Can I have another 8 hours today, please?

UGH.
If it is not one thing, it is 10 others.

Woke up today assuring myself that I would finish the rebuild of my son's computer. Just a simple reload. But one failed HD after another, one problem after another means after one day, I am still trying to get windows to install from the start.

And, waking up today, found that my living room's DirectTV satellite receiver was not putting out audio. So, I restarted the receiver. It was at this point the day went downhill. I could not get a channel list back. I had good and strong satellite strength, but it would not retrieve the channels from DirectTV.

My upstairs bedroom unit was still getting channels. So, I brought that unit down thinking my living room unit was bad now. I plugged it in downstairs and it went through its turned on initialization. This unit then could not download the channels. DirectTV said that it was my setup. They will be sending out a tech on Monday between 8 and 12. yea. Can't wait. Well, guess I will have to.

I brought the bedroom unit back upstairs and plugged it in, and it STILL could not retrieve the channel list from DirectTV. So, therefore, I knew that the problem was not with my downstairs machine nor the downstairs cable. Switching out the feed cables from one room to another did not solve anything.

I did notice that through the day, my SAT C signal kept dropping. So, I adjusted the antenna so that I have 90 with Sat-A, 91 with Sat-B and 80 with Sat-C.

Now, I have a whole weekend with no playoff football games.

On Huckabee

From Peggy Noonan at the Journal:

Mr. Huckabee likes to head-fake people into thinking he's Gomer Pyle, but he's more like the barefoot boy of the green room. He's more James Carville than Jim Nabors.

What we have learned about Mr. Huckabee the past few months is that he's an ace entertainer with a warm, witty and compelling persona. He won with no money and little formal organization, with an evangelical network, with a folksy manner, and with the best guileless pose in modern politics.

From the mail I have received the past month after criticizing him in this space, I would say his great power, the thing really pushing his supporters, is that they believe that what ails America and threatens its continued existence is not economic collapse or jihad, it is our culture.

Very true to a point. Our culture has been/is under attack from within. Christians feel more attack, right now, from within our government's walls that from the external Islamic extremists. Though, tell Christians living in or near Islam dominated lands what is more important: their lives or their identity.

They have been bruised and offended by the rigid, almost militant secularism and multiculturalism of the public schools; they reject those schools' squalor, in all senses of the word. They believe in God and family and America.

They believe that Mr. Huckabee, the minister who speaks their language, shares, down to the bone, their anxieties, concerns and beliefs. They fear that the other Republican candidates are caught up in a million smaller issues--taxing, spending, the global economy, Sunnis and Shia--and missing the central issue: again, our culture. They are populists who vote Republican, and as I have read their letters, I have felt nothing but respect.

Again. True. But what about this feeling that Huckabee can make these changes to our culture? Peggy continues...

But there are two problems. One is that while the presidency, as an office, can actually make real changes in the areas of economic and foreign policy, the federal government has a limited ability to change the culture of America. That is something conservatives used to know. Second, I'm sorry to say it is my sense that Mr. Huckabee is not so much leading a movement as riding a wave. One senses he brilliantly discerned and pursued an underserved part of the voting demographic, and went for it. Clever fellow. To me, the tipoff was "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?"

I ask, Are his supporters really republican? they for sure are not conservative, esp those that call Huckabee a conservative. It is painfully obvious that he is far from being a conservative. I think he is being undercut by fake republicans who.. as Peggy calls.. are populists.

There is no way a true conservative, or even a good republican, can put their support behind Huckabee. Even if it is for pro-christian beliefs, they can't believe that voting in this guy will lead to changes just by having him in the office.

Utter Insanity Again Rears Its Head In France

From Fox News.com:

France's most drastic measure to curb smoking went into effect Wednesday with a full ban on lighting up in cafes, restaurants and discotheques, a sea change for a country where the cigarette came to symbolize the French way of life.

A New Year's Day reprieve allowed revelers their last legal drags in public places before the new law took effect.

"You have to be vigilant. We caught one at the counter this morning," said Maria Boyer at a cafe near the famed Champs-Elysees.

"I just ask people to be nice and avoid the fines," she said, noting that cafe owners who ignore the ban must pay up, too.

