Spent a good portion of the day on the phone catching up with one of my sisters (K.S.), we were actually on the phone for close to two hours. Of course she is now blaming me that I held her up from getting her yard work done but truth be told she hates yard work as much as I do laundry! It was a good conversation and as much as I hate admitting anything to her, I rather enjoyed the conversation :)
After that I talked to a friend of mine in Az. As usual the conversation turned to politics and primarily about the mideast crisis and each of us thought about it. He agrees with me that Israel must be allowed to use whatever means are necessary to protect itself.
Nothing much happening in SPD today so I will spare you the boring details. Although our neighborhood is trying to raise some money to add some playground equipment for the children so if you want to donate say a grand or two or ten we will be happy to unload it from you :)
Anyway, I am now in Peoria for the weekend to see Dawn and take some pictures of some of the finest civil war soldiers Peoria has ever seen. I do not care if we agree on anything, or even if we get along; if you served this country then I sincerely and humbly tip my hat to you and thank you for your courage and contribution to ensuring the rest of us were and are kept safe. Thank You!
We will be heading out to din din in a bit so I am going to get off this drama machine and pay some attention to her and the dogs.
Friday, August 04, 2006
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Democrats reject Minimum Wage Increase
Senate Democrats today rejected a minimum wage increase on a 56-42 vote. Although it would have raised the minimum wage to $7.25 over a three year period, Democrats rejected the bill because it contained a reduction in the estate tax. A tax that drains equity in family businesses (small family owned and operated companies), family farms, etc.
I suppose the Democrats think they can convince the voters that there was a valid reason for rejecting this bill, but in the end all they can say is that when presented with a bill that would have raised the minimum wage for the most vulnerable Americans they rejected it on purely political reasons.
I am not sure about the rest of you, but I will continue to make an issue of this from now until election day.
I suppose the Democrats think they can convince the voters that there was a valid reason for rejecting this bill, but in the end all they can say is that when presented with a bill that would have raised the minimum wage for the most vulnerable Americans they rejected it on purely political reasons.
I am not sure about the rest of you, but I will continue to make an issue of this from now until election day.
Used Camera Equipment Wanted
I am in search of used camera equipment, specifically I am looking for any of the following:
1. Canon EOS Auto Focus Lenses (300+ fixed focal length)
2. Canon EOS Auto Focus Lenses (< 28mm)
3. Any Mamiya Sekor Lenses (45mm and 150mm are a definite need)
I would be interested in any darkroom equipment, enlargers, lenses, lightboxes, developing equipment, etc.
Please send me an email and pictures, if possible, of what you have and what you would be willing to take for them.
dwkc64@insightbb.com
1. Canon EOS Auto Focus Lenses (300+ fixed focal length)
2. Canon EOS Auto Focus Lenses (< 28mm)
3. Any Mamiya Sekor Lenses (45mm and 150mm are a definite need)
I would be interested in any darkroom equipment, enlargers, lenses, lightboxes, developing equipment, etc.
Please send me an email and pictures, if possible, of what you have and what you would be willing to take for them.
dwkc64@insightbb.com
Seems politics never ends
Springfield City Council on Tuesday voted down the secretive deal that CWLP negotiated with the Sierra Club Terorrists. Now I am all for preserving the environment, at least as far as my ability to go hunting is concerned but using coercion to accomplish that preservation goes beyond the limit.
The Sierra Club had threatened CWLP with holding up their construction on a new power plant unless CWLP signed an agreement that would require them to purchase a huge amount of wind power.
On the surface this may seem like a good idea, the problem is two fold:
1. CWLP never included the City Council in on the details of the deal and kept it a secret until a deal was hammered out. This was key for Mayor Tim Davlin, who likes to play politics with everything. The public was kept out of the loop until two weeks ago and even then the numbers as spewed forth by Todd Renfrow just do not add up. Frankly, I trust Todd about as far as I can throw his fat hiney.
2. CWLP does not need this power to meet its needs, hell, the power plant will have the ability to produce more power than we currently need by almost 50%. So what happens when we buy this power that we will not use? They will sell it at a loss. Todd Renfrow has already stipulated that he cannot guarantee that it will not lose money.
