Category: Uncategorized

I think that in light of things that are going on, McClellan himself may have more to fear about potential jail time than any of us know. First he informed the press back in 2003 that Mr. Rove had nothing to do with the Plame leak, and now after being so candid in the past finds himself tight lipped. Maybe he was part of the cover up back then, or quite possibly knows who gave Rove the information.

Whether or not you like Plame and Wilson really is irrelevant. The fact is, one was an undercover CIA agent. It is against the law to reveal the identity of our agents. There was no way based on Wilson’s bio to know that Plame was in fact an operative for the CIA. The truth is she doesn’t even go by the Name Plame. She goes by Wilson, as reported by many press accounts.

Anyway, my point here is that this must be a pretty big deal for there to be no real denial, but instead a continuation of the same statement, “I’m not going to comment on an on-going investigation.” Well, isn’t that McClellan’s job? He is the President’s Press Secretary.

The next question you have to ask is who is Judith Miller protecting? Since Karl Rove has already been outted as the source for the leak… could she know who told Rove? And is that a bigger deal?

Is she the Susan McDoogall of the Bush Whitehouse?

A crime was committed, and the American people deserve honest and candid information from the Whitehouse. If McClellan can’t speak, then maybe the President should at least make a public statement addressing some of these press questions, and put it to bed once and for all.

Welcome to the school of the Ministry of Misinformation.

I’ll give you a quote, you decide! 😉

Who said it?

1. I can assure you that those villains will recognize, will discover in appropriate time in the future how stupid they are and how they are pretending things which have never taken place.
2. Well, I mean, you can state the obvious.
3. These cowards have no morals. They have no shame about lying.
4. I think you all in this room know me very well. And you know the type of person that I am. You, and many others in this room, have dealt with me for quite some time.
5. You’re making an assumption that I wouldn’t make either. So — go ahead.
6. This is unbased.

The answers: 1. BB 2. SM 3. BB 4. SM 5. SM 6. BB

Did you win?

Read Scott McClellan’s evasion of the media at http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/07/20050712-4.html#

Well, let’s revisit our friend, the old bill o’ frights, I mean, Bill of rights. It seems that some folks would want to interfere with our friends in the press. And now comes a very interesting debate.

The first amendment states: (copied from billofrights.com)

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

So now the Supreme Court or some court must ultimately decide if Judith Miller’s decision to protect her sources abridges freedom of the press. Let’s face it, there is a strong belief that if her source(s) turn out to be Whitehouse Staffers, there could be some huge problems for President Bush, and the GOP. This also may be why we haven’t seen too much heat from the GOP in wanting to see her reveal the sources, (ie, comply with the Special Prosecutor/Grand Jury’s requests). Ah when the shoe is on the other foot.

I only hope that this means a bipartisan push to solidify the strength of the 1st Amendment when it comes to freedom of the press. The next question today is what defines the press? With the Internet and bloggers and webportals and emerging guerrilla journalism, it seems that this profession has evolved into something potentially larger than our founding fathers ever could have imagined.

Honestly, I don’t believe that the Internet has yet drawn the masses away from mainstream media outlets such as Newspapers, TV News, and Radio. However I do believe it provides some of the first and best coverage that anyone is able to get on a wide variety of topics. These bricks and mortar News Agencies draw from the Internet in a big way, and the blogging community becomes a source unto itself that may need some protecting… ie the first amendment.

And the circle is complete.

Plug for the day: Huffingtonpost.com

The US Supreme Court proved that they are once again not too concerned with the Constitution of the US when it comes to property rights. As you may know, the Judicial body chose to allow local governments to take individual properties under the guise of eminate domain laws, and then sell that land/property for redevelopment to a realize a tax base gain.

In the US, for some reason, property rights are the last rights that we have. Government should not have the power to seize your property and give it to private industry. If they need to build a road or something that the govenment needs to do, then I can understand it. If it is to just change the neighborhood, then no way.

I think that here in Florida, if I can find people who would like to form a PAC we could at least get the signatures on the ballot, and stop people from losing their property because one or two guys on a city council want to seize your property.

Bob Barr

That former Congressman from GA, goes from Patriot Act supporter to Libertarian, recommending that powers be removed from the government when they expire is a breath of fresh air. You can find his editorial at huffingtonpost.com.

If you have been watching the Entertainment portion of your news, you may have heard about a romantic interlude between Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. No big deal, it’s Hollywood, right! Wrong!

