New E-mail Address Added to PayPal Account

Of course this email I received was a spoof and a scam. I've several a week to deal with.

I did a right click/properties on the link and then cut and pasted the URL into a new, freshly opened Firefox window. What do you know! A PayPal page opens up. At least it looked very much like a PayPal page. In the middle of the page was a link/line saying, "this page has been moved". I right clicked to check the properties and found it was for a JavaScript application. I decided I had better not click this 'just to see what happens'. I don't know that much about JavaScript but I do know that some evil nasty people like to abuse it. I have an anti virus program but...

I sent the email to spoof @ PayPal.com and wondered how many people have clicked on that JavaScript link. The only reason these crooks keep sending phishing emails is because it pays off. It pays off because there are enough people without the knowledge to see the scams for what they are.

I know because I fell for the first one I ever saw. It was with a PayPal spoof letter. Fortunately their use of my account didn't work because they demanded more money than my account would allow. When accessing my account I saw the activity. A quick call to PayPal stopped their attempted thievery.

I'd like to encourage people to spread the word about the dark side of the internet. Especially those that are new to it. On occasion bring up the subject of internet scams with your internet friends in chat rooms and such. Once in a while post a message on the bulletin boards you visit. Co-workers, even those that do use computers might be informed of some of the scams and hopefully in a way that will not scare them away from going online.

The internet is a wonderful source for all kinds of entertainment and information and profit. Sharing a bit of knowledge with those in your circle will help keep it from being profitable to the bad guys.

I would also suggest you put Ted Richardson's Fraud, Phishing and Financial Misdeeds in your favorites and check in once in a while to keep up on scams. The wallet you save may be your own!

Update: A friend at church had gotten the same email. I gave her the spoof @ paypal address to send it to and warned her about other phishing schemes. I added this little update to show that it does work. Sharing a bit of knowledge with your friends will help knock down the number of victims.

Evolution Now Proven to be True!

It will no longer be necessary for the extreme right wing Christian fanatics to try to push their Theocratic agenda in the schools with the so called 'Intelligent Design' theory. Proof of Darwin's theory is now in!

Friendship, friendship!!!

Just had to share this from Ranchoweb.com's Bulletin Board, my picture hosting site. - You might want to make up the tune as you go along. - The sheet music was not posted. - Also, I'm not going to bother with the spell checker on this one! -

Okay everybody...it's Ranchoweb Sing-Along Time!

If you're ever in a jam, here I am
If you're ever in a mess, S.O.S.
If you ever feel so happy you land in jail, I'm your bail

It's friendship, friendship
Just a perfect blendship
When other friendships have been forgot
Ours will still be hot

A-lottle-dottle-dottle-dig-dig-dig
If you're ever down a well, ring my bell
And if you're ever up a tree just phone to me
A-yes-sir-ee
If you ever lose your teeth and you're out to dine, borrow mine

It's friendship, friendship
Just a perfect blendship
When other friendships have been forgate
Gate?

Ours will still be great

A-lottle-dottle-dottle-chuck-chuck-chuck

If they ever black your eyes, put me wise
If they ever cook your goose, turn me loose
And if they ever put a bullet through your brain, I'll complain

It's friendship, friendship
Just a perfect blendship
When other friendships have been forgit
Ours will still be it

A-lottle-dottle-dottle-hep-hep-hep

If you ever lose your mind, I'll be kind
And if you ever lose your shirt, I'll be hurt
If you're ever in a mill and get sawed in half, I won't laugh

It's friendship, friendship
Just a perfect blendship
When other friendships are up the crick
Ours will still be slick

A-lottle-dottle-dottle-woof-woof-woof
hep-hep-hep
a-chuck-chuck-chuck
a-dig-dig-dig
Good evening friends!

Thanks to Papergirl8 for this wonderful ditty. You too can thank her by checking out her eBay items for sale!

An Appeal From Center Right Bloggers

This can be found at - The Truth Laid Bear -

An Appeal from Center-Right Bloggers

We are bloggers with boatloads of opinions, and none of us come close to agreeing with any other one of us all of the time. But we do agree on this: The new leadership in the House of Representatives needs to be thoroughly and transparently free of the taint of the Jack Abramoff scandals, and beyond that, of undue influence of K Street.

We are not naive about lobbying, and we know it can and has in fact advanced crucial issues and has often served to inform rather than simply influence Members.

But we are certain that the public is disgusted with excess and with privilege. We hope the Hastert-Dreier effort leads to sweeping reforms including the end of subsidized travel and other obvious influence operations. Just as importantly, we call for major changes to increase openness, transparency and accountability in Congressional operations and in the appropriations process.

As for the Republican leadership elections, we hope to see more candidates who will support these goals, and we therefore welcome the entry of Congressman John Shadegg to the race for Majority Leader. We hope every Congressman who is committed to ethical and transparent conduct supports a reform agenda and a reform candidate. And we hope all would-be members of the leadership make themselves available to new media to answer questions now and on a regular basis in the future.

There is also a question page where you can post "questions that you think should be answered by the candidates aspiring to be House Majority Leader for the GOP."

prying1 sez:
We need to demand integrity in our elected officials. We also do not need to go on a witch hunt. I would suggest that all voters of either party ask questions about candidates integrity prior to voting. I'm not worried about if they smoked pot in the 60's/70's/80's or even the 90's. But are they honest about it? Do they have transparent humanity or do they try to act like they have no faults.

You Would Think They Would Learn!

I've been following the news concerning the recent Pakistani/Ayman al-Zawahiri missile strike through AubreyJ's site. 'Let him do the work', is my lazy bones idea of getting the news. Well, it works for me.

Anyway, the news at first was we got him (maybe). - AubreyJ is careful to not jump the gun. -

- Then the news on MSM was that we didn't get him and everyone in the village claimed no 'strangers' were around. It was only locals killed. -

- Then the U.S. media (ABC's World News Tonight) goes wild with a U.S. has screwed up, Pakistani "outrage and condemnation" and they made claims that Ayman al-Zawahiri as a target was largely symbolic. Meanwhile NBC and CBS played up Zawahiri's value -

- Then the story comes out that Ayman al-Zawahiri may still be among the dead along with other terrorists. -

- AubreyJ has kept his statements to, "Lets wait and see."

I vote for AubreyJ to take over the reins at the next World Economic Forum (WEF) and any MSM conferences. That way we'll get the tape if Eason Jordan shows up!

Whatever You Do...

Even before running about the blogosphere today my head was filled with things to post about. I just wish my fingers could type as fast as I could think. Except most visitors would get bored long before I finished this post. I only use four fingers and sometimes a thumb on the space bar so this is (fortunately) not possible.

So what is it I think is the most important message I could post today? I saw it at Scotwise.

John Telfer Brown of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia has a wonderful blog filled with humor and spiritual messages that are short, sweet and to the point. Tomorrows message (he is on the other side of the date line.) is about worship. For those of you who disdain any mention of spirituality please hang in a few moments. It might give you some understanding about Christian thinking.

John quotes from the Apostle Paul:

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. - Colossians 3:17. (ESV)

Often times I hear Christians being called hypocrites but this is really not the word that describes the problem. Hypocrisy is defined: The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness.

Christians profess a belief in Jesus which should translate into good behaviour according to the precepts Jesus taught. Hypocrisy or hypocrites is not the word that should be used concerning Christians engaging in bad behaviour. These words would really be the term to call someone who claims to believe something he doesn't with the intention of deceiving others. For example I once met a person asking for donations for 'the children'. He had a laminated card saying he was certified to collect money. (I'm a printer. We have a laminator at work. His card did not convince me.)

"What children?" I asked.

"The children in the church." (He saw me carrying a Bible)

I finally pinned him down and found out he was a Mooney. He knew before we started the conversation that I would not donate to his group. His verbiage was that of a true hypocrite set out to deceive for financial gain.

So what about the normal Christian you know. The man or woman at your work. Your barber or hairdresser. Neighbors across the street or the auto mechanic. Are their intentions to fool you about what they believe? In most cases I think not.

When the run of the mill Christian is being called a hypocrite what is really being said? Perhaps most of those using the word concerning these people are saying, "Here is another person that does not live up to the principles and standards set by Jesus' example." In other words, "A sinner".

And why is it they do not live up to those standards? Are the standards too lofty for man to reach? I think not. The real problem is that man (and woman) has a nature separated from God that wants to do it's own self centered thing instead of following that which God's Spirit leads him to do. The story of Jonah is a good example. In Christian terms it is called the 'fallen nature'.

Back to the original Scripture quote: And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

- - - Why is it some people feel torn because they know to do the right thing and either because of fear, anger, pride or some other emotion they fail to do it? Why is it that some people feel torn because they know they should not do the wrong thing but because of lust or greed or some other emotion they go ahead and do it. (Romans 7:15+)

The reason is because sometimes we are not following that simple piece of advice from Saint Paul. "whatever you do, in word or deed"

Worship is giving time and attention to something that is worth the time and attention. It comes from the Old English worth-ship = "to ascribe worth or value to something or someone." learning to live our lives with worship continually emanating from our hearts instead of just 1/2 hour on Sunday mornings will give us the ability to do "everything in the name of the Lord Jesus."

