I'm Shocked! Shocked I say!!!

Thanks to NewScientist.com for the heads up on this one -

Ki Bang Lee, of The Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology in Singapore announced a battery that is activated with biofluids such as urine or blood.

- - - Quote - - -
The first urine-powered paper battery has been created by physicists in Singapore. The credit-card sized unit could be a useful power source for cheap healthcare test kits for diseases like diabetes, and could even be used in emergency situations to power a cellphone, they say.
- - - End quote - - -

Are they going to set up special booths in the streets for people to discreetly step into in order to pee on their cell phones? I'd be concerned about putting it up to my ear when it is juiced up.

- - - Quote - - -
Current biochips need an external reader such as a laser scanner or an external source of power, such as conventional batteries, to perform diagnostic tests. Lee'‘s technology houses both the sensors and the battery on one plastic chip.
- - - End Quote - - -

Please note this plastic chip is not the kind you play poker with!

- - - Quote - - -
The urine-powered battery was able to generate a voltage of about 1.5 volts with a corresponding power of 1.5 micro-watts using just 0.2 millilitres of urine, says Lee. And if a second droplet of urine was added 15 hours after the battery was first activated, the replenished urine could generate still more electricity.

The battery is currently suited for use with disposable devices it is not yet ready to power laptops or iPods. "But if, for example, we place a small cellular phone or transmitter on a plastic card, the chip will work as a disposable biofluid-activated means of communication in an emergency, Lee told New Scientist. In this case, the size will be less than that of a credit card.
- - - End Quote - - -

1.5 volts! Hmmm. My camera takes 3 volts. I wonder if two of em...

I wonder too how far will this go? I mean, could you start your car if you put a bunch of these in your car seat? Dad's Barcalounger will have to be aired out on occasion if it is set up to run the TV.

- - - Quote - - -
The battery is made of a layer of filter paper steeped in copper chloride, sandwiched between strips of magnesium and copper. This sandwich is then laminated in plastic to hold the whole package together. The resulting battery is just 1 millimetre thick and 60 by 30 mm across slightly smaller than a credit card.

To activate the battery, a drop of urine is added and soaks through the sandwiched filter paper. The chemicals dissolve and react to produce electricity. The magnesium layer acts as the anode, losing its electrons. And the copper chloride acts as the cathode, mopping up the electrons.

But Lee adds that the voltage, current and capacity of the battery could be improved by different designs or by switching the electrode or electrolyte materials used.

He believes the system could be used in home-based health test kits. The long-term goal is for people to be able to buy disposable biochips for a disease test from any pharmacy,” he says.
- - - End Quote - - -

ATTENTION JEFF FOXWORTHY FANS - Do not be fooled by the word 'sandwich' in the preceding paragraph. They are not talking about bread and meat!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

prying1 sez:

- This really does look like a good thing but we will all be well advised to wash our hands after borrowing a friends cell phone and think twice before jumping into Dad's Barcalounger. Just in case...

Why Use Yahoo and Not Hotmail?

Ok, What is with these tech support people? Can't people make an obvious decision anymore? If these jokers worked for me and I happened to read this in prying1's blog then you bet they might not get fired but advancement would be a looong time coming. Whatever happened to 'executive decisions'? I make 'em all the time at my work and my bosses (two company owners - I'm the peon and prefer it that way.) depend on me to do so as occasion warrants. - Here is the scenario all of which on my end went through one of my Yahoo email accounts -

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I get an email for a Nigerian 411 scam -

- Quote from email -
I am a business development specialist and i have engaged in the purchasing of heavy materials and machinery from any part of the world,for contract supplies(only) to some multinational companies in Europe and Africa.More to it,i was also partially or slightly invloved in the exportation of solid minerals in minimal quantity from some countries in Central Africa to some countries within the United Kingdom but due to some new strict trade policies and severe political and economical factors in some of the countres i was involved with in Africa,i have been put out of business for a while. - ... - ...
- end quote -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
i have to wunder if his speiling andpunchuatshun might of had sumthin todo with looseing his busyness. - It goes on in much the same vein... - I wanted to change the word exportation in the email above to exploitation but decided not to change the body of the quote.

If you want to read the whole thing email me and I will forward it. - The deal was, I get 20% of 19 MILLION $$$'s - Whoo Hoo!

I'll be rich! Inevitably this would only cost me all I have plus all I could borrow and even all I could steal. Needless to say I did not go for it. If you want to invest let me know - I'll forward the pertinent info.

I noticed at the bottom of the letter was an email address. A bright blue link to the perpetrator of this scam. - It was a Hotmail.com address. - So I do what any semi law abiding citizen would do. I forwarded the message to abuse@hotmail.com - A short while later I get an auto response from Hotmail - Form letter. They got the message and will look at it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The same day I get another nigerian scam letter from Dr. John Smith. His real name! Wow! At first I thought he was joking but Dr. John Smith is his real name. His deal is better (I think).

- Quote - On behalf of myself and my colleagues who are ministerial official and other officers in charge of offshore remittance in this corporation, we are seeking your assistance for the transfer of Forty Two Million (US$15,000,000.00) to your account for further private investment purpose, Hence our request for your assistance. - ... - ... - End Quote -

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The idiot didn't even change the number when he modified his letter. Which is it? 42 mil or 15 mil? I did not bother writing to ask. I

noticed the return address on this one was a Yahoo.com account. - Forwarded email to abuse@Yahoo.com - They responded within 8 hours. A form letter but it said appropriate action was taken. I feel satisfied. (note - As I am writing this I emailed from a dummy account to both addresses. - Response from Yahoo - Account non-existent! Mail undeliverable - Hot mail.......... No reply yet.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mind you these emails were received and forwarded on the same day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OK, 2-1/2 hours after Yahoo tells me they took "appropriate action" Hotmail send me a message saying

- quote -

Thank you for writing to MSN Hotmail Technical Support.

My name is Harrison and I am writing in response to the unsolicited message that you reported. I know how important it is for you to protect your account from unsolicited messages.

I have verified that the account [michealhartrupp2000@hotmail.com] you reported is an active Hotmail account. However, we did not find enough evidence to prove that the e-mail that you received originated from this account. If you have other documentation to prove that this account is indeed sending unsolicited e-mail, please send us a copy with the full message header so we can re-evaluate your report. To do this, please refer to the Help section of your e-mail account or client to learn more about exposing the full message headers of the e-mail you are forwarding. - ... - ... -
... more about forged headers and crap unrelated to the nigerian scam letter I sent them ...
- end quote -

They got the full headers. The email address the scammer was using was at the bottom of the page. Hotmail is dealing with a scammer not a spammer. A scammer that is using a Hotmail account.

I wrote back to Hotmail - quote -

Hi Harrison, - This is the only email I received from this joker to my knowledge. - I could email him and get more on his scam for you but I should think that the body of the email with the hotmail address at the bottom should be enough to yank his account. - - I'm not sure if your terms of service allow you to go into his account and peruse his mail but certainly -[michealhartrupp2000@hotmail.com]- is up to no good and is using hotmail for nefarious purposes. - Paul -
prying1.blogspot.com - - - 6:56 AM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- end quote -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Reply from Hotmail @ 15:43 hrs (8+ hours later) -

- Quote -

Hello Paul,


Thank you for writing back to MSN Hotmail Technical Support.

My name is Divino. I have read the e-mail exchanges you have had with Harrison
and from what I understand you were reporting about the unsolicited e-mail message you received.

We have investigated the account you have reported and we found that the X-Originating IP of the mail you have sent us did not match. It is possible that it was forged or tampered with. If you have any other documentation from this sender, please send it to us immediately with complete message headers.

Hotmail firmly enforces its Terms of Use (TOU) including our anti-spam stance. You can review our TOU at:
http://privacy.msn.com/tou/default.asp

We are very sorry if we were not able to take action against this person because we need sufficient evidence to justify our actions. I appreciate your patience and understanding regarding this matter.


Thank you very much.


Divino T.
MSN Hotmail Technical Support

- end quote -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
prying1 sez:

My FINAL reply: - quote -

OK - If you want to allow an obvious crook to continue
using hotmail then fine - I sent a similar email to
abuse at Yahoo and they YANKED the jerks account toot
sweet!. - Who cares where he originated the blasted
email - He want victims to use his Hotmail address
because he knows you will let him! - Paul -

- end quote -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I will continue to forward scams to Hotmail in hopes that Harrison and Divino don't get them... But I'm not gonna continue this endless diatribe with these boys. Let Mr. Micheal Hartrupp continue his scam through Hotmail.com. He knows he has the support! (smiley face here)

Why They Write Science Fiction!

I've been reading a bit of science fiction lately. I came across a set of books I got years ago and never got around to reading. It is a collection of short stories and novellas plus some that was selected by the members of The Science Fiction Writers of America. They had each member submit the titles they liked best excluding their own and tallied up the winners to put in an anthology. It is a 3 book collection called "The Science Fiction Hall of Fame".

Of course Asimov, Bradbury, Pohl, Heinlein, and a myriad of authors are represented.

Some favorite stories are, The Roads Must Roll (Heinlein), The Time Machine (H.G.Wells), The Midas Plague (Pohl), and too many more to name. Especially for a four fingered typist...

