Once upon a time

there was a guy named Douglas Bruce who lived in Colorado Springs, CO. Now being an astute sort, and having lived in a state that was known for its boom and bust cycles, he observed that what happened during the fat years was that the legislature would start all kinds of new programs with the extra tax dollars, and then demand tax increases during the lean years to fund the "essential programs." The result being a never ending cycle of tax increases. (Sound familar?)

He became kind of a gadfly, flirting about pushing the simple concept that the state could not spend more than it's budget and that any surplus had to be refunded to the tax payer prorated based on the amount the tax payer had paid in the previous year.

What a country!

He was, of course, not well liked by the politicans, by the media and the special interest groups. In fact it seemed that his property was always getting inspected and fined...among other things. Now Colorado is an initative state. The citizens can change the constitution and add/remove laws by ballott. So after some years he got his idea on the ballot, and it passed. And it remained passed until Colorado got enough Californiaians moving in to change it back.

I thought of all this when I happened to see the linked story. I hope he did no permanent damge to the photographer..

and I glad to see he is still kicking around.

Anybody looking for a job??

Asnaco Enterprises
Accra, Ghana
West Africa

Hello,

I am Brian Clarke. I am the Managing Director of Asnaco Enterprises, a company which deals in African Prints, textiles, and fabrics. We are located in Ghana, West Africa. We currently seek to recruit overseas based receiver-agents who would receive payments on our behalf from our international clientele. We have clients in parts of Europe, North America and Asia.

We had to embark on this recruitment drive as a result of the difficulties we experience whenever we receive payments from our international clients. Due to a lack of supporting local infrastructure in our country, we are unable to receive payments via online payment systems, paypal and credit cards. Also the lengthy processing of international checks and other money instruments from foreign countries, causes cash flow problems.

As an individual would you be interested in acting as our receiver agent in your country on a part-time basis? All you have to do is receive payments from our clients on our behalf. For rendering this valuable service, you get to keep ten percent of whatever amount you receive from our clients, and send the rest to us as cash according to our payment instructions.

please note: you are not paying for anything and no one is asking you for any banking information. We only require your honesty and reliability.

If you are interested in our offer then send your full names, country of residence and mobile number when responding to this offer to the underlisted emailaddress:

Email:

We would respond with further details about this arrangement.

We appreciate the time taken by you to read our offer, and we look forward to hearing from you.

Regards

Brian Clarke
Managing Director
Asnaco Enterprises

I have eliminated the email address becaise I may decide to take it myself...

;-)

It's hard to imagine this

but for a mere 200,000 pounds sterling you can become an astronaut...


Source article.

I read science fiction in my youth and still do, though not as much. I also collect it and have about 2500 magazines plus books... Many go back to the mid 20's. As a young man I spent a great deal of time flying around in some Naval Aviation aircraft that looked as if they wouldn't get off the ground, much less fly....
So this has to go on my "bucket list." Now if the market will just cooperate..

And I have to wonder if they will serve domestic only wine??

Makes you wonder

about Hussein Obama when you read:

UNFORTUNATELY, in the anti-war frenzy now gripping much of the Democratic Party, one could say that there is nothing notable about the fact that Obama has hired anti-Israel foreign policy advisors, attends an anti-Israel church, and receives financial backing from anti-Israel billionaires. But even in this atmosphere Obama stands out - for not only does he theoretically support appeasement, he is actively advancing the interests of Islamists seeking to take control over a state allied with the US.

Kenya currently teeters at the edge of political chaos and civil war in the wake of the disputed Dec. 27 presidential elections. Those elections pitted incumbent President Mwai Kibaki against Raila Odinga who leads the Orange Democratic Movement. While the polls showed the public favoring Odinga, Kibaki was declared the winner. Odinga rejected the results and his supporters have gone on rampages throughout the country that have killed some 700 people so far. Fifty people were murdered when a pro-Odinga mob set ablaze a church in which they were hiding.

Kibaki is close ally of the US in the war against Islamic terror. In stark contrast, Odinga is an ally of Islamic extremists. On August 29 Odinga wrote a letter to Kenya's pro-jihadist National Muslim Leaders Forum. There he pledged that if elected he would establish Sharia courts throughout the country; enact Islamic dress codes for women; ban alcohol and pork; indoctrinate schoolchildren in the tenets of Islam; ban Christian missionary activities, and dismiss the police commissioner, "Who has allowed himself to be used by heathens and Zionists."

It would be nice if he addressed some of this. Don't hold your breath.

Link to source article.

