldness takes a lot off your mind.
1. Hold me high or hold me low, but please don’t ever let me go.

MAY G-D BLESS AND KEEP POPE BUCHANON…

2006-09-01T06:10:00.000-07:00

MAY G-D BLESS AND KEEP POPE BUCHANON…
Far away from us

Pat Buchanon once wrote that although Hitler was “indeed a racist and anti-Semitic…he was also an individual of great courage, a soldier’s soldier…a political organizer of the first rank, a leader steeped in the history of Europe, who possessed oratorical powers that could awe even those who despised him…Hitler’s success was not based on his extraordinary gifts alone. His genius was an intuitive sense of the mushiness, the character flaws, the weakness masquerading as morality that was in the hearts of the statesmen who stood in his path.”

Pat just pummels Adolph, doesn’t he? If Buchanon were in Germany as Hitler grew in power, he’d have been a Hitler groupie, probably an advisor who, rat holed in the Berlin Bunker with the Hitlers and the Goebbels, would have gone down with his fuehrer in the suicide de jour of that giddy “success”.

You can’t smell the roses from six feet under them

Success? Soldier’s Soldier? Genius??

Pat, what the hell were you talking about?

That psychopath was a disaster for… Germany . Even if you forget the REST of the world, your hero got 5 million GERMAN soldiers AND 6.5 million GERMAN civilians killed. The Third Reich went down quicker than Alex Rodriguez’s batting average in August.

Some “success”! Some “soldier’s soldier”! Some “genius”!

In case you’re wondering, 62 million died between 1939 and 1945 as a direct result of Adolph Hitler and those that admired him. Germany ’s infrastructure was destroyed, much like Lebanon ’s is today, its’ cities turned to rubble.

Germans still lower their eyes in shame from that disaster.

Equally disturbing, Buchanon’s column on July 18, 2006 pummels Israel for having the audacity to bomb a country that aids and abets Hezbollah, the western branch of that map wiper, Ah’m Mad of Iran.

Never mind that Israel had every right to protect its’ citizens from over the border kidnappings and murders. Hezbollah committed a clear act of war as was duly noted and criticized by the Arab press.

Pat himself shares history with the Hezbos.

In 1983 these terrorists murdered 251 US soldiers, while they slept in their barracks. What did President Ronald Reagan do about this sadistic act?

Absolutely nothing!

But then Ronnie had a smart young advisor in his administration, named coincidentally, Pat Buchanon.

Pat, did you regale Ronnie into putting his tail between his legs and acting as if this vile and evil act hadn’t happened? Did you advise the president to temper his reaction lest they have MORE reason to loathe us?

Seems that strategy didn’t endear us to Hezbollah, but it earned Islamofacist’s disdain as WELL as their hatred, throughout the world.

Coming in second to terrorists is not an acceptable solution

23 years later, and they’re still mad at us. Thanks to the inactions of President’s Carter through President Clinton, they don’t respect any western nation…until now.

Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s popular leader, once said, “If they (Jews) all gather in Israel , it saves us the trouble of going after them throughout the world.”

But, as Nasrallah, admitted yesterday, had he known the Israelis would have reacted with war to the murder and kidnapping of their sons, HE NEVER WOULD HAVE DONE IT!

Nass wasn’t deterred because Israel wanted to lick the sand off his sandals, he was remorseful because he got half his soldiers killed, his headquarters pummeled, his tunnels caved in, his missiles mostly captured and/or ineffective, his host country destroyed, and the target on his torso lit up like a fourth of July firework session.

Even the Arab street understands that the war was a Lebanese debacle, accomplished by a self-admitted third rate effort by Israeli forces.

Isn’t that’s what’s known as prior restraint upon remembrance of an ass-whooping? Might he think twice next time?

If we had done to al-Qeada what the Israelis did to Hezbollah last month, after the ’93 attack on the WTC, the world might be a much more peaceful place today.

Be an oasis not a mirage

Pat, it seems you ought to be grateful that someone else other than US soldiers are fighting against our common enemies instead of trying to kiss their fanatic rear ends so they’ll like us.

Let’s face it, Pat; sometimes you have to put your foot down to get a leg up.

Of course, you’ll need to start by removing your 11EE from your chops.

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

2006-08-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

10. During my appointment to become an anesthesiologist I put the interviewer to sleep. I got the job.
9. For some a picnic on the beach is like room service at the pool.
8. I was fired as a mailman. I was one stamp short of full postage.
7. If you have no wealth, share your kindness.
6. Hear about the golfer’s wife that divorced him? She found out he was tee-timing her.
5. Never leave a dullard alone with a sharp knife.
4. My initial girlfriend worked in a torch factory. She was my first flame.
3. Never leave a well-wisher high and dry.
2. I‘d cure my paranoia if everyone would just stop coming after me.
1. The best way to stay young is to grow old together.

More on Recycling

2006-08-27T17:50:00.000-07:00

I have had quite a lot of feedback on last week's blog entry, particularly on the half dealing with the city's proposed recycling ordinance. Most of it came after last week's council meeting when Russ Falkenrath read a letter he received from the City of Rolla's solid Waste Department.

In the letter, Falkenrath was advised to cease and desist from operating his recycling business. I am most disturbed by the following issues. If this ordinance has not yet been passed, (and it has NOT), how can Falkenrath be in violation of it? If he is NOT in violation of any city ordinance, he cannot be legally required to cease and desist from operating his business. If the ordinance has not been passed, who at City Hall has authorized the issue of letters threatening people with legal action and demanding they give up the operation of their business? Since we are dealing with an ordinance which has not yet been written or passed, whoever authorized letters like this has clearly overstepped his or her authority. Are we not getting the cart before the horse when we try to enforce laws that are not yet written or passed?

It should also be noted that the City of Rolla is ordering Falkenrath to give up a LICENSED BUSINESS! When Falkenrath walked in with his money, wanting a license for his recycling business, the City of Rolla issued the license and was only too happy to accept his money.

I have been advised that the City of Rolla is proceeding under the assumption that they have a "right" to these materials because the city considers them "refuse", and the city has the exclusive right to collect refuse within the city.

The day when recyclable materials were identified as and treated like refuse is a long time gone. Today, nearly every business operator recycles anything he or she can to earn extra income and help keep business costs at bay. If any material is of value to recycle, it is, by definition, a "recyclable material" and is clearly not refuse.

If the City of Rolla enacts an ordinance stating that it has the exclusive right to dispose of "recyclable materials" within the city, or to include "recyclable materials" as "refuse", it will be overturned immediately on legal grounds. Recyclable materials have value, and they belong to the people and businesses that accumulate them. How these people and businesses accumulate them, and what arrangements they make for their disposal is clearly not for the City of Rolla to decide. The Solid Waste Department can't simply classify valuable material as "refuse" and claim it in any way without properly compensating the owner for the value of the material. Taking things of value without paying for them is called theft!

In the recent past, the Rolla Bulldog Football team traveled in air conditioned chartered Tiger Coaches. This travel was paid for by Rolla people donating their aluminum soda cans to the football team, which got the money from selling these recyclable materials. The coach had a personalized license plate...CANS! Under the proposed definition, the Bulldogs and their coach would have committed an illegal act.

This issue is another prime example of the City of Rolla talking out of both sides of its face. On the one hand, we spend lots of money trying to get business people interested in locating in Rolla. Then, when an entrepreneur like Falkenrath comes along with his clearly original and innovative approach to recycling, the people at City Hall try to put him out of business. And we wonder why Rolla is not considered friendly to new businesses!

I happen to think Falkenrath's approach to recycling papers and old business records is clearly both original and innovative. He has a truck with a mobile shredder and picks up waste office paper and out of date business records at the customer's location. Discarded business records, tax returns, etc. are shredded on site, and in the customer's presence. They are thus destroyed properly and completely. The shredded remains of the records are then recycled by Falkenrath. I don't think the City of Rolla would begin to offer a disposal service with this kind of originality and complete confidentiality.

Whether they want to admit it or not, the City of Rolla is already benefiting in two separate ways from Falkenrath's recycling business. First, they took his money in exchange for the license to operate the business. Second, everything he recycles is material that people don't throw in the trash. It does not go into the waste stream and the City of Rolla does not have to pay for people and vehicles to collect it, or tipping fees on it to dispose of it in a landfill. Falkenrath's profits are the result of his own hard work and original thinking. He deserves every nickel he earns.

If the City of Rolla lays claim to all recyclables then it will cost Rolla Municipal Utilities a lot of money. Copper wire, aluminum wire, and power transformers are very valuable and are routinely recycled. Damaged transformers are rebuilt, and if too severely damaged, the oil in them, as well as the electrical wire is recycled. Wire replaced when power lines are upgraded or repaired is recycled in an effort to keep RMU's operating costs down. These highly recyclable materials are not turned over to the Solid Waste Department, nor should they be.

There are countless recyclable materials that the City of Rolla has neither the equipment nor the expertise to recycle, or even handle properly. What is the City of Rolla going to do with the icky contents of the grease traps at every restaurant in town? How will they collect, handle and store the thousands of tires replaced by our local tire shops? What will they do with the thousands of gallons of waste oil from our garages and oil change places? The list goes on and on. These are just a few of the easy and obvious ones. Here is the real biggie. How will they compensate the owners of these materials for what they will lose in selling them to the people who are now buying them?

Brewer Science is nationally recognized for it's recycling efforts. Through proper separation and handling, chemical waste is hauled away and the chemicals in it reclaimed and recycled. Every year, during the spring cleaning season, Brewer Science has a hazardous waste disposal program, where citizens can safely dispose of such things as solvents, left over pesticides, etc. One year, several pounds of Mercury was brought in, along with lots of old batteries, etc, etc. All of these are really nasty things you don't want to put in a landfill where they might eventually leak into and pollute the ground water. Once collected at Brewer Science, these rancid and dangerous materials were separated, classified, and turned over to experts who routinely and safely recycle them. Brewer Science then picks up the tab for the cost of whole operation as a service to help keep Rolla clean and free of hazardous waste and chemicals! These very programs for which Brewer Science is recognized, and commended by the Missouri General Assembly would be illegal, because "recyclables" are not handed for removal by the City of Rolla.

The city's last great foray into serious waste disposal involved the purchase of a huge incinerator, into which would be put garbage and refuse, and from which would belch forth steam. Steam would turn turbine generators which would produce electric power. The great behemoth of an incinerator had to be dismantled for transport. It arrived in Rolla in sections on heavily laden low boy trailers, to lots of hoopla, much fanfare, and front page newspaper photos and articles. As installation began, the DNR people heard about the project, looked it over, and promptly shut it down. Along with the much desired steam to spin those power producing turbines, there would also belch forth from this thing great acrid clouds of smoke and noxious fumes which would illegally pollute the air. The City of Rolla spent loads of money on this thing before anybody even thought about what would come out of the exhaust chimney. Alas, the once heralded incinerator left Rolla as it had arrived, in pieces. Only this time, there was no hoopla and no front page photos or articles. If memory serves, we got somewhere around ten cents on the dollar for what we paid for it.....AS SCRAP!

Hopefully, the City Council will leave the decision of how a business or individual wants to dispose recyclables where it clearly belongs.....With the owner of the materials, and with experienced and licensed recyclers like Falkenrath, who are prepared to handle it safely, keep it out our waste stream, and make a living doing it. The city should actually be very thankful for the recyclers who dispose of all the recyclables that our Solid Waste Department has neither the expertise or the facilities to handle. If these recyclers were not recycling these tons of materials, they would wind up in the city's waste stream. Our Solid Waste Department would be wanting to increase rates to pay the tipping fees on all this stuff at a landfill.

Let Russ Falkenrath, and other entrepreneurs like him continue to grow their businesses in Rolla. Make Rolla a place where entrepreneurs are rewarded and encouraged, not run out of business because City Hall wants to take over what private enterprise has shown can be a profitable operation if run correctly.

Perfect Park

2006-08-25T06:14:00.000-07:00

http://www.107.peugeot.co.uk/peugeot.swf

Harry's Left Overs (8/28/06)

2006-08-24T12:28:00.000-07:00

Normally, I'll let things sit on the stove for awhile before I move them to the back of the 'frig as left overs. But I don't see getting back to these on-air, so left overs they are!

Parks, fee or free? The Council and the Parks Department have been kicking around the issue of who gets charged for using the recreation areas in the parks. Should "youth" and organizations which serve them, pay a fee to use park facilities? I guess the real issue seems to be, do we charge the Rolla Public Schools and UMR for using park facilities--mostly the ball fields. Some of this is pretty clear to me.

UMR should pay. By most legal descriptions, their students are adults, so forget the "youth" argument. They are also usually charged a special fee for campus activities and recreation by the University. So UMR has already assessed them and has the money to pay. I admit it's been a long time, but I have been associated with youth groups that were refused the use of UMR fields, even when they were vacant and unused during the summer. The City pays when it uses UMR so it's fair that UMR pay when it uses the city.

The Rolla Public Schools should pay for ATHLETICS! This isn't recreation. You can't even get physical education credit for sports anymore. These participants are all elite, in their own way. They also pay a fee to participate and admission, at least in the past, has been charged for athletic events on City fields. Used to be that the City used school facilities for its recreation programs, but no more. So there is no quid-pro-quo, unless the City can get access to the new Bray facilities. Bottom line for me: I pay taxes to support the schools. I pay taxes to support the City. I don't expect my school taxes to support the City and I don't expect my City taxes to support the schools.

Dogs, poop! (Reader beware! If you are offended by the word "poop", you better skip this one. However, the word has appeared on the front page of the Post Dispatch at least twice in the past week. It must have some literary value!) I've taken up walking/jogging the past few months. (Most of my friends usually laugh here.) I pound the streets and trails. I am surprised at the number of BIG dogs there are in the City. Most are behind fences and will bark a greeting as you pass. But for some, that bark isn't a friendly greeting and I do wonder when one of these will easily bound over the fence. Still, I appreciate our lease laws and the enforcement. I've been some places where that is not the case.

Typically, I like to pound the streets and trails in our parks. But I don't appreciate wading through poop. My guess is that most dog owners live in a house or location which has its own stretch of green. So, why does Fifi have to poop in the park? And I really get upset when Rover seems to like to leave it on the sidewalk. The Acorn Trail/Green Acres seems to be the worst. My mom tells a story about a friend of hers: This lady was fed up with the neighbor always sending Fido over to her place to do his business. One day she approached Fido's parent and told her, "I don't poop in your yard, so don't let Fido poop in mine!" Good point. Don't do it on my sidewalk!!!

Mr. Hargis and Mr. Kwantes get it right! I know most of you tune in to hear us make fun and rip the City. But sometimes they get it right. I thanked Steve on-air for the City's effort to solve a flooding problem in my neighborhood. After almost 3 inches of rain this weekend, it seems to have worked. After Councilperson Wiggins asked for a volunteer effort to clean up Ber Juan pond, Ken has had the City crews out working hard. THANK YOU for sparing us the sight of the Council and Buehler Parkers in swimwear and flip-flops. THANK YOU! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!!!

Some thoughts on UMR's new coop agreement with SMS. I am often curious about some of the cooperative arrangements that UMR makes. The deal to offer engineering programs at SMS is no exception. (They will always be SMS to me, so don't write or call!) SMS had two Springfield representatives with them at the signing in recognition of the economic impact these programs will have in Springfield. Which also means these are students who will not be having an economic impact on Rolla! It's OK for us to realize that UMR's interests are not necessarily Rolla's interests. But sometimes we should also remember that Rolla's interests may not always be consistent with UMR's. That's OK, too.

I'll close with the usual prayer: Lord protect me from those who have no sense of humor and take themselves too seriously. And protect them from me! Grant me the knowledge to recognize the idiot in the room...and give me the wisdom to keep my mouth shut when the idiot is me!

Electronic Voting Systems: No More Hanging Chads! - Tech Soup Episode 3

2006-08-23T11:23:00.000-07:00

Listen to the Podcast!

If you voted in the recent primary, you noticed something new in Phelps and surrounding counties: a Sequoia AVC Edge electronic voting machine with Verivote printer. As a newly appointed Technology Deputy, I had the privilege of introducing this new machine to voters and helping them use it to cast their ballots. Originally, we intended to use the machines for hearing and/or seeing impaired voters, those in wheelchairs, or just anyone who had difficulty using the paper ballots. Some of the Tech Deps actually encouraged all the voters who stopped by their polling location to "Give it a try!"

I know there are "issues" surrounding electronic voting, not the least of which is having a paper trail. In the case of the Edge voting machines, we are able to determine the accuracy of votes by matching the number of votes cast on the machine with the number of printed ballots that are automatically generated with each cast ballot. It's the responsibility of the Tech Dep to check the counter after each voter casts their ballot to make sure it's counting the votes accurately. On the electronic voting machine, each voter has no less than four opportunities to change their vote before actually casting their ballot. Personally, I feel confident that the number of ballots recorded on the Edge was accurate in the polling location where I worked. The printed ballots which are on a tape, much like a cash register tape, were sealed inside the Edge printer until the polls closed when we unsealed the printer, removed the tape and placed it in the locked ballot box with the manually completed ballots that were scanned and deposited inside the optical scanner. I'm not going so far as to say that everyone else who uses this electronic voting system is going to have as troublefree an experience as I did. There were a few deputies who had various technical difficulties with their sytems and I can imagine that in polling places that are really busy, it would be more difficult to deal with technical issues. That doesn't stop me from supporting electronic voting in the polls, however. It seems to me that no matter what method we choose to vote, there will always be issues that come to light and hopefully, we will confront those issues and continue to improve our voting system.

I'd like to take this opportunity to encourage everyone to cast their votes in November. I'd especially like to encourage voters to spend some time learning about the candidates and the issues BEFORE they cast their votes. Voting is a serious responsibility and should not be taken lightly. In my opinion, it's our responsibility as voters to know 1) the issues that affect our county and 2) where the candidates stand on those issues. Voting is NOT a spontaneous activity. Do your homework! Don't let Rush Limbaugh, Al Franken or local party leaders define the issues for you. Get to know the issues yourself and get to know where the candidates stand!

If you, too, believe that voting is a serious responsibility (and I sincerely hope you do), then take every opportunity to hear the candidates discuss the issues in public forums. The local NAACP is sponsoring a forum at Phelps County Courthouse on September 26 at 6pm. Check it out. Between now and the November election, Channel 16 will be interviewing the candidates and giving you the chance to call with your own questions. Make your vote count by understanding what and knowing who you are voting for!

Do You Use Windows Automatic Update? - Tech Soup Episode 2

2006-08-23T10:55:00.000-07:00

Listen to the podcast!

It's been with us (sometimes it seems) FOREVER! You know what I'm talking about...the reminder with the little yellow shield that tells us we have updates ready to install. Well, actually, not all of us even know about the update, at least not until we get ready to shut down our machine and the logout screen advises us to "install updates and shut down."

Windows users can get fully or semi-automatic updates. The semi-automatic updates allow you to choose at what point Microsoft notifies you that there are updates ready. Do you want them to download and install ALL updates automatically without bothering you? That's the fully automatic option. The semi-automatic options notify you that there are updates ready to download and lets you choose which ones you want OR that updates have been downloaded and you can choose which ones you want to install. Personally, I would never choose the fully automatic option or the second semi-automatic option if I was on dialup (hey, I am on dialup at home...what am I saying here?). Some of those updates use up a lot of bandwidth to download and dialup is slow enough without having the added burden of automatic updates.

Something you may not have noticed is that Microsoft really does give you the chance to review the updates before you download or install them. How do you know what you're reviewing? If you choose to review updates first, highlight each one and read the information that appears in the Details box beneath the list of updates. This information also includes a link to the Microsoft website that describes the update in detail and even lists any caveats (they mean issues)to installing them on your PC. If someone has reported conflicts with a particular update and other software or hardware on their PC, this is where you'll find out. Here is an example of an update that lists caveats: The Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer for Windows XP (KB920214).

