Pentimento

Our US Border Lunacy

This was sent to me in an email. It rang so true though that I had to share it here. I'd give credit to the creator if I knew who it was. - Carol

SEE IF I GOT THIS RIGHT!!!

IF YOU CROSS THE NORTH KOREAN BORDER 

ILLEGALLY YOU GET 12 YEARS HARD LABOR.

 

IF YOU CROSS THE IRANIAN BORDER

ILLEGALLY YOU ARE DETAINED INDEFINITELY.

 

IF YOU CROSS THE AFGHAN BORDER

ILLEGALLY, YOU GET SHOT.

 

IF YOU CROSS THE SAUDI ARABIAN BORDER

ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE JAILED.

 

IF YOU CROSS THE CHINESE BORDER

ILLEGALLY YOU MAY NEVER BE HEARD FROM AGAIN.

 

IF YOU CROSS THE VENEZUELAN BORDER

ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE BRANDED A SPY AND YOUR FATE WILL BE SEALED.

 

IF YOU CROSS THE CUBAN BORDER ILLEGALLY

YOU WILL BE THROWN INTO POLITICAL PRISON TO ROT.

 

IF YOU CROSS THE U.S. BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU GET !!!

A JOB,          A DRIVERS LICENSE,

SOCIAL SECURITY CARD, WELFARE,

FOOD STAMPS, CREDIT CARDS,

SUBSIDIZED RENT OR A LOAN TO BUY A HOUSE,

FREE EDUCATION,  FREE HEALTH CARE,

A LOBBYIST IN WASHINGTON BILLIONS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF PUBLIC

 

DOCUMENTS PRINTED IN YOUR LANGUAGE

THE RIGHT TO CARRY YOUR COUNTRY'S FLAG WHILE YOU

PROTEST THAT YOU DON'T GET ENOUGH RESPECT

AND, IN MANY INSTANCES, YOU CAN VOTE.

 

I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE I HAD A FIRM GRASP ON THE SITUATION !!!

PLEASE KEEP !!! THIS GOING......FORWARD TO ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS & FAMILY

IT'S TIME TO WAKE UP AMERICA  !!!!!!!!!!!!

Internet Newspapers: The State Your State Campaign Needs Your Cooperation

Pentimento Blog - Port Orchard, WA

Kitsap Sun - located in what state?? There is nothing in their header to tell you!

I was going to write about this on iPentimento | Genealogy and History, but then I realized that this is not just a genealogist's complaint. It should be everyone's complaint and here's why:

How many times have you searched for a newspaper by city name and found yourself in the wrong state? Shouldn't it be EASY to tell what state an online newspaper represents by being able to glance at the header and see a two letter abbreviation?  I mean, how hard could it be to amend your header to include that? It irks me that it's still so hard to find information on newspaper sites (the long-in-the-tooth purveyors of information) and those normally "who, why, what, when and where" sticklers, but do you think they have thought to include the "where" on their websites? NO!!

And, while I'm at it, and this might be a more broad problem to tackle, if they are submitting a story to their RSS feeds and email subsribers too, the state should be included there also. If we're all going to be socially networking, wouldn't it be a good thing to be specific? 

If you support this idea, please post this email to Twitter, Facebook, your newspaper, and anywhere else where it might get some notice. Thanks!

Pardon? Your Slip Is Showing!

Granted, I'm not the sharpest knife in the bulb drawer, and yes, I do make typos and sentence structure mistakes aplenty.  Likely, even other mistakes, but if you're like me you have been noticing for a good long time now the glaring mistakes missed (or never looked for in the first place) by proofreaders.

I see it in my local papers, in blogs, and today, I saw a doozie.  One of the sites I write paid posts for had quite long description of the opportunity they were promoting.  I'm pretty sure the other two people who commented didn't even read beyond the notice that the opp was available, but was closed. That seemed to tick them off a bit, as it did me too to a small extent. But reading through the entire directions brought a loud chuckle from my lips as I read that you could log into the site they wanted you to promote, and could do it "unanimously".  Um, what??  Now, I can see misspelling a word, but this was WAY off. "Anonymously" is not something you can misconstrue as unanimously!

