I am trying to get a theme going across blogs, facebook and twitter. Post your own "dear Obama" message warning him that the Muslim Brotherhood is doing some trivial thing democrats waste time accusing Republicans or the Tea Party of doing. Here are some I've already thought up:
Dear President Obama: the Muslim Brotherhood does not provide women with free contraception. Please send Sandra Fluke to negotiate.
Dear President Obama: the Muslim Brotherhood has over a billion dollars of taxpayer money, and some of it might be invested in a Swiss bank. You should check that out while you are investigating Mitt Romney's tax returns.
Dear President Obama: I heard the Muslim Brotherhood might require members to have a photo ID. You should look into that.
Dear President Obama: children of the Muslim Brotherhood are eating more and more high fructose corn syrup. Please, think of the children!
Dear President Obama: I hear the Muslim Brotherhood is bitterly clinging to guns and religion. You may want Eric Holder to look into that.
Dear President Obama: I hear the Muslim Brotherhood may be supporting a War on Women. How about cutting their funding and donating it to breast cancer research instead?
Dear President Obama: I think the Muslim Brotherhood may not have all their tires properly inflated. They may be contributing to global warming. Please look into this!
Dear President Obama: I don't think the Muslim Brotherhood has enough Latino members. Maybe you should ask your Diversity Czar to check into that?
Dear President Obama, I think that some members of the Muslim Brotherhood actually believe in "legitimate rape." Please check into that.
Dear President Obama: I saw your allies, if that's what you think they are today, in the Muslim Brotherhood driving large, gas guzzling SUVs. Maybe you should buy them Chevy Volts instead!
That's enough to get you started. Share these, post your own to blogs, facebook and twitter, make them go viral!
Follow @dvgulliver on Twitter!
Readers may have noticed: I almost never post anything here. It is not that I am inactive. It is simply that almost all my posting is done on facebook these days. It is quicker and easier and I have a much better sense of who is reading and responding. Downside is: not much in the way of creativity for posting larger articles with multiple images and other attachments. But then, such posts aren't quick or easy. So... the dilemma...
Do I continue to keep this site running? Or just put it out to pasture?
Tragedy in Oregon today. Lisa Zielinski, an integral member of AM radio KYKN in Salem, was murdered in what appears to be domestic violence.
Lisa was one of my many facebook friends - one of many Oregon conservatives who shared her thoughts on the news and events with like minded Oregonians. I have never met half of my facebook friends in person. Now there is one I can never meet. And that is a loss for me, for the community, and for Oregon. I didn't "know" Lisa - but I read what she wrote. I made a connection with a wonderful person. Now that connection - that person - is gone, and I am sad I never got to actually KNOW her.
I am trying hard not to be political as I write this. But with Arizona still on our minds, I can't help it. Earlier today, before I heard this news, President Obama was on television giving a speech about the Arizona shootings. I didn't watch it. I didn't think the President needed to be there giving a speech in front of grieving family.
I don't have the figures in front of me, but I am guessing something like 20,000 people are murdered each year in this country. As a general rule, the President doesn't respond directly to most of them. In any given year, the President doesn't directly respond to ANY murders. The President only did this because it seemed politically appropriate.
Then I got online, and learned what happened to Lisa.
The President will not speak out about Lisa. But then, he doesn't need to. Lisa will be loved by her surviving children, her friends and her community - always. And Lisa is loved now by her Eternal Lord in Heaven. Love and faith will heal and restore in ways no political speech ever can.
R.I.P. Lisa.
When a Veteran leaves the 'job' and retires to another life, many are jealous, some are pleased, and others, who may have already retired, wonder if he knows what he is leaving behind, because we already know.
1. We know, for example, that after a lifetime of camaraderie that few experience, it will remain as a longing for those past times.
2. We know in the Military life there is a fellowship which lasts long after the uniforms are hung up in the back of the closet.
3. We know even if he throws them away, they will be on him with every step and breath that remains in his life. We also know how the very bearing of the man speaks of what he was and in his heart still is.
