"News that's not known, or not known enough."
Helen & Harry Highwater's cranky weblog of news and opinion.
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"News that's not known, or not known enough." Helen & Harry Highwater's cranky weblog of news and opinion. |
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Attacking Iran by The Canadian Monday, July 21, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Discussions between the EU and Iran with US observation failed this week-end. New sanctions will follow in a couple of weeks. The end-game to war will now unfold. Just a few months I suspect; no more than 3. The Canadian For weighing humans by Mahdi Abdul Finkelstein Monday, July 21, 2008 PERMANENT LINK I re-watched the movie Duets on 46/Lifetime today. Some time I would love to see the uncensored DVD, and w/out commercials. It has a lot of impact and each re-watch imports different meanings. Plus the music/singing is excellent. Don't know if you would dig it, but one of the main characters has a small break with reality and goes on the road doing Karaoke. Eventually he and a hitchhiker, who is an escaped prisoner, end up at the contest finals in Omaha. But his wife catches up with him there and her mind is totally blown by how far he has come/gone — he gives this little rant about tearing down consumer society and starting over, which made me laugh a lot given what is going on now (as consumers implode, right?). Eventually his friend saves him and he goes back to wifey, but he tells her he cannot go back to being the way he was because, "Now I sing." My mind is a little blown too, I have to say. I am fairly well alienated, in the literal sense, probably as a result of having read so much sci-fi. Also because my contradictory beliefs and faiths are converging. For example, I asked one of the guys today if he has a scale. Then I felt compelled to qualify, "For weighing humans." Heheh. I guess, if there is no eternal, universal life after human death, then aliens looking at our antics would probably be appreciative of our intensity of experience, and the meaning we attach to things relevant only to us. Or, if there is some sort of lasting existence after physical termination then our peak experiences in life are grand foretastings of real reality — we play music full of chordings that resonate throughout us and those we interact with (I fail at words here.) Mahdi Abdul Finkelstein The good, bad and ugly truth about Obama? by Theo Lipschitz Monday, July 21, 2008 PERMANENT LINK The good news about Barack is that he is highly intelligent and not unwise. He is actually well-intentioned, and not an evil man. The bad news is that he is a middle-of-the-road consensus builder, who will consult with experts and lead the country along a middle course, but do nothing politically dangerous. ... Click for more ... Theo Lipschitz  Customer service, please by SirJ Monday, July 21, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Re Scizzoring American Express by Sherri B. Sherri better call customer service. There are 3 reasons I can think of why her card was declined. One would be fraud. If someone else used her card fraudulently, her attempted purchase could bring her balance over her credit limit. [see the paragraph below which discusses the possibility her credit balance has been lowered. A lowered limit in combination with a fraudulent transaction could also trigger a decline.] The next reason would be the dollar amount of the purchase. If she doesn't use the card for anything but small purchases, then comes along and tries to make a large one, the computer programs that monitor for fraud will decline the purchase. It's out of the buying habit of that card holder and looks very suspicious. $700 could be a large enough purchase to trigger a fraud alert depending on her buying habits. This would be my hunch on why Sherri's card was declined. Customer Service can arrange to have her purchase pre-approved so that when she goes back to the retailer, she will know ahead of time that her card will be honored. The last reason I can think of would be her credit limit has been reduced, obviously drastically and obviously without her knowing. The credit card companies are reducing card limits on many customers in an effort to reduce their own risk. Homeowners are being declined when they try to take out home equity mortgages because the lower market value of their homes makes lending to risky. This forces the homeowner to pay his debts with his credit card instead of a home equity loan. Bank failures would also cause a surge in credit card usage as depositors won't be able to access their deposits readily. This has already happened to some IndyMac depositors who wanted to deposit their funds at other banks. Some of the other banks flat out refused the deposits, others cited long waiting times until the FDIC cashier's checks would clear. People will have to grab for their credit cards in these situations. Reducing people's credit limits will be done by a computer program, not on an individual basis. If you find your credit limit has been reduced, don't take it personally. You can contact customer service who will then take an individual look at your situation. Credit card banks charge vendors a percentage of every purchase, generally from 2 to 4 percent. They don't depend on cardholders carrying a positive balance causing them to pay interest. The banks make money as long as you use the card. About 1/3 of all credit card holders pay off their complete balance every month. SirJ You sound like someone who knows this stuff inside out and upside down. Helen & Harry
Rich and poor by Herb Ruhs, MD Monday, July 21, 2008 PERMANENT LINK The poor are not poor because they don't know how to act like rich people. The poor are poor because the rich are rich. Being rich, the rich can and do control who has opportunity to increase their wealth. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer not because this is some sort of law of the universe, but because that is how a corrupt society works. Herb Ruhs, MD Sudan (Darfur) and Zimbabwe for progressives and liberals by Marie K. Monday, July 21, 2008 PERMANENT LINK As I see it, all progressives/liberals (I include myself) ought to have learned by now that wars are NOT the answer and that when there are conflicts, calling for resolution is the way to go. ... Click for more ... Marie K. Followers by Chris M. Monday, July 21, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Re Authoritarians by SirJ I read through this eBook a while ago and I agree with this passage.