How can we do that? Start with a bit of thankfulness, add a song and let the joy that is resident in our hearts come to the surface. With a bit of practice the unbelievers around us will really go nuts...

Message From Mild Mannered Reporter

I had to bring this up from a previous post's comment section - Thanks to Mild Mannered Reporter of the Rosemead Times -

Supreme Court nominee Alito has been grilled this week by senators questioning his past associations, writings, and decisions. It is time to revisit how they approached another Supreme court nominee.

Let us image for a moment that a Supreme Court nominee had advocated, this week, for the following through writings and speaking engagements: (A). A constitutional right to prostitution and polygamy. (B). Attacked the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. (C). Proposed abolishing Mother's Day and Father's Day and replacing them with a single androgynous Parent's Day. (D). Called for an end to singe-sex prisons on the theory that if male prisoners are going to return to a community in which men and women function as equal partners, prison is just the place for them to get prepared to deal with women. (E). Wrote, "use the Supreme Court to enact `social change....without taking giant strides...the court, through constitutional adjudication, can reinforce or signal a green light for social change." (F). Also wrote, "boldly dynamic interpretation departing radically from the original understanding of the Constitution is sometimes necessary." (G). Advocate universal court-ordered work place affirmative action quotas, even if no discrimination is found.

Surely no Senator would support Alito if he had such views. And surely no president, no matter how outrageous, would nominate such a candidate.

Unfortunately, the hypothetical nominee I have just described is, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. President Clinton nominated Ruth Bader Ginsburg on June 22, 1993. A mere six weeks later, on August 3, 1993, the Senate confirmed her nomination by a 96-3 vote.

In conclusion, it is hard to imagine any senator attacking Alito's respectable record with a straight face, while confirming an extremist like Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Cross posted at Rosemead Times.

I would encourage people to go there to leave comments for the Mild Mannered Reporter...

Stolen From Phil's Place - Another Man's Meat -

I was visiting Phils Blog - Another Man's Meat - Which is the best place to go if you want to visit Middle America - and had commented on the Alito trial. The next day I read comments after mine and saw that Jay had made a comment after mine. I will not say I was disgusted or that I threw up because neither happened. I fully expected that ignorance would rear it's ugly head and had prepared myself with facts and logic. - Following is the comment from Jay and my response. -

P.S. Appypollyloggys to Phil for being in the middle -

Jay said...

Glad you're feeling better.

So...You're okay with a justice that believes women and blacks should not be allowed to enter college?

What part of your bible does that cover?
3:19 PM

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

prying1 said...

Phil - I hope you do not mind my answering Jay -

- I - prying1 - do wish that you - Jay - would get your facts straight before you post comments. The democrat Senators have been IMPLYING that Alito is a sexist/Racist. They have never come out and said it to his face!

Now you might ask, "Why have they not said it to his face?"

Because it is not true!

(Why did Alito's wife leave crying today? - The true reason not the made up one by the MSM!)

The organization he belonged to wished for Princeton to remain a boy's school which at the time was not sexist. At the time girl's wanting to go to a boy's school was considered abnormal. - At the same time we would have considered any boys wanting to go to a girl's school as either a pervert or normal. (Call me any name. I'm not running for office.)

The same organization wished that people who attended Princeton would have the qualifications to attend and not be given special 'points' because of ... (place reason here)

In the mean time I want to know if Senator Biden is a SEXIST and a HOMOPHOBE (a recently made up word that means any one who disagrees with the homosexual lifestyle - prying1's words! not Phils!) which is contrary to any liberal code! - http://www.radioblogger.com/#001293 -

I also want to know Why Joe Biden put on such a show concerning Princton over the last couple of days???

Do the Democrats really belive that Alito is not capable of filling the post or are they afraid that the country might return to the constitutional principals this country was founded upon?

Feinstein Tries To Prove She is Dumber than Boxer!

Ok, here is the setup. Feinstein is grilling Alito about a dissenting opinion he had given in a case concerning the sale of machine guns...

FEINSTEIN: So if I understand this, you essentially said that you wanted to follow precedent, newly established law in this area. And you left a little hedge that if Congress made findings in that law, then that might be a different situation.

If Congress did make findings, would you have agreed that that statute would been constitutional?

ALITO: What I said in the opinion and what I will reiterate this afternoon is that it would have been a very different case for me. I don't think I can express an opinion on how I would have decided a hypothetical case.

FEINSTEIN: It's not hypothetical. I'm just asking you, if there were findings as you said, you might have sustained the law.

ALITO: And I reiterate that...

FEINSTEIN: And I'm just asking you would you have sustained the law...

ALITO: I don't think that I can give you a definitive answer to the question because that involves a case that's different from the case that came before me.

prying1 sez:
I have to wonder if anyone on the Democratic side started crying when this exchange took place...



Thanks to Ann Althouse for the link to the Washington Post Transcript

And a special thanks to Hugh Hewitt for playing the tapes on his show yesterday! I'd suggest going to his website and listening in on his show today or better yet, every day!

Hoax IM Making the Rounds!

- I received the following via Yahoo IM -
Quote -
If someone by the name of itsgarry@yahoo.com (please note - email to this address gets bounced as undeliverable/Not available if you try to sign up with it.) wants to add you to your list dont accept it. Its a virus. Tell everyone on your list because if somebody on your list adds them you will get it too. Tell everyone on your list not to open anything from angell11, tewwtuler, and sassybitch. It is a hard drive killer and a very horrible virus. Please pass this on to everyone on your list. We need to find out who is using these accounts. Sorry for the inconvenience. Right click on your group name of your buddy list and click Send Message to all. Copy and paste this message. Thanks... someone sent this to me so i wanted to let my people know on my list
-end quote -

Some hints as to why this is a hoax:

1.)Accepting someone's request to add them to your buddy list simply copies their information from the IM server to your computer - it does not execute any virus programs.

2:) "If somebody on your list adds them you will get it too." - Fear factor! Always a good motivator to get people to act stupidly quickly. Someone else getting a virus does not automatically give you a virus.

3.)The name itsgarry@yahoo 'at this time' brings up 3 websites with the identical message. Nothing from the Big Virus Clearinghouse companies!

- The following page (Please note sample letter 2!) shows this to be a hoax: - http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/imvirus.html -

prying1 sez:
Hoping this one dies real soon. Be careful out there but on the other hand check out the message before passing it on!

UPDATE: - 1 Feb 06 - I've been getting a lot of daily hits on this posting. Please notify the people who IM'd or emailed this message to you that this is a hoax! Let them know that this is a farce. Make sure they tell those they sent it to that they are idiots and passed on junk info... Whatever it takes get 'em to stop! - I also appreciate comments. - I have to wonder if visits to this page will ever end. (sigh!) - Have a nice day! - :-) - Thanks - prying1

I'd also appreciate it if you leave a comment. Let me know

web_loafer at Sanity's Bluff Said I Could Borrow This One

If you ever hear a truck driver say,

"You'll never believe this,"

Sit down and listen up, it'll be worth your while.

You'll never believe this, but on my return run back to the city tonight, I noticed what looked like a person face down on the shoulder of the road. I stopped as soon as I could get my diesel truck safely over on the shoulder, set the brakes and quickly climbed down to the road. I ran back (well ran may be stretching it a bit, cut and paste, walked quickly, for ran) to see if I could help.

Out of breath, I finally made it to where the person was. Yes it was a person, a man, and the man was obviously inebriated for he was crawling on all fours.

Well, not exactly on all fours... he was using two feet and one hand to crawl down the side of the highway. In his free hand he had one of those Blackberries, Blueberries or whatever they are. You know, those miniature computers with wireless cell phone internet.

It really was an eerie sight. Pitch black night, and a drunk crawling along the side of the highway, using his little handheld's LCD Display to light his way.

I walked along side of him for a short while, but finally had to ask... ... "Excuse me sir, do you need help?"

The drunk stopped crawling and painstakingly slow, sat up and while his head was swaying north to south, slurringly* informed me.

"Nah... I'z got Google Earth mappin me way home."


* - See original post re: slurringly* - *
A big thanks to web_loafer for this one! Click on the header of this post to read the original posting of this or click here to visit Sanity's Bluff more recent postings!

All Quiet on the Sober Front

"The Sober attack predicted for last Friday has not happened, possibly because of the publicity surrounding the potential outbreak."

For those who missed it, the code was cracked in advance of a Sober virus attack. This little 'sleeper virus' would infect a computer earlier on and wait for the clock to tick down to zero hour. It was designed to reach out to a number of websites and download "a more sophisticated version of itself (or it transforms the infected PC into a conduit for spam, pornography, or a host of other malicious uses)." (link to cnet article)

Because of the code being cracked the addresses to be contacted were carefully watched and the virus writer didn't show up.