Granted, it's not the easiest thing to do but you can do it if you want to take the time. You can also type the number of the update into a search engine to see if anyone has posted a problem with their installation. Most security updates are good, especially if you're on the Internet at all (surfing or checking e-mail). If you don't have a lot of different software programs or connected hardware devices, you aren't a "power user" and you don't use dialup, you're probably safe to set your updates to fully automatic and forget about it. For everyone else, though, I recommend choosing the semi-automatic option...or getting a Mac....!

Overdue Council Actions

2006-08-20T19:44:00.000-07:00

There are a couple of issues the Rolla City Council needs to address.

The first of these is a measure concerning recycling in Rolla. The council read and debated a measure establishing the City of Rolla as the only lawful recyceler, much the same as it prohibits competition in the field of trash removal.

The trash removal I can agree with. If there were competing trash removal services in Rolla, they would undoubtedly collect along differing routes on differing days. The result would be somebody's garbage cans along the curbside almost all the time. With the present process, everyone along the route puts theirs out on a given day, it is picked up, and the cans are out of sight until the next collection date. The overall appearance of the city is improved, especially if the crew operating the packer truck gets all the garbage actually dumped into the truck.

When we get to recycling, though, the original proposal was a disaster waiting to happen. There are a lot of things that get recycled that the City of Rolla has nothing to do with. Bulk grease from restaurants, engine oil from oil change places, metal turnings and drillings from machine shops, and other things too numerous to mention are all recycled. All these things are the property of the business that generates them. The bottom line is very simple. Unless there is some violation of the existing waste disposal ordinances, how the owners sell their recayclables and to whom they sell them is the business of the owner and not the City of Rolla. The same principal applies to aluminum cans and cardboard boxes. If you buy a beverage, you also own the container it comes in. If you buy a new computer, you also own the box it comes in. If you save either until you get a whole bunch, the choice of recyclers is yours, and yours alone. If you throw them in the trash, and the City of Rolla wants to pick them out, fine. The council needs to drive a stake through the heart of the pending ordinance to be sure it is dead, drop back about ten yards, and punt with a totally new recycling ordinance.

The second thing that is overdue is an ordinance change by the council, changing the Utility Sales Tax (because that is exactly what it is) from a sales tax to a per kilowatt hour tax that will be revenue neutral to what the City was collecting before the ordinance was changed. At present, the City gets a percentage of funds collected by RMU. Lets keep the math simple. If your kilowatt hour charge for electricity is $100, and the tax is 5%, your total is $105.00. Now let us assume that the cost of the electricity goes up. Next month's bill arrives. You haven't used any more power, but the cost doubles to $200. With the 5% tax, you are now paying $210. That's a $10 tax on exactly the same amount of electricity that cost you $5 the month before. Your city tax has doubled, even though you didn't use any more power! So far, all the Council has done is rake in the windfall dollars generated by the latest power pricing increases. It is time for this to stop. Rising costs are making it difficult on everyone, and the City is gouging the subscribers of RMU. It was mentioned at the last council meeting that a per kilowatt hour tax is doable, and it is. All the council has to do is change the ordinance, and get their greedy hands out of people's pocketbooks and wallets.

With the recent heat waves, every news service in the country has been carrying stories about senior citizens sweltering and affected by severe health problems and even some deaths, all brought on because these elderly people couldn't afford to use their fans and air conditioners.

The Missouri General Assembly has been debating a measure to forbid utilities from cutting off service when temperatures reach these dangerous levels. It is absolutely unacceptable for the Rolla City Council to be engaged in this kind of tax gouging, and, with full knowledge of what they are doing, making the plight of these people any worse than it already is.
If the council really wants to do something to help these people, why not waive the tax when weather conditions are extreme? If the council waives the tax temporarily, the same ordinance would allow RMU to delete it from the customer's bill. If no action is forthcoming, I recommend the air conditioning to the council chamber be shut off until it is! No electric fans, either! If the council plans on forcing poor people on fixed incomes to do without fans and air conditioning when the heat index hovers between 105 and 110, then they should have to do their business in the same sweltering conditions. For council reps from the wealtheir parts of town, the few dollars saved by this measure are probably negligible. But to poor people on fixed incomes, they can make a huge difference, sometimes even the difference between life and death.

If this sounds familiar to you, then you probably read my column here just after the ordinance was passed. I pointed out then that this was going to happen, and called then for the council to change the ordinance to a per kilowatt hour fee. So far, all that has happened is a lot of money collected into the city coffers. The City Council is still raking in the windfall and no action has been taken or even proposed to correct the problem.

Any time I ask a council rep if this is even being considered, I get the same kind of look I used to get from the family dog, right after he peed on my motorcycle wheel and was wondering if I noticed.

The change to per kilowatt hour taxation on electric power has gotten some public lip service in the local media from City Administrator John Butz, but lip service doesn't feed the cat.

Every time I hear anyone suggest a proposal that would lower a tax, the first bleating response from the taxing authority is "How will we pay for it?" I contend that when the tax is passed, the question should be "How will the people pay for it?" If the taxing authority says that the taxpayer will just have to cinch up his belt and get along with less, the taxing authority should be prepared to do exactly the same thing when tough circumstances make life difficult for everyone.

Somebody will undoubtedly complain that waiver of the tax would be a big problem in computer programming. Those astute individuals among you holding the coveted and highly prized CHANNEL 16 B.S. DEGREE will instantly recognize this for what it is. B.S. The same programmer who programmed the RMU billing computer to collect the tax, can program it NOT to collect the tax for a period of time, marked by a beginning and an ending date. If he or she can't, then we need a new programmer and a replacement for the supervisor who hired the dud!

If the council doesn't fix this, then keep your electric bills, figure the amount you have been chisled, and vent your wrath on the incumbents in the next election.
It works! And I will be sure to refresh your memory on who tried to do something about this and who saw fit to continue ripping you off.

LEFT OVERS! 8/18/06

2006-08-18T12:28:00.000-07:00

Everybody has left overs. Not everybody likes them, but they are a fact of life. I've found that every week there are things from the show that never make it to air--they're left over. So...every couple of weeks I will try to update this with random thoughts and ideas that just never got consumed.

Is it me? I'm not exactly a news freak, but seems the Isreal-Lebanon war gets a lot of air time and print space. But the one thing I have never seen is an adequate expanation of "why should I care?"

Optimist or idiot? When I decided to start writing, I made a new year's resolution that I wouldn't keep harping on the same topics. (With Jewish new year, Chinese new year, fiscal year, surely it's gotta be somebody's new year, right?) But here is a new twist on an old topic. Early last week, I made a trip to St. Louis and gas prices there were actually higher than Rolla. Later in the week, I was heading back to the big city. Rolla gas prices had actually dropped a couple of cents. I NEVER buy gas in Rolla when I travel, but I figured this might be the time, so I filled up. WRONG!!!! By the time I got halfway up I-44, gas was already a dime cheaper than Rolla (as usual) and gas at my final destination (Cape Girardeau) was 30 cents less. So, was I an optimist about Rolla or the usual idiot? I'm thinking it's the latter.

Question to ponder: Do I have to support the war to support our troops? Seems like so many folks think those are one-and-the-same. I'm not sure I believe that, but I do support those men and women who are following that calling.

Making the Senate interesting: Now that the primary is over, wouldn't it be interesting if we actually had senators from different parties after the November election? Here's why--it sure would be interesting to see how they vote on issues. If you believe the line about "putting Missourians first", shouldn't their votes in the congress be the same? It would be interesting to see how many times they vote together and how many times it's business as usual along party lines.

My version of the serenity prayer: Lord protect me from those who have no sense of humor and take themselves too seriously. And protect them from me! Grant me the knowledge to recognize the idiot in the room...and give me the wisdom to keep my mouth shut when the idiot is me!

Birthday website

2006-08-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

A friend sent this to me and I thought this was pretty cool.... see what history was on your Birthday. After you've finished reading the info, click again, and see what the moon looked like the night you were born.
This is really neat.
Click below and have fun!

http://www.paulsadowski.com/birthday.asp

Re: Sager's Letter to the Editor in the RDN

2006-08-16T08:22:00.000-07:00

Dear Editor:

This letter is in response to Tom Sagar’s missive that appeared in the 8/11 RDN.

My intent in “For the Love of G-d” column wasn’t to impugn all Muslims, nor deify all Jews.

Simply put, I was opining as to Jews fighting for their survival instead of just praying for it. I was pointing out the disparity of population numbers between 6 million Israeli Jews and 1.5 billion Muslims. If the editor will publish the attached map, my point will be further illustrated.
As to what many Muslims believe, actions speak louder than words.

Osama Bin Ladin’s Fatwah, dated, 2/23/1998 commands Muslims to murder and steal from Americans and other “pagans”:
“The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies--civilians and military--is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy mosque from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim. This is in accordance with the words of Almighty God, "and fight the pagans all together as they fight you all together," and "fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in God." Feb. 23 1998, Osama Bin Ladin.

Not convinced? Here’s more:
“Almighty God also says "O ye who believe, what is the matter with you, that when ye are asked to go forth in the cause of God, ye cling so heavily to the earth! Do ye prefer the life of this world to the hereafter? But little is the comfort of this life, as compared with the hereafter. Unless ye go forth, He will punish you with a grievous penalty, and put others in your place; but Him ye would not harm in the least. For God hath power over all things." Feb. 23, 1998, Osama Bin Ladin

Out of this belief, America, Europe, Indonesia, and Israel have suffered numerous attacks, including suicide murderers, beheadings, And IEDS, both after and before Osama’s command/Fatwah.

Do I believe most Muslims believe in the above? No. Do I believe that Islam is controlled by those that believe the above? Yes.

The evidence is overwhelming…all over the planet. On the day Mr. Sagar’s letter was published the plan to blow up 10 American planes, using liquid explosives, was exposed by British, Pakistani, and American Intelligent Services.

Arrests are still being made.

And let us not forgot the unwarranted murder of 3000 civilians on 9/11/2001, the most amazing example of religious hate and intolerance in modern times, maybe ever.

Below is a site that Mr. Sagar and other readers might take a look-see. It illustrates Arab/Muslims/and Christians who take issue with the current leadership of Islam., at great risk to their lives.

http://www.somebodyhelpme.info/righteous/righteous.html

Might I respectfully recommend that Mr. Sagar send his Koran quotes to Bin Ladin. May I also suggest that he send a copy to Ah’m Mad and all the rest of the Mullahs and Muftahs that believe as Osama and his followers do.

Sincerely,

Dave Weinbaum

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

2006-08-14T06:58:00.000-07:00

10. Aging peers make for steady dock fellows.
9. The best diet is hindsight. If you can see too much of your butt, it’s time to diet.
8. I went to my doctor for the pain in my eyes, ears, and nose. He said it was all in my head.
7. Why don’t we call an open safe a ‘danger’?
6. I had an open house. Nothing happened. Maybe next time I’ll put it up for sale.
5. Be a hurricane…with a second wind.
4. I knew a guy that was so old, his DNA was discontinued.
3. The secret to a successful marriage is to make more good memories than bad.
2. Never watch a golfer’s swing that hit’s it 50 yards beyond your ball.
1. Don’t forget to pack your courage for your journey to greatness.

Carry-On Luggage...Time to do away with it?

2006-08-13T17:16:00.000-07:00

Imagine for a moment the chaos that would erupt if, suddenly, numerous jetliners enroute to the far flung points of the globe suddenly vanished from radar screens. Later, debris, bodies and body parts would liter the surface of the oceans, scattered for miles in every direction.

This is exactly the scenario that Islamic Fascist Terrorists tried to enact, when the plan was stopped just short of the dress rehearsal, and possibly even the execution. After all, if liquid explosives and other components of a bomb were successfully smuggled aboard airliners, why stop with a rehearsal? Why not assemble the bombs and detonate them when the opportunity was at hand? The world wide chaos would be the message to the remaining terrorists that they had a workable plan. Who knows how many more suicide bombers were armed with these liquid bombs and ready to board planes as soon as they knew that their plan was workable?

Terrorists are great at reverse engineering our security. They address the problem this way. What CAN I take on a plane? How can I make a lethal weapon to look like something that is harmless and already allowed on without suspicion? Remember...The 911 hijackers used box cutters as weapons to hijack the planes. Why? Because box cutters had blades short enough not to be banned for air travel. Box cutters were allowed on board without suspicion.

Most of us can't imagine the problems involved in determining what happened to an airliner that disintegrates traveling at six hundred miles per hour at thirty five thousand feet. The wreckage would be scattered across miles and miles of ocean, and sunk in perhaps thousands of feet of water. If enough were ever found to establish with any certainty that a bomb was to blame, it would be a miracle. Recall if you will the difficulty NASA had in recovering the remains of the Challenger when it exploded just after launch and while it was being photographed by about every kind of camera known to man. It took weeks and months to find key pieces, even when they were photographed as they fell into the ocean. Now imagine having to accomplish the same type of investigation when airliners were destroyed in mid flight with little if any data on where to look for remains.

One or two strikes of this nature would ground air travel world wide, and create havoc with the world economies. The victory achieved over terrorists in the thwarting of this plot and the discovery of how it was to be executed is of genuinely monumental importance. The question now is how to get air travel back to some semblance of normalcy.

The first steps have already been taken by banning anyone from carrying liquids on board. People are screaming, but I don't see the problem. If you have to travel with makeup, pack it securely in your suitcase and check it with the rest of your baggage. If your nose gets a little shiney during the flight, I am sure the rest of us will understand. The same thing applies to other personal articles. If you are planning on hitting on the young lady across the aisle, I would recommend a shower before flight time, and gum for any last minute breath freshening you might want to do, just to bolster your confidence.

Now that we're past drinks, (already available on the airplane), makeup and toilet articles, let's look at carry on luggage in general.

Carry on luggage is probably the greatest time waster in the airline industry today. Do you realize that almost 100% of the delays at security are the result of screening millions of pieces of carry on luggage? We are talking HOURS of delay. If your luggage was checked, all you would have to do is walk through the body screener, and get on the plane. If any of you have boarded a plane lately you are all too familiar with the actual boarding scenario. The first few people on use the next ten minutes standing in the aisle, trying to cram all their junk into the overhead spaces. When they get theirs in and finally get their butts in their seats, another batch takes their place. Only this time, they have to move all the junk put there by the first group to make room for theirs. And so it goes.

I usually try to get an aisle seat if available. If I have to get to the lavatory, I don't have to crawl over anyone, but I do get crawled over by others. The real drawback in having an aisle seat is getting pounded on by all the carry on luggage others are trying to get to their seats with. I have been hit by everything from Christmas trees to golf clubs, depending upon what season of the year I fly. Next time you fly, take a look at your watch, and see just how much time is wasted by fooling with all this junk. Remember, this whole ugly process gets reversed when the plane lands, and everyone is sorting all this stuff out trying to find theirs. Delays of ten to fifteen minutes after wheel stop at the gate are not uncommon. Imagine how great it would be if all that crap suddenly disappeared, and all everyone had to do was stand up and walk off the plane. Carry on luggage lengthens the duration of every flight by at least an hour, probably more. Why not do the whole world a favor and check it all?

If we continue to allow carry on luggage, terrorists will sooner or later find a way to get something in it that is not detected until it is too late. Thousands will perish in a single day and world economies will be in instant chaos. The travel and transportation industries lost billions after 911.

The ability to carry a bunch of junk onto an airliner is a course of action that we can no longer afford, and a liability to airline safety and security in general.

If you can't check it, then ship it to your destination ahead of time, or buy it when you get there!

In the mean while, get your butt out of the aisle. You're holding up the flight!

Tech Soup - Episode 1

2006-08-11T13:14:00.000-07:00

Just How Important IS the Defragging Process to Your Computer's Performance? VERY!

Marty, Steve and I have joined the lineup of iLearnradio.org, a new Internet radio station that uses podcast content in a streaming format. This station is a sister station to CoolCast Radio where "Views from the Coop", a weekly tech chat podcast I co-host with Kristi Hicks, has been part of the lineup for almost a year. Both stations are under the BX Radio Network umbrella and are gaining popularity each week as they add new podcast content to the already unique lineup. Peter Yanke of the BX Radio Network and Dr. Kathy King of Fordham University in the Bronx (and co-host of "Podcast for Teachers") have teamed to introduce iLearnradio.org as a lifelong learning station. The station is still in BETA testing and will be adding new shows on a regular basis. Here at Rolla Mornings Live, we're proud to be part of the original lineup. It's especially flattering that we were actually INVITED to join!

What this means for Rolla Mornings Live listeners (and wanna be listeners) is that if you miss a live episode of Tech Soup and for whatever reason aren't able to tune into the stream, you can always hear us on iLearnradio (where each episode will run for two weeks) or just visit the blog to download individual files. To listen to an episode, just click the Heading!

RETURN TO SENDER: Address Tehran

2006-08-10T06:56:00.000-07:00

Let’s face it.

Israel has a major PR problem.

Most of its neighbors want to send Israel into the Mediterranean, drowning every Jewish man, woman, and child in its wake.

Iran and Syria’s pawn, Hezbollah, keeps rocket launchers, weapons, and soldiers embedded in or near civilians and UN buildings. Their ball bearing filled rockets, launched from populated areas, are sent indiscriminately into Israeli Jewish and Arab neighborhoods with nary a purpose except to murder and traumatize as many innocent people as they can. While there are some ripped apart by the screeching bombs, you don’t see many Israeli children amongst them...thank G-d!

A child should never have to wonder if his parents love him

Seems Israelis love their children enough to keep them out of the paths of exploding missiles, in shelters or at Uncle Phil’s down south.

Before Israel retaliates:

They alert civilians first.
They drop flyers.
They broadcast warnings.
They meticulously target enemy combatants and their supply lines.
The Jews try to get innocents, even Hezbollah’s family members, out of danger. Then they go after Hezbollah “warriors” who insist on hiding amongst the duly warned women and children as a defense.

The Hezbollah parade starts when the bodies of innocents, mostly children, now in macabre death masks are thrusted in the air for the press to see. Crocodile tears are sobbed for the cameras. “Spontaneous” demonstrations suddenly appear in Tehran, and Damascus, with vengeance oaths screamed at Jews and the USA.

Of course those dear ones are dead, because their “loved ones” used them as shields and later as lifeless symbols of their Jihad.

Can any of you imagine putting your children in this kind of danger, then parading their little dead bodies in front of the press? What kind of sick bastards do this to their own?

But this scene has been replayed time and time again.

Muslim leaders are willing to sacrifice any Arab/Muslim man, woman, or child to justify killing Jews….with the exception of the bosses themselves.

Now THAT’S considered effective Middle East PR! No, I’m NOT kidding.

“Pardon us, but did you misplace these?”

If Israel succeeds in capturing ten thousand plus Iranian rockets, missiles and drones, they could make one hell of a PR turnaround. All they need do is turn ‘em east, light the fuse and send them postage prepaid back to the owners.

Lest civilians get caught in the crossfire, direct them into Tehran’s main government buildings, bridges, roads, and airports…all % of Israel’s neighbor, Iranian President Ahmadinejad, or as the Mullahs call him, Ah’m Mad.