While reading a bit it finally came to me what it is that draws writers into Science Fiction as a favored genre. It is simply this. Lawsuits...

You know at the start of novels where it tells you that no one on earth was the model for the characters inside the book. Imagine this court scene:

Lawyer, "Your Honor, we will prove that my client Mr. Smith was slandered by this so called author. He was called a lying, unethical, crook and this has had an adverse effect on his business. He was called a pimping whoremonger and this has had an adverse effect on his family life. He was called an immature mamma's boy with apron strings tied to his wrists and this has had an adverse effect on his psyche.

Judge: Ok, I perused the book and am wondering where you find all of these accusations in it?

Lawyer, "Your Honor, You can read, starting on page 12, about the slimesided Arcturian gizzlewop named Rejrindul Azurkod and we intend to show how the author cleverly used this character to cause harm to my client.

Judge: (slams gavel) "Get out of my court!" (slams gavel again) "Now!!!" (Judge mumbles a bit, then barks) "Next case..."

Delete Button Does Not Delete!

On occasion I wheel and deal at a computer swap meet. I'll pick up hard drives real cheap there. Of course I'm taking a chance when I pick up a drive off the ground or a blanket that when I get it home it will not work. Last meet I got a 80 gig hard drive for $3.00. It works, whoohoo!

When I plugged the drive in I was able to set it up as a 'd' drive and accessed all the info on it. It had belonged to someone that had set it up as a 'C' drive with WinXP.

WinXP has now got it set up so that you cannot just simply transfer the drive from one machine to another. To get it to work as a 'C' drive I had to reformat it and reload Windows. This of course wiped out all the previous information. Or did it?

The info stored on a hard disk is simply magnetic bits that are pointed north or south, on or off, yes or no, 1 or 0. Deleting files or even formatting a hard drive does not remove all the information stored on it. It simply removes the pointers that tells the reading heads where to go to find the requested info. As a result sensitive information like banking and financial records can still be accessed with the proper software. I have read that even writing over the previous file doesn't quite do the trick. A ghost image of the file can remain and a real pro can find and reconstruct the info.

So, the question is, what to do with old unneeded hard drives to protect yourself from any hanky panky with the info on it. One solution that is quick and easy is to smash it with a hammer making sure all the platters inside get damaged. But suppose the computer you use at work is about to go down the hall to someone else. Perhaps the laptop you use is about to be transferred to another department. They might be a tad upset if the hard drive has major dents in it.

I came across this page from Brown University that gives some tips and links to software (Some Free!!! Whoohoo again!) that solves this problem. I see some in the list for Mac and Unix. (which reminds me of the time my buddy Mike asked another computer nut if he liked Unix. The man replied, "No! I prefer women...")

I will suggest you be careful if you download and use any of these programs. It appears that some of them are designed to wipe out the whole disk only and not selected freespace, files or folders.

One of my favorite lines from a book

As I'm sitting here at the computer I have a stupid fly buzzing about the room.

On occasion it gets nearby and I swing at it. - I miss... -

On occasion it lands on the monitor screen. I swing at it. - I miss... -

Kung Fu practictioner I'm not...

But this reminded me of one of my favorite lines from a book. - Art Linkletter's Kid's Say the Darndest Things. (Not to be confused with Bill Cosby's book by the same title.) This is not verbatim but it is pretty close.

Scenario: Art Linkletter has very young school children sitting in chairs and is asking them questions about life and love.

Art: "How did you get that bump on your head?"
kid: "I was killing flies."
Art: "You were killing flies with your forehead?"
kid: "No, I was using a hammer."

NARAL Tells Lies in Anti - John Roberts Commercials

Opposed to bombing abortion clinics? Well then you should be pushing your elected officials to support John Roberts as Supreme Court Justice. You should also be pushing for NARAL to back off on their adverts that portray Roberts as a man who supports the criminal/terrorist activity of bombing abortion clinics.

Factcheck.org has the real scoop on what NARAL is up to. The pro-abortion group's commercial shows a bombing scene that happened 7 years after the legal brief they misquote as Roberts endorsing murder. The legal brief was supporting states laws and simply said there was no need for federal interdiction. - The Supreme Court agreed 6 to 3...

prying1 sez - It amazes me that a group that endorses ripping babies from the safety of their mothers wombs uses an obvious lie about murder like this and expects to get away with it. - Anyone who supports NARAL after this has no excuse. Bearing false witness is still in the 10 Commandments even if the Commandments are not on the walls of our courts. Duplicity always ends up with a spotlight shining on it. If you stand with NARAL the spotlight will also be shining on you!

How to Fix a Computer!

I didn't realize how long it had been since I last posted a blog. Thanks to AubreyJ for the push to get back into blogging.

Lately I have been dealing with some changes with my computer system. Funny how much time it can take to get your system just the way you like it and then you find you have to upgrade. I went from XP home edition to the Pro in order to get my cable system working and found all kinds of glitches through the process. Got it going pretty good. Almost satisfied. Too close to very good. Almost happy. Now I have placed another computer close by so my wife can play games and IM her friends while I list items on eBay and blog. Family time is different these days from the way Ozzie and Harriet lived.

Lot of fun getting the 2 machines in sync. Wifey-poo doesn't get to do much game playing or IM'ing. I spend half my time getting her computer the way I like it. The other half is spent getting the new gliches out of my computer.

Two major problems with getting the systems to network. That is, I now have two computers. The machines would see each other. They could see through the wire to the router and beyond. I would try to connect to the internet on either machine and both would recognize everything up to the router. They would collect my IP address and stop. They would not connect to my Internet Service Provider. I could not get anywhere near Google, that is, the center of the known internet universe. I was stuck in the real world. Unless I separated them and connected each to the internet one at a time.

Fine if I didn't mind spending the rest of my life switching wires. - I did mind.

In trying to fix it I would get a message that the primary machine's administrator had to set up the connection. It didn't care that I am the administrator on both machines. Neither machine wanted to admit to being the primary one. Plus the message gave no clue as to how the administrator (read - ME - ) was to fix it once he figured out which was the primary. Back and forth from one desk to the other with a pile of books to go around each time. Got a bit of exercise. About 3-4 days worth of exercise.

Opening help windows, going in circles with the troubleshooters, clicking on little boxes that I hoped to hell would not cause my motherboards to fry, wondering how I got to the last page where I changed settings and just closed, wondering if I'd ever find my way back to correct my blunders, Googling questions in the hopes that I would get a clue from someone else's ghost of misery past...

It was all worth it. Now I'm a bit puffed up with pride and a lot of joy because I did it and I did not need to pay big bucks for some computer geek to pretend that he knew what he was doing while he changed back all the system settings I had changed.

So now, this paragraph is for that frustrated someone who finds themselves in a similar situation. You have Googled a question and for reasons only God knows this blog came near the top. You are asking, "What did he do to fix it?" "Come'on" you say, "Tell me!" - - - Well, what I did was go up to each machine on or around the 3rd or 4th day of this nonsense and found them both working.

That's it! I have discovered the secret that I'm willing to bet every computer geek has known for years... HOW TO FIX YOUR COMPUTER by PRYING1 - chapter 1 - Walk away and come back later! - chapter 2 - Blog and boast about it.

The Muslim mind is on fire

Hat tip to Hugh Hewett on this one - The Muslim mind is on fire

Youssef M. Ibrahim - a former New York Times reporter wrote a piece concerning the Jihadists and their murdering of Muslums. He is not in favor of it. I'm certain that Youssef is now concerned for his life and it will serve the world well if we pray for him and against his enemies.
A couple quotes from the article -

The latest reliable report confirms that on average 33 Iraqis die every day, executed by Iraqis and foreign jihadis and suicide bombers, not by US or British soldiers. In fact, fewer than ever US or British soldiers are dying since the invasion more than two years ago. Instead, we now watch on television hundreds of innocent Iraqis lying without limbs, bleeding in the streets dead or wounded for life. If this is jihad someone got his religious education completely upside down.

~~~~~~~~~~

Do the cowardly jihadis who recruit suicide bombers really think that they will force the US Army and British troops out of Iraq by killing hundreds of innocent Iraqis? US troops now have bases and operate in Iraq but also from Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman.

~~~~~~~~~~

What is more important to remember is this: When the West did unite after World War II to beat communism, the long Cold War began without pity. They took no prisoners. They all stood together, from the United States to Norway, from Britain to Spain, from Belgium to Switzerland. And they did bring down the biggest empire. Communism collapsed.

I fear those naiveÃe Muslims who think that they are beating the West have now achieved their worst crime of all. The West is now going to war against not only Muslims, but also, sadly, Islam as a religion.

In this new cold and hot war, car bombs and suicide bombers here and there will be no match for the arsenal that those Westerners are putting together - an arsenal of laws, intelligence pooling, surveillance by satellites, armies of special forces and indeed, allies inside the Arab world who are tired of having their lives disrupted by demented so-called jihadis or those bearded preachers who, under the guise of preaching, do little to teach and much to ignite the fire, those who know little about Islam and nothing about humanity.

prying1 sez: I think that the link to this article should be spread around Please consider an email to friends and neighbors. NOT the link to this blog post. The link to the article...
-
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050726-073844-6818r
-
It really needs to get into the Muslum community. I have been saying it for quite a while now. The Muslum community must stand up and be counted as against the murderous thugs that are killing their own. I can say it is wrong all day and night but until the terrorists see that they will no longer be accepted, hidden and harbored in ANY Muslum place of worship they will continue their Godless acts. Until Muslums see thay are not alone in standing against the hijackers of their religion they will not stand up.