A couple of quotes from ZDnet Australia:

"It's great! This is good news," Mikko Hypponen, director of antivirus research at F-Secure, said.

"We've been monitoring the locations of the files that infected machines are now trying to download. So far none of them have activated," said Hypponen.

~~~~~~~~~~

"We've not seen anything. This is what we envisioned would happen. Everyone knew about [the imminent attack], and took steps to mitigate the effects. The virus writer is probably running scared. It's great -- everybody in the antivirus community helped each other out. It would be good to do this with more malware," said Mark Toshack, manager of antivirus operations at MessageLabs.

~~~~~~~~~~

But F-Secure warned that now was not the time to be complacent, as the hacker could still try to activate the download routine.

"The Sober guy laid low, but he might publish a little later. We've seen secondary download routines with other variants uploaded by the writer when he's ready -- so perhaps he's still writing it. It doesn't necessarily mean he won't activate the threat in the future."

prying1 sez: Be careful out there. There are 'not nice' people in this world.

Email Forwarding Appreciated

I got this email forwarded to me from my uncle who got it from somebody else that got it from another person that had received it....

~~~~~~~~~

Subject: Thanks for all of the FORWARDS this year!!

As another year will shortly be a memory, my heartfelt appreciation goes out to all of you who have taken the time and trouble to send me "forwards" over the past 12 months. Thank you for making me feel safe, secure, blessed, and wealthy.

Extra thanks for the ones that I have to open 15 times to get to the message.

Special thanks to whoever sent me the one about rat dung and roach eggs in the glue on envelopes 'cause I now have to go get a wet towel every time I need to seal an envelope.

Also, I scrub the top of every can I open for the same reason. Because of your concern, I no longer drink Coca Cola, because it can remove toilet stains.

I no longer drink Pepsi, or Dr Pepper, since the people who make these products are atheists who won't put "Under God" on their cans.

I no longer use Saran wrap in the microwave, because it causes cancer.

I no longer check the coin return on pay phones because I could be pricked with a needle infected with AIDS.

I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants, even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day.

I no longer go to shopping malls, because someone might drug me with a perfume sample and rob me.

I no longer receive packages from, nor send packages by UPS, or FedEx, since they are actually Al Qaeda in disguise.

I no longer answer the phone, because someone will ask me to dial a number for which I will get a phone bill with calls to Jamaica, Uganda, Singapore, and Uzbekistan.

I no longer eat KFC, because their "chickens" are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers.

I no longer have any sneakers -- but that will change once I receive my free replacement pair from Nike.

I no longer have to buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus, since I now have their recipe.



I no longer worry about my soul, because at last count I have 363,214 angels looking out for me.

Thanks to you, I have learned that God only answers my prayers if I forward an e-mail to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes.

I no longer have any savings, because I gave it to a sick girl who is about to die in the hospital (for the 1,387,258th time).

I no longer have any money at all - but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special e-mail program.

Yes, I want to thank you so much for looking out for me that I will now return the favor!

If you don't send this e-mail to at least 144,000 people in the next 7 minutes, a large pigeon with a wicked case of diarrhea will land on your head at 5:00 PM (EDT) this afternoon.
I know this will occur, because it actually did happen to a friend of mine's next door neighbor's ex-mother-in-law's second husband's cousin's beautician.

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

Man Denied Equal Rights!

Some one has to tell the political correct crowd that enough is enough. Exporting their nonsense to our British allies is a bit too much.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OK, here is the story. Some (unnamed) man in Great Britain has filed a complaint because a GP would not test him for cervical cancer. The man claims to be a hermaphrodite but doctors have found no evidence that this is true. Without a cervix it is a tad difficult to perform a pap smear test. They are dealing with a nut! (They should release this guy's name in the interest of public safety)

So what happens? - quote from Telegraph News - The complaint has caused doctors in the west country practice to spend hours in meetings and writing replies to the local primary care trust over the complaint which began two years ago - AND - "The refusal of one of the doctors to put Mr X on the recall list for cervical screening has resulted in a complaint and, as a result the doctor, practice manager and other practitioners have spent many hours, at the expense of the care of other patients, answering written inquiries.
~~~~~~~
He (Tim Terry, consultant in reconstructive urology, Leicester University Hospitals NHS Trust) said: "There are some people with ambiguous genitalia but I have not come across a man who was normal physically and fertile who was in this inter-sex group. My advice would be to refer the patient to a sexual dysfunction clinic."

A local primary care trust spokesman said: "We have received a complaint as you described and as required, under the NHS complaints procedure, we are investigating along with other complaints from the individual." - end http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/01/16/nsmear16.xml quotes -

prying1 sez: What's the big deal? He wants a pap smear. Tie the man down and smear him all over with pap! Then slap a strait jacket on him. After that, fire the employees at the local primary care trust. - Scheesh! Who is nuttier? This obvious mental case or the idiots working in the local primary care trust.

Hat tip to Blue Star Chronicles - Who hat tips Mark in Mexico

The End of the Story!

My attempt at writing a short story:

He was hiding behind the rock. It was a big rock and it shielded him from the bullets flying his way. He felt safe for the moment but little did he realize that one of his assassins had circled around and above him. He didn't even hear the gunshot.

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

All I need is a beginning and a middle (with some love interest - plus a dog, guitar, mom and a train) and I think I have a million book seller. Anyone want to help me out here?

No WMD's?

I was going to post a bit on how tired I am of the No WMD's complaint from the left. I pulled up a few references through Google and got tired of reading the evidence that a lot of crap has been found. I got tired of seeing evidence that Iraq had several programs to build weapons that would destroy indiscriminately. I got tired of the evidence that Saddam gassed the Kurds.

That the left continually claims to support the troops and then claim that these same troops are only fighting because 'Bush lied', and it is all because of the oil makes me tired. I get tired when evidence is thrown into their faces and they continually whine about "Poor Saddam" having his country taken from him (They don't actually say it but I must assume that if they just wanted the U.N. to pile on more sanctions instead of taking him out through force they must prefer he remained in power.)

As I said I'm tired of it.

BUT! Not too tired to give up and let them take over the blogosphere.

Analyzing both sides of the issue I say Bush did the right thing. Iraq will be a shining example of democracy in the Middle East. This will be the Republican President Bush's legacy. In spite of the naysayers!

Virus Laden Junk Email Starting on the 6th of January?

Wouldn't it be wonderful if they gave a virus attack and nobody bit into it?

The date is drawing near for what might be the next Sober virus attack. Please use caution in opening any emails even if they appear to be from friends.

Some 'Quick Quotes' from Cnet.com's article linked below:

...thanks to another set of researchers at iDefense (link on original page not operative), we think January 5 or 6, 2006, either a Thursday or a Friday--just in time to fill everyone's e-mailbox with junk over the weekend--is the most likely of those dates for that attack to occur. -

Imagine sending a very large and sophisticated virus over e-mail--your ISP or company would certainly stop it dead at the gateway. So, virus writers have started sending out smaller versions that merely infect. Once installed, the small virus then opens a backdoor to call out to the predetermined Web server IP address from which it then loads a more sophisticated version of itself (or it transforms the infected PC into a conduit for spam, pornography, or a host of other malicious uses). -

Most of the Sober variants use a trigger delay; they install quickly but then sleep for a preset period of time before reaching out and contacting the Internet for a new download.

**** Most important lines in the article ****

Prevention
It's important to note that your PC must already be infected with Sober before it becomes a foot soldier in this expected January 5 assault. No infection, no participation. So clean your desktop computer now. For corporate systems, it's also important to create firewall rules that block IP requests to the January 5 addresses. According to F-Secure, the addresses to be contacted on January 5, 2006, include:...
AND ~ AND ~ AND !!!
Unfortunately, many PCs worldwide are connected to the Internet without antivirus protection. I expect to see some activity but not a full-out assault. Either way, keep your antivirus protection primed over the holidays and install a firewall if you haven't already. And don't be too surprised if you find a ton of junk e-mail in your in-box starting January 6, 2006, or you find your e-mail traffic is a little slower. It's Sober.

Hat tip to Papergirl8 - Check out her ebay auctions!

Happy Birthday Louis Braille

I have to admit I really admire some of the folks at Google. At least the ones that come up with the cartoons for their logo. This one dated January 4th 2006:

has a little banner that pops up when you run the mouse across it that says, "Happy Birthday Louis Braille!"
Great imaginations down there at Google will keep it on top for quite a while.

The story of Louis Braille can be found here and is quite an interesting read. Did you know he became blind from a childhood accident with an awl? Later it was with an awl that he perfected the Braille alphabet. I learned something new today.

Amy Proctor Shares a Wonderful Video/Slideshow

This one is a must see. Hope that you have a fast connection because it is 29mbs...

