Liberty's Blog

Recovery

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:09:00 +0000

Everything is frantically hectic all while moving so agonizingly slow. We have been to Galveston 3 times now. The first time was on the 16th. When we were able to rescue Coco our cat. They wouldn't let us return until Wed. On the 24th We got a better chance to assess the damages. No wind or roof damages. the mold was rapidly growing and fuzzy things were everywhere. We met with the car insurace guys (We left one car behind and it got destroyed by the flood waters) Windstorm insurance and Flood insurance guys. We started cleaning up, got some stuff out to the curb. We left at 5:30pm exhausted and not feeling like we had accomplished much.

Yesterday we had some help, I don't know if the guys will ever fully understand just how much their help meant to Equality and I. We started tossing trash out and built a mountain on our curb. Our beautiful little street looked like a bomb went through it so dirty with piles of trash. Our neighbors were working and walking around with that shell shocked look that war veterans know so well. Our gang had moved jammed up refridgerator, desks, dressers, piano, a ton of books washing machine, dryer bedsand paper. Litterally tons of stuff turned trash. Heavy water logged and stinky. There is still a lot to do. There is lots of cleaning, trash removal and remediation left. Drywall, flooring and carpet all yet to be removed. But we left yesterday feeling as though we had accomplished something and made steps forward.

Today we woke up beat and exhausted, Equality and I weren't returning to Galveston. but we were to seek out a place to live. We have been living in a hotel room with 2 cats that don't like each other. Our first stop we found a great place in League City. We will be sharing a place with ruok Equality's sister. Its going to be tight quarters but it will be more comfortable, and we will be a lot closer to Galveston and my job.

On the way home we picked up a new computer (Sony Vaio LT32E) and an HP all-in-one printer scanner fax. We have been using ruok's lap top while she has been in California, and she is going be anxious to get her computer back. We need some capability to make lists and fill out forms and maintain documentation. We were intending on getting a laptop. But this has an added advantage of doubling as a TV pretty kewl I think. So we had a good weekend and a start towards recovery. We do have a long road ahead, but its a lot easier when forward progres scan be seen.

Keeping Us Out and in the Dark

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 01:47:00 +0000

60 thousand of us fled Galveston under the mandatory evacuation orders of Galveston's Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas. 20 thousand stayed. Many of us ran far enough away to flee the flood waters but not from Ike himself. We rode out Ike here 75 miles North of home.

All we want to do is get near home so we can start to mitigate the damage. Tuesday at noon Lyda Anne Thomas announced a look and leave policy. We immediately started our preparations and left towards Galveston to rescue our poor cat Coco whom we had to leave behind. because of long gas lines and long lines to get onto the Island we arrived at our home at 5:30 We did find our Cat and got to quickly survey the damage that 4 feet of water can do to our home. We met some of our neighbors quickly swapped a few war stories and left before 6:00 like we were supposed to. On the way home home we heard on the radio that Lyda Ann decided that the look and leave plan wasn't working like she wanted it to and immediately cancelled the program. There was no explaination the press isn't allowed on the Island and Lyda Anne isn't talking to anyone. The staff is ordered to speak to no one. While contractors are allowed on the Island to work on major businesses we serfs aren't allowed even a short visit attempt to mittigate our damages to our homes and belongings. Everything we have is sitting dank, wet and stewing in mold, While we are forced to do nothing. Thanks Lyda Anne. You have probably caused us more damage to our homes and property than Ike did.

Hurricane Ike kicks Our Ass

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 02:31:00 +0000

We didn't dodge the bullet this time. We ran to Tomball and are quite safe. But Ike tore up Galveston, and our lives. We are doing well, but Ike filled my car and home with the backwaters of Galveston Bay.

Its been an adventure and I will tell more about it later. We just got electric at our refugee camp an hour ago. Tomorrow I return to work for the first time since the adventure began, and I'm tired.

I do find it interesting that 4 days after the storm CNN reports that problems are being solved at Starbucks coffee clutches.