At a Liberal Recruiting Station

"I'd like to sign up for the war."

"Fine just fill out this form. You can use this pen and that table over there."

"Thank you. Hmmm, hmm, hmmmm, hm..."

"No humming please!" People will think you are glad to be here.

"Sorry. Hey this form puts me in the enemies army."

"Of course it does. We have too many on our side so all new recruits are being sent to their side.

"What the???

It's the only fair way to fight a war! Sign at the bottom. Our lawyers will take it from here.

TaxPayer $$$ Down the Drain!

Nothing new in this post's title but this time it is big bucks going to criminals. I caught wind of this one from a news blurb on TV concerning Donald Trump before the U.S. Senate. Although Trump is not my favorite person in the world I will say he is right on concerning this one. I'm talking about the renovation of the United Nations building in New York, NY.

"The U.S. Congress has agreed to loan the United Nations the $1.2 billion at a 5.54 percent interest rate, to be repaid over 30 years. But some lawmakers have had second thoughts over mismanagement of the $67 billion oil-for-food plan for Iraq." - SOME LAWMAKERS??? I want to see the list of those with second thoughts. Better yet, the list of those without second thoughts. -prying1- -

A US News article says concerning Trump's meeting with the Senate, "Reality television star Donald Trump told the U.S. Senate on Thursday the United Nations should be fired over its handling of a $1.2 billion plan to renovate the world body's New York headquarters. Trump...predicted the renovation would run far over budget because U.N. managers were incompetent.

He insisted he could do the job for half the U.N. estimate, but then admitted he had no plans to bid for the job.

"If you don't know what you are doing it can be fraught with cost overruns, et cetera, et cetera," he told a Senate Governmental Affairs Committee looking into the project, known as the U.N. Capital Master Plan."

U.N. CAPITAL MASTER PLAN??? Who thought up that name? Sounds like something from the Third Reich. -prying1-

So? Do they really need renovation? - The review found that maintenance could not keep pace with structural repairs required for major plumbing leaks, rusting rail supports, soaked roofing material and the original, 50-year-old electrical wiring. And the Headquarters buildings no longer comply with current fire safety codes and environmental standards. There was for example, no sprinkler system in the high-rise building and asbestos were present. Handicapped accessibility standards and security requirements were also not being met. Finally, the buildings were extremely energy-inefficient.

prying1 sez:
I suggest that they just tear down the building and move the organization to some desert someplace. As long as it is not in Australia. Australia doesn't need a new batch of criminal immigration like they had during their penal colony days... - They can hire Sheriff Joe Arpaio (of Arizona) to design a tent city. Dig an amphitheater pit big enough for the members to sit around the edges and Secretary-General Kofi Annan can lead meetings from the bottom of it. It will work real well unless the members keep kicking sand in thereby burying Kofi... - So it goes if that happens.

Can Software Kill?

I receive email newsletters from eWeek.com - A technology based company that has articles that are usually above me. I read the headlines and occasionally see a teaser that makes me think, "I can understand this!"

This week the title, "Hardening Expectations for Software Quality" caught my eye. The reason being, I am continually amazed at the size programs have grown to. To download a simple plugin today took 25 megabytes. That is 5 megabytes more than my first hard drive held. I remember reading how the early computer whizzes at MIT worked hard to streamline programs because they were working with 64k. Nowadays a computer programmer sees the code won't work he just DX's it with a 'rem' command and leaves it in the middle of the software program. Who cares if it takes a bit of space. Plenty more where that came from. To hell with those on dialup.

Well back to the title of this posting. Well, pretty soon anyway. The article mentioned Solidware Technologies that has presented software to find bugs in software. (Free 60 day trial/download for you programming geeks!) in their advert it said, "making software safer - Ouch! There were 428 fatalities between 1985 and 2003 caused by software bugs*** (and these are just the ones we know about)." ... *** 2004 Baseline study, Can Software Kill? - end quote -

NOW ON TO THE TITLE OF THIS POST! - With this I had to run a Google search. - "Can Software Kill?" - (with quotes) - 573 hits with most leading to links to the following link -

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TechNewsWorld - 4-13-04 - Software can kill you. Don't think so? Talk to the family members of 21 deceased patients treated at the National Cancer Institute in Panama in November 2000. The cancer patients died after being overdosed by a Cobalt-60 radiotherapy machine. The technicians who entered patient and medication data into the software that guided that machine will stand trial starting May18th in Panama City on charges of second-degree murder.
&
According to published reports, Ferrari's North America division recalled 353 cars in 1999 because of a software programming error. Some Ferrari 360 Modena and 360 Modena F1 models manufactured in the previous year contained a glitch in the electronic instrument module that prevented a warning light from illuminating if a problem was detected with a car's brake system.
&
But it's not just in cars that buggy software is threatening life and limb. Computer programming is now embedded in much of the equipment and appliances that permeate homes, schools and the workplace, making software quality a major issue. Most software releases are far from perfect, and software industry analysts admit there is little difference in the quality control applied to industrial programming and retail products.
- end quotes -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

prying1 sez: While I don't think it is yet time to put on white robes, drag out the old "END OF THE WORLD" signs and give up our day jobs, I do think that supporting companies like Solidware Technologies would be a good thing. If you know anyone who deals in programming and works with chip design send them the link. Who knows. Some day it might save a life. Besides, they get to play with it for 60 days for free.

Google Earth

Gotta wonder if Google is gonna take over planet earth - It seems like they continually come up with something new that leaves others in the dust.

This time it is Google Earth. - A hat tip to Homemade Tutorials for this link - Quite a nice site and worthy of a visit.

Now what is Google Earth? - A map of the planet that allows you to fly about and pull in close ups of areas of interest. A way to locate banks, schools, churches, fire stations, stores and even volcanoes. Aren't as many of those around but just in case you want to check you neighborhood...

You must have Windows 2000 or XP and cable/broadband to use this program. Quite a wonderful experience to type in the address and watch the planet rotate and then pull in for a close up (if available) - Find your house - Check your church parking lot and see if the pastors car was there when they took the pic. Find the nearest volcano and see if it is far enough away or if you should move...

For a bit more info before downloading check out Homemade Tutorials blog - To see what Google's advert click here - To jump in with both feet click on this link - Google Earth Download - Have a good trip! -

Does Spam Cop Work?

I have recently started a new email address and am already getting spam on it.

In times past I have checked the headers located the offending ISP and emailed the webmaster of the company it was sent from/through. This is a tedious process.

I was thinking of signing up with SpamCop for their free service. It appears that through using their service the amount of spam can decrease and if the spammers figure out you are a trouble maker they might drop your address from their lists.

Anyone reading this ever use SpamCop? Could you leave a few lines concerning your experience? Is there any downside to using their services? Besides time that is...
Does it work with email services like Yahoo and Gmail?

Are These People Sick or What?

Thanks to Very Small Doses for the heads up on this one -

You missed the party!

Well, Maybe you didn't miss much.

NARAL, a national 'rip unborn babies from the wombs of their mothers' organization has an affiliate in Washington-state that thought it cute to have a 'Screw Abstinence Party'.

Complete with:
Toys in Babeland - Seattle's sleaze-free, sex-positive purveyors of adult toys offer tips on "Sexy Safer Sex."
AND
'Sex in Seattle' & 'Pork Filled Players' - Two of Seattle theatre's hottest sketch comedy groups perform a sex ed class for adults.

How old are these people that they need instructions on using sex toys and sex education classes.

Well apparently they had to be over 21 because it was held at some dive in Seattle.


From the event advert: "All funds raised at Screw Abstinence will assist NARAL Pro-Choice Washington in our work to secure comprehensive and medically-accurate sex education, as well as guarantee every woman the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I still cannot understand why ripping babies from mothers wombs is so important to these people. - Don't get me wrong. I am not in favor of strictly outlawing all abortions. I think it should be a states issue as opposed to being something forced on the country by the supreme court.

I especially feel that advancing other alternatives is much more important than filling trash sacks with babies. So why is it these people feel it is more important to fill trash sacks with babies instead of advancing alternatives?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Even some lefties at The Stranger.com think it is in poor taste (warning - bad language in article) and sets back the agenda.

Some from the right think it is a good idea for the left to stage events like this:

- quote from the Stranger -

"I love it when they do this," says Republican Party State Chair Chris Vance. "It's just another example of the liberal-left marginalizing itself. They forget who they're trying to target: suburban parents. And suburban parents are very worried about [premarital sex]." - end quote -

As a right-winger (I don't spit tobaccy juice, burn crosses nor wear swastikas) I am saddened that some in this country have had their consciences burned to the point that they cannot see that nonsense like this is not a good thing. Absolutely nothing redeeming in actions like this. The national NARAL should have given this chapter the boot when this 'party' was first advertised using the NARAL name. Perhaps not doing so shows an insight into the national mentality of groups like this.

