We had a great day today visiting Harpers Ferry, WV for the first time ever. It's great to take day trips like this, it was a mere 2 hour drive and is rich in natural beauty and American History. I strongly recommend a visit to anyone. Ethan had fun, although his Dad's back is a little sore from toting him around in the backpack all day.
Enjoy the pictures below!
Dante, I ran into Randall and he filled my head with knowledge after I showed him your comment:
Ok, let's take this in pieces because there is an overabundance of misleading and unsubstantiated claims being made by none other than a Bush supporter. Now, I am not one to care who you like or who you dislike; however, I can not condone the spewing of factless information to be purported as valid fact. David Cross once commented that Americans are "willfully ignorant" in regards to politics and what is occurring in the world, and Dante you just nominated yourself captain of that prestigious vessel. Now for the facts (notice that facts come with a citation that identifies a reputable source for information, unlike heresy, propaganda, or Rush Limbaugh)...
Dante's claim: "Big Business??? GW is not just for them he is for us too... I got my check. You are not enjoying the tax cuts?"
Fact(s) overlooked by Dante: According to the Center for Tax Justice,
*Over the ten-year period, the richest Americans-the best-off one percent-are slated to receive tax cuts totaling almost half a trillion dollars. The $477 billion in tax breaks the Bush administration has targeted to this elite group will average $342,000 each over the decade.
*By 2010, when (and if) the Bush tax reductions are fully in place, an astonishing 52 percent of the total tax cuts will go to the richest one percent-whose average 2010 income will be $1.5 million. Their tax-cut windfall in that year alone will average $85,000 each. Put another way, of the estimated $234 billion in tax cuts scheduled for the year 2010, $121 billion will go just 1.4 million taxpayers.
*As a result, freezing the Bush tax cuts at their 2002 levels would have little or no effect on 99 percent of the taxpayers, whose tax cuts are already mostly or completely "frozen." Only the best-off one percent of the taxpayers will receive significant additional tax cuts if the rest of the Bush tax program continues to be implemented.
(If you'd like to see the numbers being crunched and further bleak forecasts, just click on the link and enjoy.)
Source: http://www.ctj.org/html/gwb0602.htm ; Center for Tax Justice, Year-by-Year Analysis of the Bush Tax Cuts Shows Growing Tilt to the Very Rich, 12 June 2002.
In the event that you don't feel that the Center for Tax Justice is a bipartisan enough source to satisfy your conservative tastes, consider this citation from the Washington Post that cites GOP LAWMAKERS trying to scale back Bush's wonderful tax cut.
"Confronted with ever-widening deficit forecasts, some key congressional Republicans worried about the long-term budgetary effects of President Bush's tax cuts are preparing legislation to scale back the cuts by the end of the decade." (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A20791-2004Mar1¬Found=true; Weisman, Jonathon. Some GOP Lawmakers Aim To Scale Back Bush Tax Cut. Washington Post. 2 March 2004).
Now, you'll notice that it mentions that the reason they want to scale back part of the tax cuts is because they are "confronted with ever-widening deficit forecasts." How odd is it that Bush entered office with a surplus and has now amassed the largest deficit this country has ever seen? It is a clockwork orange indeed. Moving on,how could that possibly effect the US population? Oh yeah that's right, as Cheney ascertained, "Reagan proved that deficits mean nothing."
Moving on, Dante's next claim: "I'd rather have a little more scratch in my pocket than a bigger tax bill and more folks on the dole who could be working for a living like we do."
I can not argue with Dante on this one, I too, would like to have more money in my pocket and have more "folks on the dole who could be working for a living like we do." However, I think Dante has neglected to notice the monthly job reports issued out by the Department of Labor. To writ:
Fact overlooked by Dante: "For the third straight month, America's expanding economy failed to produce significant job growth, the Department of Labor reported this morning.
The number of non-farm jobs increased by only 21,000 in February, well short of expectations for an increase of 125,000 jobs -- dramatically short of the steady 200,00 to 300,000 per month job creation rate economists consider necessary to produce a recovery in the job market.
…An average of just 42,000 jobs have been created each month in the last three months, down from the 79,000 average of the prior three months. Economists say gains near 150,000 are needed each month just to keep pace with labor force growth."
-Barbash, Fred. February Job Growth Surprisingly Weak. Washington Post, 5 March 2004. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A32756-2004Mar5¬Found=true .
So this explains the job market scene up to February, and since this is still March, there have been no releases as yet for March's job growth; however it is interesting to note once more that in February 2004, as stated above, only 21,000 jobs were created IN THE ENTIRE UNITED STATES. I understand that Dante may feel that the comparison he is making compared to the aforementioned Washington Times article's information concerning job recovery are completely unrelated since the tax cuts may or may not create job growth; however, I must ask, what, IF ANY, good has come of the tax cuts then? If the tax cuts were to help small business open, operate, and prosper so that they may bolster their employment then why, three years after the FIRST tax cut, is employment about as high as an earthworm's belly?
