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Monthly Archives: June 2010

Taxing internet news

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Way to punish the innovative minds, tax them so big dumb, bloated companies don’t have to move with the times. That’ll make everything better.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is considering several ways to help the struggling newspaper industry, but Americans strongly reject several proposed taxes to keep privately-owned newspapers going.

Ohh, wait, it’s unfair that the newspapers are struggling. We should just squelch what’s new so what is outdated, but familiar, can continue on. Communism ringing any bells?

Seventy-one percent (71%) oppose the creation of a taxpayer-funded program that would hire and pay young reporters to work for newspapers around the country.  Fourteen percent (14%) support such a program, while 15% are undecided.

Do I hear redistribution of wealth? A taxpayer-funded program that would give people money instead of them making it for themselves, is that what I’m hearing?

Helen Thomas retires

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Abruptly I might add. Though, it’s probably a publicity stunt to appease the sheeple.

Longtime Washington journalist Helen Thomas abruptly retired Monday as a columnist for Hearst News Service following remarks she made about Israel that were denounced by the White House and her press corps colleagues.

She has apologized, but is it truly heartfelt? You can’t just say what she said and merely say “I’m sorry”.

Thomas wrote on her website that “I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians.”

This really is no surprise after her spoken remarks.


Palouse Car Show – 2010

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I discovered late last week there was going to be a car show in Palouse yesterday. Being the amature photographer and absolutely loving classic cars I decided I would pay a visit. I took over 1000 pictures (literally) over the course of the day.

I spent all day today processing what I could and working on the photo gallery. While most would say just post all 1000 photos, thing is a lot of them are three shot brackets for HDR work. Also each weights about 10 megs a piece since they’re in raw format so I still have to process them to make them smaller and in a publicly useable format. If you had a vehicle at the car show, and you see a picture of it in the Gallery feel free to contact me. I would love to update the info with your exact year and model and put any other info you’d like.

Note all my work is under the creative commons license. Feel free to display it just attribute a photo credit to me, only conditions are no alterations and no commercial use. If you want to do either of those, contact me and we will work something out. I’m not a dick, but I did spend time doing all this work and commercial use dictates I should be compensated.

I did get a lot of really good photographs, I’m dropping a few of my favorites here as well. The family BBQ joint I frequent was where I discovered the car show. They informed me because well, they were catering it, and I often show up Saturday night.

Since the whole crew was there, I must provide a picture of TGC. She’s the real reason I like hanging out with Mike and Laurel. She provides hours of entertainment for a much lower price than TV service. Even the replays on Laurel’s iPhone the next day are awesome.

Overall the day was an absolute blast and it appears that everyone had fun. Doc Brown even showed up with his Delorean.

We even unexpectedly ran into other familiars like Lyle.

And here is one last parting image I was working on today. (Note I’m only though about the first 250 images.)

I will probably be going to the Clarkston car show end of this month, as well as Hot August Nights. If you’re going to be there and would like me to take pictures of your car, contact me. Time for a break!

Health care

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Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said on Wednesday that Dr. Donald Berwick, an advocate of health-care rationing nominated by President Barack Obama to run Medicare and Medicaid, is “absolutely the right leader at this time” to run the government’s largest health-care entitlement programs.

So, someone who advocates rationing health care and who really likes the National Health Service of the UK has been chosen by Obama to run Medicare and Medicaid. Anyone see a problem with that?

In a talk he delivered in England in 2008 to mark the 60th birthday of Great Britain’s National Health Service, the bureaucracy that runs that country’s single-payer health care system, Berwick told the British that he loved their system. “”Cynics beware,” he said. “I am romantic about the National Health Service; I love it.”

When asked if Sebelius agrees with the following statement, she skirts around the actual question and then says she answered it when probed further for an answer.

“The decision is not whether or not we will ration care–the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open,” Berwick said in a June 2009 interview with Biotechnology Healthcare.

The government will pick and choose who gets healthcare by “rationing” it. Wasn’t something said about a death panel before the healthcare passed?