Let Ah’m Mad finally feel the punishment he earned for his role as invader of the US embassy and kidnapper of American personnel for 444 days in 1979-80.
Let Ah’m Mad suffer for pulling the strings of his Hezbollah puppets as they kill any Jew they can find or launch missiles to kill Israeli children.
Let Ah’m Mad suffer for Hezbollah’s murder of 241 Americans, mostly US Marines, murdered in their barracks in Lebanon in 1983.
Let Ah’m Mad suffer for his desecration of the souls of 6,000.000 Jews in denying the Holocaust happened.
Let Ah’m Mad suffer as he wants Israelis to suffer as he tries to “wipe them off the map.”
Let those missiles, rockets and drones wing back to the original senders, and let them soar with screaming accuracy into the infrastructure and offices of the new Hitler, Ah’m Mad.

After all, isn’t THAT what being a good neighbor is all about?

If only Adam had eaten the serpent and not the apple…

As to the Chinese producers of some of the missiles…let every Jew in the world boycott all Chinese restaurants for a month (a supreme sacrifice for G-ds chosen ones)! That’ll put a red pepper on their bottom line

No worry about retaliation from our Far Eastern friends abandoning Jewish Delis.

There’s no record of any Chinese ever ordering as much as a knish, much less a hot corn beef on pumpernickel.

May Ah’m Mad and friends find out what Hitler discovered in the mid forties.

Swastikas boomerang.

Electile Dysfunction???

2006-08-09T17:51:00.000-07:00

When the dawn's early light began to shine on Georgia on August 9, 2006, the last of the precincts reported in with the results of the August 8 primary, and the news was not good for Cynthia McKinney. The democratic voters of Georgia dumped her in the state's primary election runoff, even though she was an incumbent.

To borrow a phrase, it couldn't have happened to a more deserving person. McKinney has for years spewed the most ridiculous rhetoric imaginable, stating among other things that the United States Government knew beforehand about the 911 attacks on the World Trade Center and allowed them to happen with the loss of roughly three thousand people.

McKinney is a far left wing kook. She also has other problems. She recently got by with physically assaulting a United States Capitol Police Officer who attempted to detain her when she went through a checkpoint without showing proper identification. If you or I had done the same thing, we would still be in jail. Being a police officer and responsible for the safety and security of our fellow human beings is a thankless job at best, but there is absolutely no excuse for McKinney to assault an officer who was performing his assigned duty to establish her safety, along with that of the other members of Congress meeting and working in the United States Capitol. The bottom line is simply...She belongs in the same jail cell you or I would occupy if we were to do what she actually did.

Every time McKinney has a problem, it is always someone else's fault. She maintained that even without her congressional ID, the officer should have recognized her as a member of Congress. B.S. Thousands of people pass through the Capitol complex every day. The officers on security detail are trained to scan them for the ID badges they are supposed to be wearing, and react accordingly if they do not have them. Her whole incident, where she was an obvious embarrassment to those who elected her, was of course, the officer's fault. Sorry Cynthia, neither we or the good people of Georgia are buying it this time. You are not a victim, you are a loser!

McKinney can't even lose with class or dignity. Blaming her defeat on "electronic voting machines" and on the media, she proclaimed the election to have been "stolen" from her. It seems odd that she had no problem with the state's voting machines when she won, but when the same machines reveal that she is a loser, they are no longer any good. She simply can't have it both ways.

Cynthia can't even remember the talking points correctly. In 2000, when votes were cast by manually punching out IBM type punch cards with a stylus, Jesse Jackson forever proved my claim. I stated then that the most dangerous place on planet Earth was between Jesse Jackson and a television camera. Thanks to his complaints and contentions, punch cards were no longer good. The election should have been declared invalid because there were no electronic voting machines. Now, when McKinney loses, she blames her loss on the same electronic voting machines Jesse Jackson and his entire entourage were clamoring for, and upon which millions of tax payer dollars have been spent!

What's the scoop, Cynthia? Didn't you get the memo?

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

2006-08-08T08:44:00.000-07:00

10. Is there spell-check for blood-type?
9. Karaoke is stand-up comedy with someone else’s songs.
8. Man’s problem with the Universe is he can’t accept his own insignificance.
7. Does powdered milk come from chalky cows?
6. My wife gets into lots of car accidents. She has a rather large blond spot.
5. Stallion’s war cry: “Seize the hay!”
4. I’d drink in Moderation, but I can’t find it on the map.
3. May all your personalities be multi-taskers.
2. I was fired as a NASCAR racer. I stopped for directions during a race.
1. A good defense is downright offensive.

KATYUSHA - - - Preferred Weapon of Cowards

2006-08-04T16:31:00.000-07:00

As I watch the war in the Middle East unfold. I am almost blown away by the sheer cowardice of Hezbollah, and totally amazed that the rest of the world does not see it for what it is.

The Katyusha rocket seems to be the preferred weapon of Hezbollah. A lot is revealed about the character of a fighter by his choice of weapons. This also holds true with Terrorists.

The Katyusha rocket just literally screams "low budget coward". It is an el cheapo rocket, requiring nothing more than a simple tripod to launch it. It has about a sixteen mile range, but no guidance system.
After all, guidance systems run up the cost, and no financially responsible terrorist wants to pay for unnecessary frills. The Katyusha is a weapon of sheer terror, much like the VI Buzz Bombs built by the Germans in WWII. You just point it in the general direction of the country you want to attack, and light it. It then flies until it runs out of fuel, crashes to the ground, and explodes on impact. It might fall on a school, a hospital, a church, an orphanage, or an apartment building full of civilians. This is what verifies the fact that the Cowards of Hezbollah are a total and complete waste of skin. The simple fact is, they place no value on human life, so they really don't give a damn where they land or who they kill. The Katyushas have explosive warheads, but packed around the explosives are ball bearings, nails, scrap metal fragments, glass, anything that could kill or maim is loaded as part of the warhead. When the rocket detonates, these materials are blasted in every direction. This is a coward's tactic, and a coward's weapon if ever there was one.

Hezbollah didn't just find a few of these at some desert warlord's garage sale and pick them up. Over the past six years, they have accumulated 13 thousand of these abominable devices and hidden them in mosques, schools, hotels, apartment buildings, factories, office buildings, hospitals, and anywhere else they were able to stockpile them and use the Lebanese civilian population as a shield. They were supplied and funded by Iran and Syria.

let's compare these tactics with those of the Isreali Defense Forces. IDF gunners use the most accurate artillery available, along with air strikes of almost surgical precision, taking out individual motor vehicles when necessary. Before moving into an area, the IDF drops leaflets, urging all not involved with Hezbollah to vacate the area before strikes occur. They break into Lebanese radio and television channels with the same warnings. They use unmanned drone aircraft, patrolling the combat zone. Infrared video in the drones clearly shows the launching of Katyusha rockets, and their heat signature marks the origin of their flight. The fact that Hezbollah launches these rockets from public buildings, hotels, apartment houses, mosques, schools and hospitals largely account for the number of Lebanese casualties. The IDF has no choice but to shoot at the sources where the rocket attacks are originating. Israeli target selection is, for all intents and purposes, being dictated by Hezbollah, and Lebanese casualties greatly increased by their cowardly use of innocent civilians as human shields.

In most wars up until now, soldiers on opposing sides developed a certain degree of respect for their opposite numbers. How can anyone, let alone the rest of the free world, see what is going on here and have any respect at all for the likes of Hezbollah? Hezbollah deserves nothing but death. They are without legitimate cause and they are totally without honor.

The sooner someone has the distinct privilege of putting a bullet through the last surviving one of them, the sooner Planet Earth will take a step up the social ladder.

What do they have to gain?

2006-08-04T00:52:00.000-07:00

When I heard that Missouri Democrats have filed a lawsuit to stop enforcement of Missouri's new requirement for photo identification for voting, I asked myself "What do they have to gain"?

The stated argument that photo ID would "disenfranchise" people is a load of crap. The Dems state that, even though the ID's are provided free, the measure is still unconstitutional because the other forms of ID (copies of birth certificate etc.) required for the issue of the photo ID do have fees attached.

The fact that something associated with voting has a cost or fee attached does not make it unconstitutional. If it does, then $3.00 a gallon gas is also unconstitutional because it costs money to get to the polls. Nobody claims it is unconstitutional to pay fees and other costs associated with getting signed up for food stamps, welfare, and all the other government handouts. Yet ask them to show a free picture id at the polls and they are suddenly "disenfranchised"

When we sweep aside all the B.S., we are left with one inescapable conclusion. Democrats are suing to prevent the requirement for photo ID because they get lots of votes from people who vote illegally, and they want to continue the practice.

A war we are actually going to have to WIN?

2006-07-31T19:16:00.000-07:00

Nations behave a lot like individuals, they just do it on a larger scale. Nearly all of us have either had or known someone who had an avowed enemy. There was no such thing as peaceful coexistence. But, every time the two parties actually fought, someone would always rush in and break it up. The issue was never decided, and the only thing that was assured was the certainty of yet another fight. The only way the issue ever got settled was to let them fight until somebody won. One side was injured or damaged to the point that they had neither the will, strength, or material to carry on the fight. Only then was it finally over.

Not since World War II when the united States accepted the unconditional surrender of Japan on the decks of the Battleship USS Missouri has anyone ever won a war. We fought in Korea, but nothing was ever decided. The two opposing forces are still sitting where they have been since the truce was declared. The North Koreans are still a problem, the two armies are still facing each other, and hostilities could resume at any moment, especially with Kim Jong (mentally) Il running the government of North Korea, and lobbing rockets all over the neighborhood, and trying to tip them with nuclear warheads.

The overall effect is just like any other infection. Until you kill the offending germs, and clean it out for good, it is just another festering boil on the ass of humanity.

I will never forget the speech that started the movie Patton. George C. Scott, his uniform starched and helmet spit shined addressed the troops and said something to this effect. "No poor bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making some other poor dumb bastard die for HIS country." Armies exist for two reasons....To kill people and break things. They kill those who would attack us, and break the weapons with which they fight.

We are witnessing just such a situation in Lebanon. Hezbollah, armed, supplied, and funded by Syria and Iran attacked Israel. They invaded the border, murdered Israeli soldiers, captured some, and began lobbing rockets from launching sites in Lebanon all over Israel. Israel, according to its ambassador to the United Nations, has been watching for years and waiting for the UN to do something to enforce its resolution that all militias in Lebanon disband and disarm. For six years, they have watched Hezbollah store and stockpile arms, supplies, ammunition, and rockets. These items are hidden in schools, mosques, apartment buildings, hospitals, shopping malls, and anywhere else that the Hezbollah cowards can use Lebanese civilians as human shields. Israel finally realized, as the whole world should plainly see, that the United Nations is a totally corrupt and impotent entity. With 20,000 UN "peace keepers" standing by, seeing all this, and doing nothing, Hezbollah has armed itself to the teeth, and has finally attacked Israel.

Israel has seen the light about the UN and realized that the UN is going to do nothing to keep Hezbollah from finally trying to wipe Israel off the face of the map. This is, after all, what the nut case running Iran is calling for on international television. I have yet to see any UN diplomat "deplore" these provocative statements. With Hezbollah rockets falling on stores, apartment buildings, businesses and city streets, I dont see any UN officials "deploring" the unprovoked attacks on the Isreali people and the deaths of those killed.

We don't need another cease fire. We don't need someone to step in and separate the warring parties before the issue is settled. Israel started the response correctly. Lebanon and Hezbollah is in effect isolated. No more foreign fighters, weapons, supplies and ammunition can come in. The port is blockaded, the airport runways are blown up and unusable, and the highways are blocked and controlled by Israeli tanks. Hezbollah can fight for a while with what it has on hand, but can not be re supplied. Israeli soldiers are killing the Hezbollah fighters, and Hezbollah will eventually run out of ammo.

There are those who want things stopped where they are, but why? How can anyone negotiate with others who have been taught from the day they were born that their only purpose on Earth was to kill Jews and Americans? What can you discuss with someone who will not even acknowledge that you have the right to live? What common ground can you find with someone who is totally committed to your destruction? What values exist in people who will strap bombs to their children and send them to blow themselves up in public places?

These people are so far gone that there is no possible outcome but unconditional surrender, and if they fight to the last man, then so be it. Islamic Jihad has but one goal. That is the complete destruction of Israel and the United States of America. If there is to be peace, lasting peace, then we must first kill their fighters and destroy the weapons with which they will attack us.

What we really need, is someone who will keep the rest of the world off Isreal's back and let them rid the planet of Hezbollah. Let them go house to house, if necessary, through all of Lebanon and destroy every last Hezbolla weapon and kill every last Hezbollah fighter. Hezbollah is an infection on the planet, and Israel will be the antiseptic if we just leave them alone.

If most of us try really hard, we can remember it...Yes...It's called VICTORY, but it has to be won. The price is almost always very high, and there is no substitute for it.

For the Love of G-d

2006-07-30T11:42:00.000-07:00

While it’s important to pray, it’s imperative to fight

If surviving Jews learned one thing from the Holocaust, it was that they could rely on only one entity for their survival…themselves.

I can hear my Rabbi gently whispering, “And what about G-d?”

I don’t mean to discount the help of the L-rd, but which came first, the chicken or the egg?

G-d didn’t pick the Jews as His chosen ones because they were wimps. He embraced them because they were the first to take a stand to defend Him amongst statue devotees. This wasn’t a stance whimsically taken almost 4,000 years ago. One could be ostracized for this kind of outrageous behavior, at the very least, or stoned to death, at most.

Abraham, the original rebellious youth, wrecked his father’s deity store, breaking all the pop-idols of his time.

Abraham, no wimp there, worshipped the One and Only L-rd. He didn’t just revere and love G-d. The L-rd admired and took advice from Abraham, negotiating with him on several issues.

The relationship was reciprocal.

Abe was the ultimate mensch and G-d admired his chutzpah.

Hitting lip service in the smacker

Jews have been trying to decipher G-d’s mixed messages about war for the last 4 millenniums. No one can say for sure what they we’re supposed to do.

I believe G-d wants them to fight and fight hard, for the land He promised them, Eratz Israel.

Here’s why.

For the most part, Jews, the victims of the Diaspora (dispersement throughout the world), tried to assimilate in host countries…hoping that they would be protected if trouble came. They displayed patriotism to their hosts. Many fought, and died in their host country’s wars, alongside host soldiers. While some Hebrews converted, most stayed loyal to Judaism in varying degree of adherence to ancient laws.

When anti-Semitism became the rule of their host land, they marched again…only this time into the gas chambers and mass graves.

Jews suffered a pandemic of denial.

How could a land and people they were loyal to turn on them like they were the lowest vermin scurrying in the sewers?

They believed in G-d.

They had faith in His protection.

They were His chosen ones…weren’t they?

As the Pope recently asked, where was G-d when the Jews of Europe needed Him? Maybe G-d was asking, “Where are my Chosen People who lost their way so many eons ago?”

In my opinion, Jews failed to realize that G-d wanted his people to take up arms for themselves. He wanted them to go home and defend the terra firma He granted them.
G-d remembered but His chosen ones seemed to forget.

The land of Israel wasn’t meant as a short-term lease. It was G-d’s grant to his chosen ones…but only if they were willing to fight and die for the right to live there.

The defense of Jerusalem is strewn with G-d’s blessings

“The L-rd is my Light and my Salvation; whom shall I fear? The L-rd is the Strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1).

When the Jews first got to the Holy Land, G-d didn’t just pat them on the head and give ‘em the keys. They had to fight for the right to take over. No fight? No Israel…then eventually no Jews…no more chosen people.

Survivors of the slaughter by the Nazis figured out that if G-d was indeed to help them, they would have to grow a collective set of balls and strike back at their tormentors and murderers with prayer AND force.

900,000 Jews poured in from Arab and Muslim countries in the 40’s, most of them kicked out and their property confiscated. Combined with those Holocaust survivors and native Jews of Israel, they were able to create a reasonable army to stave off the expected invasion. They took a risk on G-d’s wish to have them return to Israel and defend it.

History has shown merit for their position.

The war for the Promised Land, started the day after the UN declared Israel as an independent state. Jews, now truly Israelis, were ready for the onslaught. Seven Arab nations invaded immediately. The Jews with the help of G-d fought back and defended their tiny sliver of land.

58 years later they’re still defending and dying for Israel. Think about it; 6 million Jews against 1.5 BILLION Muslims…that believe they have a command from G-d to murder every single Jewish man, woman, and child in the world.

No matter what the human odds are, if Jews are willing to continue to fight and die for the Real Estate G-d granted them, they will survive and flourish as a nation.

The survival of Israel as home to his chosen ones, after nearly 4000 years of belief in the one and only God, is testament that His will be done.

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

2006-07-25T17:59:00.000-07:00

10. I excelled as a fence builder…they called me the missing link.
9. The secret to a rich life is to recognize fear without abdicating to it.
8. Those that are lazy are irritating to those of us that are allergic to work.
7. Smart opera singers always end on a high note.
6. My wife wanted an open marriage, but I told her I wasn’t good enough to win a major.
5. Never get idle time mixed up with retirement.
4. Floating rumors have a way of surging over the solid dam of truth.
3. The first step to wisdom is to recognize your foolishness.
2. My manicurist did a spot-on job. She nailed the finish.
1. The more elusive the victory, the more thrilling it is.

The Global Warming Myth

2006-07-22T20:02:00.000-07:00

Every time we have a hot spell in Missouri in the summer,(and we do every summer), all the left wing wacko fanatics begin screaming "global warming!".

Have there been climate changes detected? The answer is yes. The vital thing to remember is "climate change" and "global warming" are NOT the same thing!

If we venture into the deserts of Nevada, we find loads of fossils...FISH FOSSILS! That's right! Land that is now the sun scorched desert was once the bottom of an ocean, teeming with fish and other aquatic life. Their fossils remain for all to see to this day.

The land that later became Rolla, Missouri was once buried beneath the leading edge of a giant glacier during a long vanished ice age. Incontrovertible evidence of it is plainly visible today. In Southeast Missouri, near Dexter, there is a hill in an otherwise flat area of the state. It is called Crowley's Ridge. As the glacier ice pressed Southward, a giant mass of dirt, rocks, and debris was pushed ahead of it. The leading edge of the glacier functioned like the blade on a giant bulldozer.

As the climate began to change, the Southerly movement of the ice stopped, and the glacier began to melt. When the ice retreated Northward, the material it was pushing ahead of it stayed where it was, clearly marking the spot where the leading edge of the ice stopped. This mass of debris is known today as Crowley's Ridge. Those huge round boulders at Elephant Rocks in Sam A. Baker State Park are today where the glacier left them thousands of years ago.

Some areas of the Earth are warming, but others are also cooling. This is the half of the story you don't get from the left wing wackos who want to politicize everything, including the weather! NASA studies verify that, on the average, the temperature of planet Earth has been steady for millions of years. There are fluctuations, but these fluctuations correspond directly to cycles of intensity in the Sun's output. After all, it is the Sun that warms the Earth, NOT SUV exhaust. If the Sun shines hotter, Earth will be warmer. When the Sun enters a cooling cycle, Earth cools too.

Al Gore, and the rest of these half wit fanatics are trying to convince you that every time you take an automobile trip, especially if you drive an SUV, you are dragging us all toward some climatic upheaval and certain doom and destruction.

If this is true, I want to know what make of SUV the cave men were driving millions of years ago to cause the warming trend that melted the ice off of what is now Rolla, Missouri!

OOPS!...I forgot...Motor vehicles didn't exist then. That leaves us with FLATULENCE as the cause. These idiots have been using your tax dollars to fund studies on bovine flatulence to try to tie the United States Beef Producers in as a cause of global warming! GEE...Wrong again... We weren't running cattle operations then. It must have been that foul smelling mastodon and dinosaur flatulence.

The only reason these kooks haven't blamed it on the mastodons and the dinosaurs is the fact that they are all dead, and there is no way to blame their extinction on the Bush Administration.

Everybody knows the REAL reason there are no more dinosaurs or mastodons in Phelps and Dent counties.

The poachers got 'em all!