One article I read said at least 100 people got advance tickets. Wonder how many of them will get abortions soon after they "Screw Abstinence"?

Gotta Love It! U.S. Wins Cold War!!!

Proof the United States has won the cold war!

A hat tip to Tomorrows Trends.

Want proof the cold war is over and the U.S. won. Here it is. NASA is being sued by a Russian astrologer!

ANANOVA has the story about:
~~~~~~~ quote ~~~~~~~
A Russian astrologer is suing NASA after claiming the probe they smashed into a comet meant she had to rewrite all her horoscopes.

Marina Bai wants 170,000 (prying1 asks: US$$$??? Rupees??? Pesos??? original text does not specify) in damages after Nasa's Deep Impact probe crashed into the Tempel 1 comet.

She said the collision will change the orbit of the comet and therefore affect the night skyscape, and she will be unable to read horoscopes properly without lots of extra research.

She said: "It is obvious that elements of the comet's orbit, and correspondingly the ephemeris, will change after the explosion. This will interfere with my astrology work and distort my horoscopes."

Moscow district court officials have said preparations for the case are underway, but that no date has yet been set for a hearing.
~~~~~~~ end quote ~~~~~~~

prying1 sez:
We have managed to export silly lawsuits to Russia and now they will never be able to go back to the old communist system.

Was Darwin Christian?

Phil Dillon, Prairie Apologist - Owner and Proprietor of a wonderful blog, Another Man's Meat has a post on Darwin. Was he a Christian or not? - Phil has a can of worms with the lid off and some of the worms are climbing over the side. - Go check out Phil's site and leave a comment on his post. You might want to dig back into his archives and see some other excellent writings. Plan on being amazed and amused for a while and don't forget to bookmark his site.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I thought I'd bring my comment on his post over to my blog in hopes of getting another can of worms open and watching the worms crawl out. -

~~~~~~~~~~~

Simple logic settles the question, "Is there a God or not?"... And the answer still involves a decision by each human on earth.

Does God exist, yes or no?

If the answer is no then all other discussion and contemplation on the subject is foolishness.

If the answer is yes then a life without discussion and contemplation on the subject is foolishness.

Is this something that should be answered with the throw of dice or cutting a deck of cards?

I'd say it is more foolish to run with the assumption the answer is no than to utilize more logic with the yes answer.

Such as, to ask: "If God exists does He concern himself with the affairs of men..."

Blogger Supplies

Not sure how many have missed this one. I might be the only one but I doubt it. Google has a few blogger items in their supply store. How can anyone REALLY blog without wearing a t-shirt with the blogger logo on it? Their Ringnecked T has a brown neck trim so you can blog for a week without concerning yourself with friends and neighbors seeing the ring around the collar. You can sleep in it with your head on the keyboard.

Actually I think that wearing a blogger t shirt might help start conversations so you can direct people to your blog. Might be worth a try to get readers. Seems to me though that if we are advertising for Google and Blogger they ought to pay us to wear the stuff...

Who-Hoo! It works!!!

Ever have one of those computer problems that just defies all the verbiage you can throw at Google? For 18 days I've been trying to figure out how to get my computer to look at my new ISP and get the IP address. I had to log on with my older dial-up service. I even went so far as to put a new operating system on some reformatted/used hard drives. I'm working with an emachine and Windows XP here.

I didn't want to load a new system onto my regular hard drive because it was my only connection with my computer. Plus I was fearful of losing all the stuff I have on it. So what I was doing was loading a copy of WinXP onto (5-6) old spare hard drives I have laying around. These drives are from 1.2 gigs to 2.5 gigs. After loading WinXP on them and making them the master drive the computer would not boot. When I worked around that with CD's and floppies and got the machine going I kept getting messages that I was running out of space on the drives. My video card would not register so I was stuck with default settings AND none of these drives would connect to the ISP.

I finally broke down and went against everything my Scottish blood says to do. I went out and paid for a new, in the box, hard drive. 40 gigs for $70+ dollars. - With it I was able to set up the boot partition, load XP and still have room to load video drivers and my ISP provided programs.

Who Hoo! It works!!! AND my original drive works well as a D: drive so I still have all my old programs. What an ordeal!

One really good thing is I got it working just in time for my nap!

Book Review - Lizzie Borden, The Untold Story

Lizzie Borden took an axe
And gave her mother forty whacks.
And when she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one.

'Lizzie Borden, The Untold Story' by Edward D. Radin

It seems from reading this book that everything we know about Lizzie Borden is wrong. The question is still asked at the end of the book, "Did she or didn't she?", but this book presents facts either unknown or long ignored by many Lizzie Borden storytellers.

A Mr. Edmund Pearson, whose works on the Lizzie Borden trial were considered the final word in the matter ignored much of the court testimony that exonerated Lizzie. Certain facts in the case were left out of his writings. Edward Radin goes through the court records and news articles of the time presenting much information that is missing from the poem and the story as we know it. Well written in easy to understand layman's terms I would suggest this book for any who like real crime stories...

As an aside I'll also suggest a visit to Alice Beard's website where, near the bottom of the page, she has - quote - The genealogy game of "Lizzie Borden"... The object of the genealogy game is to see if you can claim Lizzie as a distant cousin. You know, so when you're having a bad day, you can say, "Leave me alone. I've got PMS, and I'm a cousin of Lizzie Borden."... - end quote - You have to build your own genealogy list to compare with Lizzie's but this would be a great conversation stopper at parties and such... -

Condolences

Condolences to An American Housewife (Carol) who lost her husband last Thursday evening. The blogging community has quickly become family to many of us and I'm certain that just hearing this news brings heartache to many. You can leave a condolence message on Carol's Blog.

American Princess has a link to make a Paypal donation. If you can donate even a little bit it would only help. Please put some feet to your well wishes for the family and give what you can. Just mark the donation as a 'caring gift' and donate more than you can afford. The Lord will cover you on the other end.

COMPUTER DAZE!

WHY ME LORD?

Ever find yourself looking towards heaven and crying out this familiar phrase? The times I most often hear it emanate from my lips is when I'm trying to make some changes to my computer system. This time it should have been real simple. Changing my ISP from a dial up to a cable modem. Sounds simple right? Just call 'em up and have 'em do it.

That works fine for any other house on your block. Would have worked well for this house except!!! My computer was manufactured in the bowels of hell.

I'll back up a bit.

Since my recent surgery my daughter has come over to keep an eye on me. You know, make sure I don't go through the fall over and can't get up scenario. She brought her computer over and the 2 machines sit near side by side. She is not satisfied with my dialup service and has convinced me I need to upgrade services. I was ready for the change and agreed amiably. Cable comes in and with a router both computers are hooked to it. Hers works wonderfully. Mine will not. I have been through 1 week plus of hell trying to make this stupid machine work. Her still connects fine. I thought for sure I would have them both mucked up by now and I could kill them both with a hammer, but no. Just mine is the one I'm gonna get to beat mercilessly.

I can still get online through the dialup but the cable company will not issue my machine an IP address. I force fed an IP address and it worked for 2 days. But static numbers are not acceptable. They issued a new IP and my machine will not accept/read it. I'm left blowin' in the wind... Daughters computer still works fine. Worst thing is I was quickly spoiled with the speed of the cable. That is when I get it to work for an hour at a time. In a couple days my daughter will go back to her house, take her machine and really leave me in a tizzy. Good thing I'm bald so I won't be tearing my hair out.

I call up the cable company and they go through some major changes trying to find the problem. They read my daughters machine fine. Mine is there in a hazy 'Wizard of Oz', 'man behind the curtain' sort of way. I call emachines (my manufacturer). They send me to websites that tell me to try stuff I did a week ago without their help. MS/WINXP pages are only there to fill in the blank spots on the internet. Device troubleshooters take one in a circle only to say, "Don't take your paycheck to Vegas buddy, cuz you are out of luck!" I Google the problem (on my daughters machine when I can get her away from it). I get some techy geeks talking acronyms that would leave Bill Gates scratching his head. Working different wire configurations I catch and stop myself from ripping the wires out of both machines.

Worst thing is I know it is 'one setting' in the deepest recesses of my computer that needs a simple mouse click. Perhaps I could get to it with this screwdriver and putty knife.

AND through all this I have not had a smoke for I quit counting how how many days. - OK, I had to count - 19 days. - I did break down and had a stick of gum yesterday. Sort of stale. Don't know how long it had been in the drawer. I do figure that if the stress level I've gone through with this stupid computer has not driven me back to smoking then I'm pretty much in the clear on that end.

Breath Deep, Self Control, Think Happy Thoughts, and Set the Hammer Down...

Time Magazine to turn over subpoenaed records

CNN - Time Inc. announced Thursday it would turn over the subpoenaed records from journalist Matt Cooper regarding the leak of a CIA operative's name, even though it "strongly disagrees" with the court order

I think some might look at this event as an interference between the U.S. Government and the Freedom of the Press. I see it a bit differently. I see it as setting rule of law above excuses to break the law. - For those who missed it here is a quick recap: Matt Cooper and Judith Miller of the New York Times were facing up to four months in jail for refusing to reveal their confidential sources in the "Plame is a CIA agent" revelation.

Because federal law makes it a crime to deliberately reveal the identity of a CIA operative, the Justice Department launched an investigation...
~~~~~~~~~~~
Miller and Cooper and their news organizations decided to fight the subpoenas, although Cooper did reveal one unnamed source who released him from confidentiality pledge.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Ironically, Miller faces jail time for refusing to reveal sources she developed during her reporting, even though she never actually wrote a story on Plame or Wilson.