Java was flowing Wednesday at nearly half of the Houston area's 150
Starbucks locations. Perhaps just as welcome to weary residents: So were ideas
about how they could give or receive a helping hand.
"People will be drinking
their coffee, and they'll be talking about clearing out their front lawn [of
debris]. Someone will say, 'I know someone who can take care of that,' " Amy
Christensen, a Houston-based director of business operations for Starbucks, said Wednesday.

Believe me Ike was much more than coffee house chatter fodder for those of us forced to live with it. CNN has shown a poor understanding on the effect of this storm on those directly involved and the rest of the nation. Our ordeal that follows this event will be much more than coffee house gossip

The Evacuating from Ike

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 18:17:00 +0000

Evacuating is such an ordeal. I thought we were well planned, but like every plan, implementation is a different story.

Ruok is off visiting her daughter, who gave birth Wednesday to a beautifull baby girl. Wednesday night we decided it would be a good idea to socialize rouk's cat, Honey, with our Coco. Coco didn't think much of the idea Coco young and spirited didn't think much of her home being invaded. The two cats avoided each other and there was lots of hissing. Coco who normally isn't the most co-operative kitty was just plain pissed at us, We gathered and kennelled Honey and while she didn't come willingly we got her loaded up. Coco however litterally fought me off tooth and nail. It was getting late and we made a decision. We love that cat, but stressing her out trying to gather her up would be cruel. Cats are tough and she has lots of places to climb. We left her lots of food and water. a couple litter boxes and our prayers. We had spent over an hour we didn't have, trying to get her out and couldn't risk our lives by staying longer. We left with Honey and in tears.

There are several things I would have done differently. I would never have brought Honey over to spend the night. Coco is usually a lot more co-operative and getting her into a kennel isn't usually that challenging. I'm also not sure we took the most important things. I took my old computer which has old tax info. We grabbed stuff quickly we don't have our flood insurance papers although we have our regular home and wind insurance papers with us. We brought lots of munchies, we aren't much for booze this is an occassion that requires lots of alcohol to numb this feeling of impending doom.

The ride down here was prety much uneventful. There was pockets where traffic slowed down, but this wasn't a Rita fiasco. Folks were told to run from the water and hide from the wind. Those in danger of the surge tide were told to flee. The best way to handle the winds is to stay home and batten down the hatches. What struck me as fascinating was how the businesses were shut down. The picture here was of Baybrook mall. at 2:30 in the afternoon about 30 miles north of Galveston.

Another weird thing is the people in this area preparing to evacuate. Afterall I came here to the woodlands because I thought it was safe.

Running from Ike

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:25:00 +0000

Hurricane Ike is on its way, best guess is that it will make landfall late tomorrow night somewhere near Colombia Tx. There are 4 of us two people and two cats, Coco who is our cat, and Honey ruok's cat. Unfortunatly they don't like each other much.

Hopefully we will ourselves in Tomball this afternoon. We will still be getting much of the force of the hurricane, but we will get away from any life threating surge tide.

Hopefully, we will be back in a couple of days and complaining how it was all for naught. We are afraid, but we will be safe.

I'll be blogging while away.

Chrome makes its Mark

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 01:25:00 +0000

Google released their new web browser Tuesday and it shows promise. Google has a reputation for releasing Betas that are pretty solid and Chrome is no exception, although it is a beta, it is rock solid and their have been very few reports unstability.

The first thing that one might notice is the clean interface. There is no menu bar, no tool bar. There is a history bar and a navigation bar thats it. Options and functions are accessed from two tiny icons in upper right hand corner. There are lots of keyboard shortcuts. Navigating the way around the program pretty easy. One enters a search or a web site all in the same textbox. Chrome figures out what it's suppose to do.

There is some concern that Chrome is just another method for Google to gather more information about us so that it can aim targeted advertising at us. While Google promises extension and add-on capability it just isn't their yet. One has wonder whether ad blocking will be allowed to work in further versions. Chrome does have a "porn" mode though where site information isn't logged onto ones PC to ensure privacy.

The most important feature of Chrome may be it robustness. Each tab runs within its own process. a super fast Javascript virtual machine called V8 that uses compiled code technology. Active threading helps prevent ant one action from slowing the whole browser down. Google also promises a much improved memory management than either Internet Explorer or FireFox.