Paige, Steve and Marty discuss Net Neutrality....AGAIN!

2006-07-19T13:41:00.000-07:00

How About Those Net Neutrality Commercials?

Troubled Times? Fantastic!

2006-07-18T17:38:00.000-07:00

It's July 18, 2006 and the New York Times announced today that it is laying off 25% of its work force. Way to go, Folks!

In this column, I advised the way to let the Times know that we the people are sick of their treasonous actions is to hurt them financially.

EVERYBODY understands a good quick hit on the bottom line. Apparently my message was echoed by others across the nation. Times subscribers are canceling their subscriptions, and advertisers are canceling their ads.

Even if you do not take the Times, you can go to their web site, (www.newyorktimes.com), click on their advertisers, and send them e-mail. Tell them you don't need their goods and services as long as their ad appears in the Times. Better yet, call them if they have a toll free number. Remember...It isn't really toll free. The call costs you nothing because THEY pay for it. Get the message through and let Times advertisers pay for the priviledge of hearing it. DOUBLE WHAMMY!

The politicians may take forever with their double speak babble to get anything done, but letting the Times know that we are through putting up with their un American crap is both quick and effective.

Way to go, Folks!

Israel... A Case Study In Credibility

2006-07-16T14:01:00.000-07:00

The news networks have been crackling since Friday with the "Mid East Crisis"

President Bush summed it up pretty well at the G8 Summit. Hezbollah, a purely terrorist organization, rained rockets on Israeli cities, violated it's borders, and took hostage two of it's soldiers. Israel has every right to defend itself in any way it sees fit.

America should well follow Israel's example here. Lebanon, which allows Hezbollah to operate from within its borders, live among its population, and launch rocket attacks from its neighborhoods is now appealing to the United Nations to pressure Israel to use "restraint".

B.S. Israel is handling Lebanon the only way you can ever handle a bully...if you don't want to be bullied any more. You destroy the bully or, if he escapes with his life, send him away with a bloody nose and a severely kicked butt!

Israel has stated that their objective is to destroy Hezbollah, or at the very least cripple it to the point that there won't be any more attacks, and the hostages will be released. The most important point is they are getting the job done. Hezbollah offices and headquarters facilities are now smoking piles of rubble. Their field forces are being blown away as we speak. They are getting the ass kicking they so richly deserve!

Lebanon is a little late in hollering "Uncle". The Lebanese should have thought of the consequences of allowing Hezbollah terrorists to train and live among them, use their residential neighborhoods as rocket launching facilities, and attack another nation from their territory.

I think Israel IS using "restraint". They have not nuked Iran or Syria. These two hell holes are the chief sponsors of terror world wide. They fund and arm Hezbollah, and Hamas. They export fighters and weapons to Iraq, and anywhere else they want to cause trouble. They are the worst kind cowards upon the face of the planet. They encourage their brainwashed Jihadists to attack such vital military targets as shopping malls, busses loaded with children, schools, and hospitals. They even sent a homicide bomber to destroy a wedding in Jordan. If anybody ever deserved to be erased from the face of the map it is these creeps.

I have to admire the Israelis. I look at what happened when Unites States Soldiers were taken hostage. They were tortured to death. What they did to our men was so horrific that news reporters would not even attempt to describe it. The whole gruesome procedure was video taped and released on Al Jazeera television and Islamic extremist web sites. This was done in front of the whole world and what happened? We have politicians "delporing" the actions. Whoopee! I am sure the terrorists are shaking in their boots at being "deplored".

If we simply pulled out all the stops and gave our military forces carte blanch support to clean that mess up, we would not have deranged idiots like Kim Jong (Mentally) Il lobbing rockets from North Korea toward Hawaii.

Credibility has to be earned. So far, with these people, we haven't earned it.

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

2006-07-14T14:37:00.000-07:00

10. Never allow hard work to close your eyes to opportunity.
9. If you must be a snake, be a cobra, not an asp.
8. Don’t you just hate it when your workout doesn’t work out?
7. The one thing I regret about my vasectomy is I killed my career as a sperm donor.
6. Sometimes your best clue is your intuition.
5. Memories of victory is the spring in your step in future battle.
4. Hear about the hotel that opened in heaven? It was a dead and breakfast.
3. You know you’re a redneck when your standard of living is improved after you’re jailed.
2. If you want to be remembered, you may as well be remembered for something good.
1. What’s unattainable from luck or skill, you must achieve with effort.

Rolla Television in the news!

2006-07-10T12:36:00.000-07:00

A new and different approach to funding access channels that is used in Rolla, Missouri is being studied by the Alliance for Community Media as an alternative way of operating community channels. At their annual conference held in Boston, Massachusetts the first weekend of July, Steven Leonard of Rolla Television was invited to participate in a panel discussion on the topic, “Diversifying Your Community Media’s Source of Revenue.”

The Alliance for Community Media is a national membership organization founded in 1976 representing over 1,000 Public, Educational and Governmental access organizations and community media centers throughout the country.

Leonard spoke about the system that Rolla uses for its access channel, which uses no public money or cable fees for operations. Under Rolla’s system, the users of the channel pay for the channel’s cost. Underwriter promotions are also sold to local businesses. Most public access channels are totally funded by dollars from cities, counties, or cable consumers.

“Our model is unusual and complicated,” Leonard told the group. “But it does work in community.”

The panel discussion occurs at a time that many public access channels might have to move to a model more like Rolla. Cities that have been receiving a type of sales tax revenue called a franchise fee from cable consumers would like to divert the money to other public projects besides access channels. Federal and State laws are also being considered which would reduce or eliminate franchise fees for public access funding currently in place. In Rolla, Missouri all franchise fees are deposited into the City’s general fund, not public access.

“Rolla is a community that cares about making priorities. The attitude of the community has always been that they enjoy having a local access channel, but they don’t want to have to pay for it unless they are using it,” Leonard said.

Leonard gave a brief history presentation to the group about the evolution of the access channel in Rolla, in which a local video production company owned by retired educator Larry Vance was appointed an access channel to maintain and financially subsidize. The video production company produces most of the programming on the channel including high school sports, a morning show, candidate and election coverage, parades and other local events and public access services. The channel has functioned successfully under this unique model since February 1996.

Rolla Television can be seen on Channel 16 of Fidelity’s Cable System. Original programming is also streamed on their website at www.voiceofrolla.com.

But anyway, who let the dogs out?

2006-07-10T12:26:00.000-07:00

At the last Rolla City Council meeting, council members briefly discussed bringing an ordinance that would limit the number of animals that a household could own. The intent: Apparently there is a home in Green Acres that has an extraordinary number of dogs in the yard that bark all night and keep the neighbors up.

There’s just one problem with passing such an ordinance with this kind of purpose: Rolla already has an ordinance regarding barking dogs. The ordinance reads that if a dog disturbs even just ONE person (emphasis mine), it is considered a nuisance and the owner can be issued a ticket. The penalty could be as little as a fine, but the ordinance does allow for a frequent violator to receive possible jail time.

If the police, prosecution, but most importantly the complainants aren’t enforcing or using the ordinances that currently exist which would abate this nuisance, then what is the point of passing yet another one?

The City might actually consider a number of animals that would be legal in a household just as a matter of health and well being for the neighborhood. I would like to suggest that the Council make the number fairly high, but also count as an animal something that can be just as destructive, hazardous, and disturbing to a neighborhood: Children. So under my formula, if the number the City passed was 7, and you had three kids, you could only have four animals. If you had five animals, you would be limited to two children. Any more children, and you would have to make a choice between giving away your animal, or your child.

Personally, I’d lose the child. I’m not worried about a college education for my four cats.

Stolen Elections Enable Bush To Run Again

2006-07-09T10:54:00.000-07:00

Don’t buy the soap until you’re willing to come clean

Bush has finally done it.

He now acknowledges that Karl Rove stole two presidential elections in collusion with Diebold Corporation and the Supreme Court. He’s so repentant that he has decided to run once more for the presidency…legitimately.

You see, if he was never legally elected, term limits don’t apply to him.

Since he claims no knowledge of the actual crimes committed by Karl, learning of them after the fact, there’s no likelihood that he’ll be indicted, much less impeached. Republicans, if they maintain their control, can stop all Lib attempts at such feeble gestures.

Of course, Rove knows there ARE republican presidential wannabes as well.

Welcome to “Let’s Make a Deal!”

Meet our future DOD Secretary John McCain, 2009s’ Attorney General Rudy Giuliani, Secretary of State Jeb Bush, and Vice President Condi Rice.

Since Karl worked together WITH the Supremes, good luck getting THEM to even look at the case, much less let it be litigated before them.

If you can’t beat them, distract them until you can

The only way Dems can stop this from happening is to win the majority in Congress…or bribe enough Republicans to vote against the President. Before Karl goes perp walking through the DC night, handcuffs squeezing his pudgy wrists, escorted by McKinney bashed capital cops, he’ll have lined out the proper “incentives” to keep the righties in line.

He’ll need them.

Lefties have made known their true intentions:

“I would like to apologize for referring to George W. Bush as a “deserter.” What I meant to say is that George W. Bush is a deserter, and election thief, a drunk driver, a WMD liar and a functional illiterate.” Michael Moore, Chief Democratic Strategist and dietician
“Shout a little louder if you want the President impeached!” Bruce Springsteen…Loved you in Des Moines, Brucy. My advice? Shut up and sing!
“While President Bush likes to project an image of strength and courage, the real truth is that the presence of his large financial contributors, he’s a moral coward.” ALGORE. And YOUR “large financial contributors” think you’re a nutty loser.
Bush wasn’t elected; he was selected-selected by five judges up in Washington who voted along party lines.” Alec Baldwin. See? I told you the Supremes won’t want to get involved with Rove!
“Team Bush is more radically corrupt than Richard Nixon ever tried to be…It is, in fact, a conspiracy of the 43rd Reich.” Janeane Garofalo. Hey what happened to the other 40 “Reichs?”
“The world would be completely different today had Bush not stolen the elections from Gore.” Oliver Stone. Yeah, by now, I’d either be on my knees praying toward Mecca, or have my head in my hands…literally.
Rep John Conyers wants to impeach GWB, and censure the Vice President over any scandal imagined or otherwise. Where ARE those darn Downing Street Memos?
Rep John Lewis has called for Bush’s impeachment stating that the president has violated laws by falsely scaring the American people about terrorists, to excuse his NSA wiretapping. Care that some REAL terrorists were caught this way with NO reports of any abuse of the program at all? Any twinge of fear at all going into a subway or on top of the tall building Congressman? If not, you’re a bigger twit than I thought.
State legislatures of Vermont, Illinois, and California have proposed Dubya’s impeachment…sorta like fifth graders voting on recess.

May your defense be so good, it’s offensive

Other Politicians, government officials, lawyers, and pundits calling for Bush’s impeachment include, Eleanor Clift, Rep Maxine Waters, Ralph Nader, Pat Buchanan, John Dean, Ramsey Clark, Francis Boyle, Bruce Fein, Norm Ornstein, John Bopnafaz, Jonathon Turley, Garrison Keillor, Robert Scheer, Sadaam, Ah’m Mad!, and that half a Twinkie in N. Korea, Kim Jong 11.

Bush cannot afford to lose the ’06 elections. The people above are hopelessly serious about impeachment.

That’ll put quite a damper on his ’08 election effort.

But, what about Rove?

Bush has learned much from his new brother.

Used to be all of Clinton’s flaky friends would be so polite around him. “Pardon me, Mr. President, PLEASE PARDON ME!!” ...and that was just Hillary!

It’s already a done deal for Karl, no dummy he!

Hey, what are good friends for, Bill? Now that you’re Dubya’s and dad’s new best friend, and bro, maybe first term 2008 electee, President Bush will put you up in the Lincoln Bedroom. You could hire all the interns.

No contribution or Hilary needed.

Hogwash Defense of Times by Democrats

2006-07-08T13:53:00.000-07:00

It's July 8 and the Times' treasonous acts are still in the news. Rather than be upset that the Times has destroyed a very effective tool with which our government was protecting us against terrorists, lots of big named Democrats are offering up one feeble defense after another. They would watch the Times give away every secret we have if it would hurt the Bush Administration.

Geraldine Ferraro stated on Fox News that the Times story had no real effect. "After all" she said, "Al Qaeda knows that we track finances, so nothing was really disclosed". B.S. Geraldine! I know that the Highway Patrol searches for speeders, too. But if I read on the front page of the RDN that they will be working radar in Rolla at Martin Springs Drive on the West bound lane of I-44, I can put the pedal to the metal on 63 North to Jefferson City. This is the most totally inadequate defense I have ever heard. It was pathetic, even for her!

Others attempted to put forth equally pathetic efforts, but, fortunately the American Public isn't buying it. I usually get taken to task by my Democrat friends for what I write here, but many of them have admitted that I am right on target with this story.

We have been betrayed!

There are laws against the disclosure of classified information during a time of war. I only hope that our government has the... fortitude... (Not my first choice of words, but I do try to maintain at least a little civility here.)... to at least revoke the Times' press credentials, and hopefully to put those bearing any responsibility for the publication of this information in jail.

Times Tries to Defend Money Tracking Story

2006-07-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

The New York Times is still trying to defend actions and conduct for which there is simply no defense.

When the name of Valerie Plame, a CIA employee who was not even a covert agent was leaked, the Times was screaming for heads to roll. An American "agent" was placed in "grave danger" by being outed. This was, of course, all a politically motivated line of B.S.

(Remember.....With your B.S. Degree from Rolla Mornings Live, you will instantly recognize B.S. when you see it, hear it, or read it.)

This woman was introduced by her husband at Washington cocktail parties as his "CIA wife". She was not assigned any covert duties by the CIA. She was strictly a lower level employee with no "secret agent" status or assignments. The only reason the Times was "outraged" by her outing was simple. The Times thought that the "outing" could be traced back to someone in the Bush Administration, and therefore be used to bash the President. One can only imagine the gloom and desolation in the Times news room when that turned out not to be the case.

Right after 911, the Times was calling for President Bush to use any and all means, including tracking financial transactions to locate and bring down those who attacked us.

The Times has also bashed the President for not asking congress for permission to conduct surveillance on enemy phone calls. They agree that it needs to be done, but he has to "ask permission" first, and get approval from the Federal Courts.

With the SWIFT program, the President had all his ducks in a row. He was doing exactly what the Times editorials had called for. He even got a subpoena for the information requested. The financial institutions were outside the United States, and no United States laws were broken.

The program was working, too. Several high level enemy personnel were captured or killed with information developed through this program. It was working, and it was hurting our enemies. One would think that everything would go well, but such was not to be the case.

The Times, after having information on the program leaked, and after requests from the Bush Administration, as well as top level Congressional Democrats, blew the whistle and rendered the whole operation useless. It was completely destroyed.

When the backlash from outraged Americans started, the Times started trying to defend the story. They stated that in their opinion, there was not sufficient Congressional Oversight of the program. In their opinion, the President had not made a compelling enough argument to keep them from printing the article.

Who in the hell is the New York Times to make this kind of a decision? After seeing what they did in this instance, I can only be glad that during World War II they didn't get hold of the plans for the Normandy Invasion on D-Day. If they had, I don't doubt for a moment that the Germans would have read the entire plan on the front page of the New York Times. The lives of the brave men and women who were lost there would have been completely wasted.

It is way past due for the Times to be brought under control. Nobody can keep them from reporting the news, but they don't have to be issued press credentials to cover the Congress and the President. They don't have to be given seating at presidential news conferences and events. They have proven beyond any doubt that they are not to be trusted to act in the interests of the United States of America. Let their reporters stand out on the curb, and talk with people leaving the events and press conferences to find out what happened. Kick their reporters off the press planes that carry the White House Press Corps to cover the President. They do not have to be supported by advertisers that lost friends or loved ones in the 911 attack, only a few miles from the Times building. These same advertisers are endangered by the reckless, irresponsible, and treasonous actions of the Times.

The simple fact is this. The New York Times does not give two hoots in hell about your "right to know". They will print anything they can, true or not, if they think it will further their agenda to damage the Bush Administration.

If you have a subscription to the Times, show them how you feel by canceling it. Telephone or write to their advertisers. Tell them to use some other means of advertising their goods and services. Put their ads on radio, television, in competing newspapers, on hand bills, road signs, or anywhere except the New York Times. If they won't wee the light, then make them feel the heat. Write or e-mail your Senators and Congressional Representatives, urging prosecution of those who leaked the information, AND the New York Times. Remember...Even though the story was leaked, our enemies didn't know about it until they read it on the front page of the New York Times!
The Times has shown their true colors, and they are not Red, White, and Blue!

NY Times...How to Handle a Really Treasonous Rag

2006-06-26T22:14:00.000-07:00

Representative Peter King said it exactly right this weekend when he pointed out that "Nobody elected the New York Times to do anything." Now if only someone could get that message to the liberal terrorist sympathizers at the Times.

The times has gotten into full blown TREASON by outing the process by which we have been tracking, through overseas banks, the finances of terrorists. The program has been instrumental in catching several. No US laws were broken. Subpoenas were obtained for the information requested.

The most blatant offense the Times committed was to print the material even after being asked not to by the US Government. The Times acknowledged that there has been no wrong doing, that the overseas bank records obtained were not covered or protected by any US laws or regulations, and discovered that the US Congressional leaders of both parties had been briefed on the program.

These congressional briefings are probably the downfall of the whole program. These damned people (both parties) cant keep their mouths shut. But that's a story for another day.

Legal action is difficult in a case like this. The First amendment prohibits Congress from making any law "abridging freedom of speech, or of the press".
Congress has, though, passed several laws prohibiting the disclosure of classified information in a time of war, and obviously, the Times has broken them all. The New York Times should be prosecuted vigorously for each and every violation, but that will take time.

There is something YOU CAN DO NOW!!! and it's VERY EFFECTIVE! Most people think newspapers function on revenues received from subscriptions and the sale of papers. This is not true. In fact, newspapers can barely charge enough to pay for the paper, printing, and delivery of the newspaper. They make money from the sale of advertising.

Simply get a copy of the Times, and call their advertisers. Nearly all have toll free numbers, so THEY PAY FOR THE CALL. When you get them on the line, simply tell them you are not interested in purchasing their products or services as long as they advertise them in the Times, and other treasonous rags like it. If enough people make their feelings on this matter known to Times advertisers, the folks at the Times will get the message loud, clear, and very quickly.

Nobody elected the New York Times to do anything. The level of congressional oversight and information on matters of National Security is not to be decided by the Times. We elect and empower a government to do that. Help spread that message to the Times in both New York and Los Angeles.

There is no good reason for we the people to support businesses who advertise in rags that endanger our national security, and try to usurp running our Government. The sooner they get the message, the batter for all concerned.

What say you?

Lib Law

2006-06-25T17:39:00.000-07:00

By virtue of their inability to win elections, Libs have decided to go the route of Miller Lite’s “Man Law” ads to regain power. Instead of Burt Reynolds and various football players, wrestlers and an occasional male geek, George Soros has put his considerable resources to work to make Moveon.org the sponsor.

Michael Moore (almost Burt’s twin) has been anointed chairman. ALGORE, Kerry, Bill and Hill, Patricia Ireland, Jack Murtha, Harry Reid, Oprah, and Teddy Kennedy fill out the cast on a rotating basis. Hey, you can only keep Teddy sober for so long.

Writing the Lib Laws in a ledger twice as big as the Man Law book is none other than the Queen of Libs for the last few centuries, White House Press phenom, Helen Thomas.

Skew the vote! A nod and all knowing glance from her majesty is all that’s necessary to enact new and progressive…. Lib Laws.