Amy Proctor put together a slide show and called it a New Years Video Salute to Our Troops ~~~~~~~~ Must see and pass this link on. Really wonderfully done. Thanks Amy!!!

P.S. The file is an executable but not to worry. Checks out fine on PC (Don't know about Mac) and starts as soon as you open it. No special programs needed to see it.

hat tip to AubreyJ at AubreyJ.org.

I DID IT!

The most dangerous job if the season is finished. That is, dragging the Christmas tree outside without spilling the water all over.

In times past I've taken old towels and soaked the water out of the tree holder and then watched in dismay as the rags drip a line of water to the kitchen sink. I've crawled under the tree and used a cup to transfer the water to a pot and then spilt the pot as I got tangled in the tree. Plus I couldn't get quite all the water out and spilled some more moving the tree.

This year I said, "To heck with it." Grabbed the tree by the trunk and carried it straight up. Forced it through two doorways and into the back yard. No water on the carpet and only a few drops by the back door. A swiffer took care of that real quick.

They should give out prizes or something for a job well done.

Hey! I have an idea for next year. I'll trim all the branches off and leave the trunk for a coat rack.

Gotta Wonder

I can't figure it out. A friend on Ranchoweb's Discussion Board mentioned that her daughter gave her some 'new versions' of some perfume" and they are nowhere near the originals!"

I had to ask, "You mean to say these perfume outfits change formulas without telling people?"

Evidently so.

I never hear commercials on perfume saying NEW and IMPROVED like I do soap commercials.

The way I figure it Tide is so NEW and IMPROVED by now that dirt shouldn't even exist!

I remember it was NEW and IMPROVED when Jack Bailey was hosting

Queen for a Day!

Tide commercials have continually been 'Shouting' at us (oops, different product.) that this stuff is better today than it was yesterday. So when is perfection reached? Day after tomorrow?

I guess the perfume manufacturers don't like to boast. Otherwise they would tout the NEW and IMPROVED line.

My friend at Ranchoweb prefers the original formula. Maybe that is why they don't boast, "NEW and IMPROVED".

Which makes me wonder how long can a SALE go on? (Don't ask the connection, I can't figure it out either)... I've heard there are government regulations on SALEs but never checked Snopes.com/Urban Legends on it. It seems to me that you cannot pass a mattress store or a furniture store without seeing the SALE banner out front. Some of those banners are looking shabby from age.

There is something you won't see selling big on eBay.

"Slightly used 'SALE' banner only used once"

- Yeah, for five years! -

I have to wonder if soap commercials and mattress/furniture sales (What the hell, lets throw in used car salesmen and lawyers) are not the reason behind the cynicism and the 'what the hell' attitude in America these days.

Lord know I've got it and I want to blame someone for it besides Mom.

Security Issues in America

Political Nut posted a piece called "Security Issues in America" I wanted to post a comment but unfortunately to comment on his blog a person has to be a team member.

So I figured to get my two cents in I'd bring a touch of his post and my comment here. But then I saw that for my comment to have it's impact I needed his entire post. Both sorry and thanks Political Nut. Please open your comments to the general public and/or supply an email address.

- quote - House Democrats issued a statement that the Homeland Security Department has not met expectations. They cite that the department has not met 33 of its own goals including upgrading specific types of targets and the streamlining of communications between agencies.

It is necessary that the American Public gets a report on the progress of the HSD. But do we need the specifics such as types of sites that are vulnerable. Isn't that making terrorists' jobs easier by allowing them to focus on those types of sites. Knowledge is a powerful tool, but it is also one that can be very dangerous. - end quote -

My comment:

Yesterday I was standing in front of a store when a young lady with her 9-10 year old son drove up. They got out of the car and as they neared me the boy said, (real loud) "Mom, You didn't lock your car door."

Then the boy looked at me.

I said, "Now the whole world knows."

I hope the boy learned a lesson and does not grow up to be like the House Democrats.

Yahoo Pictures 2005

Yahoo 2005 Year in Review

What a year it has been. As usual both the best and worst in man has been on display. From suicide bombings to aid for tsunami and hurricane victims.

May the bombs of terrorists blow up in their hands before their plans come to fruition.
May the Living God help us live better in the year to come. - GBYAY -

Search Engines Bring Up Differing Results

Having Site Meter hooked up to your blog can be quite interesting. Today I had a visitor come through Yahoo's Search Engine looking for - kelly letterpress for sale - My blog was not what the searcher was looking for. Nowhere close...

However number 6 on the list of his search was a link to my post - Baby Parts For Sale - in which I quoted "Kelly" a pseudonym of a person who harvested baby parts for researchers. My "About Me" section on my blog mentions that I am a letterpress printer. By Google Search I was not listed in the top 100.

How could this person have improved his search query? Perhaps by adding quote marks around the model of the Kelly press he is searching for. With quote marks surrounding a statement the search engines look for that exact statement and cull out some of the excess. But the search query was really wrong to start with.

I know it can be frustrating to search for something specific and come up with everything except what is really being searched for. (see previous post)

Looking for someone selling a used machine it might have been better to start with - "used printing equipment" - and then added - Kelly (model name) - If looking to purchase something on the internet it bodes the searcher well to check the side adverts on the search page. They are designed to aid searchers as well as pull in some coins for the search engine company that is providing you a free service.

The quote marks really help if you want to find the rest of a quotation or perhaps the source of some obscure statement. Sometimes it helps to use the advance search features both Yahoo and Google offer. The + and - marks can help add or subtract keywords you want or don't want.

Ice Cream - in Google brings up 28,600,000 hits. Modifying it to - Ice Cream Raspberry = 2,420,000 hits. Then "ice cream" -vanilla +raspberry = 522,000 / - Still quite a bit. Add the word recipes and then you bring it down a bunch more. Only 252,000 hits. Much easier to peruse. The advanced search used properly will drop that number dramatically.

I like to keep a folder in my favorites that is titled 'searchers'. In it I have links to Yahoo, Google, Bookfinder.com, a Bible search, a dictionary & thesaurus, Snopes.com (Urban Legends) and a couple other resources. I've found that results from Yahoo and Google can vary. Doesn't hurt to use both if you are really trying to research a subject.

I've found it best to not get frustrated while searching. Instead consider yourself to be smarter than the computers you are accessing. You know what you are looking for. Use the right words and you will find it!

Google and Baby Jesus

Question? Would someone at Google purposefully manipulate the search results so that if anyone, even a child, were to type in - Baby Jesus - the number one link would be for the Baby Jesus butt plug?

I'd like to think not. Others think so. I gather the problem lies in the offensive page itself not having all the bells and whistles that would put it on top. Yahoo has the same page on number 9.

Confederate Yankee sez: - quote - Other results on this search results page have more link traffic. A quick review of page's code shows no HTML meta information that should give it a favorable ranking. The page itself has a raw relevance ranking (search word divided by total words) of less than five percent. The only conclusion I can draw is that this page position ranking was done manually by a Google staffer. - end quote -

Can Google manually manipulate rankings? Have you heard of the French Military Victories search and the 'I'm feeling lucky' button? Try the 'I'm feeling lucky' button with Baby Jesus.

At the time of this posting I found this disturbing search result, as have many others, since this hit the blogosphere. I'm hoping Google decides to do the right thing and change what needs to be changed to fix this problem. As soon as I get the tip I will update this post.

When you type - jew - into Google some anti-Semitic sites come up and Google explains it thus - quote - If you use Google to search for "Judaism," "Jewish" or "Jewish people," the results are informative and relevant. So why is a search for "Jew" different? One reason is that the word "Jew" is often used in an anti-Semitic context. Jewish organizations are more likely to use the word "Jewish" when talking about members of their faith. The word has become somewhat charged linguistically, as noted on websites devoted to Jewish topics such as these: - end quote -

I doubt if an explanation like that would be acceptable to any good thinking person no matter their religion over the result of a search for - Baby Jesus -.

If you wish to give feedback to Google over this or any other search results near the bottom of each Google page is a link that says, Dissatisfied? Help us improve - I would suggest that you first view the search results (You do not need to view the offensive page) prior to sending them a message. Hopefully they have fixed it. If so, Please write and tell them thanks!


UPDATE: Google has fixed the problem. They did not want to manipulate the search results but they did for this issue and a few others. Thanks Google! (update posted 2-23-07)

Hat tip to Verum Serum who tips Confederate Yankee & wizbang...

Season's Greetings & Happy Holidays Oh, and Merry Christmas...

Don't know who wrote this but I had to post it. I'd love to give credit. It conveys my feelings exactly!

I can say, I recieved it from this eBayer, who always has some great items listed!

For My Democratic Friends:

"Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2006, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. And without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee. By accepting these greetings you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself or himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher."

For My Republican Friends:

Here's wishing all of You a

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Sacred Cows of the Left Put on the Barby!