Dante's next claim/question: "I'd like to hear more. I'd like to know how much better the economy will be if we all have less money to spend. How is Kerry going to stop jobs from going overseas?"
…seek and thee shall find.
Fact overlooked by Dante: I don't even need a citation to answer Dante's first question, the employment of common sense should suffice. Without a job you won't have to worry about having less money to spend because you won't have any source of income, hence YOU WON'T HAVE ANY MONEY TO BEGIN WITH. This has nothing to do with the specter of Kerry raising taxes and everything to do with common sense. Bluntly put: the economy is strong but there are no jobs, which means that among the working class, there is less money to be spent as a result of not having a job not from the apparition of a tax hike. So, to answer's Dante's question, "how IS Kerry going to stop jobs from flowing overseas?" Well, gee whiz Wilbur, I don't know…
"Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, encountering the other side of a tempestuous debate in the United States, sought to assure Indians on Tuesday that the Bush administration would not try to halt the "outsourcing" of high-technology jobs to their country."
-Weisman, Steven R. "In India, Powell assures outsourcing won't stop." The New York Times. 17 March 2004. http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595049584,00.html.
Well, here's a novel idea: you can stop jobs from going overseas by NOT CONDONING IT visa-vi sending your Secretary of State to the country where most US jobs go, to "assure" that country that the current US administration would not try to alter the flow of jobs overseas. Now when you read this New York Times article saying that Powell was assuring the Indians that US jobs will continue to flow to Her, just keep in mind that only 21,000 thousand jobs (as cited herein) were created in the US during the month of March 2004.
Oh yeah, don't forget that "since President Bush took office, the economy has lost more than 2 million jobs" (this varies from partisan publication to partisan publication, hence the NYTimes was used due to its large standing among both parties) (Gilpin, Kenneth N. U.S. Adds Fewer New Jobs Than Expected; Jobless Rate Falls. 6 February 2004. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/06/business/06CND-ECON.html?ex=1080450000&en=cd0011013ee7ac6c&ei=5070) . So since GW's watch, we, as a country, have lost at the least two million jobs and his answer to stopping the flow of US jobs overseas is to send his Secretary of State to India to assure them that we will continue to send US jobs overseas? As was said so eloquently in "The Outlaw Josey Wales", "don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining." Also, I noticed that the article's headline as well as its contents make mention that the unemployment rate fell for the period being mentioned, but this still does not alter the fact, as mentioned by Gilpin, that two million people have BECOME, not already were, unemployed since Mr. Bush took office; this fact is uncontestable.
And that's it for the facts, however I feel it necessary to still respond to the remainder of Dante's blurb concerning terrorism. I agree with him that we, as Americans, will always be the target of terrorism because they hate us. I agree; I can not disagree. I, too, remember how I felt when those towers went down and I, too, remember how pissed I was when people danced in the streets over our calamity; however, Dante, I feel that you need to brush up on your US history. We, as a nation, have been openly and covertly killing people in other countries too. We are not the white knight that we, as children, are taught that our country is. I am not saying this country is not a great place to live, nor am I saying that it is an evil country, all I am saying is that this conflict is not one-sided; we are as guilty as they are of acts of terrorism, the only difference being that we are a recognized government and superpower, hence our immunity. When a country is at "war" all those they kill are enemies, while when a group of individuals, motives aside, are at "war" and kill someone, they are murderers. This is a hard concept to grasp because it seems to shame the US and blacken it; however, this is not the aim nor the case, it is simply stating that we are not innocent in this either. Case in point:
"Though a complete accounting of civilian casualties may not be possible, some attempts to quantify the dead have been made. The Associated Press canvassed sixty of Iraq's 124 hospitals immediately after the end of major combat operations and calculated that at least 3,420 civilians died. The Associated Press described the count as "fragmentary" and said, "the complete toll-if it is ever tallied-is sure to be significantly higher."19 The Los Angeles Times did a survey of twenty-seven hospitals in Baghdad and outlying areas and found that at least 1,700 civilians died and more than 8,000 were injured in the capital." (accessed via Human Rights Watch.org; document found here: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/usa1203/3.htm#_ftn20)
-Niko Price "3,240 Civilian Deaths in Iraq," Associated Press, June 10, 2003.
-Laura King, "Baghdad's Death Toll Assessed," Los Angeles Times, May 18, 2003.
To quote a line from Jim Croce: "Do you say what's wrong for him is not wrong for me?"
What is the answer to combating terrorism? Honestly Dante, I don't know and I don't have an answer for it, no one does. What I do know is that Bush has lied and failed the American people in almost every arena his cowboy boots have swaggered into and this is why he must go.