First commercials are in the making. Listen up conservative maggots:

It’s a liberal’s exclusive right to be a hypocrite.
Any reference to George Bush without the word(s) dumb, chimp, stupid, liar, idiot, or any combination thereof, in the same sentence will be stricken from the press.
Any Lib male can grope, talk dirty, fondle, and fornicate with any female employee, intern, or mourning widow, as long as he stands for her right to kill fetuses that would inconvenience women in their quest for unfettered happiness.
Taxes on the rich (anyone with more than $25,000 gross) will be raised for the specific purpose of keeping Al Franken and Air America off the streets. Work on a law to make listening to Al compulsory is in committee, but at the moment is considered cruel and unusual punishment…even for conservatives.
All Ann Coulter books will be confiscated, piled in front of the Jersey Widows on the WTC site, doused with 1000 $4 gallons of gas and flamed by Cindy Sheehan in a cloud of smoke that spells out, “THANK YOU OSAMA, WE KNOW IT WAS REALLY BUSH’S FAULT!”
ALGORE will excuse the addition to Global warming for the sake of a kinder Liberal earth. After all, there is one humongous load of Coulter books out there!
Along with the widows, no one shall be allowed to challenge any liberal victim, war veteran, car drowning suspect, 85 year old female White House Correspondent, tenured professors that use the classroom as a political bully pulpit, any politician to the left of Sean Hannity, or any irate postal worker.
Above all else we shall defend to our death a woman’s choice to kill her “fetus” right up to the moment of birth. Referring to the tissue as a “child” will be a felony.
Fox News will be restricted to a fair and balanced schedule of public denouncements of its previous rightwing views.
Mandatory blood tests for Supreme Court Nominees. Those with red blood will be dismissed without a vote. Those judges bleeding blue will be automatically confirmed.
All quotes from Liberals, supporting Clinton, and then Bush, from removing Saddaam from power, will be destroyed and never referred to again. Everyone knows they were based on Bush lies, even back in the Clinton administration.
Michael Moore will be appointed permanent UN General Secretary, because he knows all too well that Americans are the “stupidest people on the face of the earth” and need leadership from more enlightened countries, like Syria, North Korea, and Sudan.

Lib laws, like other decrees, must have consequences for the criminals that choose to disobey them.

Punishments include listening to long speeches about the importance of consistent public statements from John Kerry, and the refreshing truth of how Republicans can redeem their souls by expelling their devils from Dr. Reverend Howie Dean. ALGORE will preach how to grow their diminished brains using discarded child fetuses’ stem cells.

These castigations will be enacted by the slight nod of that Lib Goddess, Queen Thomas.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Who are the Heroes of the Left?

2006-06-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

I’ve been pulling my hair out for years (Hey check my photo out!) looking for a leader on the left that I could like, much less stomach. I’ve sought advice from anyone that believed in the tenets of what I consider true Liberalism.

This morning, Father’s Day, while I await my treat of a Cardinal game with wifey and my youngest daughter, I thought I found the new leader of the left.

So I yelled to my wife, “Honey, I think I’ve found it!”

“What, your keys? See, I told you to keep them in one place so you could find them!” Not wanting to break my concentration…or my neck, I said “Yes dear, thanks!”

Boy can I keep the peace or what?

I’ve found the one Liberal who sounds worthy. Of course the noise a politician makes is often in direct opposition to the action he/she takes.

I’m a believer that the current BICS (buffoons in charge) of the Dems never represented the free market and honest caring for their fellow citizens and the world, the definition of Liberalism. But just in case, a Dem DOES get elected president, it’s imperative we get one that can be worked with, not just complain about.

Vacuums Suck

Here are a few quotes that sum up why most of the present day lefty leaders are a mere bag of indistinguishable hot air. To Dems that are serious about winning instead of whining from the sidelines, they must negate these political catastrophes.

Howie Dean-“Republicans are brain dead” “Republicans are evil.” (The mouth that keeps on giving.) EEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!
Alec Baldwin-“We would stone Henry Hyde to death and we would go to their homes and kill their wives and their children.” Whoa! It’s beyond Prozac time. Where are those men in the white suits when you need them?
Nancy Pelosi-“RESIGN!” To Democratic Representative William Jefferson, without a trial! Sounds like a low tech lynching of a Black man to me.
Rusty Feingold-Censure the President for “high crimes and misdemeanors!” He later chided his Democratic No-Shows for their disdain for his antics. Gotta give some of them credit for not being dumb as a rock...or Rusty.
Representative Jack Murtha-“The direction of the United States Forces in Iraq, by direction of Congress, is hereby terminated…” The next day the Republicans called Murtha’s bluff and brought a motion saying the same thing as Murtha’s. It lost 403-3. Even Murtha voted against it. Now he wants to be Majority Leader of the House “when” Democrats take over in 2006. Good luck with that, Jack.
Bill Clinton-“Bush policies have caused more hurricanes!” Is that an impeachable offense? Bill, some leave their mark, others just a stain.
Chuck Rangel-The Iraq war “is the biggest fraud ever committed on the people of this country …This is just as bad as the 6 million Jews being killed.” Guess Chuckie was against our defeat of Hitler.
ALGORE-His paid speech on Saudi sand included such blurbs as the Bush Administration “…indiscriminately rounded up Arabs for minor things like over staying visas or not having a green card.” What color are the clouds on the planet you live on, Al?
Harry Reid-"Think of what happened 20 minutes ago in the US Senate. WE KILLED THE PATRIOT ACT!" Next time you vote it down, do us all a favor and take a one-way ride in a New York subway.
Al-Zarqawi-Rumored Last Words. “USA, your only chance…cough, cough…is to convert, die or elect Kerry or Gore. Why are all the virgins little boys? Oh well…Glad I beat Michael Jackson here!”
John Kerry-“Those were all lies!” Senator Kerry in response to acknowledged Kerry booster, Don Imus. His question to the flip-flopper was about the Swift-Boaters allegations against the Senator in “Unfit for Command”. “Did you READ the book?” Imus asked. Senator Kerry’s response, “No.”
Cindy Sheehan-“The biggest terrorist in the world is George Bush.” “I’m just so honored that the universe chose me to be the spark that has set off a raging inferno.” I don’t care who you are, now THAT’S funny!
Michael Moore-Speaking of his fellow Americans, “They are probably the dumbest people on the planet…” They will be if they elect any of the above yahoos.

AND THE WINNER IS……

Barack Obama-“…never ever go to war without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace, and earn the respect of the world.”

That blurb taken from Barack’s 2004 Democratic Convention Keynote Speech showed a lot of promise. Read the rest.

If he means what he says and can be negotiated with on business, taxes, and spending, we may have the one Liberal in the bunch that could be palatable.

Obama understands that the USA has mortal enemies, and that we need to defeat them as expeditiously as possible.

Hey, he even got John McCain’s goat! Now THAT’S something the hee-haw about!

White Flag Democrats

2006-06-18T13:33:00.000-07:00

With the recent favorable events in Iraq, there have been some very unsettling events here at home.

Ever since the beginning of the war, Democrats and some RINOS (Republicans In Name Only) have touted the exploits of Zarqawi and others like him as making the war "unwinable".

With the killing of Zarqawi, the capture of a "treasure trove" of intelligence information, and the killing of scores of other nameless terrorists, comes an even more shrill blast by Congressman Murtha (Wannabe speaker of the House). "Get out now!!" I seriously and openly question the patriotism of Murtha and his cohorts. I place absolutely no credibility in John (I voted for it before I voted against it.) Kerry. What they really mean is "get out before we actually win!"

When I saw Kerry in the 1970's newsreel footage physically throwing medals awarded to him back over the fence at a US Government building, that cooked him in my opinion. He later referred to this action as "returning the ribbons". B.S.!!! If he wanted to "return" them, he could have done so by sending them, in their original presentation containers, to the Secretary of the Navy, along with a letter explaining why he was returning them. To physically throw them over a fence to fall and be left on the ground like so many pieces of rubbish shows a complete lack of respect for the decorations themselves, the service that presented them, and the United States of America! He is a complete and total disgrace, and the voters of Massachusetts should be ashamed of themselves for returning him to office, or even electing him to begin with. He is a walking, talking, (make that whining), embarrassment.

I am sick of seeing United States Senators and Congressional Representatives on Al Jazeera, beamed all over the Middle East, assuring our enemies that they are victorious and that we see the war as "unwinable".

When these "white flaggers" are questioned, they scream about their right to dissent and about free speech! (Yep, you remember correctly. These are the same [people that just last week were trying to get Ann Coulter's new book banned!) So much for free speech, unless of course it happens to be theirs!)

There are now and always have been limitations on "free speech". You are not allowed to incite riots, or to yell "FIRE!" in a crowded theater. No responsible person would make defeatist statements that will offer aid and comfort to our enemies. They may differ as to how to prosecute the war. When it is over, and we are victorious, they may bring charges against the people who conducted it. If there was wrongdoing, these are the people who should pay the price.

Our brave troops in harm's way should not have to face one more terrorist extremist, recruited by Islamic fascists who were inspired to fight by John Kerry, Jack Murtha, Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, or any of the rest of these white flag waving dolts, telling the world that we are defeated!

It is a sad day when our own press empowers the likes of these defeatist people to speak for America!

Collateral Damage

2006-06-12T20:28:00.000-07:00

When Congressman William Jefferson, Democrat, Louisiana, was video taped accepting a $100,000 Bribe, and $90,000 of the bribe money was recovered wrapped in his freezer, every big name Democrat was quick to point out that "There are two sides to every story". We mustn't have a "rush to judgment". Pretty much the same thing occurred when Cynthia McKinney, Democrat, Georgia, physically assaulted a capitol policeman in the performance of his duty. We shouldn't judge, because "we hadn't seen the incident through the eyes of a southern black woman".

How is it, then, that whining, liberal, left wing Democrats, with Congressman Jack Murtha as both judge and jury, (not to mention lead whiner in chief), pronounce United States Marines at Haditha guilty of killing innocent Iraqi civilians "in cold blood"?

The insurgent terrorists in Iraq are cowards. They never hesitate to use innocent persons, especially women and children, as shields. They fire on Iraqi police and Coalition Forces from buildings occupied by innocent people. I would not be at all surprised if we eventually find that these people were held hostage in the buildings and houses just for this purpose.

War is nothing new to these people. When a bunch of gunmen set up operation in their house, and prepare to detonate roadside bombs, they know exactly what will happen. The fire returned by Coalition Forces will be deadly. If they had a chance to leave with their lives, they would do so immediately.

When coalition forces return the fire, and captive innocent people are killed or wounded, the insurgents dress up in their very best face hiding hoods. I particularly like the red checkered ones. I bet they got them when they shot up a Pizza Hut franchise. They spit shine their rocket propelled grenades, and scream "massacre" in front of every television camera they can find. These are the only guys I know of who can beat Jesse Jackson to a TV camera.

So far, nobody has even been charged with a crime of any kind at Haditha. This doesn't stop Murtha, Pelosi, Harry Reid, (when he isn't using his free fight tickets at Las Vegas), or the rest of these hypocritical whiners. Murtha and his crowd have already pronounced them guilty on national television, even though no investigation has been concluded, and there have been no trials.

Every time these Democrats make statements like this, every one of them appears on Al Jazeera television. Their groundless statements are beamed all over the Middle East. Their words are used to encourage terrorists, extremists, and potential homicide bombers. Bin Laden and his people use them for recruiting tapes.

Every one of these hypocrites can be seen on US Television in the Main Stream Media talking about how much they "support our troops". B.S.!!!

These Democrats are not total idiots. (I man be on very thin ice here.) They have got to know that this kind of talking out of both sides of their faces has a demoralizing effect on our troops in harm's way.

How genuine can any "support" be when they are willing to convict our brave fighting men and women on nothing more than an allegation? These people claim to be patriots, yet they are perfectly willing to sacrifice our precious sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters, for a few minutes of TV face time to further their quest for political power.

If we, the people, are not smart enough to recognize what these hypocrites are doing, and vote them all out of office at the very next opportunity, then we pretty much deserve what we get.

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

2006-06-09T06:37:00.000-07:00

10. I fired the guy that worked me out. He was an impersonal trainer.
9. Never show up for a long trial with an empty briefcase.
8. Contrarian hypochondriacs fake wellness.
7. If you feed energizer batteries to Barbie, how long before she wears out Ken?
6. Sometimes you have to give your kids a hard time just to make their lives easier.
5. My parents were cannibals. I was an only child…eventually.
4. There’s someone for everyone. Too bad they rarely meet.
3. Never let a paradise turn to snake eyes.
2. We rate muscles by looks, heart by results.
1. Well rounded people have cornered all the angles.

Good Riddance, Abu!

2006-06-09T02:15:00.000-07:00

Dateline: June 8, 2006 Rolla, Missouri

I, like most Missourians, awakened to the early morning news specials announcing the killing of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawy. Notice that I used the word "killing". He didn't just die, he was killed. It has been long over due. Can you possibly imagine a more pathetic excuse for a Man?

Can you only imagine how proud his mother must have been of him? Just imagine her pride at the market place when a friend asks "And how is your son, Mrs. Zarqawy"? And her answer...

"Oh he is just doing great Mrs. Muhammad. Why, only last week he talked a couple of feeble minded, brain washed, Muslim extremists into loading their cars with explosives, driving them into crowded shopping areas, and detonating them. They blew themselves and lots of other unarmed and defenseless Muslim women and children to bits. It took hours to pick up all the body parts and you couldn't tell what belonged to who. He is such a fine boy!"

Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi was a coward. He made Video tapes for Al Jazeera television, inspiring and exhorting his brain washed "followers" to become Homicide Bombers, attacking such strategic targets as market places, schools, hospitals, and even a wedding!

I guess the term "follower" is not the correct usage. In order to have "followers" one must be in the lead, marching at the head of the movement. Not this pathetic excuse for a human being. He talked others into committing atrocities in his name, and losing their lives for nothing in the process. He, all the while, lived like a roach, avoiding the light and scurrying from one hiding place to the next to avoid extermination.

The most encouraging thing I saw in this incident is the fact that the Iraqis are beginning to realize that they don't have to be preyed upon by the likes of this cowardly pervert. He was turned in. He was located with intelligence information provided by Iraqis. They are learning that they don't have to live in fear of extremist perverts like Zarqawi. Suddenly, a couple of F-16's dropped two five hundred pound buckets of Whup-Ass directly on his worthless head, and BOOM...No more Abu!

As the brother of one of his victims said..."May he rot in Hell"

Couldn't have said it better myself!

Is THIS the best argument that can be made?

2006-06-08T17:25:00.000-07:00

I normally don’t sit at my desk and watch C-Span. I, like most Americans, get my news in bite-sized snippets from journalists who routinely truncate quotes, purposely leave facts out that don’t support their personal agenda, and present an incompletely story. I understand this as a reality and read and watch my news with a certain amount of skepticism knowing full well that I just don’t have the time to watch the unedited version. That all changed today when I flipped on C-Span to watch the debate of HR 5252 also known as the “COPE” bill (Communications, Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act of 2006). I wanted to see the arguments presented by my representatives for and against this bill firsthand.

In a nutshell, HR 5252’s key ingredient is a National Franchise for future video providers. Telephone companies have wanted a chance to compete with cable companies, but have not wanted to bother with negotiating with the individual communities that they serve, and adhering to the ordinances of that community no matter how loose or strict.

Proponents of this bill compared cable to wireless telephones and Internet services. Their argument sounds on the surface logical: More competition means more choices and better rates. Statistics also do show that in communities that have competitive cable companies (less than 2% of franchised authorities) prices are lower. I believe these various comparisons are not appropriate. In the current “competitive cable” market, ALL cable companies must work with the local authority and their rules regarding video delivery. Under the national franchise proposal, the telephone industry is given the upper hand by not having to bother with the local governments. Politicians have argued that it would be burdensome for the telecom to negotiate with every government agency they want to do business with. I’m sure it would be, but the cable company has done so at the cost of millions of dollars, why shouldn’t they be held to the same standards?

The cable industry is not as comparable to the wireless telephone and ISP industry as you might think. Cable Television is closer to a utility such as electricity and water. Cable is an exceptionally expensive service to provide. Most cable companies make on average about eight cents on the dollar of your bill in profit. Cable comes with enormous fixed cost that is the same whether they have one customer or one million customers. As such, Cable can provide better service at a lower price when their penetration in a community is 80%, rather than 60%.

Last year, Comcast investors made approximately 7% on their money. This actually lags behind most of sectors in the market. The oil industry made 9% for their money and most of us are familiar with Yahoo!’s incredible 45%. Aggressive investors in the stock market consider companies that perform at less than 10% not worth their time. The idea that cable companies are making extreme profits is simply not realistic. If a dip in revenue occurs, you will most likely see a dip in service, not price so the cable company can maintain their level of profit for investors. This isn’t evil, it’s reality, and it’s what we expect as investors. I’m not saying that wasteful spending doesn’t exist in these “public traded” companies such as outrageous CEO compensation packages. It should be noted however that these companies are owner/investor driven just like any other.

During debate, Democrats dribbled on against this bill for a half-hour. The arguments I heard were poor, most having nothing to do with rebutting ANY of the facts of the proponents. Rather, I heard politicians talk about protecting the “information superhighway” and something called “Red-lining”. I got the impression that this “Red-lining” was something that telephone providers supposedly did to keep the Internet out of the homes of poor black people. What does any of this have to do with debating whether or not the telephone industry competing with the cable industry by skirting local franchising will lead to better service and better prices? That, of course, is a rhetorical question… The answer is nothing.

I’m a red-state conservative living in the red-state of Missouri. We recently tackled and set aside indefinitely a statewide franchising bill. Our argument from local governments has always been local control and an equal playing field for business. Most of our representatives when confronted on the issues, facts, and real economics of a state or national franchise system change their mind quickly when they realize the impact on the local consumer, government and public access channels. Unfortunately, the message delivered to representatives had little to do with the bill at hand.

Kudos however to Representative Mike Doyle (D-Pennsylvania) who addressed the key issues and addressed them well. You might have missed him… He spoke last and by that time everyone had fallen asleep from listening to Nancy Pelosi talk about “inclusiveness”.

AT&T wants into the video delivery market really badly, but they don’t want to have to jump through the same hoops the cable industry had to when they want to set up shop in a community. Allowing companies to circumvent the system that we demanded the cable company go through gives them the advantage to provide a cheap product at an inexpensive price which will lower the penetration level of those companies that made effort to stick to the rules that we put in place. The cable company may not be able to generate the revenue necessary to provide the same quality service that you receive for the price you are currently paying.

Had the arguments of Representative Doyle been heard a little earlier and been made a little stronger there would have been a different outcome today. The idea that this bill means more competition, and thus better service and rates, remained unchallenged. Video delivery via cable being compared to an ISP or cell phone service was left uncontested. Without these arguments the consumer, and our representatives, will be tricked into handing over local control of a service that should be considered a basic utility.

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

2006-05-31T10:14:00.000-07:00

10. I couldn’t excel with talent so I married it.
9. Anxiety in small doses keeps the blood circulating to the brain.
8. My wife saved me so much money on sales, she bankrupted me.
7. I loved my father. He taught me everything I’ve forgotten.
6. Never get on the bandwagon without first learning an instrument.
5. Flexibility is the Achilles Heel of the perfectionist.
4. The one thing I’m not insured for is going broke from paying premiums.
3. War is bane and banner for presidents.
2. Is life our fulfillment or punishment?
1. Good teammates always pick up the attitude check.

Never Build a Wall Without a Window

2006-05-28T19:33:00.000-07:00

A window of opportunity won’t open itself

When I played football my freshman year in High School, I weighed 108 pounds. There was a wall between me and the varsity first stringers. But because my high school didn’t cut, they allowed us preemies to play on the “B” team.