This is about Cult activity. Sure Katie Holmes is over 21 and can make decisions for herself, but in her star-struck state, she might do anything to please her would be love. As for Tom Cruise, we could only guess as to his motive.

But with all of this going on, I had to ask myself what the big deal was. After all, I’m progressive, live and let live and all that jazz. Yet as I looked at what it was, I have become concerned that the active recruitment of converts flys in the face of live and let live. Therefore should be under close examination and scrutiny. After all, how can you protect yourself from those who would do you harm, if you don’t have the facts. Before you even research Scientology, familiarize yourself with the warning signs of a cult.

Here is one persons overview of Scientology

To Quote Scott McClare, “I have never been a Scientologist, nor have I ever met one to my knowledge. As a result I have drawn some fire from Scientologists and others for saying the things you’ll read here. Some people believe it is not proper to criticise Scientology unless the critic has had some involvement with it. In my opinion, this reasoning is unsound. I do not need to have been a slave to oppose slavery. I do not need to have been poor to oppose poverty. And I do not need to have been a Scientologist to oppose Scientology.” Visit his website!

But what is a cult, and do Scientology meet the definition. Well read the Facts at CultWatch.

Here’s some Warning Signs

MORE – Warning signs of a destructive cult

Do you know someone in a destructive cult?
This is from Factnet.org

Anyone could attack a group they disagree with by unfairly labeling it a destructive cult. How would you know whether it really were such a cult or not? Isn’t there an objective method to evaluate groups for cultic tendencies? Yes. The following early warning signs can help you reasonably determine whether or not a group is likely to be a destructive cult, and if you should be concerned about a friend, coworker, or loved one being involved with it.

The main reason that the following destructive cult tactics are so damaging to both the individual and society is because they debilitate rationality and reduce empathy. Rationality and empathy are indispensable in making good personal and social decisions. History is littered with personal and social catastrophes where a lack of rationality and lack of empathy were its core causes.

Ask yourself if the following criteria apply to the group you are concerned about.

1. A destructive cult tends to be totalitarian in its control of its members’ behavior. Cults are likely to dictate in great detail not only what members believe, but also what members wear and eat, when and where members work, sleep, and bathe, and how members think, speak, and conduct familial, marital, or sexual relationships.
2. A destructive cult tends to have an ethical double standard. Members are urged to be obedient to the cult, to carefully follow cult rules. They are also encouraged to be revealing and open in the group, confessing all to the leaders. On the other hand, outside the group they are encouraged to act unethically, manipulating outsiders or nonmembers, and either deceiving them or simply revealing very little about themselves or the group. In contrast to destructive cults, honorable groups teach members to abide by one set of ethics and act ethically and truthfully to all people in all situations.
3. A destructive cult has only two basic purposes: recruiting new members and fund-raising. Altruistic movements, established religions, and other honorable groups also recruit and raise funds. However, these actions are incidental to an honorable group’s main purpose of improving the lives of its members and of humankind in general. Destructive cults may claim to make social contributions, but in actuality such claims are superficial and only serve as gestures or fronts for recruiting and fund-raising. A cult’s real goal is to increase the prestige and often the wealth of the leader.
4. A destructive cult appears to be innovative and exclusive. The leader claims to be breaking with tradition, offering something novel, and instituting the ONLY viable system for change that will solve life’s problems or the world’s ills. But these claims are empty and only used to recruit members who are then surreptitiously subjected to mind control to inhibit their ability to examine the actual validity of the claims of the leader and the cult.
5. A destructive cult is authoritarian in its power structure. The leader is regarded as the supreme authority. He or she may delegate certain power to a few subordinates for the purpose of seeing that members adhere to the leader’s wishes. There is no appeal outside his or her system to a greater system of justice. For example, if a schoolteacher feels unjustly treated by a principal, an appeal can be made to the superintendent. In a destructive cult, the leader claims to have the only and final ruling on all matters.
6. A destructive cult’s leader is a self-appointed messianic person claiming to have a special mission in life. For example, leaders of flying saucer cults claim that beings from outer space have commissioned them to lead people away from Earth, so that only the leaders can save them from impending doom.
7. A destructive cult’s leader centers the veneration of members upon himself or herself. Priests, rabbis, ministers, democratic leaders, and other leaders of genuinely altruistic movements focus the veneration of adherents on God or a set of ethical principles. Cult leaders, in contrast, keep the focus of love, devotion, and allegiance on themselves.
8. A destructive cult’s leader tends to be determined, domineering, and charismatic. Such a leader effectively persuades followers to abandon or alter their families, friends, and careers to follow the cult. The leader then takes control over followers’ possessions, money, time, and lives.

