Frontier Justice

living in a small town can be real different; don't know the facts of this matter, but this is some recent hearsay 'from the street'

across the river in B-town, the cops are lackadaisical and seldom seen; the citizens believe that the Police Dept. is under orders NOT to be aggressive, to let speeders go unchallenged, to just lie low until an actual emergency call comes in, at which time dispatch then wakes up one of the two patrol cars...

the blame is laid on the female City Manager, 'Ms. G', who runs things from her corner office overlooking Main Street

the idea is that non-aggressive police reduces paper work, and thus reduces the crime statistics turned in to the F.B.I. by the city (required of all jurisdictions in the U.S.); this is intended to record false crime rates, so the real estate-developer faction can advertise 'low crime in B-town'

sounds like Republican anti-Reason tactics to me, since the reality of crime in B-town is known to all residents, who are well-informed via the local 'grapevine' as to events committed outside the fake statistics, such as the un-documented & thus unsolved annual paint-ball assault on Main Street office buildings last week

solutions abound, but the ones I like best are a recall election of the City Manager and-or an investigation of the falsified reports that were sent to the F.B.I.

Evolution is Science

The proponents of 'intelligent design' and its forebear, creationism, brook no compromise with their demands to corrupt science with their anti-Reason beliefs. Respond to them by suggesting that fairness to both 'sides' of the issue requires equal time for Darwinian evolution being taught in the churches.

Priorities

Materialism vs. Art
the self-storage industry in America grew to $14 billion dollars in revenue in 2004, compared to the entire motion picture industry which had domestic box office revenues of a mere $9.5 billion – one-third less!

Materialism vs. the Planet
"Americans spend $8 billion on Christmas decorations [each year], almost four times what they give to protect animals and the environment." — Mother Jones Magazine (Dec 2005)

Cure for Genital Herpes?

back in 1995, I broke my left ankle; the damage included restriction of some blood vessels among the bones, such that my foot was swollen for several months; finally, the doctor gave me a prescription that eliminated that problem, with the enexpected side effect of stopping breakouts of the blisters from the genital herpes that had I acquired many years before

I have had NO blisters in the ten years since that treatment; a couple times when I was really stressed there was a little itching, but NO blisters or anything close; I am clear that this is not a true 'cure', but the absence of breakouts is a very, very good thing

I still carry the virus, no doubt, and 'shedding' is still a social/sexual restriction, but I figured early on that this accidental benefit might be of use to Mankind, specifically the 20% of the population who carry the herpes simplex virus (known or unknown)

so I contacted the Herpes Society and was referred to a doctor in Los Angeles County and talked to him on the phone; he pooh-poohed my report, and explained his position, coming from being a medical professional; one, one incident means nothing; two, the medicine involved is a steroid, and steroids often have the effect of making the disease worse (he said); he told me to forget my idea

so I let that go, but kept thinking about getting this info out to fellow herpes 'sufferers'; when I finally got onto the internet, I researched the steroid medicine – I have kept the package – on various websites & search engines, hoping to alert a manufacturer to the idea that a little research & development might evolve into a product designed for use by 20% of the population, or at least some portion of them, and they could make a ton of money

turns out that this steroid medicine was already a generic drug, manufactured by the chemical name, so I had no idea who to contact and attempt to enroll

so this info is now being made public by me with the intention that someone, some 'insider' in the drug industry or medical field, take this ball and run with it, for the improvement of a lot of people's lives (and maybe make some bucks, that is okay)

any medical professional who wants further details can contact me using the email link on my Profile; I DO want to know your bona fides, as I believe that steroids are often misused and do not want some internet-savvy drug dealer to open up a new illegal market that could risk lives, etc

such a product could relieve a lot of stress & anxiety among a major segment of the population, and anybody who is willing to risk a little R&D could benefit themselves and Mankind at the same time

American Forces Radio

rabid reactionary talk radio host Sean Vanity is losing markets to Air America radio, such as in Boulder-Denver, Colorado

'Mister Oxycontin' Limp Rushbaugh is all atwitter these days, falsely accusing liberals of attempting to cancel his A.F.R. airtime [false] and chooses to defend himself by saying that he appears only one hour a day on A.F.R.

this is true, he airs 8pm-9pm daily, but this is a non-sequitur: the problem being corrected is that right-wing talk radio broadcasts bald-faced lies to the troops around the world 64 HOURS A WEEK on A.F.R., with NO rebuttal from the left

and the Congressional twits and Taliban bureaucrats in charge reject highly popular 'lefties' like Al Franken based on false 'rules' and spurious, ad hoc criteria

Economic Tsunami

selections from an article by Richard Wolf in USA TODAY on Nov 14th
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-11-14-fiscal-hurricane-cover_x.htm

"We face a demographic tsunami" that "will never recede," [the comptroller general of the United States] David Walker tells a group of reporters. He runs through a long list of fiscal challenges...

To hear Walker, the nation's top auditor, tell it, the United States can be likened to Rome before the fall of the empire. Its financial condition is "worse than advertised," he says. It has a "broken business model." It faces deficits in its budget, its balance of payments, its savings — and its leadership.

Without major spending cuts, tax increases or both, the national debt will grow more than $3 trillion through 2010, to $11.2 trillion — nearly $38,000 for every man, woman and child. The interest alone would cost $561 billion in 2010, the same as the Pentagon [budget].

Inaction could have these consequences, experts say:
Higher interest rates.
Lower wages.
Shrinking pensions.
Slower economic growth.
A lesser standard of living.
Higher taxes in the future for today's younger generation.
Less savings.
More consumption.
Plunging stock and bond prices.
Recession.

my comment: would you settle for 3 out of ten? 5 out of ten? why?
'staying the course' with Dubya will deliver TEN out of ten as above

Revolution 101

"All that we have to do is make the people in our lives feel special; all that requires is to tell them the truth." — G.E. Nordell