Being “Sad” for our country.

Today I saw someone’s status on Facebook saying “I’m sad for our country.” Which caused me to pause to ask “why?”. The answer was because this person’s side lost the election. Give me a break people, aren’t there other things about our country that we should be sad about rather than your side lost?

I’ll give you some examples of what we should be sad about. How about that thousands of our soldiers have lost their lives in a “war” that was based upon lies? That there are children who go to bed everynight without Mommy or Daddy because that parent is fulfilling their duty as a member of our armed forces. How about the number of people in the US today that go without basic healthcare insurance because they can’t afford it and they are out of a job? How about the people who are out of a job because of the failures of wallstreet? Isn’t that more saddening then losing the election?

Personally I don’t feel sad for our country. I’m not happy with the way things are but I’m not sad. Why? Because today we Americans get to celebrate one of the most important parts of our country. The handing over of leadership from one fairly elected leader to another fairly elected leader. Today should not be a day of saddness but of pride, of the grit and determination that we Americans have always had. The same determination that saw us through many crisises over the years.

We’re Knights of the Round Table We Laugh Whenever Able …

I just had to add a link to this comic from Socks and Barney by Steve Conley because it is just a great laugh especially if you are a Monty Python fan and are watching the Democratic Nomination race. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

The only thing I think would make his comic better is if he had the characters calling each other “twit” more often. Don’t know what it is about that word but I really like it.

Circle the Wagons Boys … US Court Attacks Web Freedom!

So if you haven’t heard yet a court in California has signed an injunction (note I didn’t say wrote an injunction they let the plaintiff do that) that blocks the access of wikileaks.org. In case you don’t know what Wikileaks is it is a website which provides a place for whistle blowers to post documents anonymously for the world to see. Pretty awesome that a place like that exists in the world. The site is managed in multiple languages but has its primary servers located in Sweden. The plaintiff in these matters is the Bank Julius Baer which is a Swiss bank and does business in the Cayman Islands. It is apparently the type of business in the Cayman Islands that was posted on Wikileaks which has led to this unfortunate turn in internet freedom. Now I could re-iterate everything that was said or better yet I’ll just link to an alternative Wikileaks page (you know they would have a backup) the FULL correspondence between Bank Julius Baer’s shyster and Wikileaks.

So not getting their way the Bank Julius Baer wrote their own little injunction and took it to a US Court of the Honorable [sic] Judge Jefferey S. White. Who is just delusional enough to think he has jurisdiction over this insanity because Wikileaks made the slight error in registering their domain in California. What do expect from a Bush appointee. So instead of writing his own injunction he signs the one that was create for him by the plaintiff. How lazy of our judicial system. Now you might be wondering where the Wikileaks lawyers were during all this? They had no idea that it was coming. They weren’t informed. They were NOT represented during the legal [sic] proceedings that has blocked all access to their website.

So what’s next? Well apparently on the 29th of February there will be a hearing. Who knows what will happen during this. Maybe the Judge will try to force the non-US based domain registers to block the other wikileaks domains. My personal thought is that people should start writing in to this “Loose Cannon” Judge to explain to him that he is really out of his jurisdiction and should possibly send this to a higher court. Or maybe you can visit him in Person at the court house in San Fransisco, or you could just call his office (it is amazing what you find in Public Domain) and voice your opinion. Personally I my opinion’s voice would be more like the sound of gas leaving a tight smelly orifice.

Oh I forgot to say that if you are still wanting to get to Wikileaks you can access them also through the UK site at www.wikileaks.org.uk which as far as I know is not under jurisdiction of Judge White (at least for now).

The Canadian Foreign Minister is a Coward.

I was shocked but also happy to see earlier this month that the United States (my home country) as added to Canada’s list of countries that torture. I was further shocked and surprised when Canada decided to back track from this statement. Now the Foreign Minister is apologizing for the “Mistake” of putting the US on the list. Even though recently the US National Intelligence Chief Mike McConnell actually said that he would consider waterboarding as torture. So I’m gathering that the Canadian FM is a coward. He changes his statement when the big bully on the block complains that Canada is pointing the finger at its wrong doing.

Personally I’m sick of what the current US Government is doing under the name of protecting our citizens. I’m surprised that the “Holier Than Thou” President we have in office doesn’t start claiming that it is written in the bible that he should torture for information. Other western nations have a responsibility to the rest of the world to stand up to the United States and keep them in line. It would be a good bet to say if the shoe were on the other foot and the US Government thought it could get something out of it they would point their finger at a close neighbor.