John Lennon wrote 'Imagine' - A couple lines he left out were: -

"Imagine liberals are in power,
when North Korea gets the nuke...
They will kiss hineys and cower,
chanting good vibes till they puke..."

I get ticked off when I come across blogs that have the self righteous and condescending attitude of the left. Came across one tonight that was so full of logs stuck in pinko eyes that I had to come home to vent.

It starts off real nice on how America (U.S.A. for you PC Nazis that like to differentiate between the north and south continents.) was built on 'HOPE'. Goes on to say how wonderful 'HOPE' is and how 'HOPE' built this country. Sounds nice until the speal turns to (quote) "the Bush Administration, guided by their neo-con warmongers and evangelical Christian base, found in the attacks an opportunity to pursue their agenda of advancing their prophecies and ideology and exploited our fear." (end quote)

Hate Bush diatribe is so predictable. The rest of the sputum is Bush & Christians are filling our nation with fear and driving us to...

First off I'd like a definition of neocon. That seems to be the newest throw away word of the liberal lefties these days. It has no definition except, "People that disagree with me politically". 'Mindless drivel' is what I think as soon as I see the word neocon.

then the vacuous liberal poster sez:
Lets throw the Christians into the mix because everybody hates them. Hell, nobody has ever really met one to know that they really are not the way I'm describing them.

What the hell is:
"Agenda of advancing their prophecies and ideology" as if every Christian feels it is his God given duty to work towards nuclear annihilation of this planet so Jesus can come back and start over.

The next paragraph our intrepid liberal fills with conflicting statements that fails to recognize the achievements of the current Republican, "conservative" administration. And this post was on 21-Dec-05. After recent Iraq elections - It failed to recognize:

A dictator is no longer in power and his 2 sons are no longer on planet Earth raping 11 year old daughters of his country's citizens.

The citizens of a country now have the right to choose their own government.

A countryside ecologically ravaged through draining of marshes is being brought back to life just by opening dams.

The feminine gender can go to schools that were closed to them.

Mass graves are no longer being filled but instead being found and the remains of loved ones given proper burial.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I could go on but liberals refuse to recognize these good things. I doubt if any liberals will stop by to comment and say that these things are true without adding, "But Bush"...

Makes me want to whap them upside the head with my shoe.

Intrepid liberal sez:
(quote) "Religion and it's promise of a glorious afterlife is supposed to alleviate the fear of dying, and theoretically, the evangelical base of the administration'’s supporters look forward to the apocalypse so that they can be with their god." (end quote") Please note the small 'g' on God. This will help you understand where this person comes from. He hates religion and denies the good things it has done through the ages. - Prior to Jesus there is NO record of ANY charitable organizations. Not one!. Prior to Jesus there was nowhere on mother Earth (note small 'M') that did NOT have slavery. Cannibalism and infanticide were common practices throughout the planet!

Excuse me? If the Christian base was so anxious for the apocalypse why didn't they (and Bush) start throwing nukes the day after 9-11? The day of 9-11 I knew Christians and non Christians alike that would have cheered had we bombed Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Egypt and any other stinking third world country that had Muslums in it...

Thank God we had cooler heads in Washington D.C. than in the neighborhood I live in.

Near the closing of his post this person says, (quote) "As much as I recognize and fear the terrorists who would destroy America, I also fear that the politicians of today will do nothing to make things whole again. (end quote)

HEY! WAKE UP! YOU ASLEEP? AN ENTIRE COUNTRY HAS BEEN FREED FROM TYRANNY! MORE FREEDOM IS ON THE WAY FOR OPPRESSED PEOPLES IN THIS WORLD.

Except for liberals like you. Liberals in America (no apology to the PC Nazis) are oppressed by their own minds. Those on the right are free! Or at least a lot more free than these close minded, self righteous liberals that are caught up in fear and loathing of all things Bush.

- All quotes came from: Common Sense - The posting is called politics of fear

(prying1 sez: Common Sense missed it in this one. This posting of his was anything but!!!)

Heads Up On iTunes and QuickTime Bugs

A heap overflow vulnerability in Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes and QuickTime media players could put millions of PC and Mac users at risk of malicious hacker attacks, security experts warned Wednesday. -

In English this means that a lot of information is stuffed into a space too small for it and the system crashes.

For those who use these programs keep your eyes peeled for patches and updates.

Full story from eWeek.com is here.

Space.com 2005 Best Images Photo Contest

Space.com is looking for people that like to look at pictures. - Throughout the year people send photos from the surface of Earth, to the sky's above and beyond the stars. Quite a collection. The photos in this contest all appear to be of space however but if you tool around Space.com you will find the submissions from people just like you and I. Some would make nice desktop scenes.

- On each of the photos there is a short description, a click to enlarge button and above on the right is a row of five stars for you to rate the pics.

- Might want to save this page to favorites so you can come back to it at a time you can relax and enjoy.

Liberals Are Wrong Again

It has been a while since I've posted. In the interim quite a bit has happened in the political world. A NYT's article came out claiming that the President of the United States has illegally ordered spying on U.S. citizens without warrant. The lefty blogs went wild! Rush Limbaugh noted that the writer of the article has a book coming out in a few days with this news in one of it's chapters. Hmmmm...

Well, waiting to blog on a subject is something I often do. I like to think it is to get a few more facts to either back up my original thoughts or find out I'm wrong. The real reason is because I have a lazy streak.

NewsMax.com came out with an interesting article that shows this action by bush is not new.
Clinton NSA Eavesdropped on U.S. Calls - During the 1990's under President Clinton, the National Security Agency monitored millions of private phone calls placed by U.S. citizens and citizens of other countries under a super secret program code-named Echelon. -

Hugh Hewitt has a fine article on the Powers of the President. This is presented in series form which has 5 parts at the time of this posting. The opening gambit of the series says: - Overlooked in most of the commentary on the New York Times article is the simple, undeniable fact that the president has the power to conduct warrantless surveillance of foreign powers conspiring to kill Americans or attack the government. The Fourth Amendment, which prohibits "unreasonable" searches and seizures has not been interpreted by the Supreme Court to restrict this inherent presidential power. The 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (an introduction from a critic of the Act is here) cannot be read as a limit on a constitutional authority even if the Act purported to so limit that authority.

prying1 sez:
I remember times past where the government had wiretaps on home grown terrorist groups such as the Black Panthers and the Weathermen. A lot of shouting happened then too. In the group of friends I hung with the real fear was that government thugs would soon come after us for being pot smokers. They didn't. The government was looking for real bad people. Murderers and terrorists.

From what I see our current government is doing the same thing. Looking for bad guys. People that would love to destroy even more than the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. People that would love to destroy all governments and rule the world. (Please don't think I'm exaggerating. What is the goal of these Muslum extremists if not ultimately world domination? They cannot leave any countries free to oppose them.)


Imagine this. During the operations of wiretapping, listening in on cell phone calls, reading emails, etc. someone in our government learns than a U.S. citizen is having an affair. Or that someone else has homosexual tendencies. Or that someone is smoking pot. Are they going to care? I doubt it. They are busy looking for terrorists.

Now in my own business. A terrorist whose wires are being tapped calls the printing shop I work for and orders business cards. Now our shop is on the list. Throw a switch, ZAP, and all our calls are being tapped. Within 1/2 hour whoever has the job of listening will know for a fact that we are not related in any way to the terrorist and they won't bother with us again. I can only hope that the conversations recorded will lighten the day of the person whose job it is to listen in. We joke around quite a bit with our customers.


So I'm left with a choice. Oppose the policy of our government to spy on it's own citizens and give more power to people that want to kill me (and you too dear reader!) or support the policy that allows one branch of the government to use it's constitutional authority to protect the nation.

I vote to support it.

GLOBAL WARMING IS OVER!

P.S. - Update - Check this out from The Penultimate Genius -

Hat tip to - SNAFUBAR - (Disclaimer: SNAFUBAR/William Young is no relation that I know about- unless we go back closer to Adam)

On Tookie and the Death Penalty

Tookie Williams, murderer and co-founder of the CRIPS (an L.A. street gang) was spiritually removed from planet earth on 13 DEC 05 at 12:35 AM. Can't live on planet earth without your earthsuit. His earthsuit was made inhabitable through a lethal injection.

Surfing Technorati for 'tookie' I checked out a few other blogs to see the general tone out there. - Should have guessed. Some are glad he is gone and some are not. Some want the death penalty rescinded while others want to see it used more often. - Although I didn't see it I'm sure there is a scattering that doesn't care -

prying1's 2 cents:

I'm a firm believer in the death penalty when it is used as punishment for murder. Especially for a multiple murderer like Tookie was.