Prying1 sez:
It is a no brainer. If some 'source' broke the law in revealing information to me you bet your sweet bippy the 'source' will find his name on the judges desk before the spit dries on the envelope flap... I realize I am in no way on the same playing field as the big boys in the news rooms and they need to have 'sources' that sometimes need anonymity BUT should any citizen, a newsman or not, fall on the sword for another citizen who is breaking or has broken the law.

Hypotheticals aside I think the answer should reflect the importance of the rule of law.

I love it when I don't have to work!!!

AubreyJ.org (Just another BLOGGER's website) Has said everything anybody Right or Left could say about President Bush's Tues night speech. As a four fingered typist I love it. I need only link to his post and I'm pretty much done.

Now WE (this includes you, dear reader) need only get everyone in the world to read AubreyJ's post. Then everyone can shut up and get back to work. Email the link for his post to 10 people and you will have good luck for one week. Email it to 100 people and you will have 10,000 butterflies settle upon your house.

One of the stupidest things I've heard from the left!!!

Hat tip to - Left End of The Dial - (Another Slap Happy place to visit)

Tribunal on Iraq Findings
World Tribunal on Iraq

Monday 27 June 2005

The attack on Iraq is an attack on justice, on liberty, on our safety, on our future, on us all - The Jury of Conscience

Istanbul, 27 June, 2005 - With a Jury of Conscience from 10 different countries hearing the testimonies of 54 members of the Panel of Advocates who came from across the world, including Iraq, the United States and the United Kingdom, this global civil initiative came to an end with a press conference at the Hotel Armada where the chair of the Jury of Conscience, Arundathi Roy, announced the Jury's conclusions.
~~~~~~~
Am I supposed to believe this PANEL met without any preconceived ideas on how it would turn out?
~~~~~~~
The Jury defined this war as one of the most unjust in history: 'The Bush and Blair administrations blatantly ignored the massive opposition to the war expressed by millions of people around the world. They embarked upon one of the most unjust, immoral, and cowardly wars in history. The Anglo-American occupation of Iraq of the last 27 months has led to the destruction and devastation of the Iraqi state and society. Law and order have broken down completely, resulting in a pervasive lack of human security; the physical infrastructure is in shambles; the health care delivery system is a mess; the education system has ceased to function; there is massive environmental and ecological devastation; and, the cultural and archeological heritage of the Iraqi people has been desecrated.'
~~~~~~~~
Why do groups like these ignore the hundreds of thousands raped, pillaged and murdered by Saddam and his henchmen? Why do they ignore the gassing of the Kurds?
Why do they ignore the environmental benefits Iraq has received? Why do they ignore the OIL for PAYOFF scandal with the UN?
~~~~~~~~
Perhaps this is why - Number one recommendation by this group of fool leftists!

We recommend:

1. The immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the coalition forces from Iraq;
~~~~~~~~
In other words, let the country go back to the terrorists so that mayhem continues and leaves a toehold for world socialism.

~~~~~~~~
prying1 sez: When you meet these people on the street the same treatment should be given to them as the statue of Saddam Hussein received. Beat them over the head with your shoe!!!

Space Station gets 2001 Upgrade (At Last)