Banning smoking everywhere but in private homes and in the streets is the latest measure in a progressive crackdown that began 15 years ago with the start of steady price hikes on cigarettes and a requirement that public places create nonsmoking areas — the first curb on smoking in cafes.

Smoking is now allowed only inside special sealed chambers, which are costly to install.

Between a predicted drop in sales of cigarettes and possible fines for failing to capture cheaters, Boyer is worried about the health of her cafe, which also sells cigarettes.

"This money will be missing from the coffers at the end of the year," she said. "There will be people without jobs."

I still do not understand.... why allow the sale of cigs if it is illegal to smoke them?!?!!?!?!? If these socialist nazi governments want people to stop smoking, then make the cig illegal, don't cheat by making a legal product illegal to use. This is just so wrong.

This is just like selling cars but making them illegal to drive. INSANITY.

Is Clinton Back As President??!?!

From the International Herald Tribune:

Six months ago, the U.S. government quietly eased some restrictions on the export of sensitive technologies to China. The new approach was intended to help U.S. companies increase sales of high-technology equipment to China despite tight curbs on sharing technology that might have military applications.

But now the administration is facing questions from weapons experts about whether some equipment - newly authorized for export to Chinese companies deemed trustworthy by Washington - could instead end up helping China modernize its military. Equally worrisome, the weapons experts say, is the possibility that China could share the technology with Iran or Syria.

Isn't that what the Republicans lambasted the Clinton administration for years ago? For giving China technology that ultimately allowed them to launch rockets and ICBMs? And now China is shooting for the moon with aspirations of taking it over.

Well, you may say that the technology is not like that which was shared by the Clinton administration. I say you are wrong. Dead wrong.

The technologies include advanced aircraft engine parts, navigation systems, telecommunications equipment and sophisticated composite materials.

Why in the hell are we even doing business with China in a military fashion? I can understand allowing them to send us cheap-ass products, but to freely give them highly sophisticated equipment and materials that our own people could not get??? This is treasonous. This undermines the security of our nation in the most outlandish way: out in the open.

But you say, are there not licensing controls to make sure the right Chinese people get these things. Nay I say. Again, why are we even contemplating the transfer of high technological and militarily sensitive material to China?!!?!?!

But while imposing license requirements for the transfer of these technologies, the administration is also validating certain Chinese companies so that they can import these technologies without licenses. Five such companies were designated in October, but as many as a dozen others are in the pipeline for possible future designation.

This just makes me sick. Makes me really, really sick. We have more enemies within our own administration and legislature than exist outside our borders.

Mario Mancuso, the under secretary of commerce for security and industry, said the new system was resulting in more effective protections.

"We believe that the system we have set up ensures that we are protecting our national security consistent with our goal of promoting legitimate exports for civilian use," he said during an interview. "We have adopted a consistent, broad-based approach to hedging against helping China's military modernization."

cough, BULLCRAP, cough. "We have made the valley safer by making the cracks in the massive dam smoother. This way the cracks do not lead to further cracks. The increased flow of water out of the dam ensures that we are protecting our natural valley." cough, BULLCRAP, cough.

But the Wisconsin Project report, made available to The New York Times, asserts that two nonmilitary Chinese companies designated as trustworthy are in fact high risk because of links to the Chinese government, the Peoples Liberation Army and other Chinese entities accused in the past of ties to Syria and Iran.

Attacks On Christians Increasing

Reading my headline, from what country do you think I am referring to? Do you think I refer to China and its recent attacks and jailings of Christians who do not worship the state mandated/sanctioned religion? Do you think I am going to speak of a Muslim governed country where the practice of any other religion is done only under threat of death. If Christians, or Muslim converts to Christianity, are caught by the Muslim Police, they are put to death.

No. My title refers to a recent news article in the ... Fort Worth CBS 11 website.

Yep. Expect to see more like this in the future...

A passenger on a Fort Worth bus says the T. Bus Service discriminated against her religion.

Christine Lutz says she was reading her Bible to her children when the bus driver asked her to stop or get off the bus.

Lutz, a Seventh Day Adventist, and her children were on their way to church.

"She then said, 'Well I don't think this is the place or the time to do so.' And I said, 'Oh, but it's the perfect time and the perfect place since it is our Sabbath and it is the time with the Lord and therefore I'm going to continue.' And I continued," she explained.

