That’s right, I’ve finally moved over to WordPress and redid the site to look a little better. I’ll be tweaking the look over the next few days but this should load a whole lot faster now. I’ve also changed my comment policy to reflect that I’m using WordPress which is more conducive to control and less “spammy” than Movable Type.
Like the change? Hate it? Let me know.
By and large, I think it went well. There is a marked difference between the people that attended and those who tend to write in or run off their mouth on the internet, and that was an unexpected surprise. One such comment from someone not even in the state any more was:
This is why the only proper confrontation with Bambi should involve him on the business end of something no smaller than .40 S&W.
Someday, God willing, that will be legal.
Luckily people like that aren’t the ones contributing and making society, the kind of people that were at the debate were. And by and large they were thoughtful, intelligent, and reasonable people.
I’ve changed my comment policy due to spam because I’m tired of posting maybe once a week and getting 50 spam comments. You have to sign up for an account either here or through typekey in order to comment. It isn’t hard, and I’m sure people can figure it out.
I used to have this fantastic coffee mug with a Sun logo. It was black ceramic and could hold about a gallon of coffee which is essential for net/sysadmins who don’t want to refuel every 5 minutes. Well, it disappeared and I think the janitorial staff liberated it, but that’s not the point. I was left without my favorite coffee mug. So in a fit of obnoxiousness, I email Sun to get a replacement. The e-mail trail is below as is the swag they sent. The coffee mug is average, it’s basically a standard travel mug. But the leather case of misc. USB/Firewire adaptors, a mouse, and an earbud-mic thingy and such is pretty neat and highly useful, so I give Sun high marks.
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From: XXXX@Sun.COM [mailto:XXXX@Sun.COM]
Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2006 10:36 AM
To: me
Subject: [Fwd: SESWEB - Questions regarding courses.]]
Dear Mr Bambenek-
Wake up! Off the couch! Snap out of it please! And please know that a Sun education marketing manager has taken pity on your situation. Our fulfillment house should be contacting you soon for your address, so that we can send you a Sun-logoed item. I can’t promise it will be a coffee mug, but rest assured you will have a treasure from Sun to brighten your days.
We can only hope you will be a trifle more careful with things you receive from us in the future, otherwise we will worry incessantly about your welfare.
Cheers,
XXXX
p.s. Contact me if you don’t receive an item.
QUESTION
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For the past week I’ve been feeling a nagging vacuum that has been present in my life. I’ve been lethargic and unmotivated to handle life’s challenges. It was only until recently I have discovered the cause of this crisis, I had lost my Sun Ed coffee mug!
Much to my shock and horror, this mug has simply disappeared leaving me in an uncaffeinated state of dismay rivaling that of postal workers. It is the lack of this highly prized item, the black extra-large mug that enabled me to at once consume copious amounts of caffeine and to render poor service to my users with my trademark wit and disdain for humanity.
Without this mug I am left with the expressionless demeanor of your standard DMV desk clerk.
I appeal to your sense of decency and justice to fill the void in my life that has been left in the wake of my lost mug and find it in your heart to send me a replacement.
Lethargically yours,
John Bambenek
January 30, 2006 Guard the Borders Blogburst
By Heidi
This first month of 2006 has seen a spate of unprecedented media attention to on-going border breaches such as drug smuggling tunnels and Mexican Army incursions. Deceitful Mexican government officials have disavowed any knowledge of such breaches, instead presenting laughable theories of “American soldiers disguised as Mexicans”. Even our own Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, has covered for the Mexicans by dismissing border incursion as mere navigational “mistakes”. (He’s failed to comment on the gunfire from said “lost” Mexican soldiers.)
No one is fooled. Our border agents continue to risk their lives confronting heavily armed Mexican soldiers and smuggling gangs, while our own American citizens living on the border continue to petition our government for security - to no avail. Two American states, Arizona and New Mexico, have declared a state of emergency in their states, as the financial and societal obligation of caring for illegal immigrants crushes their economy and resources.
In four states, the two above plus Texas and California, the new majority is the Hispanic, though mostly illegal. Such a disparity between law-abiding, tax-paying American citizens has caused the unconscionable situation to develop that the minority now pays for the services and support of the majority.
In the meantime, trillions of American dollars flow out of our economy and into Mexico’s in the form of tax-free cash remittances from illegal labor. These cash disbursements are the largest form of income for the country of Mexico:
Remittances “are our biggest source of foreign income, bigger than oil, tourism or foreign investment,” Fox told reporters after a meeting with Mexican-American businessmen.