Both Microsoft and Firefox are due to release new versions before the end of the year. Firefox is promising enhanced performance with Version 3.1. Microsoft is still prommising not to support Linux or older versions of Windows.

Chrome shows promise, but right now the lack of extensibility to allow ad blocking and not being ready to run on Linux or Mac machines is going to limit it acceptabilty.

Gustav Arrives.

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 17:53:00 +0000

Gustav has made landfall and while the New Orleans levys are being topped by the tidal surges and there is sure to be lots and lots of damages. Biloxi seems to be holding out well so far. The wind has picked up here in Galveston and as you can see the surf in Galveston is magnificent. The storm still blows and its still to early know what the full damages will be, but I think its pretty clear this isn't any Katrina nor even a Rita. Perhaps the biggest casualty of all of this is the Republican Party Convention. I can't help but wonder if they haven't just given away the Presidency by giving up on politicking at this time.

We will want to keep an eye on how fast the refineries come up. If they all come online quickly oil prices won't take to big of a hit.

Gustav Stays Away

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 00:47:00 +0000

It looks like we have been spared from Gustv. New Orleans might be spare from a levy smashing event. Galveston is very quiet for what is supposed to be the last summer time hurrah for the year. The biggest casualty looks like it might be the Republican Convention

Gustav Takes Aim

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 22:30:00 +0000

Cuba is now getting pounded. New Orleans and parts of Louisiana have started their evacuations. Folks in East Texas are buying up gasoline batteries and any other emergency supplies they can find. We in Galveston watch closely, the Island is full this Labor Day weekend. The hotels are full and we here in Galveston aren't going to spook the tourist and their hard cash. We at Liberty Casa. are battening down the hatches, packing up food stuffs and supplies, and making ready to run if need be. So far it looks pretty good. A hurricane watch is set between High Island to Florida. All to the West. We watch we prepare. Maybe tomorrow we leave, until then we watch and we prepare.

The Squelching of America

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:38:00 +0000

Hans A. von Spakovsky a previous commissioner on the Federal Election Commission posts on how the FEC restricts how we might not be as free to speak as we might believe.

You might want to talk to Kirk Shelmerdine, former crew chief for Dale Earnhardt, who races in NASCAR as a field-filler. In 2004 he couldn’t sell advertising on one panel of his car, so he committed the terrible federal crime of putting a Bush/Cheney decal on it. Horror of horrors — he did not report the “value” of that decal to the FEC, thus violating the independent expenditure reporting requirement. After an extensive investigation, the FEC got into a convoluted internal argument about what the value of that decal placement was, i.e., how much would Mr. Shelmerdine have to pay himself to purchase the unsold advertising space on his own car and how much was that worth in the various races he participated in.

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:04:00 +0000

In the town of Marlboro Massachusetts Victor Deeb has has his home raided.

Victor Deeb, a retired chemist who lives in Marlboro, has finally been allowed to return to his Fremont Street home, after Massachusetts authorities spent three days ransacking his basement lab and making off with its contents.
Deeb is not accused of making methamphetamine or other illegal drugs. He's not accused of aiding terrorists, synthesizing explosives, nor even of making illegal fireworks. Deeb fell afoul of the Massachusetts authorities for ... doing experiments.

Authorities concede that the chemicals found in Deeb's basement lab were no more hazardous than typical household cleaning products. Despite that, authorities confiscated "all potentially hazardous chemicals" (which is to say the chemicals in Deeb's lab) from his home, and called in a hazardous waste cleanup company to test the chemicals and clean up the lab.

Are there any property rights left any more? Where does ones right to privacy start and the neighborhood nannyness end. From the Worcestor Telegram reports:

Pamela A. Wilderman, Marlboro’s code enforcement officer, said Mr. Deeb was doing scientific research and development in a residential area, which is a violation of zoning laws.

“It is a residential home in a residential neighborhood,” she said. “This is Mr. Deeb’s hobby. He’s still got bunches of ideas. I think Mr. Deeb has crossed a line somewhere. This is not what we would consider to be a customary home occupation. … There are regulations about how much you’re supposed to have, how it’s detained, how it’s disposed of.”