These are the burdens of the job. You will still look at people suspiciously, still see what others do not see or choose to ignore and always will look at the rest of the Military world with a respect for what they do; only grown in a lifetime of knowing. Never think for one moment you are escaping from that life. You are only escaping the 'job' and merely being allowed to leave 'active' duty. So what I wish for you is that whenever you ease into retirement, in your heart you never forget for one moment that you are still a member of the greatest fraternity the world has ever known.
NOW... CIVILIAN FRIENDS VS. VETERAN FRIENDS COMPARISONS!
CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Get upset if you're too busy to talk to them for a week.
VETERAN FRIENDS: Are glad to see you after years, and will happily carry on the same conversation you were having the last time you met.
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CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Have never seen you cry.
VETERAN FRIENDS: Have cried with you.
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CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Keep your stuff so long they forget it's yours.
VETERAN FRIENDS: Borrow your stuff for a few days then give it back.
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CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Know a few things about you.
VETERAN FRIENDS: Could write a book with direct quotes from you.
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CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will leave you behind if that's what the crowd is doing.
VETERAN FRIENDS: Will kick the crowd's ass that left you behind.
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CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Are for a while.
VETERAN FRIENDS: Are for life.
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CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Have shared a few experiences.
VETERAN FRIENDS: Have shared a lifetime of experiences no civilian could ever dream of.
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CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will take your drink away when they think you've had enough.
VETERAN FRIENDS: Will look at you stumbling all over the place and say, 'You better drink the rest of that before you spill it!' then carry you home safely and put you to bed.
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CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will talk crap to the person who talks crap about you.
VETERAN FRIENDS: Will knock the hell out OF THEM... for using your name in vain.
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CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will ignore this.
VETERAN FRIENDS: Will forward this.
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A veteran - whether active duty, retired, or reserve - is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The Government of the United States of America' for an amount of 'up to and including my life.'
FOR THOSE OF YOU LUCKY ENOUGH TO BE ONE: From one Veteran to another, it's an honor to be in your company!
And finally, here are two great ways to give back to those who have given so much:
First, give to Project Valour-IT, helping wounded veterans with new computer technology.
Second, support Oregon War Veterans Association, supporting Oregon's troops with service and giving our troops a needed voice.
I hate websites that unexpectedly throw noise at me. Usually I keep my PC on mute, because random sudden noise - almost always from ads - pisses me off. But sometimes I want to listen to music on my PC, so I turn off the mute. Then suddenly in the middle of a song I hear some loud voice start demanding that I refinance my mortgage.
Shut the hell up.
And it's not like I can just direct my browser to keep sound off - after all, I go to many sites, like YouTube, where sound is sort of a good thing.
I wish everyone who made websites would keep all sounds OFF until I actively click on something, like a "play" button, where I could reasonably expect there to be a resulting noise.
Also, I hate people who can't keep noises at a consistent level. I hate cranking up the volume to hear one video, only to have the next video drive my speakers into clipping.
</rant>
The comments to this post demonstrate a general lack of understanding, so allow me to explain - at least about the dot com part.
Before I begin, some background. I used to work in the dot com world, before, up to, and very shortly after the bust. I was, among other things, my employer's unit coordinator for Y2K readiness. In case you forgot, or lived in a cave, or are under 9 years old, back before the year 2000, programmers lacking foresight wrote lots of software (and manufactures built many microprocessors hard coded) to a two-digit standard for years in dates. The problem being, when the year rolled over in 2000, the systems would make the assumption that the year was 1900. There was much panic, mostly unfounded, that malfunctioning computers would result in nuclear missiles firing themselves, airplanes and satellites falling out of the sky, every grid going down, dogs and cats living together, and the end of the world as we know it.
Unfounded as much of this was, there was a legitimate need by the industrial world and the information society to correct the problem. This led to a huge upturn in business, starting around 1998 or so, in the tech sector. Companies like Dell, HP, etc., were cranking out new machines loaded with Y2K compliant software. That's what most consumers saw. But behind the scenes, industry was buying a ton of products and paying for a ton of services to ensure that things like robotic equipment, networking systems, telecommunications, medical equipment, and vast numbers of other devices were fully upgraded. In my workplace, we installed new operating systems on industrial tools used to manufacture memory chips because they would have malfunctioned otherwise. This resulted in a huge demand, so the tech sector ramped up production while prices climbed.