So why in the hell agree to the deal? That is a very good question of which nobody has been able to give a reasonable answer to. So far they have said that unless we do this the Sierra Club will cost us over a $100 million in additional costs.
Coercion at its best! Do what we want or we will delay you and cost your ratepayers more money!
In the end the Sierra Club will lose any legal fight they put up, and so I am of the opinion that the City Council made the right decision - call their bluff.
Yet, in the interests of continuing to play politics, our idiotic Mayor has introduced another ordinance to bring it back for another vote again. Why? Because one alderman was not present at the meeting on Tuesday. Which begs the question, why did Davlin even bring it to a vote this past week? Simple - P-O-L-I-T-I-C-S and nothing else.
Only this time, it may have backfired on the moron.
The Sierra Club had threatened CWLP with holding up their construction on a new power plant unless CWLP signed an agreement that would require them to purchase a huge amount of wind power.
On the surface this may seem like a good idea, the problem is two fold:
1. CWLP never included the City Council in on the details of the deal and kept it a secret until a deal was hammered out. This was key for Mayor Tim Davlin, who likes to play politics with everything. The public was kept out of the loop until two weeks ago and even then the numbers as spewed forth by Todd Renfrow just do not add up. Frankly, I trust Todd about as far as I can throw his fat hiney.
2. CWLP does not need this power to meet its needs, hell, the power plant will have the ability to produce more power than we currently need by almost 50%. So what happens when we buy this power that we will not use? They will sell it at a loss. Todd Renfrow has already stipulated that he cannot guarantee that it will not lose money.
So why in the hell agree to the deal? That is a very good question of which nobody has been able to give a reasonable answer to. So far they have said that unless we do this the Sierra Club will cost us over a $100 million in additional costs.
Coercion at its best! Do what we want or we will delay you and cost your ratepayers more money!
In the end the Sierra Club will lose any legal fight they put up, and so I am of the opinion that the City Council made the right decision - call their bluff.
Yet, in the interests of continuing to play politics, our idiotic Mayor has introduced another ordinance to bring it back for another vote again. Why? Because one alderman was not present at the meeting on Tuesday. Which begs the question, why did Davlin even bring it to a vote this past week? Simple - P-O-L-I-T-I-C-S and nothing else.
Only this time, it may have backfired on the moron.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Mark Levin hit the nail on the head
Alan Combs, the center of liberalism on television (despite the fact that Alan has tried talk radio three times and failed FOUR, four? He is failing on Television to boot!) tried to point the finger of trouble in the Mideast at the Bush Administration and Levin called him on it.
Levin put it straight forward that Hezbullah is to blame for this crisis and to require Israel to do anything other than defend itself is a crime in and of itself.
I may not always agree with Mark on everything, but this is surely a point we can go hand in hand on.
Levin put it straight forward that Hezbullah is to blame for this crisis and to require Israel to do anything other than defend itself is a crime in and of itself.
I may not always agree with Mark on everything, but this is surely a point we can go hand in hand on.
Ruffled a few feathers
It seems that my remarks about Duane Chapman have ruffled a few feathers. Nine emails this morning critical of my remarks. Every single one of them seems to take offense that I chose to say something about a so called "Christian". Now I have no idea of Mr. Chapman is a Christian or not, that was not the premise of my comments.
I take issue with his being licensed as a bounty hunter with a first degree murder conviction, and that was pretty much the only issue I raised, aside from the fact I do not care for his tactics of lying, threatening people, etc.
I never even raised the issue of his so called religious conversion, the emails did, and apparently one commenter as well. So let us take a look at this a little closer.
Fact one: Is Duane Chapman a convicted murderer? Yes, in the State of Texas he was convicted of murder and that conviction was not pardoned nor was his verdict overturned, so that fact remains unrefuted.
Fact Two: Are there certain jobs that due to a felony conviction preclude you from working? Yes, plenty of them. Now, as it stands right now Hawaii does not preclude convicted felons from operating as bail bondsmen or as bounty hunters and I made that clear in my original comments; I have a problem with that, but that is the law so be it.
Fact Three: Did I make any comment either in support of or in opposition to his religious belief? No.....that was and is not a concern of mine.