If government run health care is so great and cost effected, then why is the cost of health care in Canada rising?

Healthcare in Canada is delivered through a publicly funded system, which covers all “medically necessary” hospital and physician care and curbs the role of private medicine. It ate up about 40 percent of provincial budgets, or some C$183 billion ($174 billion) last year.

We were told that the health care bill will save money, yet it is costing billions to implement it. We were told that there would be no death panels, yet the plan is to ration health care, which would decide who is eligible for different forms of health care.

How do you like the health care bill now?

So, how’s that gun control working for ya?

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In London, where gun control is in effect, a gunman shot a bunch of unarmed citizens.

A taxi driver described as quiet but friendly went on a shooting spree across a picturesque rural area of northwestern England on Wednesday, killing at least five people and wounding 25 others before apparently turning the gun on himself, officials said.

The rampage, in a region famed for its tranquil beauty, shocked a country where handguns are banned and multiple shootings rare — it was Britain’s deadliest mass shooting since 1996.

And people wonder why we gun owners in America prefer to stay armed. Being able to shoot back is preferable to being placed in a box.

~TMW~

Another instance of concealed carry for the win!

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An off duty police officer was shopping with his girlfriend when a man opened fire in a cellular phone store.

Moore was off-duty and shopping with his girlfriend in the Commercial Drive store Thursday when 79-year-old Abraham Dickan entered and opened fire on the employees.

Moore used his personal gun to return fire, killing him, police said.

I love how it was his personal firearm that was used and he was out shopping. Only one person was struck by the attacker. After seeing this earlier today I just had to laugh:


Posted by Coran T at 6/1/2010 11:14 a.m.

You know Malichite, 

thats kind of the point. We as a society shouldn’t have to feel the need to carry all the time every where. I don’t begrudge anyone that choses to, but I myself (an avid gun owner) feel that stores are the last place that I need to carry one. You are right, no one knows when and where, but to carry one into Lowes, and then should Thug Joe walk in waving his around, I doubt I or anyone else would have the presence of mind and the requisite training to take him down without endangering others around us. And I can assure I have had extensive training in firearms use, but that was a different setting, not a local store. Lowes is not a controlled gun range, nor is it a competition urban range either. Those are controlled areas where everyone that could be harmed are moved into secure areas up range. This is a live area, with real bullets coming at you as well as yours going at them and anyone near them. So to walk into a store expecting to take the bad guy out in a grand display of heroism, is foolish at best for even the most avid of shooters. Another thing to take into account is that this is not a war zone. There are consequences for collateral damage here. This wasn’t some burned out hovel in the streets of Fallujah. This is an American store populated and operated by Americans, just like you and me. And when a bullet goes astray or off target because you squeezed one off while taking cover has far more dire consequences than taking out a Islamic extremist in Baghdad. So in short I would have to disagree with you on principal here. Disarming idiot thugs in this setting should be left to the professionals and not the weekend warriors with a penchant for Dirty Harry movies.

The whole incident was ended with only one innocent injured because someone was carrying a firearm while shopping. Very few people I spend significant time around do not carry. Those that do carry firearms all state the same reason for carrying everywhere, even for a trip down to the corner store, “It can happen anytime and anywhere and it benefits no one to be disarmed by choice.” Being an unarmed victim is a choice that can easily result in your death. My goal is self preservation of myself and those around me, if you see something wrong with that might I suggest seeking professional help. There are those who truly live by the scout motto, and those that just pay lip service. Guess where I live.

Also the comments regarding proper training are a joke. You have officers that screw up so badly they kill a 7 year old girl. Most officers only have to qualify twice a year and even then it’s a minimal course. I shoot more rounds a year than three average officers in Pullman PD combined. There are also many instances of civilian response with 0 innocent casualties due to civilian responders. If you don’t want to carry a weapon that’s fine. Don’t be bigoted towards those who are willing to do the job because you’re too cowardly to handle the responsibility.