Then, a TRE supervisor came on board. Lutz also told him that she would not stop reading. She and her family were escorted off the bus.

Now, it that doesn't quite shock you enough (which it should make you furious!), then the statements by a Texas state Representative ought to make you grab your guns to defend your life, liberties and freedom of religion.

"Anyone who is loud will be asked to be quiet," said representative Joan Hunter. "That is a standard policy across country in the transit industry."

It doesn't matter what is said, the T has a policy of no loud or abusive behavior.

"It's only if the other passengers will complain, or it's obviously so loud it's distracting the operator, that we will ask them to stop," Hunter explained.

Was there an indication that she was loud? Was she reading LOUDLY to her children? If so, one must ask, why would she? Why would a mother who is sitting next to her kids read LOUDLY? She wouldn't of course unless she wants to bursts her kid's eardrums. So, that leave the second reason that her reading from the bible was an abusive behavior.

Question. Why is a state rep coming to the rescue of a local transit administration and making accusations against this mother of two?

Reading out loud from the bible now is considered abusive behavior. No question. It is a statement. Christians have been under attack for over a decade now. They have been attacking our holidays and any expression of our holy days. Now, they attack our freedom to read.

If you have had problems agreeing with those who say that Christians or Christmas has been under attack, then please explain this story to me.

Illegal to save your own music now???

from Washington Post:

"Now, in an unusual case in which an Arizona recipient of an RIAA letter has fought back in court rather than write a check to avoid hefty legal fees, the industry is taking its argument against music sharing one step further: In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.

The industry's lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from legally bought CDs are "unauthorized copies" of copyrighted recordings."

... wow. I believe this will completely backfire on the music industry. This will only spur more animosity towards them drawing more people to do things illegally so as to not allow the flow of their money to these music nazis.

It has been long legal standing that people are allowed to save media for personal use. Recorded video from tv is what started this. Big Media sued when VCRs came out saying that people could not record and save publicly broadcasted television shows. They were thrown out with their long tails between their legs. If you were to buy a show on a DVD, why couldn't you save it to your media center? That is the purpose of media centers. It has also been long standing legal practice that people are allowed to make backup copies of software they purchase.

So, for Big Music to now claim that it is illegal for people to save their music files to digital format is wholly illogical. If this was the case, then what would be the point of ipods, portable media players, mp3 phones and the like?

I think Big Music has now gone far beyond reality and have jumped off the edge. Their actions will only lead people to seek backlashes against them. No matter how this turns out, Big Music will now be seen as the Evil in the nation. If they win their case, then things will turn out much worse for Big Music.

UPDATE (12/31/07): From Fox News.com....

Schwartz is a partner in DeConcini McDonald Yetwin & Lacy, the family firm of former Sen. Dennis DeConcini, R-Ariz.

"It is undisputed that Defendant possessed unauthorized copies of Plaintiffs' copyrighted sound recordings on his computer," the brief states. "Virtually all of the sound recordings on Exhibit B are in the '.mp3' format. ... Defendant admitted that he converted these sound recordings from their original format to the .mp3 format for his and his wife's use. ... Once Defendant converted Plaintiffs' recording into the compressed .mp3 format and they are in his shared folder, they are no longer the authorized copies distributed by Plaintiffs."

The RIAA's own Web site is more conciliatory, but implies that the organization reserves the right to go after music "rippers" should it change its mind.

"If you make unauthorized copies of copyrighted music recordings ... you could be held legally liable for thousands of dollars in damages," it plainly states before adding that "transferring a copy onto your computer hard drive or your portable music player won't usually raise concerns so long as the copy is made from an authorized original CD that you legitimately own [or] the copy is just for your personal use."

However, Schwartz isn't the only RIAA bigwig who's recently implied that those concerns may be raised more often.

Copying a song you've paid for in CD form is "a nice way of saying 'steals just one copy,'" Sony BMG top lawyer Jennifer Pariser testified during cross-examination in the Jammie Thomas case in early October.

Are you mad yet? What about ripping a vinyl record or cassette tape to MP3?? Yep, according to these nazis, you are stealing. Are you mad yet?

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from America Supports You.com