Mr. Deeb’s home lab likely violated the regulations of many state and local departments, although officials have not yet announced any penalties.

Emphasis of the money quote is mine. Apparently they aren't quit sure about rules or laws Mr. Deeb broke, but their must be some. I wonder what the zoning cops would have thought about Thomas Edison, and Alexander Graham Bell? I wonder where we would be today if these zone cops had been around in the days of Dr. Goddard.

While all this happened in the Peoples Republic of Massachusetts. Heavy handed code enforcement thugs isn't unique to the liberal leftest states. Here in Galveston, Texas I've had my own run in with the Galvestons backyard Gestapo.

I have a backyard with a pool. I hate my pool and it requires a lot of work and money to keep it up. I had been pretty busy and had been on the road a lot. So I backslid on the maintainance on the pool and my mowing dutys. The pump was circulating and we were tossing in massive loads of Chlorine every other day. I had a busy body neighbor take ofeence when he stepped up and peeked over the 6 ft stockade fence. A visit and nasty letter followed. Yeah, I compied like the good sheep, and chpped down the weeds got the pool into shape, but I wonder what right does the the City of Galveston have over what goes on in my fenced in Backyard. There was circulation and chlorine so it wasn't a mosquito issue.

Going Ubuntu

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 23:39:00 +0000

I've been using ever since the beginning. and MS-DOS since 3.0 days. for the most part I enjoyed and got value from each of the operating systems. Each new version of software would slow the newest of hardware to make any speed advantage null and void. I was pretty happy though with the last operating system I bought for myself. was Windows 2000 Pro. It was the best of win 98 with the speed and interoperativity of NT4. When XP came out with the phone home features when one changed a hard drive or a Motherboard. I knew that I would never upgrade further. Vista is only about protecting the vested interest of Hollywood and the music industry.

My computer is aging and I no longer have faith that it will boot every time. Its earned a respectable retirement.

I've been curious about Linux my friends have been suggesting Ubantu, I think I can be happy with it. I am already using OpenOffice.org and Mozilla exclusively. I ordered the parts to build a new computer Monday and they should be in today. Time will tell. I will report here on how I've made out and at what level of satisfaction I've found with my choices.

Osteen Case Falling Apart

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:15:00 +0000

Barbara Shedden changes her mind about the alleged assault. Leaving Sharon Brown holding the bag.

To the shock of even the attorney who called her to the stand, a witness in the trial of Victoria Osteen said Wednesday the Lakewood Church co-pastor did not touch a Continental Airlines flight attendant who has accused her of assault during a confrontation over liquid spilled on a first-class seat.

"It was a complete 180," said Reginald McKamie, who is representing flight attendant Sharon Brown in the civil suit.

McKamie was talking to state District Judge Patricia Hancock about the surprise testimony from plane passenger Barbara Shedden. McKamie said that Shedden told him a different story of what happened on Dec. 19, 2005, and that he expected her to say Osteen was "out of control."

McKamie didn't confront Shedden with alleged prior inconsistent statements while she testified, but tried to call a lawyer who helped interview her. He wanted that lawyer to testify about what Shedden said before coming to court.

Hancock denied the request.

Shedden's statements even surprised Osteen's attorneys, who are expected to repeat the redeeming testimony in closing arguments this morning while recapping an assault trial that before Wednesday had been rife with inflammatory accusations.

Contrary to earlier testimony, Shedden said Osteen pointed at Brown, but never touched her.

"I would have seen it," Shedden said.

"You can tell the jury that this never happened, can't you?" Osteen's attorney, Rusty Hardin, said.

"Yes."
To the shock of even the attorney who called her to the stand, a witness in the trial of Victoria Osteen said Wednesday the Lakewood Church co-pastor did not touch a Continental Airlines flight attendant who has accused her of assault during a confrontation over liquid spilled on a first-class seat.

"It was a complete 180," said Reginald McKamie, who is representing flight attendant Sharon Brown in the civil suit.

