Schools not getting job done

This is just sad.

"'No state requires its graduates to take the courses that reflect the real-world demands of work and postsecondary education,' said the report released last week. 'Too many American youth leave high school with a diploma in hand but largely unprepared for the opportunities and challenges that await them in college and the workplace.'"

The Tree!

This is the tree that we use every Christmas! 

The Bird!

The company that I work for has a tradition of giving each employee either a turkey or a ham at Christmas. This is a picture of the smoked turkey that I got, this year. Yay! 

Court Says Disputed Votes Can Be Counted

"The Washington state Supreme Court has ruled in favor of state Democrats. It ruled that King County should include hundreds of disputed ballots in its hand recount for the governor's race."

Why?

Bank's account closings eyed

"After three years as an AmSouth Bank customer, Imad Aleithawe got a one-page form letter telling him his account had been closed.

The bank refuses to explain why, citing confidentiality and a broadly written customer agreement allowing accounts to be shut down at any time, 'for any reason.'"

House arrest: Pro and "con"

"'Why even send them to prison?' asked Robert Owens of Greenville, who raised questions in 1996 about association spending after he'd raised thousands for the burn center. 'It's a slap in the face of those who entrusted the system to prosecute and make sure the man is paying for his crime. Instead, he's home watching TV. There are patients staying longer in the burn center than he was in prison.'"

Hard work wins -- still

"A 1994 Times-Mirror Center survey showed that fewer blacks earning more than $50,000 a year believe 'everyone has the power to succeed' in America, than do low-income whites. 'Social programs' like AFDC and food stamps -- government programs designed to 'uplift' the inner city -- create dependency, lessen initiative and harm the very people the do-gooders want to help. During a 1977 Senate hearing on the impact of government programs on neighborhoods, liberal Sen. William Proxmire, D-Wisc., told a witness, 'You would probably have better neighborhoods today if there had been no federal programs at all!'"

Condi's First Test: The Oil-for-Food Scandal

"Although the Iraqi elections on January 30 will top her incoming agenda, the first real indicator of Condi Rice's tenure as Secretary of State will be how she handles something most in her new department would rather ignore: the United Nations' oil-for-food scandal."

The New And Improved Racism

"Still furious about the election, liberals are lashing out at blacks. First it was Condoleezza Rice. But calling a Ph.D. who advised a sitting president during war 'Aunt Jemima' apparently hasn't satiated the Democrats' rage. Even the racist cartoons didn't help.

So this week, they've turned with a vengeance to Clarence Thomas. Only the Democrats would try to distract from their racist attacks on one black Republican by leveling racist attacks against a different black Republican. If Democrats don't nip this in the bud, soon former Klanner and Democratic Sen. Bob Byrd will be their spokesman."

Famous Atheist Now Believes in God

"A British philosophy professor who has been a leading champion of atheism for more than a half-century has changed his mind. He now believes in God more or less based on scientific evidence, and says so on a video released Thursday.

At age 81, after decades of insisting belief is a mistake, Antony Flew has concluded that some sort of intelligence or first cause must have created the universe. A super-intelligence is the only good explanation for the origin of life and the complexity of nature, Flew said in a telephone interview from England."

French Judge: ATMs Help Finance Militants

"Radical Islamic cells in Europe are using an ingenious way to finance terror networks that's virtually impossible to trace: withdrawing hundreds of thousands of dollars a month from cash machines with fake credit cards, according to France's top anti-terrorism judge."

One-time radical drops teaching plans

"A former leftist radical who spent 16 years in prison for possessing explosives has withdrawn from teaching a college seminar after her hiring sparked protests.

Susan Rosenberg made her decision because it was in the best interest of all parties, Hamilton College officials said Wednesday.

In response to her hiring, prospective students withdrew applications and donors rescinded hundreds of thousands of dollars in pledges, school officials said."

Marine 'hostage' to be charged with desertion

"A U.S. Marine who disappeared in Iraq and then showed up in a purported hostage video before later appearing as a free man in Lebanon, is being charged with desertion, Pentagon officials said Thursday."

NAACP Head Mfume Didn't Retire, He Was Booted Out

Don’t believe the well scripted press conference where former President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Kweisi Mfume, announced his resignation. Mfume did not resign from the nation’s oldest and most prestigious civil rights organization. He was kicked out, following a long simmering feud with NAACP Chairman Julian Bond.

Politicians want to raise our taxes, again!