If you know someone who belongs to a group that demonstrates a significant number of these warning signs and you would like more information on how to deal with destructive cults or mind control, go to www.factnet.org.

Thanks to Factnet.org and others for this blog posting.

note: I posted this today on the MacGuild mailing list as well, I figure since I wrote it, I could put it here too. Feel Free to quote me, just give me the credit! 😀 -Judd Spitzer

If anyone here has seen the movie, The gods must be crazy, then you may already know what I’m alluding to. The straight forward synopsis from IMDB.com is, “A Sho in the Kalahari desert encounters technology for the first time–in the shape of a Coke bottle”

Maybe Steve Jobs is getting ready to drop a Coke bottle down on the users of Intel-based computers (Windows users).

I for one was a skeptical about this announcement as any avid MacUser. I like to believe that some of the passion that drives the emotionally attached MacUser is the fact that WE love to understand the architecture behind our product, and can defend in many ways why it is superior to other computers. Hence forth, MacTel or MacIntel, or whatever… does this mean we’re just like them?

Honestly, I don’t think that this really should have come as much of a real big surprise to the Mac Development community. After all, Darwin has been fully supported on x86 based machines since OS X came out for the most part. See: http://www.opendarwin.org/en/downloads/

Occasionally, I’ll glance into my crystal ball and attempt to guess at what those leopards are doing at Apple. Maybe the old adage that leopard can’t change its spots isn’t true, or so Apple is betting on. Yet, what could the future hold?

Some possibilities to consider:

1) Apple plans on releasing Leopard to go head to head with Longhorn, and make it run on a Intel box of opportunity, and directly go for market share as companies look to do corporate refreshes.

2) Apple has seen the Linux community support both x86 and PPC based architectures for years and realizes that it isn’t out of the realm of possibilities to maintain both sides of the house for greater leverage of market share.

3) PPC based computers have traditionally demonstrated better scalability and future growth. Apple may be planning on keeping servers on the PPC based side to garner those better chips that IBM is keeping in the back room, since there is no way IBM can make enough for PC production.

4) Government Conspiracy, They simply don’t want too powerful computers getting into the hands of unfriendly governments. The Apple has leveraging technologies built into the OS. Imagine what Iran could do with 1000 G5 Macs? Maybe they want to stifle competition in the PC processor market for a while.

5) Apple and Intel could be working on a completely new chip based on x86 technology, but is enhanced by Apple’s Engineering team for OS optimization.

Well, I thought I’d throw some theories out there and see if anyone thinks the are worth their weight in LCD pixels.

Rosetta and Leopard sound great, now lets see what that famed Marketing department can do in the damage control department.

Judd Spitzer
(juddspitzer.com)
MacGuild Contributor

Where do I begin? I have a lot of ground to cover, so let’s start with the easy stuff.

Presidential Nominees
Democrats! Where is the field of nominees for President 2008? Do you think that I’m being premature? I don’t think so. In November it will be two years until the election, and it takes time for people to get to know the candidates, assuming that their will be many running in a primary. Democrats have an easy task in a way, since they don’t have to be in the shadow of the President.
If you want to inspire and win 2008, then you need to get to the next issue, party platform.

Party Platform
I always hear from the pundits that the candidates need to demonstrate what differentiates them from their opponent. It seems that everyone knows what the GOP is about, but the waters are quite muddied for the Democratic party. If you’re a Democrat, you recognize that there is a lot of good from the fact that there is a lot of diverse ideas that can fit within the party. Yet a concise platform is needed in order to get undecided voters, and unhappy voters to join up.

What are the issues that American’s care about?

• National Defense
• Health Care
• Taxes
• Social Security – Investments – Retirement
• Inflation – The Economy
• Employment – Jobs

What policies should the Democrats drive home with a specific plan in addition to the afore mentioned?

• Energy – Alternative Fuels
• International Trade Strategies
• Technology Development Strategy, in cooperation with NASA, The NSF, our National Labs, and the US Military.

Finally, there should be a stated preamble to all of this that speaks to the direct support of our Bill of Rights, and specifically the defense of the 1st amendment.

Ideology vs Policy
The GOP has a definite ideology, and it partially is influenced by religious conservatives, some might even say hi-jacked. Those ideologies include.