We could dream ourselves playing alongside the behemoths. In scrimmage, the 220 + pounders would knock the snot out of us. We understood the size of the mountain we needed to climb, much less conquer.

That was our window.

Some of us chose to pay the price of opening that window and found eventual success.

Those demanding instant gratification quit.

There should remain windows of opportunities for Mexican immigrants as well. But they should have to pay the price of going through the motions of waiting in line behind others seeking legal citizenship and not be Johnny-come-latelies.

If they don’t like it…tough. It’s NOT THEIR COUNTRY…yet.

The US has the right to protect its’ borders, at least as diligently as Mexicans arresting, convicting and deporting Central American Mexie wannabes on its’ southern border.

You don’t have to be antique to appreciate old things

It’s 2006.

We have smart bombs, cruise missiles, pinpoint laser systems, guided rockets and long range jet fighters and bombers. While Liberals have stopped one line of defense, our ability to dig oil wells and build refineries, even they couldn’t stop some military advancements.

Then how the heck are walls going to protect us?

I’ll tell you.

For now, those south of the border are low tech invaders.

The Great Wall of China, something that I nearly had a heart attack climbing on top of last year, was a paramount of defense in the provinces that it shielded. This fragmented structure started in 770 BC. Its’ 2700 years of primitive assembly is reminiscent of Boston’s Big Dig without the delays or corruption.

It worked!

The only way those Chinese provinces were defeated was from within.

Israel’s wall is a test case for the US wall. While survival is the purpose to the Jewish States’ structure, the US can learn from its’ before and after stats. Suicide murders by Palestinians have gone from 41 in 2002, the beginning of construction, to 5 in 2005. The wall, scheduled for completion in 2008, is preventing murderers from killing Israeli men women and children.

On the flip side, Israel’s need for retaliation has been downsized, saving many Palestinians.

True, the wall has caused hardship for Palestinians. Access to jobs, relatives, and schools has been frustrated by the barrier.

But when one considers the reaction Israel COULD have exacted to protect its citizens, it seems downright humane.

After 9/11, the equivalent of one or two bus bombings in Israel, the US conquered two countries, killed or captured ¾’s of known terrorists along with the unintentional deaths of thousands of innocents. Then they toppled the old regimes and installed new ones. We STILL occupy those countries and won’t get out anytime soon.

Israel would be more than justified to react as the USA did to its’ terrorist attacks.

There are no unsolvable problems, only well hidden answers.

My In-laws just emailed me their solution to illegal immigration:

* Dig a moat the length of the Mexican Border.
* Take the dirt from the moat and use it to raise the levees in New Orleans.
* Put the Florida alligators in the moat.

Now…, any other problems you want us to solve?

Gotta love ‘em!

Hey, better a wall with windows than a moat full of starving gators.

They Never Had a Day

2006-05-22T13:19:00.000-07:00

It’s post Mother’s Day. I write this after visiting all my businesses demanding a gift…or at least a card from my employees. When they queried as to the reason, I responded by reminding them that they’ve been calling me a Mother all year.

Soon it will be Memorial Day, followed by Father’s Day, Independence Day and Labor Day.

I mean our nation even celebrates the tanning habits of a rodent: Groundhog Day.

Black Americans have their own month!

Seems we’ve “Dayed” ourselves into so many retail and travel “events” that it’s a sure fire way of growing our economy. If we want business to keep going, Congress needs to pass a law that enacts 2 more celebrations of some deserving person, place, historical moment, or body part annually.

Run out of days? No problem!

We’ll double and triple up if necessary. Can proctologist or manicurist day be in our future?

If you can’t be a star, be the wind dispersing its’ cloud cover

As an American in deep support of my countries’ economy, I feel it’s my patriotic duty to suggest several more celebrations so we can spend more of our take-home pay on feel-good tripe.

This could be as effective as the Fed lowering interest rates.

* Space Adventurer Day-I applied to NASA to become an astronaut, but they ran out of space.

*Rodney Dangerfield Respect Day-I come from a neighborhood so tough; we used .38 specials as toenail clippers.

* School Teacher Day-I avoided getting expelled from the 3rd grade. I pled elementary insanity.

* Corrupt politician Day-How can you tell a politician in a snowball fight? He’s the one throwing curveballs.

* ALGORE Internet Founder Day-I tried having sex online, but the mouse kept getting in the way.

* Sanitation Engineer Day-Yesterday my wife raced behind the garbage truck shouting, “Am I too late for the trash?” The driver yelled back, “No, jump in!”

* Musician’s Day-I tried out for violin in high school, but only made it to the 3rd string.

You get the idea.

I intend to copy these brilliant retail enhancing schemes to President Bush, Senate Leader Frist, and House Speaker Hastert.

If they like the plan, maybe I’ll get my own day.

Call it whatever you like.

Just send golf balls….lots of them!

Quality regulation protects investment and insures quality of life

2006-05-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

When my wife and I began searching for a place to live, we had our choices. We chose to live within the City limits of Rolla, Missouri. There was a quality place just barely outside the City, but upon careful consideration, we chose to be inside.

Why? Because we wanted to protect our investment. The three rules of real estate are:
1. Location
2. Location
3. Location

Within the City limits of Rolla, we have some control over how fast our location can change. No, I don't live in a mobile home, I'm talking about the dynamic of the neighborhood that we live in.

Under City rules, my neighbor has to keep his property well kept. He can't keep broken vehicles on his property. His lawn has to be mowed. Only similar property can be built inside my neighborhood. No businesses. Since I live in a condo, even MORE regulation gets piled on. My condo association even regulates what kind of doors I can have on my particular unit that I own. These regulations weren't forced upon anyone. We have a representative City government (and condo association) which passes these rules for the greater good to protect our investment. The City of Rolla has a paid team of staff members under the direction of John Peterson called Community Development. They also have a Planning and Zoning committee which makes non-binding recommendations to the City Council on the future of the dynamics of property. Their mission is to protect the investment and quality of life for the majority of citizens, while carefully balancing the rights of an individual property owner.

Living outside the City limit, you have no such say.

A great concern rolled over the town of Rolla last year when notice was given that the Little Dixie Truck Port property on highway V at the gateway to Rolla was purchased by a developer who in his portfolio contains several adult stores. The last contact that we had with the new owner of the property was a quote in the Rolla Daily News. In it, the property owner swore his intention was not an adult store, rather some kind of gas station.

We pondered on the morning show: Is this a wake up call for us? If Rolla wants to have some control over what the entrance to our fair community looks like, we need to force annexation. If the county wants some control over what can go on county property, they need to pass some kind of regulation.

Turns out it should have been a wake-up call... The property owner lied, and we now have "The Pleasure Zone" on our doorstep, just barely outside the regulated City limits of Rolla. Postings like "$5 per minute for the Video Arcade" are displayed on their doors just a nine-iron away from a community church. And when an adult store advertises a "Video Arcade" they aren't talking about Pac-Man.

There's been a lot of discussion regarding eminent domain lately. Most of the discussion has centered on the ability of the government to take one piece of property from a private citizen to give it to another private citizen in hopes of economic development or the removal of blight. Eminent domain is no-doubt the highest level of the governments ability to tell someone what they can or cannot do with their land: taking it away by forced compensation.

We all have a responsibility to submit to the majority of our neighbors through our elected government and the laws and regulations that they pass. This is how a democratically elected government works. So long as the laws and regulations that the government passes are constitutional, I see no reason why we shouldn't continue to regulate property right.

I have speculated that the reason why Phelps County does not have any kind of zoning or regulation is because of the calls of its citizens that "The government doesn't need to be telling me what to do with my land!!!" I fear that these will be the exact same people who will be criticizing this developers use of his land for an adult store. In other words, let the hypocrisy begin.

My final point is: What is good for one, should be good for all. If you are calling for the regulation of what someone can or cannot do with their property, then do not be surprised with the government wants to tell you what you can or cannot do with your property. Likewise, if you proudly declare that the government shouldn't have the right to tell you what you can do with your land, then don't be surprised with the entrance to Rolla starts looking like the entrance to St. Robert.

Rolla Television in the news!

2006-05-22T08:51:00.000-07:00

by Michele Martin

What can two guys, three video cameras and a couple of computers do? Produce an entire live morning show.

“Two people doing a radio show by themselves is not out of the ordinary. But having two people producing a live morning show is almost unheard of,” says Steve Leonard, program director for Rolla 16 public access channel, who is a fourth generation Rolla Citizen.

“Rolla is one of the top 100 small cities in the US, and one of the best places to live. I really believe that,” says Leonard.

Leonard starts his typical day at 6:30 a.m. with the morning show and often doesn’t get home until 10 p.m. He says that the best part of his job is talking to local people about local issues.

“It’s always interesting to hear different people’s points of view in this community,” says Leonard. “Local issues have more of an effect on day to day life then the stuff discussed in D.C. I think it needs to be given a lot of attention.”

Leonard goes on to say that he is always open for new ideas for the station. He encourages anyone with suggestions to send them his way.

“I have always had an interest in how the community can utilize the media,” Leonard explains.

Leonard started his career in radio. “I worked for KDAY at one point, doing their morning show. Doing music on the radio just wasn’t for me,” he says. “I guess I have too much to say to let my entire time be taken up by music.”

Most of Leonard’s training was on the job, mostly by Larry Vance who created the station. “It seems like I have always been here,” he says.

Leonard says that jobs are out there everywhere. He says that to get into the radio business, one has to be willing to take the first job in a smaller market.

Most cities fund their public access channels, Leonard explains. “It’s almost unheard of to run a station independently like we do with no funding from the cable company or the city.”

“Right now we are going through a renewal process that will set us up for the next 10 to 15 years,” says Leonard.

There are six people working full time at the station. They do everything from camera work, to audio, to on air time, all while having fun.

Leonard says, “We do get into trouble every once in a while, mostly because people don’t agree with us, but that’s the most fun.”

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

2006-05-22T08:49:00.000-07:00

10. I signed up for euthanasia and thought I was going on a tour of the Far East.
9. Drinking in moderation is a town I’ve yet to visit.
8. Our airline pilot was a Hell’s Angel. When we landed he did a wheelie.
7. Sometimes the hurt you feel when young prepares you for reality later.
6. Do penguins ever go informal?
5. While it’s important to exercise, it’s imperative to get the closest parking space.
4. I was a depressed gymnast. I wrote the song “Twist and Pout.”
3. Never let a second marriage be a recycling of old miseries.
2. When 9 out of 10 doctors agree, why do I always get the idiot?
1. Truth is light on the paint but strong on the big picture.

Exactly Who in the Hell Do They Think They Are?

2006-05-18T01:00:00.000-07:00

Did the title grab you? I hope so!

Few things have riled me up like today's pronouncement by the Mexican government that they would sue in American Courts if, on OUR soil, OUR National Guardsmen, enforcing OUR immigration laws, defending OUR borders, were to arrest or detain Mexicans (Illegal Aliens)!

This is a direct threat, and it shows total disrespect for the United States of America! Who in the Hell are these people to even THINK about telling the United States now WE are "allowed" to secure OUR border? Totally outrageous!

Mexico uses THEIR army to enforce THEIR immigration laws on THEIR side of the border. There is no "catch and release" program in Mexico, either! People caught violating the Mexican border are charged with felonies and prosecuted vigorously! Not even the marketing ability of the Rolla Chamber of Commerce could make even the shortest stay in a Mexican Jail desirable.

The thing that I am, perhaps, most outraged by is that NOT ONE ELECTED REPRESENTATIVE, either Republican or Democrat has told these arrogant dipsticks that HOW we secure OUR border, on OUR soil is OUR business. We are represented in Washington by a bunch of weak kneed wimps!

We should be the first to remind Mexico that if THEY had an economy that offered THEIR people a chance for a decent life, WE wouldn't be picking up THEIR citizens becoming illegal aliens by violating OUR immigration laws and sneaking across OUR borders. It's just that simple!

While OUR weak kneed Representatives and Senators try to figure out how to pay for a strongly fenced and enforcable border, these arrogant and demanding knotheads may have solved the problem for us. Just tell me how much a foot of proper fencing costs, and where to send the payment! My check will be in the mail TODAY! I am sure there are enough of us good old boys left who don't think we have to put up with this kind of crap, that the fence would be paid for very shortly. We could probably even find a National Guard Engineering Unit to have the honor of starting the construction! (With the permission of the Mexican National Secretary, of course)!

This is definitely the LAST time I want to turn on my tv to watch the news, and hear some arrogant Mexican official dictating to me what AMERICANS can and cannot do on OUR side of the border, and threatening to SUE MY COUNTRY!

ENOUGH, ALREADY!

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

2006-05-16T10:11:00.000-07:00

10. My wife woke me in the middle of the night and said, “I hear footprints!”
9. The one thing I have in common with my one-year old grandson is we have the same problems getting out of chairs.
8. The market for your creativity is very lucrative…once you die.
7. I never say things the same way, which is another way of saying things the same way.
6. What kind of trees do fish sticks grow on?
5. Never second guess yourself. That’s what wives are for.
4. I hear the sponsor of Brokeback Mountain was Ben Gay.
3. A pessimist realizing his dream is a blessing in despair.
2. I tried out for the gymnastics team but a flip-flopper beat me out.
1. If we never forgot anything, where would we put it all?

General Crud

2006-05-09T11:28:00.000-07:00

Ideas are king, their sources commoners

I’ve been told that I have a problem with authority…mostly by people with authority. Such is my life as a businessman for 35 years in partnership with a Fortune 500 company. Because I refused to be a potted plant, some in power went to great lengths to destroy me.

I’m still around, stronger than ever, but with a few scars to show. Many of the once powerful are gone, commenting from the sidelines, totally out of the game.

In my mind, I was doing exactly what I was supposed to do: tell them what I thought about a plan and what it would need to make it work. After all, we were on the same team. Often times if I didn’t agree to the letter of the powerful protagonist of it, I was maligned as having a “bad attitude.”

What’s left out is once a decision was made, I was “balls to the wall” to make it work, whether I agreed with it or not.

After all, we’re all on the same team. We had the same enemy, and it wasn’t us.

One would think that would apply to government, also.

Not so with the demand for the head of Rummy by some “Johnny-come-lately” generals.

GM is building a car with the steering wheel in the middle and two politicians on either side as airbags

Many generals had input into the amount of troops and tactics in Iraq. Other generals disagreed. After, the direction was set by the President though Donald Rumsfeld. Now we’re watching the worst of human nature, the back seat whining of 6 or 7 otherwise first-rate soldiers gone wild.

Is public power so fascinating that one spends 30 seconds to seek its’ high and end up destroying 30 year distinguished careers?

Much of the Rummy bashing came before the Iraqis got rid of PM Jaafari and finally formed a coalition government that will generate a united Iraqi front against the insurgents.

The ONLY way we lose in the long run is to have our leaders become political junkies in the short run.

Most important, the team (American men and women) are still being fired at and IED’D in the field. One need not speculate at the relief Zunni and pals bequeathed Osama and Zarqawi at a time we should be focusing on sticking a hose down their throats.

Here’s our real enemies’ reaction and anticipation to what has to be the huge defeat of an Iraqi coalition government; Osama called for a Jihad in Sudan, almost ignoring Iraq, and 2 days later Zarqawi tried to plead with the suiciders to keep their bomb belts fastened.

Meet the Dress

Let’s focus on the most famous of the crew, former Clinton CENTCOM commander, General Anthony Zinni, and his treatment by a loving, starry eyed Timmy Russert:

Questions Tim missed were:

1. General Zunni, did you testify before Congress in 2000 that, "Iraq remains the most significant near-term threat to U.S. interests in the Arabian Gulf region," adding, "Iraq probably is continuing clandestine nuclear research, [and] retains stocks of chemical and biological munitions ... Even if Baghdad reversed its course and surrendered all WMD capabilities, it retains scientific, technical, and industrial infrastructure to replace agents and munitions within weeks or months."?
2. YES? Were you telling the truth then, General Zunni…or now?
3. General Zunni, were you directly responsible for the attack on the USS Cole?
4. How do you explain the thousand or so generals/admirals retired and active duty that disagree with your demand for Rummy’s head?
5. As a former general, don’t you think your statements at this critical time in the war may encourage insurgents and put our men and women in uniform in further peril?
6. Any plans to run for political office, general?

The lack of the above queries substantiates rumors that Russert and Zinni have gone furniture shopping…together. Russert, usually a prepared and challenging interviewer, couldn’t have been more of a cheerleader if he’d put a on a pleated skirt and fluttered pom poms in America’s face! I hear the new name for his program is “Meet the Dress”.

With press like Russert and Gregory, Bush will need more than Tony Snow to help him get his story out. Know any good republican cheerleaders? Heck, they’re out trying to save their own posteriors to hold their own seats in the ’06 elections.

Wonder if Helen Thomas is available for Secretary of Defense. Now there’s a lady that exemplifies balls to the wall. Ask any president in the last 50 years.

She’ll shut up the generals, retired or active. TENSHUN!!

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

2006-05-08T10:23:00.000-07:00

10. Sometimes the only way to afford a gourmet meal is to eat crow first.
9. The secret to a rich life is to find a good woman and allow her to lift you up to her level.
8. It’s okay to be under someone’s wing as long as you aren’t suffocated.
7. Never fall in love with someone that mocks your dreams.
6. How does Scrooge hunt? He takes cheap shots.
5. The only good thing about being unemployed is you can’t be fired.
4. To err is human. To heir is lucky.
3. Never build a windowless wall.
2. Admitting fault often sets off an earthquake of achievement.
1. May you make money like Madonna and have the thriftiness of a Monk.

NSN - or - BSN?

2006-05-07T10:08:00.000-07:00

Note: To read this week's edition of the NO STANDING NEWS, a Rolla government watchdog blog, visit their website at www.nostandingnews.com

There are many editions of the No Standing News that contain a lot of good information. While I agree totally about the total injustice of the Sales Tax on electrical power, (If it must be taxed, then tax in on a per kilowatt hour bases, so the tax stays the same if the usage stays the same.), I totally disagree with the tone of the recent issue. It seems that the increases in what RMU has to pay their vendors, (the folks that sell the electricity that RMU delivers to subscribers) are viewed with a skeptical eye by the folks at NSN. What their publication lacks, though, is an alternative. Whether RMU breaks the news to the City Council before or after they vote on accepting it is of no consequence. What matters is simply this: We either pay what the vendor charges, or do without! It's just like high priced gasoline. We can either bite the bullet and fill the tank, or do without, run out of gas, and become stranded.

Left wing Democrats as well never seem to have an alternative. They continue to bash, bash, and bash some more, but never offer an alternative that would help by solving the original problem.

If the NSN has proof that the price increases are either unjustified or can be avoided, it should be printed in BIG BOLD TYPE, KIND OF LIKE THIS, AND ON THE VERY FRONT PAGE! Surely they must realize that if they could prove to the Citizens of Rolla that RMU is ripping them off, with the support of the Council, the whole bunch would be, (and should be), replaced at the very next election!

Right now, the Council is just riding the wave of price increases and will be collecting a lot of money through their back door tax increase on the sale price of electricity. I have called in this publication for them to fix that problem. I have given the Council the benefit of the doubt, and am still willing to consider the back door tax increase as an "unintended consequence" of their ordinance. I point out in the same publication that since the Council wrote the ordinance, they also have the power to rescind it, or change it.

Another problem I find with this NSN issue is the remark about not being able to address the Council on matters that are on the Council Agenda. This statement is just plain false. Citizens have two opportunities to address the Council. If you have a comment on a matter that is on the agenda, you notify the Mayor at the beginning of the meeting. Then, when the matter is being discussed before the Council, the citizen will be called upon and allowed to speak before the vote is taken! That is the only time it really counts. There is also another time citizens are allowed to address the Council. This is a regularly scheduled time, included in every meeting agenda, for citizens to address the Council on matters NOT on the agenda.