I'm not quite sure what I did with my last post. I went to feedster and was playing around and found this site. I said that I was supporting Kerry (actually, it doesn't have to be Kerry, I'd vote for a 5-legged elephant before I voted for Bush) and followed their instructions on adding it to my blog. So now Feedster may be pulling info from my site for searches for Kerry. Or something. Not quite sure...
Dang, I keep forgetting to update some Ethan pictures. We are headed to Harpers Ferry, WV tomorrow to do some hiking and tour the historical sites. Should be a good time.
Weather is beatiful here right now, high 60's. Looks like spring has finally sprung. I swear, if it is another wet summer like last year, the Shanafelt's and packing up and moving down south.
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Check out FundRace to see where your neighbors are donating their political contributions. Looks like the big wigs in the Hollidaysburg/Altoona area have given into big business and giving generously to Bush.
I'm glad this past week has past, it was a killer. We had the CERMUSA open house for the new "John Murtha Telehealth Research Center" on Monday, which involved a visit from the Congressman. So of course, we had to have the place all decked out and have a series of demos ready for him to view. Then on Thursday, we had Internet2 Day at the University, which was another big show.
Fortunately, everything went well at both events. On Internet2 Day, we had a bunch of 4th graders from Glendale School District come in and talk to an author from State College over the Internet2 network (Abiline). The kids loved it, it was great seeing their excitement when they asked her questions.
For both events, participation from the St. Francis faculty/staff was lackluster. It's dissapointing to see so few people from campus interested in what we are doing at CERMUSA. For those that did make the trek over on either day, thank-you! Both CERMUSA & St. Francis need to step forward and start interacting with each other on a more regular basis.
Through my ingenious sleuthing, I believe I have determined the identity of Mr. Dante. If it is who I believe, I have to give him props for the "Word to your Mother" comment. It was misleading enough to have me wondering for the last couple of hours if one of my college buddies had stumbled across this site being that I was known to play that wonderful song several times in my rambuncious youth.
I was wondering how long it would take until one of my relatives wondered over to this site.
But don't take Happy Scrappy Puppy's words too seriously. He takes such matters too seriously.
I seem to have drawn up some controversy with my last post. Here's a link to an article rebuffing the link I had in my last post the was rebuffing the Bowling for Columbine movie :)
The link above is at Michael Moore's website, so please keep that in mind, but it is a good clarification of parts in the movie that could be construed as misleading.
It's only March and we are already being bombarded with ads for Kerry and Bush. They both obviously have too much money if this crap is starting already.
I watched Bowling for Columbine this weekend. Very good movie/documentary. While there are parts in which Michael Moore does (I believe) purposely mislead the audience, the majority of the movie is an accurate description of violence in these here states. Why are we as Americans so gun-crazy? I have no problem with the 2nd ammendment or people using guns for hunting, etc. However, why do we allow people/organizations to stockpile semi-automatic weapons and handguns? These guns are manufactured for one reason, and that is to end human life.
Regardless of your political standing, I would urge you to view this movie. It shows several of the deep-rooted problems in this country and begs for innovative ideas and movements to solve them.
My article "Finding Waves" was published this month is Technology Horizons in Education Journal. I wrote the article over a year ago, and want to thank everyone who helped with it, especially Kent & Bob G.
This is the first I've ever been published, and hopefully it will continue.
Dell just released its new firmware for the Dell DJ. Get it here.
Overall, I'm happy with the new update. It covered the majority of my previous bitches about the software, including:
1, You can now play all songs without making a special playlist.
2, Shuffle mode doesn't always play the first song in the selected list anymore.
3, You can view all albums for a particular artist.
Dell also released "Dell DJ Explorer" to compete with Dudebox. I didn't even bother installing it, because there is no way that it has as many of the features included in Dudebox. However, according to the messageboard, it does a hell of a lot better job than the previous interface. Don't even bother with Musicmatch, get Dudebox and download your music from Napster.
Playlist management on the DJ still sucks.
Happy March to everyone. I just noticed that my wardriving map of town is a bit too big, depending upon what resolution you are running. Sorry about that. If I have time to change it, I will.
Not too much has been going on. I was in Edison, NJ all last week for Certified Wireless Security Professional training. I'll have to take the test to actually get the certification, but that will have to wait until class ends in the summer.
While in NJ, I had the oppurtunity to visit the Edison Memorial Tower (it was actually right across the street from where the training was held). It was pretty cool walking around the same streets that Edison called home for a while. I learned that Edison didn't really invent the lightbulb, but rather perfected it.
The rest of NJ was pretty much a wasteland. It was one strip mall after another for miles and miles. I could never live in a place like that. It took 30 minutes to drive the 4 miles from my hotel to the training site.
I did get to take my first jaunt into NYC, which was pretty cool. We took in the sights of Times Square after an entertaining meal at Jekyll & Hyde's.