McKamie was talking to state District Judge Patricia Hancock about the surprise testimony from plane passenger Barbara Shedden. McKamie said that Shedden told him a different story of what happened on Dec. 19, 2005, and that he expected her to say Osteen was "out of control."

McKamie didn't confront Shedden with alleged prior inconsistent statements while she testified, but tried to call a lawyer who helped interview her. He wanted that lawyer to testify about what Shedden said before coming to court.

Hancock denied the request.

Shedden's statements even surprised Osteen's attorneys, who are expected to repeat the redeeming testimony in closing arguments this morning while recapping an assault trial that before Wednesday had been rife with inflammatory accusations.

Contrary to earlier testimony, Shedden said Osteen pointed at Brown, but never touched her.

"I would have seen it," Shedden said.

"You can tell the jury that this never happened, can't you?" Osteen's attorney, Rusty Hardin, said.

"Yes."

But Sheddon isn't the only one who has changed their mind. Apparently Sharon Brown doesn't believe anymore that Victoria Osteen caused her hemorroids.

In filing her lawsuit, Brown alleged that stress over the incident caused hemorrhoids, but said Wednesday that she no longer believes Osteen was the cause.

In the mean time I've heard no reports of Victoria apologizing to those on the plane that she had inconvenienced because of the flight delay. This stuff is better than anything on TV these days. You just can't make this stuff up.

Well, just maybe you can, it lools like maybe Sharon Brown made some of this up ..

Recovering fromm Edouard

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 10:44:00 +0000

We are slowly recovering from edouard. Picked up the fallen leaf, moved the lawn furniture and pool chemicals from the living room to the back yard. As one can see the rain was badly needed.

Out of the Blue

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 10:22:00 +0000

Tropical storm Edouard is stirring off the shore of Louisiana and promises to stir things up in Galveston. So far we are planning on hunkering down and riding it out. Last night there was talk of it growing into a hurricane. Today not so much. We will be paying close attention.

AT 4 AM CDT...0900 UTC...THE TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS EXTENDED WESTWARD TO SAN LUIS PASS TEXAS. A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS NOW INEFFECT FROM THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER WESTWARD TO SAN LUIS PASS. A TROPICAL STORM WARNING MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

A HURRICANE WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM WEST OF INTRACOASTAL CITY LOUISIANA TO PORT O'CONNOR TEXAS. A HURRICANE WATCH MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE WITHIN THE WATCH AREA...GENERALLY WITHIN 36 HOURS.

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...INCLUDING POSSIBLE INLAND WATCHES AND WARNINGS...PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE.

AT 400 AM CDT...0900Z...THE CENTER OF TROPICAL STORM EDOUARD WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 28.1 NORTH...LONGITUDE 90.1 WEST OR ABOUT 185 MILES...300 KM...SOUTHEAST OF LAFAYETTE LOUISIANA AND ABOUT 295 MILES...475 KM...EAST-SOUTHEAST OF GALVESTON TEXAS.

Coco the cat doesn't seem to concerned yet.

A note from Ireland

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:56:00 +0000

We, in Ireland, can't figure out why people are even bothering to hold
an election in the United States.

On one side, you have a pants-wearing lawyer, married to a lawyer who can't keep his pants on, who just lost a long ...and heated primary against a lawyer who goes to the wrong church who is married to yet another lawyer... who doesn't even like the country her husband wants to run.

Now. . . On the other side, you have a nice old war hero whose name starts with the appropriate "Mc" terminology, ...married to a good looking younger woman who owns a beer distributorship.

What in Lords name are ye lads thinking over there in the colonies ???"

He has a point!

Texas City Police Detain Reporter

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:56:00 +0000

Galveston Daily News reporter was detained Monday for 45 minutes after he refused to show police the pictures he had taken of workers tending to an oil spill. Most of the pictures were taken from a street corner.

Cpl. Tom Robison of the Texas City Police Department, who is also the city’s contact with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, said the police department’s policy is to detain anyone photographing the city’s chemical plants. Police then review photos to see if they pose any threat but do not confiscate cameras or photographs.