Those who saw and loved the Stanley Kubrick film "2001: A Space Odyssey" will be pleased to know that the Space Station has finally upgraded 'in part' to reach the year 2001. Although the voice activated computer 'Clarissa' does not have HAL's artificial intelligence it is believed that this system will be much nicer. From what I gather the system sounds even nicer than the voices in my head.
~~~~~~~~~ Quotes from New Scientist magazine ~~~~~~~~~~~
Called Clarissa, the program will initially talk astronauts on the International Space Station through tests of onboard water supplies. But its developers hope it will eventually be used for all computer-related work on the station.
**********
Clarissa was designed with input from astronauts. They said it was difficult to perform the 12,000 procedures necessary to maintain the ISS and conduct scientific experiments while simultaneously reading through lengthy instruction manuals.
**********
Clarissa's software runs on a laptop and astronauts interact with it using a headset, which helps screen out noise from the station. The program "listens" to everything astronauts say and analyses what to do in response using a "command grammar" of 75 commands based on a vocabulary of 260 words.
**********
It accurately interprets those commands about 94% of the time, but if it makes a mistake, astronauts can correct it with commands like, "no, I meant...". But because Clarissa listens to everything, early versions of the program misinterpreted whether an astronaut was giving it a command or having an unrelated conversation about 10% of the time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Personally I thought the movie stunk. Talk about boring. It did work well as a sleeping aid but I'd rather have insomnia... Hopefully Clarrissa will not put the astronauts to sleep.

(Link in NewScientist.com story to NASA video)

Moving Forward a Bit.

As I sat in this computer room/library I finally decided on Friday it was time to get back to work selling on eBay. I need to clear our some of the stacks of books. Hoping they go to homes that need/want them. I had quite a business going until a few months back and got out of the habit of listing items for sale. Mostly dealing in books but on occasion I would list other items such as printing equipment and even a 1940's stove. It went to a little cabin in Big Bear CA.

One thing I would appreciate was hooking the right book up to the right person. Usually at a discount from the online book sellers. Sometimes I would get emails from customers telling of how their niece/nephew just loved the book or a teacher saying he had to borrow a copy from a friend every year to teach a portion of his class. That one was a great deal for him. $50.00 for a hard to find book. I only saw one copy online and the bookseller wanted $200.00 for it.

Anyway, expect me to tout my eBay sales on occasion. I lucked out. Decided to start fresh with a new eBay name and guess what was available? - 'prying1' - That's right. Your (semi) favorite blogger now has the same eBay nom de plume. - Click here to check my eBay offerings.

Bottom Floor Opportunity

So I've been 'smoke free' for 10 days now. Cold Turkey/no patch or gum. Hasn't been too bad. Little urges every so often but nothing driving me to suicide or murder. Yet! Have been thinking about it a bit though. Seems I got some pleasure from tobacco that is really hard to explain. Must be some chemical in the brain sort of stuff. Some chemical that would have a person ignore the cost. Ignore the mess. Ignore the smell. Ignore the anger and hatred of others. Well sometimes that fit into the pleasure part too. Just getting people ticked at you can have a beneficial boost to the psyche and ego.

So I came up with an idea. All I have to do is figure out some product that people will willingly get addicted to. Is not illegal. They won't care what they spend on it and my manufacturing and distribution costs are minimal. Tack in a percentage to the government for "SIN TAX" (another term for political payoff)And I'm on my way. Seems though since tobacco is already run by people that wouldn't want me horning in on their action I have to come up with something different. Any suggestions??? I'll cut you in on it.

Social Security and FBI Sharing Info

Zippp! Zooommmm! Zappping through Cyberspace and suddenly I came to a screeching halt. - (Many of you may think the word screeching very apropos) - What is this??? Party of the Purple (Combination of red and blue. Get it? Got it? Good!) Mark Owen had made a list of news articles and cartoons that backed up his world view. In the midst of the list was this link to a N.Y. Times Article: "The Social Security Administration has relaxed its privacy restrictions and searched thousands of its files at the request of the FBI as part of terrorism investigations since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, newly disclosed records and interviews show." - end quote -

Well, the link actually led to a page that the Times Syndicate set up as a buffer. A log-in page. To save the privacy concerns of our more cynical readers we at prying1 did a Google Search and found that PrisonPlanet.com has the standing story and requires no sign in. Prison planet may or may not record your visit through your I.P. number. So it goes.

Which brings me back to the story. - Here are some quotes -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The privacy policy typically bans the sharing of such confidential information, which includes home addresses, medical information and other personal data. But senior officials at the Social Security agency agreed to an "ad hoc" policy that authorized the release of information to the bureau for investigations related to Sept. 11 because officials saw a "life-threatening" emergency, internal memorandums say.
............
Social Security and law enforcement officials said that they were sensitive to privacy concerns and had put safeguards in place, but that they believed that the information gave investigators a valuable tool.

"We ran thousands of Social Security numbers," said a former senior FBI official who insisted on anonymity because the files involved internal cases.

"We got very useful information, that's for sure," the former official said. "We recognized the value of having that information to track leads, and, to their credit, so did the Social Security Administration."
............
Some privacy advocates and members of Congress, although sympathetic to the extraordinary demands posed by the Sept. 11 investigation, said they were troubled by what they saw as a significant shift in privacy policies.
............
James Huse, who was the inspector general at the Social Security agency until March 2004, said his agency provided relevant identifying information to the bureau on possible terror suspects but relied on the tax agency to determine what information it would turn over on a suspect's income and employment.

The FBI requests "came in by the thousands," Mr. Huse said in an interview. "They would give us the names of people suspected of being terrorists for whatever reason, and we'd match them against Social Security indices to see if these people were real, did they have Social Security numbers, things like that."

He said that most of the names and numbers run by the bureau did not match up to Social Security records, and that he was unaware of cases of governmental abuse in the requests. Mr. Huse added that "on a big-volume name check like that you wouldn't really know if you had a frivolous name thrown in or not."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ end quotes ~~~~~~~~~~~

So the issue really is as far as I'm concerned (and really most American's), "Will the FBI swoop into my house and drag me and mine away because of info shared between government offices." Conspiracy Theorists will cry out that the issue as they see it is to protect ALL Americans from ALL government conspiracies. It may indeed be their intent but is that what they would DO if by stopping interagency sharing of info they would allow an evil person to continue his devious plots and plans unabated. Who would be howling if the government agencies had the info to take the bad guy out of circulation but would or could not because of interagency squabbles. It looks to me like the Social Security and FBI put a few safeguards in place to watch for abuse. I say they should continue working hand in hand as they are and at least share if SS #'s are valid and more info if they are not. Where do we draw the line otherwise?

Howl Away! I Think it is Funny.

OK, Rove Rant! My rant, not his. It is my blog so I get to say what I want. Rove will have to start his own blog. - I'm really enjoying the ballyhoo and watching the dust fly higher in the breeze.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Karl Rove the senior political adviser to President Bush, said at a fund-raiser in Midtown for the Conservative Party of New York State, "Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 in the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers," - End Quote -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The White House is refusing to paint him with a laser and blast him out of existence. Good for them. I wrote a quick note to president@whitehouse.gov saying, - quote - "Stand firm - No apology for or from Rove - Laugh and smirk each time
it is brought up. That'll get their goat more than anything." - end quote -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now the moon howlers are out in force ballyhooing how much they support our troops. Viet Nam veteran John (I voted for the money before I voted against the money after I voted against my voting again)Kerry is running around trying to look presidential and rubbing his hands like he's trying to wring the ketchup off 'em. What a jerk and I'll say that to his face.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Told of Mr. Rove's remarks, Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, replied: "In New York, where everyone unified after 9/11, the last thing we need is somebody who seeks to divide us for political purposes."

- prying1 sez: Schumer is a rectal aperture showing his ignorance or trying to deceive us. - Look no further than the purpose of politics in the U.S. which is TO divide citizens into camps so they can elect people that will push forward the ideals and values of the larger camp. Another jerk and I'll say that to his face too.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Boston.com) White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Bush wouldn't ask Rove to apologize. McClellan said Rove was referring to people who have sought to fight terrorism with the law instead of by war, though he declined to name anyone specifically.

"There are many who have looked at the war on terrorism and said it is a law enforcement matter, that we should prosecute people," McClellan said. "The president recognizes that it is a war and that we must stay on the offensive, we must take the fight to the enemy."

prying1 sez: McClellan declined to name anyone specifically. The record of the past few weeks and months is readily available. The liberal howlers can go through the blogs of the past few weeks and see which side wants to fight to win the war by destroying and/or detaining reprobate terrorists and which side wants to throw lawn furniture all around trying to trip up the process.

See a Pop-Up? Hold On To Your Wallet!

Had a popup appear suddenly as I was surfing Blog Explosion. Earlier I was surfing for funny videos to download and that might have been when I got the cookie. Anyway. Here I am zigzagging through Cyber Space when I'm accosted by a window that claims I can make money simply by filling in my name and email address. Such a deal. They didn't even demand I use my real name. Is this a great country or what?

Well I right-clicked on the window and clicked on properties to find out who they were before I'd take a chance on giving them a phony name and junk email address. This is how I discovered 'ReferralWare'. I have no problem with people throwing money at me as these folks proposed. Especially for free. BUTTTT!!! - I have a major defect in my emotional well being. I'm a skeptic... - I thought I would perform one more test. What I call the Company Name/Scam Google Test.

Real simple. Go to Google. Type in the company name with the word 'scam'. Open a couple suggested reading links Google so nicely provides.

HMMM -

624 Google references for - referralware scam -

Ultimately (Less than 60 seconds) I was led to a page that had testimony from a referralware scam victim. It seems the company charges you to join 3 companies and then you get to pay for lists of people to drag into the scam after you. $400 given to ReferralWare vs. $11 received from ReferralWare. Now I'm not a mathematician but even I know that at that rate it will take a long time to clear the first million.

Close all windows - Run Adaware and Spybot Search and Destroy
- Chew up and spit out the cookie that got through. - Blog on! -

I love a happy ending.

Detainee Package Abuse Now Center of Investigation!

It is now a Red Crescent package that is at the root of prisoner abuse in Guantanamo. Cadres of liberal lawyers poured forth into the streets of U.S. cities screaming, "Pick me to represent him! Pick me!"

At the center of this melee the tear stained package remains unopened. "I'm just too upset to even wonder if there are dried figs in it." said Hoshinin Yureer as more tears fell from his eyes. It seems the package was handed to Hoshinin upside down and backwards.

"It was like I was slapped in the face!" he said. "And there was a rubber stamp used on this package that had an alcohol base in the ink. It is tainted and unclean." He continued, sobbing, "Now I am unclean and will have no way to collect my 72 virgins even if I could remove from this planet enough infidel dogs to make Allah smile at the bloodshed..."

Attempts to interview the brutal U.S. guard were met with a stone wall. "That's the wall right there ya basterd." were the words given to the news correspondent. "We set him up right there and shot him so you basterds would'na be able to interrogate him. We put him outta his miserable existence so you *&*#! would'na put him through hell!" U.S. Soldiers have been complaining of abuse by U.S. & foriegn news correspondents.

Old Records to CD'S

Hat Tip to My Best Gadgets who has the scoop on a single machine for getting LP's recorded to CD's.

LP to CD Recorder System cost $400 bucks and looks like a pretty good system. Should get the job done with minimum fuss anyway.

Cure for Snoring in the Works!

Canyon City, IA (UPS) Scientists have discovered a simple cure for snoring that looks very promising says researchers from Interstitial University of Canyon City, Iowa.

"It is really quite simple and impossible to make any money from this one." said researcher Ivano Credutt. "It all has to do with time management."

The researchers noticed while working with control groups that some volunteers seemed to snore more than others. About this Ivano said, "We got it down on paper who snored when and have proof of a simple technique to control snoring."

When questioned further Ivano did admit that insomnia played a big role in the drop of time spent snoring. "Stimulating insomnia played a big role in the drop of time spent snoring" said Ivano.

Research into the health and mental effects of insomnia were not in the plans for this terms agenda. "We can't make no money off this." said the dean of Interstitial University who refused to be named. "How we gonna afford research for that? We'll have to see about sticking it in next years budget cuz we spent all the money they gave us this year already."

The Answer for GITMO!

I've blogged on this before. The problem with detainees in the war against terror. Some questions are: Where do we hold them? Under what circumstances? For how long and how do we treat them.

Dennis Prager has invited Amnesty International onto his show and they have refused to go on. Amnesty International does go on shows where they are given the microphone with no opposition to their diatribes. Amnesty International makes it's motives suspect as a result of this and ALL they say is subject to intense scrutiny with a very critical eye. Liberals that love the truth should now turn from Amnesty as a source of their criticisms of the handling of the war on terror. Especially since the info they continually feed us is influenced by murderous, religious, fanatical terrorists. I believe they have removed themselves from the discussion through their obvious use of 'mis-information' designed to put forth their agenda, whatever that may be.

The idea of closing GITMO is nonsense. These detainees are not members of poetry and garden clubs. They must be kept somewhere and they are being detained because they are willing to commit murder on a daily basis. It would be inhumane to release these men. They will be out butchering people with impunity. Bringing them to the States would be tantamount to the Mariel Boatlift seeing 800-900 Cuban criminals coming to the shores of the U.S. Once they made it on our shores it would be only a matter of time before the bleeding heart liberals would be screaming for their release into our nation's streets. Don't tell me they wouldn't. Liberals ARE that stupid.

Under what circumstances should we be detaining these thugs? It is because they are thugs that we are detaining them. How do we treat them? Had it been my choice they would not be treated as well as they are. These characters are being treated much nicer than they deserve as far as I'm concerned.

~~~~~ prying1 sez: ~~~~~
Leave 'em at Gitmo until the end of the war on terror. That war will end when the terrorists are defeated, killed, and no longer blowing up pizza parlors. The left would be serving their own stated agenda by encouraging their talking heads to encourage terrorists to cease hostilities as opposed to making blanket statements against the U.S. and encouraging the terrorists to continue...

Please check Sailor in the Desert's post on Gitmo. Start disseminating the truth. Liberals lie for what??? - Just to TRY to show Bush as a bad person because their boy (and girl) is famous for lying. Lying is BAD! Tell a lib today to face the truth instead of covering it with blankets of lies...

In the comments I would appreciate liberal commenters to stick to suggestions as to what they feel should be DONE re: GITMO... Please avoid restating allegations on our treatment of terrorist detainees that have no basis in truth. We have heard it already and reject it.

I Missed a Week of Blogging!

Those who have been visiting my blog for the last few days I'm sure have been wondering why I have not been posting. The same goes for my email. None answered since Tues the 14th of June.