Of course, I left a comment! This opp was for a site where they wanted you to encourage people to sign up and write articles as someone who knows how to do something (solve math problems, answer gardening topics, etc.) no one else knows how to do. As a 'new' idea, I think it's redundant what with sites like eHow.com something similar.  I've made a whole 9 cents from my eHow article ...

How to Make Healthy, Tasty and Organic Roasted Sunflower Seeds at Home

My guess is this other site is going to find it tough going in the market.

Anyway, that's not my point.  It just scares me that the coming generations have no idea of recent history, how to do anything but text, or even write in cursive. All that aside, they'll still have to communicate somehow and use the correct words to do it. I'm sure you all will unanimously agree. If so, you can do it anonymously. 

Re: Scrambled jets cause sonic booms in Puget Sound-area | KING5.com | Seattle Area Local News

SEATTLE - Military fighter jets were scrambled to respond to an airspace violation near Air Force One in Seattle, causing sonic booms that were heard throughout Western Washington.

via www.king5.com

This event brings up all sorts of questions surrounding what happened and why.

1.Why did we have to have jets from Portland Air National Guard fly here when we have an Air Force base (McChord) a shorter distance away? What's the protocol for who is guarding us? We also have Ft. Lewis right next to McChord so there's no dearth of aircraft in the area.

2. It seems there needs to be a change in regulations for private planes if the pilot of the float plane was unaware of the closed air space around Air Force One.  How can any small plane be in the air and not have to be aware of what is going on around him/her? With all the electronic capabilities these days, being out of contact is just dangerous and inexcusable. 

With all that said, I'm glad the system of protection of our President works. This was a great show of how alert and ready we are in the event of emergencies. One thing though...God save us from the idiots who call 911 like it's their private news update service.

Gates Foundation: What About Our Native Americans?

USA's Overlooked Natives Need Our Help Too

What in the heck is wrong with these billionaires? The Gates Foundation has again pledged 1.5 billion for maternal health....in developing countries. So, because we are perceived as a 'rich' country we supposedly don't have any poor people? Take a look around. Street people on every corner in all sized towns and cities. Some of them Indians, some veterans, some just society's outcasts. We can't even take care of our own who need help and you rush off to help somewhere else!

I'm sorry, I just don't get this generosity of health care when we have a gross lack of health care money available to the tribes. As I have said before, I'm not a member of any tribe, but I know government neglect when I see it.  If the thinking is that if we make well, feed and care for these poor countries that they won't come here and attack us, I'm sorry, that seems backward thinking to me. I'm not without compassion, but I'm also an American first and we need to make our country stronger not be do-gooders while making our country weaker. Look at the Gates Foundation's site and you will see that their main focus in North America is on libraries and education. Look at what else they do around the world though.

Bill and Malinda, as yourselves this:

• Could I have saved an Indian child today?
• Could I have improved my own country as much as I am trying to do so in other countries. 
• We keep our native peoples impoverished. Why?
• Could I have donated money to keep the mentally ill and criminals off the streets of my own nation?
• Could I have helped a veteran or active service member who has protected our country?

I still believe that charity should begin at HOME!

The Golden Benefits Of Good Friends

It's so funny how things can change around for you in just a day or two. In the last year or so I've really wanted things to turn out the way I wanted them to, but sometimes the universe just has other plans.  In January of this year we were helping out our friends by staying with their critters while they went to another state to 'rescue' her father. We thought he would come live with them and eventually they would move from Idaho over to Washington.

Things didn't turn out quite like that, and the father went back to his wife and home. It's just how things turn out and many lessons were learned along the way, both for us and our friends.