“There’s no law that says you can’t take pictures from a public roadway, but the issue becomes: Are any of the shots compromising security measures?” Robison said.

Daily News photographer Kevin M. Cox said he took all but nine of his 36 photos of the oil leak on Marathon Oil Co. property while standing near 14th Street at Eighth Avenue. The remainder he shot a couple feet within an unsecured grassy field, he said.

There is no law because the pictures were taken from a public place, and we have a constitution that is supposed to provide freedom of the press, and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. Perhaps what was really going on is that the Texas City Police were working harder protect the embarrassment of the big refinery, at the expense of the rights of the photographer.

One might be curious how these things are handled in nearby communities:

Steve Gonzales, director of photography for the Houston Chronicle for the past three years, said his staff has never been stopped by law enforcement asking to see pictures of breaking news events, including the recent crane collapse at a Pasadena plant.

Officials with Houston affiliates NBC, CBS and ABC said police haven’t asked to review video footage and they haven’t shown raw video to police before broadcast.

“We’re pretty strict about that in the newsroom,” said Rick McFarland, assistant news director for KPRC Local 2, the Houston NBC affiliate. “No one from law enforcement can see it without a subpoena, and even with a subpoena, we’ll have our First Amendment attorney fight it in court.”

But the Galveston daily news is a small local paper and can't put up the same big fight that the Houston media can. The Texas City Police know this.

To protect and to Serve? Yeah sure, as long as your a big refiner they will do all they can to protect their privacy in an embarrassing moment.

Its blogspots that is The problem.

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:23:00 +0000

A few Blogger blogs are having trouble, the owners can't update them, and Blogger is getting blamed. Must be Brainfarts

Tennessee liberal bloggers Left Wing Cracker, Sharon Cobb, and Vibinc, who all use blogger.com/blogspot.com, have been notified that their blogs were flagged as spam and they were locked out.

Sounds pretty suspicious, but apparently it's not limited to Tennessee blogs, or political blogs. According to the Google blogger help forum, there have been a rash of such incidents over the past week or two from all over. My guess is that they unleashed a "new and improved" spam hunting bot and it had a brain fart.

The problem isn't with Blogger software and publishing, it is with the free blogspot hosting. Get your own domain and these lockout problems will go away. Blogger is actually pretty reliable and very functional once you dump blogspot.

Censorship in Memphis

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 01:55:00 +0000

Memphis police have a leak in their department. Someone is blogging about the family department secrets and the department doesn't like it at all.

Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin and the city of Memphis have filed a lawsuit to learn who operates a blog harshly critical of Godwin and his department.

The lawsuit asks AOL to produce all information related to the identity of an e-mail address linked to MPD Enforcer 2.0, a blog popular with police officers that has been extremely critical of police leadership at 201 Poplar.

These things typically don't turn out to well for the government agencies. The suits give the blogs more attention, and the departments just look like they have something to hide. Perhaps Larry Godwin should have paid attention to the GISD watch fiasco .

Silence at the L.A. Times.

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty) — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 22:25:00 +0000

The Los Angeles Times has thrown the "Cone of Silence" around their perimeters by forbidding any mention of the National Enquirer's story of the the Edwards/Reille Hunter story. I'm not one that rellishes gossip and puts much confidence in the veracity of the National Enquirer. But the media' s cold refusal to even mention that the story exist is convincing evidence in itself that there is something to this story. In fact it is the real story.

Elizabeth Edwards is the real victim here.

Roads of Texas

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 12:25:00 +0000

Banjo has a video, a travelogue of Texas.

Texas is not only big, its pretty darn diverse.

Salt Water Tea

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 14:52:00 +0000

The good folks in Massachusetts are fed up, Fuel oil, gasoline and the price of just about everything has gone up. In 1773 the good folks being fed up with the taxes rebelled and tossed some tea into the harbor. Looks like there might be some more tea in the makin'.

"I think people are frustrated and are looking at a way of expressing it," said state Rep. John Lepper, R-Attleboro.

State Rep. Betty Poirier, R-North Attleboro, agreed.

"There is a great deal of frustration out there regarding the cost of everything going up," she said. "I have constituents who say they cannot afford the gas to get to work. I would not be surprised if it passed."