I guess I'll put it to you the same way I told my buddy Mike on Saturday - "I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is I've quit smoking. The bad news is I had open heart 'triple bypass' surgery." Mike wasn't sure if I was joking or not and I told him I was as serious as a heart attack. Actually I was a little less serious than that because I had no damage to the heart prior to the surgery. With a cadre of prayer warriors at my back the Lord met me with blessings in spite of the situation. Wednesday morning the camera work inside my veins showed that stints were not applicable. I needed full on bypasses in three veins because they were up to 90% blocked. The only signs I had were pain coming and going in my left arm and what felt like a touch of heartburn that would only last a few seconds or so...What finally convinced me it was time to go in was when I thought of how ticked off my wife Renee' would be if she woke up in the morning and found I had died during the night...

The surgery on Friday morning went smoothly and I was in ICU recovery within 4 hours. My wife and friends were locked out of ICU but one pal, Barry Goldman, the Chief Musician at Jubilee Fellowship, the church I attend, managed to find a back way in to the ward. Imagine my surprise when the first moment I open my eyes I had Barry hovering over me, smiling and welcoming me to the land of the living. It certainly is a picture I will not forget. Even if I wanted to I could not forget it.

Speaking of pictures I thought I'd include one showing my new scars. It's sort of a guy thing. I was going to post the picture here but my daughter suggested it might be in better taste to just link to it. - Click here for my 'sort of a guy pic' showing my new scars. -

The healing part is going pretty well. I was out of ICU in a little over 24 hours and a couple days of being pampered by some wonderful people in the Little Company of Mary Hospital they released me back into the wild. I will still need a touch of prayers re: the smoking bit. Although I got a week head start I found the temptation was still out here in the big wide-open world. Two things are helping in this area. One is I've made a quality decision to cease and desist 'cause I'm fed up with it. It holds me back spiritually. The other is that I'm certain the Living God let me off easy this time. Next time The blessings might be a little on the short end compared to the way they were this time...

More on Scientology

Photanical Word Garden has a post on Tom Cruise and his involvement with Scientology. It is really more on Scientology than Cruise. There are many problems with this organization the chief one being that it has a foundation that is false. As a result it's victims are drawn into a web of deception and find they cannot get out as easily as they got in. People that are decieved don't know they are decieved. If they did know they would no longer be decieved.

Many links to the truth on Scientology at Theron Parlin's post such as THIS ONE. Check it out!
You may learn something that will help influence another person to NOT join this devious group or to leave it while they can...

Tug-O-War

The Tug-o-war had been going on for quite a while. The two contestants were not evenly matched. One seemed to have more will than the other and strained at the rope to the point it would have twanged a high note had it been plucked. The other participant just held his ground. The fight was for more than the willful one could ever know. His only desire was to win the contest. No notion was given to the consequences or aftermath. Winning was the only thought of the present moment.

The stronger of the two thought of letting go of the rope but a couple of things held him back. One was his desire to win. Losing would cause too much damage to the work accomplished so far. The other reason was that he knew letting go would only hurt the man on the other end. His falling backwards would literally damage him in more ways than a doctor could see or fix.

The rope could have easily been tugged any direction the more powerful one wished and would have dragged the reluctant one with it. He did not want that. He wished for a willing participant for the plans as they were laid out. The other must learn that straining at the rope would benefit no one. There were only rewards for him as soon as he lost. Seemed backwards from the way the game was usually played which caused a slight chuckle from the benevolent, soon-to-be winner. The accessories to this game of tug-o-war were not enemies and would be partners in an affair that would be beneficial to many. All that was necessary was to wait. Patience would pay off.

The energy once set to the rope seemed to be flagging. It was near the end of the contest.

The tired one suddenly lost his determination and leaned forward releasing the tautness in the rope. It almost seemed as if the single thought of winning was suddenly replaced with another thought.

"You are right God!", he said. "I'm sorry I fought so hard. It suddenly dawned on me that it is only for my best interest and that of others that you want me to do this."

The Lord said, I knew you would soon realize it. Omniscience has it's benefits you know.

Both chuckled at this.

"Is it too late?, the man said.

"Not at all." said the Lord with a smile. "Now here is what I want you to do..."

The Importance of Joy

In The New Testament 'joy' is mentioned in a repetitious manner. The letter to the Philippian church has the line: "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again rejoice." (Phil 4:4 NIV) - The book of Thessalonians 5:16 says, "Be joyful always." Jesus had sent out 72 disciples (Luke ch 10) to announce the "Kingdom of God is near." and they came back with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name." Jesus' replied, "...do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

Why the instruction to rejoice? Digging into the Philippian and Thessalonian text a bit further each gives similar answers.
~~~~~~~~~~~
(Phil 4:4-7) - Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
///////////
(1 Thes 5:16-24) - Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~

The reason God commands us to be joyful is that it brings peace into our hearts. A friend once told me that he thought that men everywhere desire peace in their hearts and minds more than anything else. Not the kind of peace that is an absence of war but the kind of peace that is the presence of tranquility. By cultivating a spirit of joy in the inner man it will radiate into other areas of our lives. Indeed, it will radiate into the lives of those around us. Serenity, enjoyment, delight, happiness will increase in this world if we, as individuals seek to follow this directive of God's word.

Sounds Pollyanna-ish but it does work. In case you missed it the 'how to' is given in these scriptures. Pray without ceasing and giving thanks for God's blessings. How much will that cost?

Just your entire life.

It is worth it though...

There is a God!

We now have proof that there is a God and He does concern himself with the affairs of men. We need look no further than the Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. Just think. He might have been elected president. But for the Grace of God!

The chairman is supposed to bring to the party donations, good PR and votes. Donations are down. Good PR? It is questionable at best. Votes? Even his supporters are thinking twice about what they have done in setting him up for the position he holds... It seems that when Dean is speaking the good things (there are some but they get buried in the rhetoric) about the Democratic party are not uplifted and placed in the headlines. Dean is.

from SFGATE.COM -
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dean said in San Francisco this week that Republicans "all behave the same, and they all look the same. ... It's pretty much a white Christian party."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wade Randlett, a key party fund-raiser in Silicon Valley said, "For small donors, hearing 'George Bush is bad' is enough,'' Randlett said. "What I'm hearing very clearly from big donors is: Tell me how we'll win.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"We need a Democratic National Committee that is convincing white Republican Christians that they should be voting for us -- not vilifying them,'' said Randlett, who supported Dean for the chairmanship. "He's got himself in trouble with social commentary -- and that's not what the DNC chair does.''
~~~~~~~~~~~~

From redstate.org we find this tidbit. -
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sen. Joseph Biden (D-NOW) used his appearance on ABC's lightly-watched This Week program to test market a modified limited disavowal, telling Clinton-stooge-turned-"journalist" George Stephanopoulos, "He doesn't speak for me with that kind of rhetoric and I don't think he speaks for the majority of democrats. I wish that rhetoric would change."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prying1 sez:

Normally you get what you pay for. But with Dean I think the Dems will be paying more than they thought and more than he is worth. - So it goes...

Zimbabwe Troubles Need Prayer!

While all eyes are on the Michael Jackson trial a few are looking at troubles in Africa. The Art of the Blog has a story, comment and link to Samizdata on what the so called 'leader', Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, is up to and asks where is the outrage? More concern is shown for a few specks of urine on a book in Cuba than for lives being ruined. C'mon folks from both sides. Lets focus on real problems. Pray for these people in Africa that the Living God will intervene to set them free from real tyranny.

The Battle Still Rages

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The demon floated high above the earth. Except for an occasional prayer that would shoot through his body he had no problems. He worried little about those little darts. He healed quickly. His territory encompassed a huge area. His wings cast a shadow over several countries and he was secure that the minions he had in control beneath him were battle hardened warriors and would keep the area under his control.

Suddenly the air and darkness about him seemed to shift. From behind and to his left a battle host of the Lord appeared with blazing swords and cut a swathe through the back edge of his left wing. He immediately pulled his sword, an evil curved blade of a dull finish and a razors edge. He swung it towards the attackers. They simply split into two groups as the blade whistled past them. His bellow called up some of the fiends from below that left their diabolical activities and immediately flew up to join in the battle. Most of the iniquitous imps below cowered as they stared skyward at the bright flashing light swinging past their lord.

Little had he realized that the Lord had directed people to pray from other corners of the earth. The prayers had gone to fill the golden bowls in God's throne room and when these bowls overflowed all heaven broke loose. The angels attacking him had surprised him with their ferocity and cunning. They again joined forces as soon as the metal passed them, swung down and took a cut through his right wing.

For countless generations this demon had cultivated his area to worship him instead of the Living God. His spawn had increased over time until the face of the land beneath him was covered with his imps. Each one had it's purpose. They continually harassed the minds of men, causing them to have their God given consciences seared to the point where evil was considered good and good evil. There were a few holdouts among the weak creatures of mankind, hence the occasional prayer that would rip through his body or wing. These were scattered and ineffectual. Most good untainted men were in hiding for fear their lives would be forfeit. When they did gather only a handful would dare join the meetings and the fear in their hearts kept their faith from being any sort of dynamic force that would endanger his hold on the land.

But this attack was different from anything he had experienced in generations. He had gotten lax in his training of his forces. The angelic host divided into 3 groups. One meeting the devilish defenders coming up from below. Another again ripping through his left wing and the third swinging towards his head. The companies of angels were small. They would soon be contained and destroyed. As he thought this he swung his sword toward the company flying towards his head. This time he changed the direction of his swing and the blade cut through some of the angels removing wings and arms as they tried to avoid the sudden move.