Now, it's May and things have changed again! Our friend "R" got a job with the government and they will be moving back to western WA. For the last few weeks we've watched as one of our long time neighbors on our street moved out of a house two doors away and the home owner went in and almost completely re-did the inside of the house: new paint, flooring, countertops, put in a dishwasher, etc. We mentioned this house as being available to rent to our friends who are moving here (he starts work on Monday) and they surprised us by being interested! 

   

We went over today and took pictures of the inside and outside of the house, and checked for things like if there were any "pet odors", or if the back fence was falling down. I just emailed all those pictures to our friend and her husband will be here tomorrow to do a final look-through the house to see if it's something they could live with. I suspect that it might be the place they choose, at least for a while, and it will be nice to live near our friends for however long they live there.

They may only be there for a few months until they figure out where his permanent job location will be, but at least for a while we can enjoy the summer together. We have plans to travel a bit, and they were going to stay here in our house while we're gone.  Now, it may be that they'll just move in and be our neighbors instead.  Either way, it's great to have good friends. They're like gold, aren't they?

AZ Law Racist, Or Common Sense?

Arizona Immigration Law SB 1070 (pdf file)

Did IQ's Just Suddenly Drop In This Country?

It never ceases to amaze me just how ignorant and single minded people can be sometimes. Ignorant, as in not educating themselves and looking at the big picture.  Our country's borders are being overrun with illegal aliens and the hue and cry is "racism" when a state tries to do something about it?  It sure doesn't look like our country is going to address the issue! 

Racism or Rabble Rousing?

This issue isn't about racism as the criers would have you believe. It's about breaking the established laws of immigration that were already on the books, but that no one was willing to uphold. Are you wondering why not? Well...with elections not that far away, those politicos in the running want the Latino vote. There's power in those numbers and votes, and they will do anything to get it.

I left a comment on Laurence Overmire's Facebook post saying that my ancestors came here legally, learned to speak the language and were productive citizens of this country. Conversely, I also have some ancestors who were Native American and so I could make the case too that those very immigrants who came here legally arrived and settled, but in the process caused the deaths, directly or indirectly, of those who were here 'first'. One of Overmire's commentors chastised me for saying the first statement in this paragraph, never taking into consideration the latter one could be possible too.

Do We Need Racial Profiling?

Is it racial profiling when you know that the people from ANY country that are coming here illegally are asked to provide legal proof of citizenship? Do I cry "profiling" when I go to Canada for a visit and they ask for my passport? NO! The truth in all this is that if you are Mexican and have nothing to hide, then a quick show of your identification should not be a problem.  The same goes for any other ethnic group who come to our country to do illegal acts. If you look like you could be from a terrorist country (and believe me, Mexican gangs are considered terrorists too!) I would hope you are being asked for ID all the time.  

Agitators or Loyal Americans?

What is wrong with all these bleeding heart twits in this country? Are they agitating the citizens to cause hate and unrest? Are you even considering that possibility?  Remember when Bush was in office and he would do something to grandstand, you can be sure that he (or his cohorts) were pulling something equally as underhanded while you were looking the other way. 

ID Please

In a nutshell, if you have nothing to hide and have done nothing illegal, then you have no legal leg to stand on when it comes to objecting to being asked for your proof of citizenship. Now, shut up and go do something productive like pick up trash, walk a dog, volunteer, read to the elderly, etc..

I Slashed Our $72 A Month Cell Phone Bill In Half!

Verizon Is No Longer Making A Bundle Off Us

I wish I had done this a long time ago, but to be honest, I'm not savvy enough to figure out how to do certain things without researching them a bit. Mostly because, I don't want to go to some business and make an ass out of myself. 

No doubt many of you are aware of Pay-as-you-go or PrePaid cell plans, but it might seem a little daunting to try to switch to one. It really wasn't for us, but we did have to pay off our contract. That detail was a personal choice dictated by time constraints (I wanted this new plan in place before summer travel season), and I waited as long as possible to get the pay-off amount down to something workable.