The rumor that I have jumped out a window

is greatly exaggerated... I did spill my coffee when the market opened at almost 450 down.. but it has gained about 300 back..so the window is shut...for now... ;-)

Most of my time this morning was spent with AOL. If you have AOL you know that they are changing their virus and firewall protection, which is really MacaFee.. Anyway, the popup directs you install the new free software... So I did, but the Firewall didn't load... So I called AOL and after speaking with a guy in India he helped me remove all the previous anti-virus software and then I loaded the new with no problem. Why that isn't done automatically I have no idea.

Only took about two hours, some of it my fault....

Many people like to complain about AOL. Actually I think most of them are like Mac users, of whom I have found, many (but not YOU, dear reader)like to claim that Mac is worth the $1000 more they paid for a computer.. Having had both, I found the early Mac's had good, but limited applications, software and lousy hardware.

The only real hardware problems I have had with a Windows based portable was with one that caught fire while I was working away on a UAL flight.... The flight crew was very unhappy. Thank goodness this was pre 9/11 or I might still be in prison.. but I digress.

The tech this morning was very helpful. An Indian chap, he spoke good Standard English, but his Southern English was somewhat limited so our conversation featured many "repeat please."

I know at this point I should insert a mini rant about "outsourcing." I am against it, but our current problems have nothing to do with a guy in India doing a job, but rather $100 oil, non-existent nuclear power plants and a country stupid enough to worry about polar bears instead of Aunt Jane's utility bill. And an educational system that seems to churn out an endless supply of people qualified only to work in fast food restaurants along with attorneys, journalists and education majors. The latter group also features many who are also not the brightest bulbs on the tree...
These become politicians and talking heads.

Moderating Comments

I am trying to fix this dohickey so that I won't have to moderate the posts. So far I haven't got it done. Please be patient.

Thanks

A Public Service Post

Have you ever noticed gals who sit their handbags on public toilet floors, then go directly to their dining tables and set it on the table? Happens a lot! It's not always the 'restaurant food' that causes stomach distress. Sometimes "what you don't know will hurt you"!

Mom got so upset when guests came in the door and plopped their handbags down on the counter where she was cooking or setting up food. She always said that handbags are really dirty, because of where they have been.

It's something just about every woman carries with them. While we may know what's inside our handbags, do you have any idea what's on the outside? Women carry handbags everywhere; from the office to public toilets to the floor of the car. Most women won't be caught without their handbags, but did you ever stop to think about where your handbag goes during the day.

"I drive a school bus, so my handbag has been on the floor of the bus a lot," says one woman. "On the floor of my car, and in toilets."

"I put my handbag in grocery shopping carts and on the floor of the toilet," says another woman "and of course in my home which should be clean."

We decided to find out if handbags harbor a lot of bacteria. We learned how to test them at Nelson Laboratories in Salt Lake, and then we set out to test the average woman's handbag.

Most women told us they didn't stop to think about what was on the bottom of their handbag. Most said at home they usually set their handbags on top of kitchen tables and counters where food is prepared.

Most of the ladies we talked to told us they wouldn't be surprised if their handbags were at least a little bit dirty.

It turns out handbags are so surprisingly dirty, even the microbiologist who tested them was shocked.

Microbiologist Amy Karen of Nelson Labs says nearly all of the handbags tested were not only high in bacteria, but high in harmful kinds of bacteria. Pseudomonas can cause eye infections, staphylococcus aurous can cause serious skin infections, and salmonella and e-coli found on the handbags could make people very sick.

In one sampling, four of five handbags tested positive for salmonella, and that's not the worst of it. "There is fecal contamination on the handbags" says Amy. Leather or vinyl handbags tended to be cleaner than cloth handbags, and lifestyle seemed to play a role. People with kids tended to have dirtier handbags than those without, with one exception.

The handbag of one single woman who frequented nightclubs had one of the worst contaminations of all. "Some type of feces, or possibly vomit" says Amy.

So the moral of this story is that your handbag won't kill you, but it does have the potential to make you very sick if you keep it on places where you eat.

Use hooks to hang your handbag at home and in toilets, and don't put it on your desk, a restaurant table, or on your kitchen counter top.

Experts say you should think of your handbag the same way you would a pair of shoes.

"If you think about putting a pair of shoes onto your counter tops, that's the same thing you're doing when you put your handbag on the counter tops" - Your handbag has gone where individuals before you have sneezed, coughed, spat, urinated, emptied bowels, etc!

Do you really want to bring that home with you?

The microbiologists at Nelson also said cleaning a handbag will help. Wash cloth handbags and use leather cleaner to clean the bottom of leather handbags.

Well, now you know. The next time a lady hits you with her purse go immediately to the ER.

....My thanks to Billy F!!