The city of berkeley California continues to disrespectfully choose open combat with the military that protects their city as well as this country. Though they live under the same umbrella of protection provided by the US Military as the rest of this country, they are of the NIMBY persuasion when it comes to the military recruiting in their town. The city council has aggressively went out of their way to tell the military they are not welcome in the city of berkeley. Back in January they stepped up their attacks on the military recruitment presence by passing resolutions hostile to the US Military recruitment office located in town. In an article over on Poligazette they talked about the mounting personal and financial costs that the city is experiencing over the City Councils declaration of war on the US Military. Excellent, I hope the backlash the city is feeling will drain the city treasury and give the citizens reason to vote the council members out of office that are responsible for this despicable treatment of our Military!!!!!!!
Monthly Archives: March 2008
The city of berkeley Finds their Disrespect for the US Military Costly
Making Big Brother Possible – Future Cable Boxes With Cameras Inside?
According to an article Peter Mychalcewycz, Comcast Cable is experimenting with the idea of placing cameras inside cable boxes to improve service and help subscribers with security. I can see both good and bad with this idea. I can see how it would be a help for subscribers, especially parents, whom limit access to certain programing. Of course if you want to think about conspiracy possibilities, it was in Orwell’s 1984 where cameras inside the house were used by the government to help spy on and control the Oceanic citizens. And even without reaching towards Orwellian extremes, as seen with the recent passport problems for the Presidential candidates, information can be abused no matter how well the gathering intentions. Plus having dealt with Cable-Companies in the past, I am sure that the service inclusion will include a new hidden fee
! Careful now – all you guys worried about your macho image – remember when watching those chick flicks, Big Brother could already be watching.
2008 Chicago Cubs Season Starts March 31st & My Matt Murton Rant
The Chicago Cubs preseason schedule finishes up today and Saturday. Tonight, Friday, they will play Seattle at 9:15 PM. Then they will play Seattle again on Saturday at 2:05 PM. Both games can be watched on WGN TV. Then the actual 2008 MLB season starts for the Chicago Cubs on Monday, March 31st, when they play last years biggest competition within the division, the Milwaukee Brewers. That game will also be broadcast on WGN, at 1:20 PM. Holy Cow – it has seemed like forever waiting for the season to start.
I have not posted much about the preseason despite it being full of drama for the Cubs. I personally think, barring injuries or team implosion, the Cubs will have a great team this year and have a shot at making it to the World Series for the first time in a very long drought. The team looks fairly set at every position including centerfield where they brought in Reed Johnson to take some pressure off the still awaiting emergence of Felix Pie. Which brings me to the rant of this post.
The signing of Super Stud outfielder Soriano last year and followed by the signing of Japanese Super Stud outfielder Fukadome this year has made one of my favorite players on the team, Matt Murton, odd man out. That Sucks Big Time,
but it is part of baseball! Matt Murton has just never fit in to the scheme of the Cubs outfield. He is a very good hitter and despite that he lacks superstar homerun power he does have good overall slugging numbers. And in my personal opinion Matt Murton has more hustle and as much heart as any other player on the Chicago Cubs and in all probability the same could be said if you compared him to most players in Major League Baseball. I hate to see him leave the team, but in all fairness to Murton, the Cubs need to trade him to a team where he can compete for a starting position instead of getting shuffled back down to the minor leagues. I just lack the confidence in Jim Hendry being able to get the job done. Hendry seems like a decent guy, and is solid at resigning players already on the team and roping in free agent players. But in my opinion when it comes to trading talent for talent, Hendry usually gets taken to the cleaners. It is not a strongpoint of his abilities. A trade needs to be worked out, as there is no reason Matt Murton should not be starting this year for some team in Major League Baseball!!!!!
Go Cubs!!