Here's what we had to do to change plans:

• Go to our local Verizon store (not a kiosk) and tell them we wanted to switch to their Core plan.

• We will have to change our calling habits somewhat, but we were only using 27 minutes a month on our old contract plan and that just seemed like a waste of money at around $72/mo. We're not cell phone junkies though, and we only use them to call if we're traveling, etc. Since some of our friends and family have Verizon too, as you can see by the schedule above we have unlimited calling to them.

• It was a tiny bit more involved to change both of our phones over to the new plan, but we had two really adept Verizon employees who got it done quickly for us. We signed the agreement to pay off our contract balance, and opted to pay $100 to the new prepaid plan so we didn't have to worry about running out of paid minutes. (You can also opt for a low balance auto-refill if you so choose).

• They opened up the backs of both our phones and reset them (for the new plan, I'm guessing), leaving intact all of our contacts and settings. One thing to be aware of is that with the plan we went with, should we change phones they do not have the contact backup available through their website anymore. That is for contract customers only. "Daring" people that we are (not), we decided to "take a chance" and we can re-input them again if necessary.

Summary

So, to sum it up, we did pay over $200 to cancel our old contract and put $100 towards the new prepay plan. But, since March 15, 2010 we have only spent $12.79 for calls. That's a big drop from the $72+ we were obligated to pay each month, and in a short amount of time it will pay for itself while still giving us the cell phone service we require.  The Core plan may not work for your situation, but they do offer other plans. Check them by clicking on the Core link above.

This is not a paid article or anything. It is entirely my own opinion and experiences, and I have related them here in hope that it will, in turn, help someone else. 

Avery PLP 9100 And HP 5940 Deskjet Are Both Garbage

You know, computer peripherals and software have to be the biggest money wasting rip-off in cyberspace.  I shudder to think of how many thousands of dollars we've spent on them, thinking we are doing our best to research before we purchased and make an informed decision.

Here's what is frustrating me this week:

• My HP 5940 Deskjet printer (which I found out too late, is a lemon) doesn't have the oft reported paper jams other people mention, but it won't print envelopes anymore for me. It used to just fine, but now it won't at all which puts my knickers in a twist. It wouldn't be so bad, but my next gripe is also not working.

• My Avery PLP 9100 personal label printer has all green lights for 'go', but it won't print anything either. The print jobs are waiting in the queue, but the command never is heard by the printer.  I am now forced to hand write addresses on envelopes until I figure out the problem.  I know, that sound terribly lazy and ridiculous but why in the heck do I pay hundreds of dollars for things that work maybe a year, two at the most, and then conk out? 

And, in case you might be wondering, I have downloaded all the current drivers for both components, but it made no difference at all. In looking at the forums for each I can see that I'm not alone in my frustration and difficulties.  Not much solace there though.  Do things just quit working when Windows does an update?  Do they poop out because I use XP as my OS?  All I can say for sure is that if I were you, I wouldn't buy either one of these printers. If you find a good one in either or each category that you like and recommend, please let me know.  Oh, and if you have a magic solution for my printer woes, please let me know that too, ok?

Why Not Equip Small Planes With Air Horns?

On March 16th a small experimental plane hit and killed a man on a South Carolina beach. This got me wondering why there isn't a horn or some other audible warning device required for them.  Surely, there must be some way, independent of the other systems on the aircraft, to make it possible to trigger a horn or other warning device to get the attention of anyone on the ground?

The pilot of the plane in South Carolina had oil on his windshield and couldn't see the ground. His plane was essentially gliding.  If there was such a device on the outside of the plane, he could have turned it on and maybe the man on the beach might have had time to get out of the way of this silent killer from the sky. 

My question is, why hasn't anyone hooked up something like this on their own?  I mean, we have obnoxious air horns at sporting events, so why hasn't some enterprising person created an emergency horn for a small plane?  Your thoughts??