I think that the courts in California need to be told through the voting process to incorporate some rules concerning death row inmates. 20 years on death row is TOO much! Person is found guilty and sentenced to death there should be 1 automatic appeal consummated within 6 months. Only 2 more appeals allowed only at the request of the condemned. The only testimony allowed at all 3 appeals must deal with the facts of the case. None of this "The poor boys are orphans" crapola like the parent murdering Menendez lawyer pulled. No 'abused as a child' excuses. Just the facts of the case.

From the time of the sentence, through the appeals process to killing the guilty party no more than two years can pass. Memories fade after a bit of time and people involved in the case, especially loved ones of the victims, should not have to be dragged through life with a chain held by a murderer and his lawyer.

Both Liberals and Conservatives Demand Government Handouts!

Envoys from the two major camps of American politics converged on Washington DC today to make demands of the government. Both the liberals and conservatives met at the gates of the White House and quick thinking gate guards averted a riot by separating the groups to the right hand and left hand sides of the gates. Slight jostling as positions were taken was all the contact between the opponents.

Conservatives demanded free kits for washing out ear wax be distributed to all liberals throughout the country.

"It is obvious that liberal groups need these kits because they cannot hear the words, 'Bush didn't lie'.", said a man identifying himself as Red Stater. "It has been shown over and over again for the past couple years that everyone, even leaders of other countries, thought Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. He even gassed his own countrymen. The libs keep screaming, 'Bush Lied, NO WMD's', and can't hear when they are told it is not an issue. Bush did not lie. He may have been misled but he did not purposefully mislead the people of the U.S.A.. We want their ears washed out and we feel that the only way they will do it is if they get the kits for free on the government dole."

The liberals on the other hand were demanding that bottles of Ipecac be distributed to everyone left of center. The leader of the group, Chuck Tupp, stated, "We need this stuff because it is getting harder and harder to regurgitate the pap the Democratic party and the mainstream media keeps feeding us. It is the government's duty to supply us with Ipecac as part of health care entitlements."

Many Democrats have been looking at the news, listening to Dean, Polosi and Kerry and finding it hard to spit the talking points out. Some are not even swallowing the daily transcripts from the DNC.

Said one recent convert from Democrat to Republican, "I had to switch parties. I couldn't swallow the garbage any more. The dry heaves are not fun."

Pick Your Side!

You are faced with a choice. Which side will you pick? The side that gets scammed and loses money or the informed side?

Click here for the answer!!!

Christmas Jokes?

Thanks to Mild Mannered Reporter of the Rosemead Times for the inspiration on this post.

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

A young lad crept up to his community's nativity scene and plucked the Baby Jesus from the manger. He ran home and hid the ceramic piece in his closet. Then going to his desk he started a letter.

"Dear Virgin Mary, If you want to see your Son again bring me a bike for Christmas."
~~~~~~~
OK, I know it is a an old joke. How about this one?
~~~~~~~
What kind of jerkwater town hires the village idiots to run it's libraries?

Memphis, Tennessee...
~~~~~~~
What? You don't think that is funny? Well every good joke has to have a bit of truth in it. The first joke is what the library officials in Memphis did. They plucked the Little Baby Jesus from his bed of straw. Woke Him out of a sound sleep too!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
World Net Daily has the story which I will summarize in the following few lines

Saying it would be "inappropriate" to include them, Memphis, Tenn., library officials have banned Mary, Joseph, Jesus and the wise men from a promotional nativity scene leaving only the stable animals and a shepherd boy.

According to a statement from Alliance Defense Fund, the controversy arose when Brandi Chambless, a member of the music ministry at Broadmoor Memphis Church, submitted an announcement for display on the library's community shelves regarding the church's upcoming Christmas show. Library officials accepted the announcement but told Chambless that she would have to remove the "inappropriate" figures of the baby Jesus, Joseph, Mary, and the wise men from an accompanying nativity scene and limit it to farm animals alone.

Now I don't know about you but I have to wonder about the IQ of these people and if it reaches the level of a cabbage? Well I guess it does come close to cabbage level because the so called 'library officials' have backed off after the news went out and the Alliance Defense Fund informed them that stupid is not the way 'librarian officials' should act.

In all fairness it was the Memphis Library Branch in the backwater town of Bartlett,Tennesseee where all this brouhaha took place not at the Memphis City Proper.

BUT WAIT!!!

The story is not over yet!!! Is this a great country or what? There is always more fun to be had!

WMCTV.com has a blurb on the story which gives credit to the Mayor of Bartlett for the resolution and does not mention the letter the ADF sent informing the parties about the Constitution of the United States. - Hmmm??? Would the station be ignorant of the ADF and their part in this? Does the Bartlett Branch of Memphis Library System have a copy of the Constitution on their shelves?

- quote from WMCTV.com - Brandi Chambless is one happy woman after hearing her nativity scene will be now allowed in the Bartlett Library. It took an order from Bartlett's mayor to put Christ back into this Christmas display. Chambless is thrilled, "It means so much and we're very thankful to the mayor for doing that." Bartlett Mayor Keith McDonald heard the library had banned the religious figurines from a nativity display and would only allow barnyard animals to be shown. That's when he picked up the phone and called Betty Anne Wilson at the Central Library, "Mayor McDonald has requested the library put back the nativity scene at the Bartlett Branch library and the library is going to honor his request." That's great news to the folks at Broadmoor Baptist but Chambless says this crusade may not be over yet, "We don't believe it would be fair to have the citizens of Bartlett have one set of rules and have the citizens of Memphis have another set so we're gonna look at it a little closer." The concern is the Memphis library system still has a policy banning overt religious items from public display. Could that change? Wilson says the matter could be reviewed, "If someone asks us to review our policy we normally do but will we change our mind? That's hard to tell. It depends on a whole lot of circumstances both in the library and the city of Memphis." Right now, Brandi Chambless' priority is to put this figurine where she says it belongs, "We're going to go in and place this figurine in the window and I think that's a great step for us." But it may not be the last in this Christmas controversy. - end quote -

prying1 sez:

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

- Oh! Excuse me a moment. Someone is pounding on my front door and hollering in German.

Con Artist Caught

- 9 AUG 08 had a hit from N. Las Vegas via a Yahoo Search for David Napstead - PLEASE - Leave a comment if you would. -

~~~~~~

Last October I posted a blog on a con artist called "David Napstead". Typing the name into search engines brought up my post. AND a site from Kentucky saying he was on parole from that fair state. I had a few hits a week on the name mostly through Google and Yahoo search engines. I was able to watch the hits through Site Meter. It showed where the hits were coming from and I encourage you, Dear Reader, to get Site Meter. Quite a handy Blog tool!

One Google search for the name David Napstead was from New Zealand. How'd That Happen?

On my post I encouraged people reading it to comment on his whereabouts. A few did.

Wasn't until this evening that the message came through that The Wynn in Las Vegas was where the fun stopped for 'David'. I will recommend The Wynn as a place in Vegas that does not put up with nonsense. Something 'David' should have known.

Guess he didn't watch enough TV...

Update: - Comments have a way of disappearing so I thought I'd bring them up into the post itself. -