“The 20 million Mexicans in the United States generate a gross product that is slightly higher than the $600 billion generated by Mexicans in Mexico,” Fox said, adding that his country has the ninth-largest economy in the world.
“If we could add up the two products, Mexico would be the third or fourth economy in the world,” he said.
Three years later, the number of illegal Mexicans in America is higher than ever, their impact on U.S. social services even more draining, and the free income is flowing ever-faster into Mexico’s coffers. Think of it, their largest source of income costs them nothing in terms of infrastructure, research and development, education, and social services! They export their poorest, neediest citizens (at no cost to themselves) and sit back to wait for the free income to flow. No wonder they feel the need to ease their citizens’ illegal entry into America by providing handbooks and maps - it has a direct impact on their economy! What other income-producing activity could they undergo that would require no construction, no training, no law enforcement, and no responsibilities whatsoever to their citizens? Why would they want to curb a free and very lucrative income? The illegality of it bears no consequences or costs, so the Mexican government has no incentive to fix a system that works wonder for them!
I do not know how much longer we can afford to single-handedly support an entire nation through second-hand disbursements. The trillions of American dollars that boost Mexico’s economy are trillions of dollars not strengthening our own. Possibly even more important, the cultural impact of the burgeoning class of illegals is superseding American traditions and values and having a severe impact on our elections and government.
Our country was founded upon the premise “of the People, by the People, for the People” - and those People are constitutionally meant to be AMERICANS. Yet, foreign interest lobbies are have an ever-increasing detrimental effect on our local, state, and federal government as non-citizens are accorded most of the rights and privileges of American citizenship and garner actual governmental representation. This corruption of the intent of our Constitution has been allowed through the steady erosion of our national sovereignty.
Today, there are an estimated 23 million Mexicans working and living in America, according to Vicente Fox, who claims he is the leader of 123 million citizens: 100 million in Mexico and 23 million in America. Is it any wonder that he and like-minded special interest lobbies feel the RIGHT to demand more and more from our acquiescent government? Americans watch incredulously as they get most of what they demand, at our expense. To our shame, our nation’s government has abdicated our rule of law concerning national sovereignty and national security.
We now have a large foreign presence within our borders that is NOT American, has no intention of ever becoming American, has no regard for American law, nor loyalty to America. This is akin to hosting a nation within a nation - and worse, one that is loyal to a foreign power.
Last week, in a related article, I summarized our current scenario as such:
Let’s recap: we’ve got your basic violent criminals (mafia, drug smugglers, rapists, killers, etc) crossing UNDER our border with impunity…we’ve got heavily armed Mexican military blatantly crossing OVER our border to protect such criminals…firing on American Border Patrol agents to collect $200,000 bounties…plus, we’ve got ongoing sightings of enemy soldiers from other nations, possibly China or North Korea, crossing our border…also firing at our Border Patrol agents…we’ve got Muslim terrorists infiltrating easily and regularly from Mexico…we’ve got Muslim terrorists that have already successfully smuggled in nukes from Mexico…we’ve got American citizens living armed in a border zone that has become lawless…though we are at war, our borders are undefended and breached on a regular basis… our sovereignty as a nation is defiled…and WE’VE GOT AN AMERICAN GOVERNMENT THAT KNOWS ALL OF THE ABOVE AND HAS NEVER DONE ANYTHING ABOUT IT!!!
Our government today has monumentally failed in its most foundational duties to our lawful citizenry, as guaranteed by our Constitution. There is no doubt in my mind that our conflicted and disloyal elected “leaders” politicians desperately need the following reminder, from President Theodore Roosevelt:
“In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin But this is predicated upon the man’s becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American…There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all.
We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile. We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language. And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”
–Theodore Roosevelt 1907
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This has been a production of the Guard the Borders Blogburst. It was started by Euphoric Reality, and serves to keep immigration issues in the forefront of our minds as we’re going about our daily lives and continuing to fight the war on terror. If you are concerned with the trend of illegal immigration facing our country, join our blogburst! Just send an email with your blog name and url to euphoricrealitynet at gmail dot com.
Blogs already on board:
I have been light on blogging lately, in part because of grad. school, in part because I’m kinda burned out on the sniping that is political discussion, and in part, because I’m trying to get this charity I’m working on off the ground. I’ve mentioned it before but now I’m finally making some progress. Below is a couple of pictures of the 140+ (so far) computers I’ll be installing and sending out to Tanzania with anything else I can get that isn’t nailed down. Hopefully I’ll be set up to take donations in Jan. finally.
Progress, finally!
You can read it, here.
I think it was kind of babbling and I didn’t make my point very well… long week without sleep. This is the last one for the semester…