A group calling itself Committee for Smaller Government is sponsoring the move and has collected enough signatures to get it on the November ballot. If passed, it would end the state income tax, which accounts for $11 billion, or almost 40 percent of state revenue.

"We want to save the people and the businesses of Massachusetts from economic ruin caused by high taxes and big government," said Carla Howell, leader of the group.

"We want low taxes to attract business, jobs and talent into the state, rather than allowing high taxes to drive them out of state. We want taxpayers to get back an average or $3,600 every year to save, spend, or give away as they see fit," she said. "With more tax dollars back in the hands of the workers who earned it, people in need will have a real chance to better their lives through private charity that is effective, dignified and humane."

Yeah. 40% of the budget would be eliminated. Maybe the The voters will approve and maybe they won't. While the rest of the nation sees a very liberal state there are powerful elements of rebellian and libertarianism running through the blood those yankee veins. If they pass this resolution it too will be the shot heard round the world, and could likely initiate taxpayer rebelians through every state.

Banjo's Photo Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 16:18:00 +0000

Nice shot, but I think luck has something to do with it.

New Phones

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 10:56:00 +0000

We got some new phones. Three of them all Motorola's: The Krzr K1, RAZR2 V8 and the W490. We replaced 2 Razr V3's and a a basic Samsung.

We sent the W490 to my sister-in-law, ruok. I never got to play with it much, but it seems to be a very nice phone and simular in operation to the KRZR. It has a 1.3 Mhz Camera, records video. and has a slot for a micro SD card.

Equality, my wife, got the Razr2 V8. It is a sleek fine looking phone. It's even thinner than our old RAZR's. Such a thin yet it seems ruggedly built. The T-mobile site clams it uses a micro SD card but I couldn't find the slot I don't think it exist, the manual doesn't mention it. It doesn't matter, because there are 2 gigs of storage available anyway. The RAZR comes with a charger, a USB cable, and a CD. It won't connect to my Windows 2000 machine. It won't connect as another disk drive or install the CD. The CD installed just fine on Equality's XP computer and uses the Windows Media program for a front end to load and sync music. Ironic that Motorola would use the open source Linux OS to run their phone, but be so limited in what software is used to connect the the phone. Once the drivers and software is installed on an XP machine though you can then access the files through Windows Explorer. This is not the phone for Apple or Linux users.

The KRZR K1 is my phone, It is a slick silvery case that attract fingerprints, about as long as the RAZR but thicker and more narrow. It uses a more traditional user interface. My Windows 2000 computer found it and adding music files is done simply by using Windows Explorer. I don't really intend on using it to listen to much music though. The KRZR doesn't seem to support much of a playlist. Both the KRZR and the RAZR have 2.0 MP cameras While I've seen some reviews that pan the cameras, I'm impressed with the quality and convenience of the cameras on these phones. The KRZR came with a 256 Meg micro SD card which will store a bunch of pictures. It can suport a 2 gig card, but I haven't decided yet whether I'll ever need that much.

I wanted a unique ring for my phone, and I thought the that the opening bars of the theme from the movie, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. I had an MP3 of the whole thing and used the free program Audacity to cut out the part that I wanted and copied it on to the the phone. There is no need to pay for ring tones.

Calls on all the are very sharp and clear in fact moble to moble is typically clearer than what we can get on our ATT landlines.

The real test of any cellular phone though is how well they hold up over time. We shall see!

The Phoenix

noreply@blogger.com (Liberty) — Sun, 25 May 2008 12:59:00 +0000

Built from the remains of 2 missions gone bad. The Phoenix will make an attempt to land inthe Northern region of Mars. The BBC has a great animation on the complex landing sequence with a nice summation of the mission

Update: 19:00
A successful landing!

The Mars Phoenix lander touched down late on Sunday GMT in the far north of the Red Planet, after a 680-million-km (423-million-mile) journey from Earth.
The probe is equipped with a robotic arm to dig for water ice thought to be buried beneath the surface.
Scientists say the mission should give the clearest indication yet of whether the planet could once have harboured primitive life.