Comments follow:
~~~~~~~~~
Good post.
mild mannered reporter | Homepage | 12.09.05 - 5:44 am | #

Another thought. Good work on tracking this guy. A lot of criminals go to Las Vegas to blend in and scam, but Las Vegas has cameras everywhere. Good for Las Vegas. Take care.
mild mannered reporter | Homepage | 12.09.05 - 5:49 am | #

Seems to me if I were a crook Vegas is tha last place I'd go. I imagine there is more communication between the casinos than we know. The casinos want the money and are not about to share it with small time hoodlums.
prying1 | Homepage | 12.09.05 - 11:18 am | #

Casinos have some of the most high tech security available and they always update it and hire top quality people to man it.

Besides that they don't tolerate much nonsense.

Our friend should have stayed somewhere less watched
Ted Richardson | Homepage | 12.10.05 - 1:20 am | #

What do you mean "OUR" friend?
prying1 | Homepage | 12.10.05 - 10:15 pm | #

Could This Really Happen?

In the middle of the atheist meeting one member stood up to give a testimony.

"Gentlemen!" He said, "I wish to share with you that on the day I received nothing into my heart nothing happened! The guilt and shame I had felt for past offenses against others were left standing. Any relationships that were deteriorating due to my self centeredness continued to deteriorate. I felt nothing influencing me to live a better life. Nothing touched me and nothing changed. I want to recommend to you that you allow nothing to come into your heart and you too can experience nothing."

Whuz it mean?

It will do the reader well to consider this. The following paragraph would have been easily read and understood by well over 75% of the people in the New Land prior to the U.S. Constitution being authorized by the people. Education in the Colonies was that good at the time. School was mandatory and the students learned so that the common man, male or female, became educated.

Little challenge for you. Can you read through this one time and catch all that the writer meant?

James Madison wrote in the Federalist #51

But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.

Please leave a comment on your thoughts.

Buy Me One (OR BOTH) of These for Christmas!

Buddy of mine has a couple "Just Right Gifts" that I'm hoping one of you wonderful blog surfers will buy for me. Don't worry about the price. It is the thought that counts. If the pic is covered by the sidebar you can right click and view the full image...

1992 HARLEY DAVIDSON HERITAGE SOFTAIL.
Please don't forget I will need a helmet also. California has a brain bucket law.

OR

get this 1954 Chrysler Windsor Deluxe 2 Door Coupe for me and save on the helmet cost! Such a deal!

Lightninges also has a few other items on eBay that you might find interesting. (A Moto Cross ramp for example (at the time of this posting - Check near the bottom for open auctions) Cruise around his page and feel free to email him with questions. Lightninges Can Value Engineer Your Electrical Project And Save You $$$. Not to mention if you live in the Erie,PA area You can contact him about his eBay Trading Assistant Program.

FREE MONEY! I clicked the link...

What the line really said was, "Believe in Jesus?
We'll pay you $75 right now to complete a simple survey!

It was right between two other adverts for Islam. Well, I'm a Christian and not ashamed of it most of the time. (OK! I'm working on it. Still. After 35 years.) so I clicked on it wondering if my virus alert would go off. It didn't. (It should have!)

No Virus but no survey either.

What I got was a page for PaidSurveysOnline.com - (I'm somewhat loathe to put the link here but I feel it necessary for truth in blogging!)

So I read a bit of their spiel and then Googled - PaidSurveysOnline.com scam - Top'O'the List was GOOGLE'S OWN "Google Answers" - (and people are worried about Haliburton taking over the world. Pikers! prying1 sez. Google will be the AntiChrist!!!) - (read 'Late Great Planet Earth' by Hal Lindsey) -

BUT I DIGRESS!

I need not bore you with too many of the complaints. This line says it all:

- quote from Ripoff report.com - "I paid paidsurveysonline.com for surveys to make money and so far I have not receive any money I paid the amount of $34.95 on 10/11/2004 for surveys and to get paid to read email and for free samples and I
have been doing noting but filling out applications for surveys or
getting surveys that require me to keep buying thing that I don't have
the money for and I was told I would be receiving money right away and I haven't and its been a month an a half almost 2 months."

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

prying1 sez: I would suggest first that 'Remedial English' is in order for David of Niles, Ohio (Author of the above sentence). And second, learn to Google a company name with the word scam after it! - Do this before you put your money down!!!

Piece Falls From Supreme Court Facade

From SFGate.com - A basketball-sized piece of marble moulding fell from the facade over the entrance to the Supreme Court, landing on the steps near visitors waiting to enter the building.

No one was injured when the stone fell. The marble was part of the dentil moulding that serves as a frame for the frieze of statues atop the court's main entrance. - end quote -

After reading this I wondered what the blogs had to say on it so I utilized Technorati.

SSquirel sez: - Quote - A large chunk of the facade of the US Supreme Court Church has crumbled and fallen away. Coincidence? Or is God sending us a sign? Either way it seems an appropriate commentary on the total lack of ethics and honesty reflected in Fearless Leader'’s latest nominations and Scalia'’s lame attempts to justify his political rulings and failure to recuse himself from ruling on cases in favor of Cheney and Bush and Repugs in general. - End Quote -

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

The View from the Seven-and-a-Halfth Floor sez: According to a breaking news report on cnn.com, a large chunk of the marble facade of the United States Supreme Court fell off the building this morning. Far-right organizations like to argue that their narrow interpretation of the Bible belongs in our judicial branch, and they also like to argue that disasters are God's way of punishing us for our sins. Then what, I ask, will they say about the crumbling of the Supreme Court building? Could this be God's way of telling us that She doesn't want us to pack the Court with right-wing ideologues who use Her name to justify the abridging of civil rights?

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

prying1 sez: This is proof that gravity works and shoddy workmanship is not something that just started when Bush was elected to his chair in the Oval Office.

P.S. I love the way Richie Jay has modified the gender of God. What is that all about?

Tecnorati Email Security Advisory

From Technorati Weblog

It recently came to our attention that the Technorati brand name is being used in an attempt to inject a virus onto Windows computers. Although I personally have not received these emails, Technorati takes these false emails seriously.

The email in question states that Technorati has suspended your email account, lists some reasons why this may have happened, and invites you to open an attached file for more details on how to reactivate your Technorati account. The attached file, "important-details.zip," contains the W32.Mytob.LD@mm virus, opening a back door on your computer, lowering security settings, and allowing your computer to be used by the attackers for local access or distributing other content online.

Washington Post Continues Pressing 'Bush Lied' Diatribe

Someone needs to let the Washington Post know that the 'Bush Lied' line is dead.
I heard a caller to Hugh Hewitt's Radio show ask the following question and I thought it a good one.

Where is the smoking gun evidence that President Bush was the only person in the world that KNEW Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction? Where is the evidence that Bush had that information and still went forward with WMD's as one of the points/reasons for invading Iraq?

The premise of the leftist/socialist argument that we are in a war that is a "mistake" is based on "No WMD's... - All the rest of the points are left out of their argument.

In the Washington Post OP-ED piece, The Phony War Against the Critics (Friday, November 25, 2005), Michael Kinsley proves this throughout his pro Saddam Hussein diatribe.
~~~~~~~~~~~~quote~~~~~~~~~~~
Interestingly, the administration no longer claims that Hussein actually had such weapons at the time Bush led the country into war in order to eliminate them. "The flaws in the intelligence are plain enough in hindsight," Cheney said on Monday. So-called WMD (weapons of mass destruction) were not the only argument for the war, but the administration thought they were a crucial argument at the time. So the administration now concedes that the country went to war on a false premise. Doesn't that mean that the war was a mistake no matter where the false premise came from?
~~~~~~~~~end quote~~~~~~~~~~

What Michael Kinsley does in this little paragraph is to make a statement, ignore it, and make a point based on his opinion. At least it was on the op-ed page this time instead of on the front page.

prying1 sez: Please don't worry about Michael's infecting the country with his Pro Murderous Thugs commentary. The Washington Post is fast losing readership.

The Post stands to lose millions of dollars in ad revenue because Hecht'’s, the last local department-store chain, is changing to Macy'’s, which will spend more of its ad dollars nationally. And the Post continues to lose readers. Sunday circulation has dropped 3.5 percent in the first half of 2005, falling below 1 million readers for the first time in years.

The day may soon come when Michael Kinsley and others on the Post will be vying for the Moron dot org crowd to read their blogspot posts.

US Marines Cross Syria Border

Hat Tip to AubreyJ Who links to DEBKAfile for this bit of news.

DEBKAfile Exclusive: - November 25, 2005, 12:27 AM (GMT+02:00) - US Marines are locked in battle with Syrian troops after crossing the border from Iraq into Syria at a point west of al Qaim



Both sides have suffered casualties. US soldiers crossed over after Damascus was given an ultimatum Thursday, Nov. 24, to hand over a group of senior commanders belonging to Abu Musab al Zarqawi's al Qaeda force. According to US intelligence, the group had fled to Syria to escape an American attack in Mosul. Syrian border guards opened fire on the American force.

prying1 sez: -

- ??? - re: reliability of this news. AubreyJ states, "First saw this news at Debkafile... who more times than not are right on their reporting." Glenn Reynolds states, "I wouldn't be surprised, but I don't trust Debka as a source."

Time and updates will tell. It appears to be over 10 hours since the original story and no other news sites that I could find have jumped on it.


I am hoping that Syria will do the right thing and work towards stopping terrorists and murderous thugs.

Reasons for Thanksgiving!

A good friend of mine posted this message on a bulletin board we frequent. I thought it something that you, dear readers, might like to snatch from the Internet and pass along to friends and/or enemies.