My message to Canada and other nations: DON’T BE A COWARD! DON’T LET THE UNITED STATES DICTATE YOUR NATIONAL OR INTERNATIONAL POLICY. TELL THE UNITED STATES IT IS ABOUT TIME THAT THEY TOE THE FUCKING LINE!!!

Diskeeper to Fix Exchange Rate Problem.

So if you actually read my post about Diskeeper’s European website not having accurate exchange rates. So I got an email today about it from their Public Relations Department with an apology as well as a little surpise:

Diskeeper Corporation Has No Concept of Exchange Rates!

Ok this irks the hell out of me.

In the past I’ve used the trial version of Diskeeper and was really happy with how well it kept my hard drive in order. However, I wasn’t sure if I really needed it so after the trial I removed it from my computer.

Fast forward to today when I realized that my hard drive is more fragmented than china plates dropped from the Empire State Building. So I decided maybe I should give another check on the costs for buying a license for Diskeeper since I was pretty happy with it. So I look their website up and they offer a European website for buying their product, and since I live in Europe I figured I should look their. The first thing came up was the British costs for the software which for a single home license was 28.56 British Pounds which converts to about $56.13. Ok but I don’t live in England but in Germany so I click on the German flag and get the price there. The price in Euros is 40.91 which converts to approximately $60.12. Wow so it costs about 4 dollars more to buy it in Germany than in England. So out of curiosity I decided to look at the original United States site where the price for a full version cost $29.95!

WTF, FTW Have the people at Diskeeper Corporation ever heard of a conversion rate? Why are we in Europe paying approximately 1.5 to 2 times more than the United States? Do they think people are really that stupid? Is it any wonder why people pirate software like this when they add such a high markup on it?

Of course nothing would stop me from actually buying the software from the US Site where with the exchange rate it would charge my credit card for 20.37 Euros which is much better than the rate they are offering as mentioned above.

I’m going to attempt to contact the company to see what they think about this problem. I would like to hear how they justify charging so much just because people live outside the United States! I’ll keep you posted.

P.S. So you can see the pricing yourself here are the websites that I’m referring to in this post:
Diskeeper Corporation US
Diskeeper Corporation Europe

Really Unhappy Teen Looses Car Because Booze Found Inside.

He didn’t loose it because the police found it either. Worse he got caught by his Mom. So she’s sold the car. Love the way she wrote the ad in the newspaper too.

OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don’t love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet.

Why can’t more parents be this responsible.

Article Here

Hillary Clinton During Explosive Decompression

Have you ever seen the movie Total Recall? A couple of times in the movie they attempt to show explosive decompression with people’s eyes popping out of their heads and tongues swelling out of their mouths.

Well when I woke up this morning and checked to see the winners of the New Hampshire Primary I saw this picture on CNN:

I’m pretty sure it comes from being excited but I keep expecting her head to burst like an over stretched balloon. I think if I were running for president I really wouldn’t want the world to see this picture.

Mexican Boy Glued to Bed

Before you get your pants in a bind the boy did it himself. He didn’t want to go back to school after Christmas so he glued his hand to the bed so he could continue watching cartoons.

I wonder why I never thought of that

 Here’s the article at the BBC

A Mars is a Milkyway, A Milkyway is a 3 Musketeers, but a Snickers is a Snickers

Yep I’m talking candybars. For some reason here they just aren’t the same as I remember them. Some time ago my wife and I were in an argument about Milkyway candybars. I swore up and down that they had caramel in them and not just nougat. My wife said no no they only have nougat. So we went to a store and she bought me one and sure enough there was no caramel. So basically here in Germany a Milkyway is nothing more than a miniaturized 3 Musketeers bar.

So later in my I’m about to eat Mars bar. Mostly because we had them and needed to get rid of them, because I’m not overly fond of almonds in my candybar. What I come to find is that Mars bars don’t have almonds here. However, they do have caramel so basically a Mars bar is a Milkyway.

I am very thankful that my favorite candybar is the same here as it is back where I grew up. That is the Snickers bar. Still has peanuts, still has caramel, still has nougat all covered in milk chocolate. I wonder why they didn’t change it?