Ante up!

If you share my opinion on the Arizona Immigration law – which is to say we both  favor enforcing the laws against illegal immigration – then there may be a project we could share.

Several weeks ago, a Temecula band, invited and scheduled to go the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona at the end of this next college football season, canceled their visit.

Now there is some dispute about the reason for the cancellation. The Band director told the hotel that had been booked for the band that he was canceling to protest the Arizona law. The school district said that was not the reason – they said the reason was financial.

I suspect the actual reason was  financial, but the band director wanted to use the financial reason as an excuse to SAY that the reason was the law, because he personally deplored the law.

But, no matter, John and Ken on KFI LA, called the school district and put a lot of pressure on them. The district stayed on message – the reason was financial.

John and Ken then said, well, if we raise the money ($50,000), will you then let the kids have their honor – and it is indeed an honor to be able to play at a bowl game.

The district, in a bind, said – “Go for it!”

I sent my donation to http://stlth2.halfoffdeals.com/

That way I can support the Arizona law, and help some kids go to a bowl without using tax money.

A win-win is hard to come by.

Ante up!

(They are about half-way to the goal.)

Geek-Speak

I am a self-admitted techno-Geek.

(Machine-language computer programmer, systems analyst, project director for a super-secret Navy computer 3C system, owner of an Apple computer company, CEO of a TV station, Core-Adjunct professor of computer science…yep.  Geek)

So, with my cell-phone contract up six months ago, I eagerly awaited the release of the new Androids and the Apple phone – hoping for a clear winner.

No such luck.

Apple clearly was the Genesis of the breed, and has the most phones in the market – it is hard not to go with the “industry standard.” I have always taught that you need a clear and compelling reason not to go with the industry standard in everything.

But it is equally clear that the momentum in recent months has been with the HTC Incredible and the HTC Evo, both of whom have technical specs equal to or even better than the new Apple 4G. The dr/dt (that is engineering math talk for the change of rate of growth for a period of time) WAS with Androids devices – but the new Apple MAY blunt that growth pattern.

And, just to make life even more interesting, Dell, Blackberry  and Microsoft have announced new phones with terrific specs. (And, actually – Blackberry is the “industry standard” in that more business people have them than any other phone.)

Of course, specs are not everything. Ford and Lexus have models that match performance specs – but given the choice I prefer Lexus. (But I will admit that Ford makes great products, so it is just a marginal choice.)

I will wait a bit longer to see what the “pros” have to say about the various models. I suspect that the pros will disagree, based on subjective matters that we will never understand.

After years in computers, I understand that there are Apple aficionados who are as religious in their beliefs as were the Jonesville people – but I am not among them.  I have no “Brand Loyalty” in anything. At one point or another I have owned just about every make of automobile – and the few autos I have owned two of is very limited, in fact limited to Ford, Volvo and Lexus. In my racing days I limited myself to British cars – but just because (in those days) the Brits excelled.

So, I am looking for a smartphone. In the early days of computers I was an “early adapter” – but no more. There are too many choices today in almost all electronics – in fact it has become the “(Computer)(Smartphone)(i-e-Pad) of the Month club” so I am not jumping. Being locked into two-year contract is daunting because there will be a lot of changes in the next two years.

Then there is the choice of AT&T or Verizon – or Sprint.

Yikes!

Trying to Make Sense…

As someone who has been summoned to the study of a local Rabbi, and denounced from the pulpit of a Rancho Bernardo temple, I can feel a (very small) bit of sympathy for Helen Thomas – except that she was dead wrong. Not just inarticulate. Wrong.

Can you imagine telling the Blacks they should go back to Africa?

That is the type of comment that Helen made. It was unforgivable. It was wrong. Her remarks reflect what is common in the leftist college campus discussions.

My “sin” was to write a column that said I loved Israel just as I love my own children – but that I did not believe in supporting either Israel or my children after 21 years!

The only nice thing that the speaker in the Temple said about me that I appreciated was, “We all know him. He is not anti-Semitic. He is simply wrong.”

But Helen Thomas has always been a supporter of Palestine (whatever that is), and has always hated Israel. Her line of questioning at the White House has shown that for many years. She is not just a liberal, she is a leftist and a pro-Hamas leftist at that.

She finally said that which we all knew she believed.

I have not clearly understood the Jew’s need for a “homeland” – certainly not all of them, and those who do have varying levels of “need.”

I reflexively come down on the side of Israel.

I wrote on this Blog, regarding the attempt to pierce the blockade “Mess with the bull, you get the horns.”