Good Morning Everyone.....Happy Thanksgiving!
I know most of you will be busy cooking, visiting and eating today.....And I hope your day is filled with wonderful blessings!
Rather than write my own reasons for being thankful....I thought I would copy this email that I received from a friend yesterday. While it was hardly traditional, it hit home and made more sense that lots of other things I have read in the past.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!


We are Thankful:
FOR THE WIFE
WHO SAYS IT'S HOT DOGS TONIGHT,
BECAUSE SHE IS HOME WITH ME,
AND NOT OUT WITH SOMEONE ELSE.

FOR THE HUSBAND
WHO IS ON THE SOFA
BEING A COUCH POTATO,
BECAUSE HE IS HOME WITH ME
AND NOT OUT AT THE BARS.


FOR THE TEENAGER
WHO IS COMPLAINING ABOUT DOING DISHES
BECAUSE IT MEANS HE IS AT HOME,
NOT ON THE STREETS.

FOR THE TAXES I PAY
BECAUSE IT MEANS
I AM EMPLOYED.

FOR THE CLOTHES THAT FIT A LITTLE TOO SNUG
BECAUSE IT MEANS
I HAVE ENOUGH TO EAT.

FOR MY SHADOW THAT WATCHES ME WORK
BECAUSE IT MEANS
I AM OUT IN THE SUNSHINE

FOR A LAWN THAT NEEDS MOWING,
WINDOWS THAT NEED CLEANING,
AND GUTTERS THAT NEED FIXING
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE A HOME.


FOR ALL THE COMPLAINING
I HEAR ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT
BECAUSE IT MEANS
WE HAVE FREEDOM OF SPEECH..

FOR THE PARKING SPOT
I FIND AT THE FAR END OF THE PARKING LOT
BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM CAPABLE OF WALKING
AND I HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH TRANSPORTATION .

FOR MY HUGE HEATING BILL
BECAUSE IT MEANS
I AM WARM.

FOR T HE LADY BEHIND ME IN CHURCH
WHO SINGS OFF KEY BECAUSE IT MEANS
I CAN HEAR.

FOR THE PILE OF LAUNDRY AND IRONING
BECAUSE IT MEANS
I HAVE CLOTHES TO WEAR.


FOR WEARINESS AND ACHING MUSCLES
AT THE END OF THE DAY
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE BEEN
CAPABLE OF WORKING HARD.

FOR THE ALARM THAT GOES OFF
IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS
BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM ALIVE.


AND FINALLY, FOR TOO MUCH E-MAIL
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE
FRIENDS WHO ARE THINKING OF ME.

Each and everyone of us has something special to be grateful for, and these days, I am finding the "silver linings" in the littlest clouds as well as the big ones.
I did want to thank you all for your daily contributions to this column, for your thoughts and helpful advice to all, but mostly for your friendship and camaraderie, which makes Ranchoweb such a great place to come to every single day of the year! Somedays, this is the only place I can find a smile....Or a helpful, kind ear to listen when life has my knickers in a twist! You are all the VERY BEST!
I wish you all a year of joys and happiness, and MANY successful eBay auctions!
HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!!!!! Maureen :)

P.S.

Some wonderful gift ideas on - Maureen's eBay auctions-

Pure Luck!

Luck?

A 55-year-old man who was born on May 5, has been married 5 years, has 5 children, makes $55,555.55 a year, who's lucky number is 5 receives a phone call from a friend.

The friend informs the man that a horse named Lucky 5 will be running in the fifth race at the local track that evening. Excitedly, the man withdraws 5,555.55 cash from his bank account, goes to the races and bets on Lucky 5 to win.

Sure enough, the horse comes in fifth.

I'm Sick of the Liberal Lies!

What set me off is Liberalforum.org had a post on a - Petition in Support of McCain Amendment to Stop Torture by American Troops - Reading the comments to this ticked me off because it once again showed the ignorance and continual repetition of the liberal talking points without regard for the truth. My comment to their post is as follows.

During the VietNam war the socialist faction in this country (Including John Kerry) brought out all kinds of stories of atrocities our troops were committing against the South VietNamese. During the last election the Swift Boat Vets showed how Kerry and his ilk lied and the lie was believed for more than 30 years. - Those who prefer the truth now know that VietNam vets did not eat dead burnt babies.

I know people that are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Good people that are trying to make a positive difference in the peoples lives over there. You and your ilk are merely repeating the same diatribe of the flower children of the 70's. 30 years from now history will show how much of your noise is just that. Noise.

One reason I cannot stand the liberal left is because of the dishonesty they continually shower on the world.

Example from comment above: [following was cut and pasted from a very eloquent liberal - prying1] quote - In Iraq right now, people have freedoms..yay for them!! but oh wait they dont have running water, sparse electricy... jobs whats that? and they now live with violance everywhere. - end quote -

These same people had violence under Sadamm. Would you have him brought back and placed back in power? I've asked that of many liberals and they hem and haw about the fact that Iraq and the world IS better off without Sadamm in power.

Running water under Sadamm - quote from - http://www.harvard-magazine.com/on-line/010538.html
When Saddam and his increasingly Sunni-focused regime went after the wetlands, his primary target was its human inhabitants, a quarter of a million or more Marsh Arabs, or Ma'dan, so called —Shi'ites. They lived in watery harmony with their environment, in homes made of reeds on artificial mud-and-reed islands or on the banks of the marshes, as their predecessors had for millennia. With reason, Saddam saw the Marsh Arabs as disloyal, unmanageable, and hard to catch in their refuge of reeds. His efforts to erase them and their habitat began in the 1980s during the Iran-Iraq War and accelerated following a failed Shiite uprising after the Gulf War in 1991. He napalmed their houses, strafed them from helicopters, blew them up, and killed them by the tens of thousands. He slaughtered their water buffalo and cattle, poisoned the water to eradicate the fish, and burned the reed beds. Those marsh dwellers who weren't exterminated were displaced from their homes at gunpoint again and again. Rape and torture were commonplace. Many Marsh Arabs fled to refugee camps in Iran. Today, their population has shrunk to an estimated 80,000. - end quote - Now we have water flowing back in! - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4284195.stm -

Electricity is being restored. The infrastructure was ruined before we got there. It will take time to run the wires.

Jobs: (Watch this space grow!) http://www.iraqdirectory.com/en/

Prying1 sez:
Another thing that really burns me about these people is that many of them were frothing at the mouth to torture Terri Schiavo through dehydration and starvation. As Andrew C. McCarthy wrote Concerning Terri in National Review Online "She'’d be better off if she were a terrorist."

Great Sermon!

Wonderful sermon last Sunday. Really hit home with me and I'm certain that others in the church at the time must have felt their spirits move a step closer in their walks with the Lord. My pastor, Barry Griffing, Jubilee Fellowship in Torrance CA, is big on praise and worship which is a good thing because Scripture clearly teaches that it is. A good thing that is. Well, the sermon was about "Uni-tasking".

These days Multi-tasking is exalted. A Bank of America commercial shows a busy mom feeding her children breakfast, paying her bills online, getting them ready for school and smiling all the while. Compare commercials and movies of today with those of 10, 20 and 30 or more years ago. Speedy of the Alka Seltzer commercials is too slow for today's audience. Images flash and scream past our eyes compared to then. Gatorade commercials top the list as far as I'm concerned but that is just "One man's opinion".

Watch the way some people with the remote control flip through TV channels and depending on their attention span spend either a few seconds or less than a minute on each channel. Short attention spans of children are diagnosed as ADD and the kids are medicated. The list goes on...

I could say more on this but I don't want to lose your attention.

Now, on to the Uni-tasking. When someone learns any sport what is it their coach has them do? Repetition of the same moves. Running through tires, throwing, catching jumping... When a person learns dance the instructor will have them doing the same movements until muscles ache. Learning music involves running through scales until the neighbors throw rocks through windows. The results of this uni-tasking style of practice is a wonderful athlete, dancer or musician. Without it mediocre would be too good a word for the results.

If we want excellence we need to apply uni-tasking before expecting excellence.

The Scripture passage Pastor Barry applied to this concerned Mary and Martha having Jesus over for dinner.
(From Luke Chapter 10:38-42 -NIV-)
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

Thanks to Kris for the pic (see comment # 2)

Note in this passage Martha is multi-tasking. (Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.) Mary is uni-tasking. (Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said.) - Jesus reproved Martha's actions not because he had a big ego, liked to talk and needed a bigger audience but because he knew Martha was really hurting herself through her addiction to multi-tasking. ("you are worried and upset about many things..." - Implied was, "Just sit and listen for a while...") Multi-tasking can bring with it worry, anxiety, depression, obsessive/compulsive behaviour. None of which are good for the human body. Another name for multi-tasking could be "The Martha Syndrome".

The sermon's real point was that we need to be uni-tasking. I think the high point of the sermon was Pastor Barry's lines defining Uni-tasking as doing the one (1) thing God wants us to do (to be doing) right now. This very moment in time. This very second. Would it be for us to be multi-tasking and be filled with anxiety or uni-tasking and listening to His voice? -

prying1 sez: Remember! Practice makes perfect.

ACLU Advisory from Sacred Cow!

image permanently borrowed (until they demand payment) from: Sacred Cow Burgers dot Com

P.S. I'm not responsible for anything you might find on their page. I will admit to laughing a lot but that is it! All lawsuits resulting from clicking on the above link should be directed against the A.C.L.U. -

P.S.to P.S. Any GRATUITIES FOR ME FROM PAYMENTS from any lawsuit from winning against the A.C.L.U. as a result of clicking on the link can be sent to my PayPal account as opposed to Sacred Cow...

Who Gets the Credit?

"It is the soldier, not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the soldier, not the poet,
who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the soldier, not the campus organizer,
who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.

It is the soldier, who salutes the flag,
who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag,
who allows the protester to burn the flag."

Father Dennis Edward O'Brian, USMC

Hat Tip to AubreyJ at AubreyJ.org -

Who gives a Hat tip to Amy P at Follow the Evidence, wherever it leads

AubreyJ says: Amen Father O'Brian

I (prying1) concur.