• Anti-Abortion (Pro-Life)
• Anti-Union (Pro-“Right-to-Work”)
• Anti-Evolution (Pro-Creationism)
• Anti-Homosexual (Pro-Family)
• Anti-Gun Control (Defenders of the 2nd Amendment)
• Anti-Secularism (Pro Religion in public life)

If the Democratic party wants to demonstrate how it is different, and serves the best interests of the country, it has to deal with each of these issues, as they are all decisive, emotionally, with voters.

Liberty and the future We have all lost freedom when the Patriot Act was enacted. While it can be argued that sweeping changes to the law are necessary, since these are changing times, well, maybe we should have debated that a little longer on how to do it. I worry about a future where people are afraid to speak their mind.

I don’t think that suspecting every American as a potential terrorist is the answer. We check you at the Airport, and now we can carry that into anything that we want as justification to search you. Heck, the books that you check out a the public library can be reported to law enforcement. Where are the defenders of the 4th Amendment? Will it be up to Judges to defend the 4th Amendment because poorly written laws are carried out, then challenged in court? Will this mean that those Judges will be accused of “activism” and “writing laws from the bench” when in fact they are making decisions based upon the US Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Benjamin Franklin and his fellow patriots believe in liberty so much that they were ready to defend it with their very lives. To give it up for anything would have been considered a treasonous act, and now we sheepishly believe that these desperate times have called for desperate measures, and we have willingly sacrificed what we spend 200+ years to earn.

Memorial Day

We remember our fallen commrades,
We remember patriots all.
From the beginning of our country,
Through wars and through peace,
They stood safeguarding freedom,
Paying the ultimate sacrifice.

This Memorial day shouldn’t be about cookouts and summer,
But inner reflection on how lucky we are
To live in a country where our fellow citizens have worked hard
To keep us free.

With comedians being accused of Treason, and a congressman promising a “guided tour” of the Whitehouse for donating thousands of dollars to some GOP fund, you’ve gotta ask yourself, what the heck is going on?

But I thought, if they really wanted to earn their keep, they might help out the Army meet their recruiting goals, which is down by over 40%. How can Congress help? Well, they need to show up at the local high school once a month to talk to high school seniors in their area about the virtues of military service.

Can’t you imagine it, 30 minutes, in front of the youth of America, flanked by Soldiers in uniform? The congress men could even dress up like Uncle Sam, and say, “I want YOU!” How can the people who would vote to wage war not have the guts to go out and recruit those who may give the ultimate sacrifice for one’s country?

If our politicians don’t have time to recruit the best and bravest of our country’s youth, then maybe they have time to attend a funeral to honor our nation’s fallen. After all, this is Memorial day weekend, and while we are at war, we should be mindful of the sacrifices that our Military are making every single day.

Our Military is made up of the finest Americans that ever volunteered to don the Uniform, and to wear it is an honor.

It seems that there was a time when people used critical thinking skills to contemplate there life’s endevors. Evading group think can be difficult if you are unwilling to open your mind to various opinions.

Today I ate dinner at in an Orlando “Bar and Grill” type chain. I just finished my reserve weekend, and was still in uniform. Suddenly a guy walks in, and sits down next to me at the bar, dressed in fatigues and wearing a fatigue hat. No rank ensignias, but the words US Army on everything. He proceeds to tell those of us sitting at the bar how he just came back from 18 months of “overseas” duty. And that he was an Airborne ranger. Personally, I wasn’t really sure I bought all that. He didn’t have that “clean cut” military look, quite honestly, but I listened to what he had to say. Maybe the fact that he insulted me by saying that he didn’t have any respect for the Navy, since we wouldn’t know what it would be like to be deployed for 18 months.

I listened to his crap about how the US doesn’t “fuck around” and we kick ass. So I asked him a reasonable question, “how do you feel about your fellow soldiers being used as policemen rather than soldiers in Iraq?” I figured if he was so war gun-hoe, he probably would be pissed that he couldn’t kill anyone. He’d have to try and work things out with the local civilian population.

His response was, “If you sign up, then you do what your told.” He just couldn’t understand that if you sign up for one thing and then are forced to do another, that maybe there could be something slightly to take issue with. And as a US citizen, you can think about that. Are we supposed to be in the business of Nation Building?

He just didn’t get it, and I figured that talking about the new Star Wars movie would just be too much.

Bottom line, it ruined my dinner.

Cheers,

J