As he turned to see the damage he had wrought a sudden ripping at his belly filled him with pain. Another squad of angels had come at him from below and to his right. God's forces were not fighting fair. The protectors from below were being routed and did nothing to protect his soft underside. Pouring forth from his wound were hundreds of thousands, a giant multitude of demonic spirits that he had been feeding on through the centuries. Spirits that had been feeding on the souls of men and in turn became his food. The true Circle of Life. Now they had been set free.

That was his only consolation as his body dissolved into odiferous smoke. The stinking brood that was released at once dropped to the earth to find more souls to consume. They were hungry. A few were caught by the band of angels that had dispatched the attack from below but most made it to the ground where they quickly found men whose bodies and minds they would invade. These unfortunate men would instantly become willing host to innumerable spirits that would drive them to unspeakable acts. These would work the seven deadly sins towards undoing the damage done by the prayers of God's people. They only needed time. The prayer warriors would soon tire, relax, and cease their pitiful whining. Traitors in the midst of their churches would ridicule their petitions or better yet prattle polarizing appeals to God and cause them to loose faith in prayer's efficacy

Once again the Chief Dragon would send a new battlechief to control the principality and beyond. These newly released goons of Satan would harry the enemy till their forces tired and ceased their skirmishes against them. Once again the rulers of the darkness of this world would control vast areas. This was merely a setback that would soon come under the control of spiritual wickedness in high places. Despotism would soon reign again. Spread by the host of hell, death and destruction, darkness and fear would rule and those in the adjoining areas would see their hopes for freedom and peace dashed. All they needed was time. The church would soon fall back asleep.

Or would they???


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Protect Bloggers Free Speech Rights - Open Letter to the Federal Election commission

Attention - This post is good for archive and historical purposes only. The FEC has stopped taking comments. All emails sent to the FEC address below will be returned as undeliverable -

Sailor in the Desert has written an open letter to the Federal Election Commission and has kindly set it free on the internet to anyone who wishes to use all or part of it in crafting a letter to the FEC.

Be sure to include your name and mailing address: internet@fec.gov -

In case you missed the news Sailor has that covered too. (click here for his complete story) - A Sailor Quote - Back last fall, a federal court judge decided that the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act some how needed to include the Internet as part of that regulation. The FEC has been ordered to apply this law to the Net. This could have the effect of ending the free political speech of bloggers. Why the FEC never appealed this ruling is beyond me. Both Senators McCain and Feingold are on the record as stating that their Bill was never intended to stifle the free political speech of bloggers. Either the FEC needs to appeal this decision or Congress needs to pass legislation exempting the Internet and specifically bloggers from the reach of McCain-Feingold. - end quote - - He also has a link to a Washington Post Editorial that is wishy washy as far as I'm concerned. Below is Sailor's Letter. Use it as you wish as a template for your own or cut and paste those parts you feel most applicable to your feelings on the matter. Email it to your friends. Include this line:

- Be sure to include your name and mailing address: internet@fec.gov -

An Open Letter to the Federal Election Commission


To the Commissioners of the Federal Election Commission:

One of the most basic founding principles of this country was and is the right of free political speech. This possible attempt to regulate the blogs is flies directly in the face of that principle.

Consider this; The blogosphere is the electronic equivalent of the Town Square. Bloggers are those people, that in a bygone era would be upon a soap box in that town square, expressing their political beliefs. That being said, the government should no more attempt to regulate the free political speech of the bloggers, then it would have attempted to silence the citizen on that very soap box in the town square.

Having read some of the reasoning for this hearing, I have to wonder if the FEC will soon be trying to attempt to assess the worth of the campaign volunteer, who goes door-to-door handing out a candidates literature or spends time manning the phone banks. How much is a volunteer's time worth to any campaign? The FEC would not even consider assessing that volunteer's time as a campaign contribution. So why would the FEC even consider trying to assess the value of a bloggers link to a candidate's web site as a campaign contribution?

Any attempt by the FEC to regulate the political speech of any blogger is clearly a violation of the First Amendment and not at all what campaign finance reform was attempting to do.

Clearly, McCain-Feingold, was never intended to include the regulation of the free political speech of bloggers. Senators McCain and Feingold are both on the record saying this. As I see it, the Commissioners have a few paths they can go down:

1) They can table this and await legislation from the Congress clarifying the status of the blogs.
2) They can appeal the court's decision, which I believe they should have done in the first place.
3) They can extend the press exemption to the blogs.
4) They can release a firestorm and put in place rules unconstitutionally regulating the rights of free speech of bloggers.


In conclusion, let me say this, if the FEC makes rules that limit my First Amendment right to express my opinion on core political issues, I will not obey those rules.

Thanks Sailor!

Homosexual marriage Bill California AB19 Defeated

A bill has been defeated that would have changed the language of the state's family laws - Basically the bill strikes out "MAN/WOMAN" and replaces it with "TWO PERSONS" in the state's family laws. I had blogged on this previously and that blog can be read here .

(quote from San Francisco Chronicle) Ultimately, the Legislature remained unmoved, voting 37-36 for Leno's bill, AB19, four votes shy of the majority needed for approval Thursday night. For the time being, the vote signaled an end to lawmakers' struggle over one of society's most divisive issues, and it indicated that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger probably would not be faced with a bill on the subject this year. - end quote -

I (prying1) saw articles saying that the governor would and would not have signed the bill. The latter news had said he would not. Perhaps he had read my email and changed his mind. :-)

Prying1 sez: This really is a blessing for the homosexual community. Some may not see it that way but it does not give them the false sense that their lifestyle is viable.

The avid activists that are spearheading this issue have motives beyond those stated and are using emotional pleas to plow their agenda through and into law. The homosexual marriage issue has been voted down in the City of San Francisco which shows that this issue has divided even the homosexual community. Not all in this group want to see the definition of marriage changed..

Had this passed it simply would have given the activists the audacity to push the envelope even further. They would not be satisfied and indeed they still are not satisfied. Please don't think this issue is now over. This issue and others like it will continually surface. We need to continue praying down the spiritual darkness that hovers over and around our capitols and elected officials.

Must Read For "American Troops Torturing Captives" Buffs

Sailor in the Desert has a post that is really eye opening. Unless you want to go around with eyes closed I'd suggest you click here to find out what is really happening with the American Troops torturing the terrorists!

Old School Photos Online - FOR FREE!!!

This site is amazing - All sorts of countries available with thousands of school yearbook pictures. I was insecure about giving personal info so I used my ex-wife's and the pics looked clearer than they did in her old yearbook. Check this one out!

http://www.worldschoolphotographs.com/wsp/index1.htm

Both Sides Are Right! - AND Wrong!!!

A few blogs ago Clive Allen of Gone Away fame wrote a comment (1st comment on this blog) - quote - "I think it's important to realize that God is neither a Republican nor a Democrat. He's not even a Libertarian. The fact is He has His own politics and, when we become part of His Kingdom, we cease to be right wing or left wing, socialists or capitalists. We become Christians and are a part of God's politics from then on." - end quote -

Although loathe to admit Clive is right (I love my politics.) It is true that God could care less which political party we belong to as long as we listen for his voice. I have pondered on it a bit and want to recognize and move upon the truth in what Clive said. Since that time I went to a prayer conference led by Dick Simmons (of Men For Nations) and something he said added to Clive's statement.

Mr. Dick Simmon's Quote: - "Liberals demand justice with no demand for righteousness and conservatives demand righteousness without a demand for justice." - end quote -

Although this line is not absolute there is a lot to it that can be seen to be true.

For example some food for the poor programs show this. With no real accountability some of the food ends up scattered willy nilly to those who really are not in need or sold by the recipients to purchase tobacco, drugs or alcohol. Liberals feel the loss is worth the good that is done. Conservatives look with skepticism and call the whole program a scam. (please know that I realize this is a general statement and does not apply to all persons of either side.) It is true that some programs are merely a scam to part people from their money. They are the results of greed working off the goodness of giving hearts. Neither side should put up with this obvious unrighteousness because it causes the good programs to suffer. Demands for accountability from the recipients of welfare programs (can they truly work or are they lazy?), demands on the programs themselves (is the majority of funds going to administration?) will increase the conservatives willingness to participate.

The same can be seen with the abortion issue. Many liberals say that they don't believe that abortion should be used as a form of birth control yet that is the main reason they are executed. On the other hand many conservatives do not believe there is any good reason for abortions to be performed. With the lives of 48 million children forfeited in the U.S. since Roe vs. Wade there has to come an agreement between liberals and conservatives on the abortion issue instead of allowing it to continue unabated. From this issue has grown a big business in the baby parts industry which I'm certain most liberals do not truly endorse.

Justice and righteousness need to work hand in hand. Since both sides are lopsided in their beliefs I propose that everyone rethink the positions as they come up with an eye on the demand for both issues in their personal conclusions.

If you must ask the tired old question of whose level of righteousness we use and where we draw the lines I suggest you get in touch with a.) Your conscience and see how far you have allowed it to get twisted. and b.) God.