Mr. Nash was obviously displeased when Mayor Morgan did not allow him to use the second spot in the meeting to talk about something that was on the agenda, and had already been voted on. The Mayor was right.

I am totally disappointed to see comments like this in the NSN. No other city I have ever lived in allows citizens the opportunity to address the Council while their subject is being debated, and BEFORE A VOTE IS TAKEN. Citizen input then falls upon every ear that hears whatever any other council member has to say. The only thing those citizens addressing the Council don't get to do is vote. That duty is rightfully bestowed only upon elected representatives.

Every time one of these totally incorrect statements appears in it's publication, the NSN takes a step closer to becoming BSN. A watchdog publication is always a good thing. That is the reason our Constitution guarantees a free press. The watchdog publication will only be effective, though, if it's readers can depend upon the accuracy and completeness of the information published in it.

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

2006-04-30T10:07:00.000-07:00

10. My psychiatrist told me to take an IQ test. I said, “Sure…where to?”
9. Do what you love with verve and passion and the money will take care of itself.
8. A meteorological Satellite fell on me. I was under the weather for months.
7. Sometimes you have to assert yourself when you’re most in doubt.
6. My in-laws loved me so much; they bought a marriage denouncement ad.
5. Know the difference between honest criticism and whiney second-guessing.
4. The best cure for an honest golf score is a short memory.
3. I knew a rock group that was so popular that the groupies went union.
2. To defeat the desert plant many seeds.
1. The true value of a house is the amount of love shared under its roof.

Devalued American Citizenship?

2006-04-29T16:38:00.000-07:00

All news coverage this weekend has highlighted the upcoming demonstrations scheduled for Monday. In these "demonstrations", illegal aliens (yes, I actually called them what they really are) are going to try to disrupt the operation of America for a day to call attention to their "DEMANDS" for rights!

WHAT RIGHTS? These people are NOT united states citizens. Unless they hold valid visas or work permits or "green cards", their mere presence here is a violation of United States Laws.

We seem to have elected to Congress a crop of weak kneed, spineless dolts who are more interested in their own political power than they are in obeying the oaths they swore to protect and defend the United States and our Constitution.

We have already allowed illegal aliens to run rough shod over United States Citizens. We are now responsible for providing them free health care, free public education, free social services, and the list goes on and on.

The problem here lies in the fact that all these "free" services are not free at all. Hard working American citizens are seeing their tax dollars dwindled away on these people through case laws established by brain dead judges. This greatly supports my belief that brain death is both contagious and rampant among the judiciary.

What ever happened to "fruit of the poisonous tree?" Police in the United States face this every day. If police perform an illegal act, such as a bad search, or an improper arrest, all evidence gained through the illegal act is inadmissible. Courts have said that if the original act is illegal, ("the poisonous tree"), then any "fruits" (items of evidence) produced by the illegal act are tainted, (poisoned) and thus are inadmissible.

If "fruit of the poisonous tree" is the law of the land, then how are people who committed an illegal act to get here allowed to claim our benefits, and "demand" all the things we talked about just a minute ago, just as if they were actually United States Citizens? Why are the illegal aliens allowed to continue to benefit from an unquestionably illegal act? They violated our immigration laws the day they got here, and they violate them again every day they stay.

The straw that broke the camel's back was produced by the writing of a Spanish version of OUR National Anthem! This is not simply a literal translation of the lyrics, but inclusion of new ideas as well. I totally agree with President Bush when he says that the Star Spangled Banner should be sung in English, and that if these people want to stay here and sing it as citizens, they should learn English and sing it properly, the way it was written, IN ENGLISH!

In my opinion, we are making it far too easy to divide our country into groups of "Hyphenated Americans". Every day we hear of "African-Americans", "Hispanic-Americans", "Native-Americans". and the list goes on and on. We need more plain old "Americans"! We provide all kinds of legal documents in various languages so we will not "inconvenience" immigrants by having them learn our native language. Every time we purchase anything as simple as a light bulb, we find Spanish language instructions on how to install it. We should stop this immediately. We should print instructions in foreign languages only on products being deported for sale abroad.

If immigrants are going to come here, then let them become citizens and converse in the native language of the nation they have supposedly adopted as their own. Being literate in English gives immigrants a tremendous advantage in getting better jobs, getting the most from their education, and participating in the experience of becoming an American to the fullest.

The bottom line...
I have a job. Pedro has a job. I have a driver's license. Pedro has a driver's license. I vote. Pedro votes. I am entitled to a free public education for my children. Pedro is too. Pedro's children, if born here, are United States Citizens, just like mine! I can demonstrate for redress of my grievances. Pedro can demonstrate for his. I am an American Citizen. Pedro is not. He violated the law to get here, and he violates it again every day he stays. But HE is able to DEMAND that he now be MADE an American Citizen.

Has not allowing these illegal aliens to violate our borders by the millions, make all manner of demands, and run amok devalued the citizenship of every real American Citizen?

Think very carefully before you answer!

The Invisible Osama

2006-04-25T05:44:00.000-07:00

When I was a teen, I was in a “gang”. Being the smallest and least threatening of the group, I took on an interesting role. The big fellows would start fights with the giants from the other gangs. They’d trade insulting obscenities and end up with a phrase like, “You’re so chickens**t, you couldn’t beat HIM up.” Not being very bright, I accepted all challenges.

I was a teenage red herring.

You’ll never defeat your enemy until you admit who they are

Liberals won’t face the brutal reality of what’s confronting us all. They’ve displaced their anger with easy pickings, George W. Bush. Even though at times he’d like to behead them, I think most Dems are comfortable that Bush will keep to riding his bike, not bandying swords about.

Lost in diatribes of leftist Bush-bashers are the real cause of the world’s growing miseries, fanatical Muslim terrorism. Rarely in the “Bush lied, people died” DNC talking points, does one hear anything close to a reminder of the horrific attacks on us all, in the name of Allah. It’s as if the fanatics exist in the minds of liberals in some bizarre world, shielded from being revealed for the evil monsters they are by some secret libiot mind shield.

How many times do we need reminders of the depravity these fiends have brought upon civilization?

Most criticizing Bush never mention the torture and murder of 3,000 innocent Americans on 9/11.

They never mention the unique nightmare of those people, choosing to leap 90 stories or burn an excruciating death, unrecognized and still mingled in WTC rubble.

They never mention people so vicious they are the most prolific slaughterers of…fellow Muslims, including women and children. Just today 21 Muslims and counting were murdered by their brethren not in Iraq, not in Afghanistan, not in Boston, but Egypt. Now, pray tell, what was the purpose of THAT?

They hardly mention the slayers of 100’s of innocents and the bashing and burning of embassies over their outrageous sensitivity over a couple of stupid cartoons. Libs quiver at the thought of they themselves publishing them.

A hero is a foot soldier that faces adversity straight on.

Worse, Democrats have taken face away from the glory of the terrorists. Show me recent liberal diatribes against al-Qeada, Hezbullah, Fatah, and Islamic Jihad.

Osama wants the world to know how bad he is. He’s in show business, busy making tapes like Snoop Dog ratcheting up the charts.

It’s a street thang you know.

If lefties are talking about how Bush is Hitler, they’re stealing Osama’s thunder.

Freedom of the press is only as good as the people’s press for freedom

The media is generally in sync with the Democratic Party. That means they knowingly ignore a portion of the news which may benefit Bush. Instead they harp endlessly with page one stories of Abu Grab, Gitmo, and Plame, hardly mentioning 9/11, beheadings, and tapes that indict Saddam as a potential mass murderer beyond Iraq’s borders, not just within.

Yesterday we numbingly watched John Kerry defend his stalwart supporter and CIA traitor Mary McCarthy as a glorified whistle blower. At the same time New York Islam’s finest chanted “The mushroom cloud is on its way! The real holocaust is on its way!” in front of the Israeli consulate…This and signs putting a Muslim flag on top of the White House.

Is there laugh after death?

Will the outrage come when Israel is nuked as promised by Ah’m Mad? Will a plasma suitcase nuke taking 100,000 in DC pose a concern for the surviving Demo Congressmen? Will they grow a single brain amongst them before they impeach the president and prevent him from listening to terrorists planning the above?

When, if ever, will the left get it?

The one thing Dems, with media attached at the lip, have in common with Osama is they blame George W. Bush for their miserable lives.

That and the red herrings they share threaten to be the guppy that swallows civilization.

Oh well, my great uncle Phil ate herring with a couple of shots of whiskey almost every day.

He lived to 101.

The rest of the world won’t be that lucky.

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

2006-04-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

10. The true test of a frontrunner is his effort while on the backburner.
9. My psychiatrist had a sale last week. She said I was only half off.
8. Never marry until you’re called back for a return engagement.
7. The secret to a rich life is to find a woman with the same dysfunctions.
6. Is there laugh after death?
5. Some don’t realize they’re at the end of their rope until the noose is too tight.
4. Flies time when you’re getting stung.
3. You may think you’re a step ahead, but it’s only because I’m about to lap you.
2. I fell in love with a toll booth operator. She was sensitive to change.
1. If rare things are valuable, kindness is priceless.

Unintended Consequences?

2006-04-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

Almost anytime legislation is passed, by bodies ranging from City Councils to the United States Congress, there can be unintended consequences. I certainly hope the situation I am about to describe will turn out to be one of those. If it doesn't, I will be totally disappointed with the Rolla City Council.

When the Council passed the ordinance levying a tax upon the receipts of Rolla Municipal Utilities, several things changed drastically. In the past, RMU had decided upon and presented to the City an arbitrary amount yearly. This varied over the years, as did power rates, system profits, and other economic conditions.

The recent ordinance, requiring RMU to fork over a set percentage of its revenues, may tutrn out to be a real whammy on its customers. It is, in fact, a sales tax on electrical power.

It is not like state gasoline taxes. We pay gas tax as a set amount per gallon. I haven't looked up the exact tax per gallon, but we are going to keep the math simple here. Lets say we pay 50 cents per gallon in tax. If gas is actually priced at a dollar a gallon, we pay $1.50, tax included. If gas jumps to three dollars a gallon, we pay $3.50, tax included. Every time you buy a gallon, the price may increase, but you still pay only the same 50 cents tax on each gallon. You have not been the victim of a back door tax increase.

Sales taxes, like the one on electrical power, are a whole different story. Bear in mind that we are not using real power rates here, but, like the example above, we are keeping the math simple to illustrate a point. Let's assume that you buy $100 worth of power from RMU. Lets assume that the city has levied a tax of five percent on the RMU revenues. In this case five percent is $5.00. Your power bill, tax included is $105. Lets now assume that, like the gas, our sale price on the same amount of power has tripled, and our sale to RMU is now $300 for the same amount of electricity. Bend over, and take a deep breath. You now owe $15 tax for the same amount of power! Your bill will be $315, NOT $305 like the gasoline! You are the victim of a huge back door tax increase!

It is not RMU's fault. They didn't pass the law, but they do have to obey it. They are going to have to collect your additional $10 for the same amount of power and fork it over to the City.

At the council meeting April 17, Mr. Bill Jenks took over as the new Mayor of Rolla. It was also at this same meeting that we heard directly from RMU that their power costs are increasing drastically and totally beyond their control. This is a daunting problem for any new mayor, and Bill has stepped right into the middle of it. These huge increases are going to have severe consequences on the elderly and particularly upon fixed income customers. Letting this sales tax on power run unchecked will only serve to make the plight of these folks much worse.

We have no local control over the vendors that supply our power, but WE DO HAVE TOTAL AND COMPLETE CONTROL OVER THE WAY WE TAX IT! The Rolla City Council wrote this ordinance. They have the same power to rescind it, or alter it.

I certainly expect the Council to recognize that huge tax increases on the backs of those of us who can least afford them are an unintended consequence of the ordinance they passed. I also expect that they will fix the situation.

Lots of people pay attention to Rolla, Missouri. We have much here to be proud of. We attrract attention. We do not want Rolla to be identified as a place where people shiver with cold in the winter and swelter in the summer because their RMU electric bills are so high they can't use their heating and cooling systems.

The fix is not rocket science. Simply calculate the cost per kilowatt hour that RMU would have paid the city on the day the ordinance was passed, and amend the ordinance to collect that amount per kilowatt hour. Eliminate figuring the tax as a percentage of RMU Revenues. If the Council would ask, I am sure that RMU would gladly do all the calculations. All the Council would have to do is vote for the fix.

As I said, I will be totally disappointed if I discover that the Council is not willing to fix this situation. I would hate to think that our Council plans on benefiting from back door windfall tax increases brought about by wildly increasing power costs.

The Council is right to be concerned about rising energy costs and their effect on city budgeting. They must remember, though, that we must all work through this together. If we all see the Council tighten its belt and sacrifice along with the rest of us while energy costs are high, we will recognize and appreciate their efforts. Rolla will be a better city for us all.

If revenues become a problem, the Council will have only to make the situation known and be absolutely truthful about it. The people of Rolla will do the right thing. They always have. That's why we enjoy living here.

THE QUIZ

2006-04-18T05:38:00.000-07:00

The "Political Beliefs" Quiz that we took this morning is located at:

http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html

10 Questions to find out who you are... I'm a centerist/liberal... who knew??? :)

No Way to Win :-(

2006-04-16T10:45:00.000-07:00

A recently published newspaper article in Sydney, Austrailia, describes a campaign to require that cheerleaders for sports teams adopt more conservative attire. No more bare midriffs. "About time" you might say, but consider the rest of the story.

Austrailian do-gooders fear that girls might observe the sleek figures of these in-shape cheerleaders, and try to emulate them. They go on to project that some young girls trying to achieve the same in-shape look might become victims of eating disorders, such as anorexia.

There is just no way to win with these do-gooder/prophet of doom types.

Here in the United States, we have "activists", (a politically correct term for people who deserve a swift kick in the butt and instructions to mind their own business), wanting legal action against fast food vendors like McDonalds. They say too many people are overdoing consumption of their french fries and gaining weight.

I think all these obnoxious meddling do-gooders should at least have the courtesy to be consistent.

If someone saw some of those sleek and attrractive cheerleaders and decided to drop a few pounds, wouldn't that be a good thing? Girls might get in shape and improve their appearance ty try out for the cheerleading squad. Guys might drop a few pounds, tone up, and develope a better physique in order to date one of them.

Maybe there won't be such a long line at McDonalds the next time I want a Big & Tasty Burger and Fries...And yes, Supersize it!!

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

2006-04-13T18:36:00.000-07:00

10. Freedom of the press is only as good as the people’s press for freedom.
9. The fastest way to sound like an idiot is to get into an argument with a teenager.
8. Are midgets short of breath?
7. I’m starting an online dating service for all my single sox.
6. There’s nothing worse than a high tech lowlife.
5. Hear about the Italian that took anti-depressants? He achieved pizza mind.
4. The secret to leadership is to show pull without yanking.
3. I’m a man of the millennium. Too bad it was the last one.
2. Don’t let reminiscing get in the way of experiencing.
1. Hold head high, but don’t outstretch neck.

MEDICARE DRUG PLAN

2006-04-12T06:48:00.000-07:00

May 15th is deadline to sign up. Call 1-800-MEDICARE . or go www.medicare.gov

Selling Our Souls for Cheap Labor

2006-04-09T17:17:00.000-07:00

Making Money is Easy if You Have the Ink and Paper

155 years ago we had an “immigrant” problem.

It didn’t happen in one or two days, but over four centuries.

Foreigners, mainly Africans, captured like animals in native countries, chained and stacked to the bowels of large ships, then sold off as oxen for the free work they and their children could provide plantation owners and businesses for infinity.

They were bred like cattle, kept uneducated, and, at times, used for the sexual pleasure of their “owners”.

Their humanity was confiscated, subordinated, and subjugated to a degree that there are ramifications in their family life, sense of culture, security in their citizenship, and acceptance more than 145 years after their emancipation. Assimilation has progressed but the wounds are still evident, as aired by Oscar winner, “Crash”.

Slavery is as old as man, not exclusive to any one race, or religion (Jews spent 400 years doing the bidding, suffering and dying by the scepters of many Pharaohs, something we’ll be commemorating this week.) and still exists as I write this.

Sometimes You Have to put Your Foot down to get a Leg Up.

Specific to America, it wasn’t that everyone was hunky dory with the situation. The 1850’s saw a rise in the Abolitionists movement, started in 1775, 85years before the Civil War. It culminated in the election of Abe Lincoln as president. He demanded an end to the South’s threats of succession, based on their slave-owning tradition.

Maybe Lincoln wasn’t the most sympathetic about releasing slaves, but saw it as something that in and of itself, could destroy what he called the “Grand Experiment”.

He refused to compromise, even under the advice of some of his closest friends and cabinet members.

When the South forced the surrender of Fort Sumter and enticed four more slave states to secede, Abe stood firm in his demands that the South withdraw and dismantle the Confederacy.
We lost 600,000 Americans during that war, the highest in all of the USA’s wars to date.
The result was a saved Union, freed slaves, and one dead but beloved president.

The Highest Perch has the Steepest Fall

When broken down, slavery is about an economic model of cheap labor by people that exploit weaker groups.

Slave owners put themselves on the moral pedestal by rationalizing that the slaves were inferior savages, unable to care for themselves, and better off in chains than the freedom they are obviously incapable of living in.

Slave owners wasted a whole generation of young Americans for their false pride. What should have been evident in the first place came as a result of stubborn arrogance, greed, and evil tradition.

It was all about the cheap labor.

It still is.

Reality is so Wonderful the USA May Soon Try it

Today the issue isn’t slavery. Mexican immigrants have poured over the border because they yearn for better opportunities. Their mother government encourages the daily runs to America because $$ come flowing back, boosting Mexico’s lax economy.

But, we have laws!

True but a government forfeits the right to execute a law that was ignored for the last 50 years.
America needs to decide a new immigration policy fairly and soon.

Fence the border where it can be, then arm it with troops where you can’t.

I haven’t even mentioned the terrorists we’ve probably let in or the risks of the Mexican Aztlans.

(We don’t need another war. But we won’t last as a country if we don’t enforce our laws.)

Then decriminalize the Mexican Illegals that are here. Utilize guest worker programs; put them thru all the hoops to make them legal. (But do send back the criminals and security risks.) Make ‘em pay taxes to America. Let them pledge allegiance to America. Let them fight for America. Put them in the back of the line to those hopefuls that applied legally. Let the Ameriwannabes know that US citizenship doesn’t come cheap.

At least Immigrants and released slaves share one thing in common.

Hope.

So...you want a website?

2006-04-05T12:22:00.000-07:00

What a spirited discussion sprouted from the fact that I was unprepared with a new topic and decided to talk about what I know....websites! I started thinking after a phone call from a woman earlier in the week that people are far too trusting when it comes to posting a website. If they don't know how, they get someone who does and never question them about just what the heck they did. It's like taking your car to the shop and paying the bill without knowing what the mechanic worked on. Although I do believe that most of my fellow web designers are honest and wouldn't try to take advantage of their client's ignorance about the "behind the scenes" website stuff, that's still not an excuse for anyone who wants a website not to know some basic setup facts.

If you want to read more about our conversation, you can read an article I was moved to write for the BX Internet Writer's section that covers the very issues that Steve, Marty and I discussed during the show on March 28. Just click on my name to read the article. If you're not interested, I'll not waste anymore space on this blog. Be warned however!! Websites can be costly and if you don't know what you're getting, that cost can rise big time...

Steve Leonard Is An Idiot

2006-03-31T15:27:00.000-08:00

OK, maybe not an idiot but wait until you hear this story. I was listening to the rebroadcast of the Friday version of “Rolla Mornings Live”. Sorry, since I don’t live in Rolla, I’m not ambitious or alert enough to get up that early and be able to function on the level required to use a computer.