Many purchasers, at the personal computer level as well as at the level of massive industrial applications, saw this as a good time to invest in complete system upgrades rather than simply spending on more cost-effective patches. Why spend $500 on a new operating system and software when, for $900, you could buy a whole new system, complete with a faster processor, bigger hard drive, etc.?
You've heard the phrase "a rising tide lifts all boats." Well, it was true in the tech sector. The demand for products resulted in a corresponding demand for related goods and services. Sales of new computers meant sales of more memory chips - so my employer was rolling in profit. Similar situations occurred with manufacturers of modems, monitors, floppy discs and CD ROMs, and applications software. And companies that made these things all needed to expand their factories, resulting in huge profits for companies making things like assembly-line robots, photolithography equipment, silicon wafers, and the like. And this trickled into raw materials. Companies selling chemicals, industrial gases, even cardboard for boxes, made more money.
All this profit resulted in a stock surge. The NASDAQ doubled. Then it doubled again. Fast.
Along the way, investment fever spread, and many startups offering no real products other than "internet solutions" could make millions on an IPO simply because investors believed the sector was hot, so any startup would eventually make money.
Then came year 2000.
There were no serious glitches caused by Y2K. There were some smaller ones. I had some systems go down temporarily. But the fixes came quickly and global destruction was averted. Sad survivalists came out of their bunkers realizing they had a five year supply of canned corn and nothing to save it for. But the actual problems were still a few months out.
As soon as industry realized no more massive system upgrades were necessary, orders stopped coming in and facilities that were pumping out product had to shut down. On the home front, a larger than normal number of consumers had recently completely replaced their PCs, so demand for all the product already on the shelves dropped. This had a ripple effect to all the supporting sectors, as orders for capital goods and industrial materials dropped. This caused some well established companies to suddenly face financial hardship.
Worse, for investors, all those recent startups that had huge IPOs with no real offering went under fast.
By the end of 2000, the NASDAQ had dropped by roughly three-fourths. Many tech-sector workers - like me - found themselves laid off. About a trillion dollars worth of virtual wealth - wealth people had measured in the trading prices of their stocks instead of in fungible, tangible wealth - disappeared. That rippled out to other sectors as many people who were spending based on their virtual wealth suddenly found themselves out of cash.
Now, some people out there look back on the dot com bubble burst, and want to blame Bill Clinton. Hey, he was President, he must be to blame! Others want to blame the Republican Congress. Hey, they controlled the taxes and the spending, they must be to blame! Others want to blame corporations, while others want to blame too much government. Blame blame blame...
All hogwash. No one was too blame, because nothing blameworthy happened.
This was bad, but it was not a catastrophe. We simply had a market correction. The tech sector was growing. But what would normally have been a decade's worth of growth was crammed into about two and a half years, due to a unique short term demand spike caused by the need to resolve Y2K issues. That gave us a short term unnatural high leading into 2000. Afterwords, as demand deflated, we dropped down - lower than we would have liked, for sure, but not down below where we were just a few years prior to the growth spurt. Had the market been free to continue to adjust, it would have rebounded and dropped a few more times before reaching an equilibrium.
Unfortunately, something else came along to spoil things: a year later, when the market should have been recovering, terrorists attacked the United States, creating chaos on the economy. But within a few more years, the tech sector did normalize - just in time for other sectors, like banking, housing, and automotive, to begin to tank. But that's another story...
So to those commenters out there still playing the blame game on the dot com bubble burst: dude, get over it already! As J.P. Morgan once said, markets tend to fluctate. The worst thing we can do is use blame for fluctuations to justify government intrusion into the private markets.
Experimenting with layout and font sizes to look better with my 16x9 monitor. Let me know what y'all think (if anything).
I am a Renaissance Man!
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