WOW – Great Things to Do in Quad Cities USA
Every once in a new moon I am pleasantly surprised by Quad City Leadership. Over the weekend I was shuffling through my accumulated copies of “The Dispatch” and came across an advertisement that had gotten buried among the usual glut of weekly advertisements. When I saw it I almost could not believe my eyes. But yes, there it was, a promotional flyer hawking six of the places that offer Quad City Entertainment – other than getting drunk and gambling at the River Boats! There among all the ads trying to sell me clothes, electronics, appliances etc. was this beautifully done flyer directing me to visit the Niabi Zoo, the Family Museum, the Putnam Museum/IMAX Theater, the Quad City Botanical Center, the Figge Art Museum and the River Music Experience (RME). The flyer was superbly colored to catch your eye without overpowering your senses. It had just enough information to tease your interest while giving you business and contact information. Hey – I didn’t know you good get into the Zoo for free March 24-28 or that the Putnam was about to sponsor a Civil War exhibit, or that you could book a wedding at the Botanical Garden, that the Family Museum had an outdoor water play facility, or that the FIGGE was having a glass artist exhibition, or that the RME offered up music educational opportunities to kids! But after reading the flyer I know a little more about what each of those places offer and how to contact them, including websites for those preferring to use Computer research, to find out more information. The flyer was also chocked full of visuals about what each experience offered the visitor by displaying people and kids enjoying themselves at the various locations. I liked the ideas behind the flyer and especially the product. It was great to see someone seriously promoting entertainment for Quad Citians and their visitors to go out and enjoy themselves other than gambling and booze. So go out, take the kids if you want, have some fun and enjoy life in the Quad Cities!!!
On a side note.
It would have been nicer if the newspaper had found a way to distribute it separate from the standard ads that so many people just open their paper up and dump straight into the waste basket. But in my personal opinion those responsible for the flyer deserves a pat on the back for the effort and the design! Granted the Riverboat Development Authority sponsored it so the gambling boats get subliminally mentioned, but it was all about other great things to do in the Quad City that deserve a push! Hurrah! Somebody, Somewhere here in the Quad Cities understands it!! All businesses need-to-feed from each other for each business to survive!! Keys to helping the Quad City prosper from the tourism industry are tools like these flyers. Plus they need to combined with employee education of the features/benefits of the great things to do in the Quad Cities they can share with the visitors, family, friends and each other. If the Quad Cities truly wishes to benefit from the tourism industry they need to learn to think as one family helping each other out through promoting each other.
Those of you wishing to return to drug and booze induced zombie states of existence, may now do so!
Ron Paul to do Live Interview
On the Thursday night/Friday morning show, Coast to Coast Am Radio announced it will do a live interview with Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul on this coming Monday 3/24/08 (the show starts 10 PM pacific time). Paul will be doing the interview despite John McCain already clinching the Republican nomination. If you interested and if you are a late night owl, it will be an actual chance to hear and talk with a Presidential candidate. The host of the show, George Noory, usually allows the audience time to call in and ask question/s of his guests. Though I am not a Ron Paul follower, it will probably be an interesting interview whether you are a Ron Paul fan or not, as Noory and his audience, tend to ask questions and follow dialogue roads mainstream media is inclined to avoid. I did not hear how long the interview will last, but the show transmits live and can be heard here in the Quad Cities on WOC AM radio from Midnight until Four AM. For updates and further details I recommend visiting the Coast to Coast AM Website.
The date for the Ron Paul interview is now listed for for the first hour of the Monday, 03/24/08 show.
Maybe she just liked to watch the show
Caution the following post contains adult subjects, read at your own peril.
Okay – I am not a big fan of Hillary Clinton. So I could care less how bad or how often she is harpooned by the media. Still I guess in this day and age I am more amused and annoyed than shocked at the suggestion, by CNN, that she might have been in the White House during Bill Clinton’s sexual misconduct with Monica Lewinsky. Do we really need to relive the already well publicized Bill Clinton sex scandals? I am one of those people that has never believed that Hillary did not know about the promiscuous sexual escapades that were previously going on with her husband and all those women. She is way too intelligent and there were just too many episodes for her to be that blind. In fact I get the impression she was more interested in the couples climb to power than what was happening with Bill and his bedroom eyes locked on to all the other women. For all I know they could be one of those couples whom are married in name only. Heck maybe she liked to participate or even watch the Lewinsky show for all I know. It is not like she would be the first or the last individual into kink. But there is such a thing as Too-Much-Information. And I have had all of the Clinton’s sex scandal I can stand. We have already been made aware that he is a philanderer, a liar and a misogynist and the majority of the country has said so what and cuddled up to his bad boy image. Do I approve, no. But the time for tap dancing on his thick skull has long passed. We have heard it all before and it is all old news. And anyone who believes that Hillary was unaware of what was going on is just basically beyond gullible. So can’t we just leave the sordid rehash of Bill Clinton’s sex life in the gutter where it belongs? And lets all get back to what is really important, the upcoming Major League Baseball season, Opening Day: 11 days 9 hr 25 min 39 seconds and counting!