I hate stupid people, and as the young “peace activist” who was killed a few years ago by an Israeli bulldozer found out — when you step in front of a bulldozer, driven by a Jew or an Arab — you die! I served in a submarine service that could not abide stupidity because it caused not only the stupid’s death but the death of everyone on the boat.

All Purple Hearts on submarines are awarded posthumously.

Sorry, I can’t muster a lot of sympathy.

As I understand this story — the first four soldiers were lured aboard from a rubber boat by promises of non-resistance, set upon, knifed and hustled belowdecks. It was only then that the action started. If I had been the leader and four of my men had been captured I would have opened fire also with a great deal less restraint.

As Helen Thomas has recently shown, there is a visceral hatred for Israel among many of the liberal elite — hers has been apparent for more than a decade.

I have published my concern with using the Bible as justification to found a state (whatever happened to the separation), and my unwillingness to continue sending foreign aide the Israel — but they ARE a state (regardless of their founding, just as we are a state regardless of our treatment of the Indians), and they deserve to be left in peace.

That is not what is going on. They are under siege.

I heard an explanation (certainly just one explanation) for liberals supporting the Palestinians: That liberals always support the underdog. In this case there are two underdogs — and I come down on the side of the Israelis — not necessarily because they are Jews (although that is as good a reason as any), but because they are smart.

I am just writing a lengthy review (13 pages and growing) of the liberal, (and largely Jewish) infatuation with Communism and espionage against the US in the 20s,30s,40s and 50s — based on several books VERY recently published (Yale University Press) with new information on recently disclosed (1995) code-breaking and CPUSA/Comintern documents released in Russia. In that review it became apparent to me that ONE of the reasons for Jewish participation in acts for Russia was the longing of the Jews for a homeland, and Stalin gave them one in an area of Siberia. The story of George Koval — only admitted in 2007 when Putin gave him Russia’s highest medal, was an important milestone in my knowledge base.

That apparent homeland-longing for some Jews, combined with real racism against them is something I had probably understood intellectually, but had not understood viscerally.

I am only starting to get it now.

Hugo May Be Right — Nuking Iran May Be the Only Way Obama Can Survive

Poll: Obama’s support erodes among Latinos

June 7, 2010 |

President Obama continues to lose support among Latinos, a sign of the impact of the continuing furor over immigration reform, while the president’s support among whites and blacks has remained constant in recent months, according to a Gallup poll released Monday.

The poll, carried out in English and Spanish, shows that support among Latinos fell from 69% to 57% from January through May. During the same time frame, support among whites remained at 41% while African American support for the nation’s first black president was at 91%.

…Obama has recently upped his rhetoric in dealing with border issues, in part because of the new Arizona law that broadens police powers to ask illegal immigrants for documentation. The president has condemned the law and has ordered the Justice Department to monitor enforcement for possible civil rights violations.

But Obama has also stepped up the nation’s role in dealing with border security, pledging 1,200 National Guard troops and $500 million to be sent to border areas to deal with drug- and people-smuggling.

… “While Obama has tried to show strong moral support for the idea of comprehensive immigration reform, his reluctance to expend any real political capital to make it happen may be taking a toll on his approval rating in the Hispanic community,” according to the poll.”

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dcnow/2010/06/poll-obamas-support-erodes-among-latinos-.html

Comment: The President is walking a tightrope, and which ever way he eventually falls he will lose major support – and it is not as easy as just figuring the percentage of Latinos and non-latinos. It is also the amount of liberal support he will lose, if any, if he does not fall directly in Latino line.

I am certain there are spreadsheets being re-run and recalculated with “what-if” calculations day and night in the White House. Even the President knows that the Arizona law is wildly popular, and going against the voters is not a winning strategy.

Filed Under: And the Beat Goes On…Socialism in Collapse

Filed Under: And the Beat Goes On…Socialism in Collapse

MADRID, June 7 (Reuters) – Spain’s public sector strike against a government austerity plan on Tuesday will allow the country’s unemployed to vent their frustration but the real test will come in response to labour reform to be unveiled this week. Tuesday’s work stoppage and planned marches, called after the government rammed through a plan to shave 15 billion euros ($17.91 billion) off the budget with public sector cuts, is a shot across the government’s bows before unions receive its draft of much-awaited labour reform on Wednesday.

Public sector workers face average wage cuts of 5 percent for this year and a freeze for 2011 as part of a plan to cut the budget deficit to 9.3 percent of gross domestic product this year, from 11.2 percent in 2009, and then to 6 percent in 2011.

Comment: It’s just one problem after another for socialist countries like Greece and Spain, with Portugal and Italy close behind – and the donor nations that have to support these economic failed nations. We are not immune – we, through the  International Monetary Fund are also helping to bail out Greece and Spain – as if we have any money!