"In 1969, when the average Mississippi worker brought home $46 a week, the $5 it took to register a car title was a 10-percent bite out of that weekly paycheck.

Today, the average worker brings home $448 a week. And the car title fee? The same $5, or less than 1 percent of a week's pay.

'It's unbelievable,' said state House Appropriations Committee Chairman Johnny Stringer, D-Montrose. 'The car title fee hasn't been raised in 35 years. It costs the state money every time we issue one.'"

What's unbelievable is the fact that lawmakers seem more inclined to raise taxes, rather than to cut unnecessary expenses.

Immigration enforcement grows weaker

"Immigration enforcement efforts actually have become more lax since the September 11 attacks and have had 'no meaningful impact' on the growing number of immigrants now in the United States — which has reached a record high of 34 million, according to a report released yesterday.

A 13 percent increase of U.S. immigrants, more than 4 million, since 2000 included more than 2 million illegal aliens, who now total about 10 million or 30 percent of the immigrant population, the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), said in its report, based on as-yet-unpublished U.S. Census Bureau data."

Melee in Chile seen as 'big deal'

"White House officials were still shaking their heads in disbelief yesterday that President Bush personally had to rescue a U.S. Secret Service agent from angry Chilean security officials Saturday night.

'This is a pretty big deal,' said a senior White House official, who called the incident a 'melee.'

'I mean, the guy who was supposed to be guarded had to rescue the guy who was supposed to be guarding him.'

The official expressed astonishment that Chilean security officials had stopped the No. 2 agent on Mr. Bush's security detail from accompanying the president into a meeting with another world leader, an unprecedented public breach of security arrangements agreed upon in advance."

Dolphins save swimmers from shark

"A pod of dolphins circled protectively round a group of New Zealand swimmers to fend off an attack by a great white shark, media reported on Tuesday.

Lifesavers Rob Howes, his 15-year-old daughter Niccy, Karina Cooper and Helen Slade were swimming 100 metres (300 feet) off Ocean Beach near Whangarei on New Zealand's North Island when the dolphins herded them -- apparently to protect them from a shark."

Show's over for the video recorder

"Video recorders have taken a step closer to extinction after Britain's largest electrical supplier said it would stop selling VCRs to concentrate on their successor, the DVD.

Dixons said on Monday demand for video cassette recorders had fallen dramatically since the mid-1990s while sales of DVD players, which cost as little as £25 ($46) had grown seven-fold in the past five years.

The chain said sales of higher-quality digital DVD players now outstripped sales of VCRs -- with their clunky tapes and habit of chewing up valuable recordings -- by a ratio of 40 to one."

Big brother is watching (or could, if he wanted to)

"Next time you make a printout from your color laser printer, shine an LED flashlight beam on it and examine it closely with a magnifying glass. You might be able to see the small, scattered yellow dots printe[d] there that could be used to trace the document back to you."

Thunderbird - Reclaim Your Inbox

Thunderbird 0.8 is Mozilla's next generation e-mail client. Thunderbird makes emailing safer, faster, and easier than ever before with the industry's best implementations of features such as intelligent spam filters, a built-in spell checker, extension support, and much more.

Update: The latest version of Thunderbird is now 0.9. Above link (post title) goes to information about the latest version.

I assembled a computer cart, today. This is a photograph of the parts that were left over, when I had finished. 

Errand Day

This morning, I took my Mom to the pharmacy, the post office, and the grocery store. Since the store that she has patronized for thirty or forty years is closing, we went to another.

I mowed the front and back yards today to dispose of all of the leaves. The lawnmower mulches the leaves quite nicely, and I prefer the lawnmower method over the leaf blower method.

This afternoon, I took my Mom shopping for some flannel pajamas and some fleece-lined bedroom slippers.

U.S. on Lonely Mission in Sudan

Follow the money.

America is on a lonely mission to end the crisis in Sudan.

The United States is pushing for U.N. sanctions against the east African nation. But U.S.-sponsored resolutions have met resistance in the U.N. Security Council -- particularly from China and Pakistan, which have major oil deals in the African country. Algeria, which is a fellow Arab league member, also is an obstacle.

Too much food, not too little, plagues U.S. children

The other day, I heard a public service announcement, which had been recorded by First Lady Laura Bush, regarding hunger in America. In the announcement, Ms. Bush said that one out of four (or it may have been one out of five) children in America "face hunger" every day. The statement concerned me. There was no definitation of what to "face hunger" meant. I did some research on the Internet, and found an article on the web site of USAToday, the gist of which is that the problem is not hunger, but too much of the wrong kinds of foods.