And this is the crux of it. Without followers, these people would be nothing. Now these followers may be authoritarian wanna-bes to an extent. However I also suspect that a lot has to do with their emotional comfort zone. The same as women (and to a lesser extent men) would rather stay in an abusive relationship or a small child will defend an abusive parent or even why an alcoholic would rather keep drinking than get sober. It would be interesting to research the backgrounds of the followers, especially their parental relationships. I'll bet a large number of them were abused as children or spoiled or both. Interestingly enough, spoiling and abusing children more often than not results in the same personality disorder. Chris M. Ignorance is literally burning my ass! by MonkeyMan Monday, July 21, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Re My first experience in voter registration wasn't a good one by MonkeyMan I am sooooooooo sunburned. The same friend and I went out to do more voter registration Saturday. We were assigned to a box store. The manager didn't run us off, but would not let us station ourselves near the building (in the shade). So we spent two hours in the blazing GA sun and we got fried. From now on I will carry sunblock and a hat, maybe a cooler of drinks. But I can't believe that we were once again considered a nuisance to patrons. Every single person we interacted with was friendly and open. At least this time we were able to stay and register some folks. I feel foolish and naive for not knowing just how much ignorance is out there. This has been very frustrating, rewarding and most educational. But of course, the more crap we get, the more determined we become to do whatever we can to reach out to get folks registered. Anyone else having any problems like this? Whew! Buy stock in Aloe gel because we are going through it! MonkeyMan I'd say you're showing more patriotism, registering voters in the hot sun, than I've seen from either Barack Obama and John McCain. Helen & Harry We need to work against McCain for sure, but we have local problems too that we need to vote out. If, of course, our votes are actually being counted. Maybe we can educate people along the way too. The voting booth is the one place in this country in which we are all exactly equal, or supposed to be...I know the electoral college makes that impossible. I've switched to cocoa butter, I think I may live. MonkeyMan Snip by Sherri B. Monday, July 21, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Re Scizzoring American Express by Sherri B. Usually I'd be obstinate but now I am happy to oblige them. They are gone from my world. This isn't even close to what we owe them.
Now I don't remember reading an article suggesting Democrats winning by large margins because I was banging my head against my desk in shock, but I guess it's a possibility. Sherri B. Who says theater is dead? by JR Mooneyham Monday, July 21, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Amber Alert system is more effective as theater than as a way to protect children Increasingly, theater is all America is about. Karl Rove and Rupert Murdoch have grown fat, rich, and powerful filling American heads with pulp fiction. JR Mooneyham (www.jrmooneyham.com/) Ultimatum by Angry Annie Monday, July 21, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Iran given two-week deadline to end the nuclear impasse Sounds exactly like the ultimatum they gave Saddam Hussein in 2003. Angry Annie Kucinich will investigate by Marshall S. Monday, July 21, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Suicide epidemic grips Japan
Are we in the US next? Maybe there's a better place for us in the sky.
The government has been doing this for 100 years, or longer.
Marshall S. |
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