So, I’m sitting there at my computer and I heard Steve say something I could NOT believe. Before I tell you what he said let me say, for the record, that I know what he said wasn’t malicious. And, if you heard the show you probably believed every word he said.

He said that “Married With Children” was the longest running television sitcom in history….WRONG!!! Can you believe it? Steve, the man that's dedicated his whole life and career to the broadcast industry. One of the people you invite to share part of your day with and he has to say this non-sense.

Time to mark him off your Trivia team list. Now, Steve is usually a well-informed and knowledgeable guy. He’s one of my best friends and a respected colleague. However, for those of you who are up on your television history you know that “The Simpson’s” is the longest running sitcom in history, if you’re counting the number of seasons. If you count the total number of episodes the winner is “The Adventures of Ozzy & Harriet”

Here are the facts:
Sitcom Series by Number of Seasons as of Spring 2006
17 The Simpsons
14 (The Adventures Of) Ozzie And Harriet
12 My Three Sons
11 M*A*S*H, Cheers, The Danny Thomas Show / Make Room For Daddy, Happy Days, The Jeffersons, Married ... With Children, Frasier
10 Murphy Brown, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Friends, King Of The Hill, South Park
9 The Beverly Hillbillies, The Love Boat, Alice, Roseanne, Family Matters, Coach, All In The Family, Night Court, The Drew Carey Show, Everybody Loves Raymond,

Sitcoms by number of episodes:
435 (The Adventures Of) Ozzie & Harriet
380 My Three Sons
371 The Simpsons
336 The Danny Thomas Show / Make Room For Daddy
275 The Donna Reed Show, Cheers
274 The Beverly Hillbillies
264 Frasier
259 Married ... With Children
256 M*A*S*H
255 Happy Days
253 The Jeffersons
252 Bewitched
249 The Andy Griffith Show
247 Murphy Brown
245 The Love Boat
238 Friends
234 Leave It To Beaver
233 The Drew Carey Show
222 Roseanne
214 Family Matters
210 All In The Family
209 The Facts Of Life, Everybody Loves Raymond
204 Home Improvement
202 Alice
201 The Cosby Show
200 Coach

Also, for the record, the record for the longest running television show is “Meet The Press” currently in its 57 year on the air.

Remember, if there’s anyone that appears on “Rolla Mornings Live” that has a wealth of useless information, knowledge, and trivia contained within their noggin it’s me. By the way, if any of you are thinking of calling Steve an "idiot" please don't. I've known Steve a long time and I pay a special fee each year in order to have the right to call him an "idiot" on occassion. Anyone who calls him an "idiot" without submitting the paperwork and the necessary fees will face the consequences.

Number 1 In My Bracket

2006-03-28T11:31:00.000-08:00

You Don’t Have to Have a Title to be a Leader

Rocky was a Chump, Then a Champ, Then a Chump…

From out of nowhere, Jason McElwain, a 17 year old, 5’6”, High School Senior, appeared on the national scene as a sports icon, acclaimed by such in a meeting with the president of the United States, George W. Bush.

Okay, Weinbaum, So what’s the big deal?

I’ll tell you! Jason, who never put on official basketball attire until that night, was not a free agent, not a transfer, not even on the team, jumped and pumped into hoops fame.

You see Jason isn’t actually ON the team. He’s the manager! He gathers balls for practice then retrieves them. He gathers dirty towels and places clean ones for the players. He brings liquids to sweaty players in timeouts.

However, Jason was a step above an average gofer…he inspired his team with pep talks. He passed balls to shooters and rebounded; only to dispatch the orbs back again to the real players.

Coach Jim Johnson decided to reward Jason by letting him dress and sit on the bench with the team for the final game. If the score was close, Jason and the world would have been deprived of one of the greatest 4 minutes in sport.

With a large lead, Coach sent his manager onto the boards, fully dressed for battle. He sure did LOOK like a player with his white headband, and nifty uniform.

Then we all found out he WAS a player!

Do They Still Play Pro Hockey?

His first two shots missed and then in the best of all sports stories, G-d spread a little of his magic and let Jason show what he could do…when given the chance.

To the shock of everyone, except Jason, he started hitting 3 pointers…first one…then two…then 3. The crowd went crazy, louder and nuttier with every shot, an amazed smile plastered on almost every face. The ONLY person that seemed unaffected by the hubris seemed to be Jason.

He just kept pumping those three pointers in, then 4…then 5. Somewhere in there he managed a 2 pointer.

On his 6th three-pointer at the buzzer the crowd erupted onto the floor. The team manager was carried off, arms raised in the triumph held up high by the players he helped with everything but his basketball skills.

In four minutes, in his first, and maybe his last court performance, Jason scored 20 points, high scorer for the entire game.

Now…for the rest of the story. (Forgive me Paul Harvey).

You see Jason has Asperger Syndrome Autism, not the most severe of the disease, but a challenge for Jason and all around him.

Studies are being done on the epidemic of autism in the USA. David Kirby’s “Evidence of Harm” poses the theory that vaccine preservative Thimerosal, consisting of 50% mercury, is the chief culprit in the increase of Autism from 1 in 5000 births in the 80’s to 1 in 166 in 2003.

Don and Deidre Imus have been in front of this issue and publicized same on his radio/TV show, chiding those in power to outlaw those chemicals proven harmful to our children.

April is Autism Awareness Month. Learn more by googling!

Volcanoes Make Their Own Openings

Jason’s biggest score of the night was bringing attention to the blight of autism and what can be done to diminish it. Give him credit for a triple/double.

He’s tops in my bracket.

How about yours?

Top Ten Quotes of the Week

2006-03-24T11:46:00.000-08:00

10. Attaining ease is never easy.
9. You can’t build a legacy sitting on the fence.
8. My wife and I fought over the TV. Our issues were remote.
7. I knew a mime whose claim to fame was that he broke the speed of silence.
6. Hear about the cartoonist that was disciplined? He was put into suspended animation.
5. The secret to a rich life is to have one more dream than you can achieve.
4. New ideas are so fascinating, I plan to have one some day.
3. Those of us that are gifted are irritated by those that come unwrapped.
2. I don’t know which is worse, not to grant a favor asked or not to accept one offered.
1. When you’re with the one you love, the scenery is always better.

Controversy at the BIG 550

2006-03-23T09:55:00.000-08:00

LET’S PUT OUR CARDS ON THE TABLE

First, let’s start with a bit of a history lesson. For more than 50 years 1120 KMOX-AM has been the number one rated radio station in the St. Louis media market. It offers a format of comprehensive news coverage, listener call-in programs and sports programming. With a 50,000 watt signal (and no other station on the same frequency) it enjoyed a clear and wide-reaching signal.

About a decade ago the format of KTRS was switched to a News and Talk format. The hired a number of professional well-known radio personalities from KMOX and other stations throughout the country. They promised to be as equally great, if not better, than the long-time leader.

Over the years they’ve acquired the rights to broadcast the St. Louis Rams and the St. Louis Blues away from KMOX. However, KMOX held the broadcast rights to the cornerstone of the St. Louis sports world the St. Louis Cardinals. In a baseball town the Cardinals broadcast are the equivalent to the Holy Grail of local broadcasting.

Last year the St. Louis Cardinals bought a controlling interest in “The Big 550” KTRS-AM. As part of the deal the St. Louis Cardinals agree to switch game operations from KMOX to KTRS. The move of the Cardinals was widely criticized because of the much weaker broadcast signal offered and low overall ratings for most KTRS programs.

In December, KTRS announced plans to shake up the format of the station. They announced that they would appeal to a much younger and diverse audience. Part of that process involved firing many of the professional on-air talents that had been with the station since the beginning of their News/Talk format.

The new air-talents were viewed, by many in the industry, as “Shock Jocks.” Focusing less and less on the news and current events and more and more on the personalities of those on the air. Controversy, humor, and sports had become the norm.

Since the official switch in January, not many have noticed the change. Preliminary ratings don’t show much of a change. In fact, according to some inside sources ratings and, more importantly sales, are down. KTRS had put all of their future hopes and dreams on the Cardinals broadcasts and it’s not paying off. Most of the ads running during Cardinals games are national ads or commercials sold by the Cardinals and not KTRS. Local ad sales are reportedly very weak.

A SLIP OF THE TONGUE

On Wednesday, new air talent Scott Lenihan was on the air. He had been behind the microphone for less than two weeks. Linehan has less than three years of professional broadcasting experience. During a rant about the resignation of the Commissioner of the National Football Leauge, Lenihan suggested that a good replacement for the commissioner of the NFL would be Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. Instead of saying the word “Coo” he used “Coon”, which is a well-known racial slur.

He immediately apologized. He said, “I’m Sorry. I am So Sorry. I can’t believe I said that”. Almost instantly, the station began receiving complaint calls from listeners. Approximately 20 minutes later Lenihan returned and issued another on-air apology.

Within two hours station General Manager Tim Dorsey had announced that Lenihan was being terminated. After his termination Lenihan appeared in front of a large gathering of local media. He apologized again for his comments and characterized it as a “slip of the tongue”. He said he understood the decision to terminate him.

WAS IT ALL A DREAM?

The question that is not being asked is: Was this all an elaborate publicity stunt? Let’s check the fact.
· Lenihan had only been with the station a few days.
· What Lenihan described as a “slip of the tongue” seemed to flow quite easily. And usually when you say something you’re not suppose to say, you pause, take a breath, something. But he didn’t he just kept talking.
· He seemed less than concerned or upset that he had just been fired when appearing in front of the press. Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever been fired before but keeping that level of composure is nearly impossible to maintain.
· THE DROP BUTTON: Every radio station that airs listener phone calls has a delay system. This delays what’s broadcast by 10 to 15 seconds to help prevent unwanted or prohibited content from airing. The host, and usually the producer of the show, has access to a Drop button. While both had access to the DROP BUTTON, it was not used in this case. Even though Linehan realized instantly that what he said was WRONG.
· The station fired Lenihan almost immediately. Anyone who knows anything about the business knows, that’s not how it works. A station will suspend an air talent. They will then carefully review what happened, gauge the reaction of listeners, consult with attorneys, and have the chance to address the staff before any employee is terminated for what happens n the air. They cover all the bases (it’s better known as Covering You’re a**)!
· The word ”Coon”, is offensive but not a bombshell. It raised eye-browse but wasn’t enough to cause any protests. In fact, they didn’t allow enough time for protest before terminating Linehan.
· And KTRS has announced that they will name a replacement for Lenihan by the end of the week. WHAT? Yes, they had the time to consider all potential candidates and are ready to name a replacement.

So, was it a stunt? Consider low ratings, sagging sales, less than expected attention from a format change, high expectations from the new owners (The Cardinals) and the circumstances of what happened. Then you consider the attention that this story has created. It was carried on every local TV and radio stations newscasts, in every regional paper, and was even discussed for nearly 10 minutes on “Rolla Mornings Live”.

Even the slur used is interesting. The audience that would consider the slur most offensive is not a large part of the KTRS listening audience. The new attitude of the station is toward a younger, mostly white, middle to upper class audience. The demographic of the KTRS target audience is more likely to be forgiving of what was said. Probably the same audience that embraced the return of radio personalities “Steve & DC” to St. Louis, in the past, just months after they referred to a caller to their show by the “N” word.

Only one person knows the truth for certain. And he’s currently looking for a job.

Bush Ressurected By... Saddam?

2006-03-21T10:54:00.000-08:00

The Best Cure for an Old Grudge is a Bad Memory

History makes strange bedfellows…Israel and Germany, Russia and the USA, Mary Matalin and James Carville.

Now comes the unintentional alliance between what used to be death-grip, all out foes, Saddam and Dubya. This isn’t wild speculation. This isn’t a Republican trick. This isn’t April Fools Day (yet).

We have the tapes…well 12 hours of them, anyway. There are 3,000 hours more to be analyzed. Hussein makes Nixon look like a piker. Plus, there are 35,000 boxes of written docs and computer discs waiting to be translated and released.

In a spring ’95 meeting, Saddam’s son-in-law, Hussein Kamil, the man in charge of WMDS “destruction”, is heard discussing hiding information and WMDS from the UN. “We did not reveal all that we have, not the type of weapons, not the volume of materials we imported, not the volume of production we told them about, not the volume of use. None of it was correct.” According to ABC News, this meeting took place with Saddam and his senior leaders. This dialogue was precipitated by a group discussion of how the UN had discovered Iraq’s bio weapons program, one that they denied from the ceasefire of 91’ until then.

Let’s not forget that Saddam kicked the UN inspectors out in 1998…for four years.

By the way, I’m citing ABC news, not Fox, Rush, O’Reilly, Hannity, or Coulter.

Further stories from ABC tie Iraq to Osama, plasma nukes and Saddam’s continued war against the USA AFTER he signed the ’91 ceasefire.

The above is backed up by Larry Elder’s revealing interview with General Georges Sada, second in command of the Iraqi Air Force under Saddam. He claims Iraq had chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons and had bad intentions toward the west in general and the USA in particular. Just before the coalition invaded, Saddam, under the pretext of sending aid to Syria for a collapsed dam and the resulting floods, converted a jumbo 747 and 727. He used the planes to smuggle 100s of tons of WMDS into Syria via 56 flights to Damascus. Also, Hussein sent a large truck convoy smuggle WMDS to Syria at the same time.

Seems that the war in Iraq was and is crucial to defeating Osama and his ilk.

Bush told the truth.

Rope-a-Doped again?

This is bad news for Liberals. They filled the media with “Bush lied, people died” tripe.

Plus the timing of the releases couldn’t be worse for Democrats. With 2006 congressional elections looming, the Dubya hating crowd may find the news too firm to back away from. They’d have to convince the American people that they were for the war until they realized Bush lied, thus demanding a US withdrawal from Iraq. Now, after the new tape information is trickled out, Dems would have to support the war…again!

That would be too big of a stretch for even John “I voted for the war before I voted against it” Kerry. Even my washing machine can’t spin this much without breaking a belt.

Bush’s Psychiatrist asked him to take an IQ Test. Bush said, “Sure, Where To?”

Everyone knows that Bush can’t strategically time the release of the tapes and docs to Republican advantage for the November elections.

He’s too stupid.

Remember the diagnosis from Dr. Howie “Bush is Brain-dead” Dean.

Democrats remind me of the new ad picturing people giddy about their colonoscopies. Are Dems begging Bush to “bring it on”? Didn’t the last two elections thump enough jolts up their backsides? Heck most Liberals are still walking bowlegged after the 2004 debacle.

Maybe the President’s just lucky…yeah that’s the ticket!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

2006-03-21T06:31:00.000-08:00

MESSAGE FROM THE LEGENDARY
DANNY O'SULLIVAN:

I hope that everyone had a great
St. Patrick's Day!

And I hope you were able to come out and enjoy the parade, or watch it all on Channel 16. I heard everyone had a good time. And, as the picture provided indicates, some party goers had a bit more fun than others. I hear he's feeling a wee bit green these days.

Candidate Discussion Night Replay Schedule

2006-03-17T09:47:00.000-08:00

The Rolla Television Candidate Discussion Night Series for the contested races is complete. Our five part series will be replayed the final week of March. Residents can tune in to hear the candidates for Mayor, City Council, City Attorney, and School Board.

The format for the Rolla Television Candidate Discussion Night Series is a free-flowing and casual discussion of the issues facing Rolla residents. Candidates received topics for debate and discussion from the host and took questions from live telephone calls. The Rolla Television Candidate Discussion Night Series will also replay live on the Internet at www.voiceofrolla.com .

The replay schedule for the programs leading up to the April 4th election is:

March 27, 8:00 PM - City Attorney - Robert J. “Jeff” Stoltz, Lance B. Thurman
March 28, 8:00 PM - Rolla Ward 3 - Geoffrey D. Horning, Susan J. Eudaly
March 29, 8:00 PM - Rolla Mayor - W.S. “Bill” Jenks III, Tom Sager, Gary W. Hicks
March 30, 9:00 PM - Rolla School Board - Melanie Hopper, Vernon Lowrey, Connie Gaddy, Kelly Long
March 31, 8:00 PM - Rolla Ward 2 - James Kittle, Stanley G. Spadoni

All programs will also be played "marathon style" April 1st starting at 5 PM.

Rolla Television will also televise election returns and reaction live on April 4.

###

Paul Brumett's Poem to Rolla Mornings LIVE

2006-03-17T09:41:00.000-08:00

Paul Brumett's Free Style Poem to Rolla TV and RML

It is so great to wake up early
and have the Rolla Mornings Live to watch
while I am having my first cup of coffee
and so glad channel 16 is there
when you and I want to hear the news
about what is happening right here in Rolla
and different towns
where the News, Sports, and Weather can be found
one will see Steve and Martin and the
wonderful guests that are there
Steve and Martin telll the news to the people of Rolla
letting us know what is happening for they do care
I am so very proud that we have
the Rolla Mornings Live and the Voice of Rolla
in ones hometown.

Rolla Mornings Live

Amateur Night at the Gallows

The great, great, great grandson of Frankenstein

Harry's Leftovers (12/23/06)

The Borough Park Playoffs

RUN LIKE A LIB, GOVERN LIKE A BUSH

Harry's Leftovers (11/9/06)

JOHN KERRY’S TO DO LIST FROM 10/30/06

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

Why did the chicken cross the road?

LARGE PRINT GIVETH. Fine print taketh away.

Playing Catchup with Tech Soup!

Tech Soup Episode 4 - September 20, 2006

Tech Soup Episode 5 - October 11, 2006

Desperate Ex-Presidents

The Purpose of Government

Harry's Leftovers (10/12/06)

Candidate Discussion Nights

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

Open Letter to the Cable TV Franchise Renewal Committee

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

THE LIGHT IS BETTER OVER HERE!

Christianity vs Islam

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

Selective Indignation

Do Dems Convert to Bushbots in Booth?

Harry's Leftovers (9/16/06)

A Quiz

Where are the accolades?

Taking the Ahmadinejad Debate Challenge

The whole Nest of Them? No Thanks!!!

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

MAY G-D BLESS AND KEEP POPE BUCHANON…

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

More on Recycling

Perfect Park

Harry's Left Overs (8/28/06)

Electronic Voting Systems: No More Hanging Chads! - Tech Soup Episode 3

Do You Use Windows Automatic Update? - Tech Soup Episode 2

Listen to the podcast!

Recommended reading from Dave Weinbaum

Overdue Council Actions

LEFT OVERS! 8/18/06

Birthday website

Re: Sager's Letter to the Editor in the RDN

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

Carry-On Luggage...Time to do away with it?

Tech Soup - Episode 1

Just How Important IS the Defragging Process to Your Computer's Performance? VERY!

RETURN TO SENDER: Address Tehran

Electile Dysfunction???

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

KATYUSHA - - - Preferred Weapon of Cowards

What do they have to gain?

A war we are actually going to have to WIN?

For the Love of G-d

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

The Global Warming Myth

Paige, Steve and Marty discuss Net Neutrality....AGAIN!

Troubled Times? Fantastic!

Israel... A Case Study In Credibility

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

Rolla Television in the news!

But anyway, who let the dogs out?

Stolen Elections Enable Bush To Run Again

Hogwash Defense of Times by Democrats

Times Tries to Defend Money Tracking Story

NY Times...How to Handle a Really Treasonous Rag

Lib Law

Who are the Heroes of the Left?

White Flag Democrats

Collateral Damage

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

Good Riddance, Abu!

Is THIS the best argument that can be made?

Top Ten Thoughts of the Week

Never Build a Wall Without a Window

They Never Had a Day

Quality regulation protects investment and insures quality of life

Rolla Television in the news!