My favorite hamburger: a Burger King Angus Steakburger with cheese and bacon added. 

Rather not

To say that Dan Rather has often shown poor judgment would be an understatement comparable to saying that hurricanes are windy. This is the same man who flew to Baghdad to interview Saddam Hussein on the eve of the 2003 invasion, providing the Iraqi dictator with a worldwide propaganda outlet in which to promote his murderous regime.

From "Rather not," by Dr. Thomas Sowell.

Unprecedented ...

Carter is Half Right

In a letter sent over the weekend, Carter blasted Miller's speech as "rabid and mean-spirited" and argued it demonstrated "unprecedented disloyalty."

I would rather say that Miller's speech dispalyed unprecedented loyalty to his country, as he refused to follow the party line and chose, instead, to speak his conscience regarding what he thinks is best for his family and his country.

I went to the movie

Went to see Alien vs. Predator. Although I read a review that said it was targeted toward twelve-year-olds, I enjoyed it. The Internet Movie Database has information about the movie. The web site Rotten Tomatoes has some reviews.

Our "friends"

Pakistan's assault on militants protested

Thousands of people took to the streets of Rawalpindi and other Pakistani cities Friday to protest the government's offensive against suspected Islamic militants in tribal areas near the border with Afghanistan.

Testing BlogJet

I have installed an interesting application - BlogJet. It's a cool Windows client for my blog tool (as well as for other tools). Get your copy here: http://blogjet.com

"Computers are useless. They can only give you answers." -- Pablo Picasso

Musharraf: 'High-value' al Qaeda target may be surrounded in Pakistan

We shall see. The so-called "high value target" may be Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, according to The Associated Press and Reuters news services.

I wonder if the Pakistani forces will let the "high value target" escape?

Kerry fails to back up foreign 'endorsements'

Do you suppose that Kerry was just "kidding?" You would think that, if he was really serious about this, he would offer some proof, not just his "word." Eh?

Car bomb kills at least 40 in Iraq

At least 40 people were killed and dozens more wounded Tuesday morning in a car bomb attack south of Baghdad, a senior Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.

Muslim Indoctrination of Schoolchildren

U. S. Courts outlaw Christianity in the classroom but allow teaching of Islam

Mozilla Firebird - Next Generation Browser

New build of a fantastic web browser available, and it is free!

American Envoy Visits N. Korea Nuke Facility

An "unofficial" delegation of Americans visited North Korea's Yougbyon nuclear facility, and the North Korean regime issued a statement claiming that the visitors were shown its "nuclear deterrent."

U.S. Arrests 30 Iraqis in Tikrit Raid

Why is it that these raids to round up terrorists in Iraq seem to always be staged AFTER an attack upon coalition troops?

Bush to Announce New Missions to Moon, Mars

President Bush will announce plans next week to send Americans to Mars and establish a permanent human presence on the moon, senior administration officials said Thursday night.

New Desktop Blogging Client

Just downloaded and installed a new desktop blogging client, PowerBlog.

Brave New World in ... New Jersey?

Stories in both TownHall.com and Baptist Press News cover the New Jersey cloning bill, which is nearing a vote in the N. J. legislature.

Here's what I'm talkin' 'bout, Willis!

This morning, I caught a few minutes of an infomercial on television. It was advertising some type of weight loss and body building program by BeachBody.com, but that is not what is important. What is important is that seeing that commercial has motivated me to lose some weight and tone up in general.

Here's the deal: I'm six feet tall and of medium build, yet I weigh over 200 pounds, and I'm flabby. Ugh! That is too much! I don't know exactly how much I do weigh, because I don't own a scale. I will buy one, to keep track of my progress.

What this whole effort boils down to is will-power. If I have the will-power, then I'll be able to stick to a schedule that will ultimately change the "bad" habits of (1) eating too much of the wrong foods and not enough of the right foods and (2) not exercising, into the "good" habits of (1) eating the right foods (in the right quantities) and (2) adopting a life-long regimen of exercising.

This afternoon, I am going to the coin-operated laundry. While I am out, I will go to Wal-Mart and buy a scale. After I get back to the house, I'll weigh myself. Then, I will weigh myself every week to see what progress I've made toward my goal, which is a weight of 175 pounds at the end of ten weeks. I'll post my progress here.