Fact Four: I was accused of casting stones. Did I cast any stones directly at him? No, I simply stated that I have a problem with Mr. Chapman being allowed to work as a bounty hunter with a felony conviction. It is not him, its the type of work that he is doing that I have a problem with. He can flip all the burgers he wants and I could not care less. What I found extremely funny about this issue was I was accused of attacking him (and then received some rather unflattering remarks about my being Jewish and attacking a so called Christian) yet I see many of the same people attacking so called liberals. So which is it? Is it ok for the so called Christians to attack or question someone who they do not agree with but nobody can do the same to them?
Personally, I really have no interest in his religious beliefs or practices, however, I have seen him use tactics (such as lying to witnesses, families, etc.; threatening people with arrest when he well knew he has no authority to arrest them, presenting himself as a law enforcement officer, etc.) which I believe are illegal but because of his celebrity status he is allowed a free pass.
Maybe some of the remarks have to do with the fact that as I have aged over the past several years, I have become less and less a fan of capital punishment which has raised the ire of many of my friends on the far right. They seem to ignore the fact that there have been countless mistakes made with capital punishment and unless we can be sure that we have the right person for the offense they were convicted of, we should not be exacting a punishment from which there is no return.
Bringing this back to my remarks on Duane Chapman, had he been sentenced to death, I would have readily opposed it being carried out, for the same reasons I just stated above.
On a final note, as a Jew, quoting New Testament passages to me does not elevate your standing in my eyes and it will not cause me to change my opinions. You see, I come from a very strict conservative family and although I still hold many of those principles I have come to the conclusion that nothing is ever just black and white when it comes to American Society.
I take issue with his being licensed as a bounty hunter with a first degree murder conviction, and that was pretty much the only issue I raised, aside from the fact I do not care for his tactics of lying, threatening people, etc.
I never even raised the issue of his so called religious conversion, the emails did, and apparently one commenter as well. So let us take a look at this a little closer.
Fact one: Is Duane Chapman a convicted murderer? Yes, in the State of Texas he was convicted of murder and that conviction was not pardoned nor was his verdict overturned, so that fact remains unrefuted.
Fact Two: Are there certain jobs that due to a felony conviction preclude you from working? Yes, plenty of them. Now, as it stands right now Hawaii does not preclude convicted felons from operating as bail bondsmen or as bounty hunters and I made that clear in my original comments; I have a problem with that, but that is the law so be it.
Fact Three: Did I make any comment either in support of or in opposition to his religious belief? No.....that was and is not a concern of mine.
Fact Four: I was accused of casting stones. Did I cast any stones directly at him? No, I simply stated that I have a problem with Mr. Chapman being allowed to work as a bounty hunter with a felony conviction. It is not him, its the type of work that he is doing that I have a problem with. He can flip all the burgers he wants and I could not care less. What I found extremely funny about this issue was I was accused of attacking him (and then received some rather unflattering remarks about my being Jewish and attacking a so called Christian) yet I see many of the same people attacking so called liberals. So which is it? Is it ok for the so called Christians to attack or question someone who they do not agree with but nobody can do the same to them?
Personally, I really have no interest in his religious beliefs or practices, however, I have seen him use tactics (such as lying to witnesses, families, etc.; threatening people with arrest when he well knew he has no authority to arrest them, presenting himself as a law enforcement officer, etc.) which I believe are illegal but because of his celebrity status he is allowed a free pass.
Maybe some of the remarks have to do with the fact that as I have aged over the past several years, I have become less and less a fan of capital punishment which has raised the ire of many of my friends on the far right. They seem to ignore the fact that there have been countless mistakes made with capital punishment and unless we can be sure that we have the right person for the offense they were convicted of, we should not be exacting a punishment from which there is no return.
Bringing this back to my remarks on Duane Chapman, had he been sentenced to death, I would have readily opposed it being carried out, for the same reasons I just stated above.
On a final note, as a Jew, quoting New Testament passages to me does not elevate your standing in my eyes and it will not cause me to change my opinions. You see, I come from a very strict conservative family and although I still hold many of those principles I have come to the conclusion that nothing is ever just black and white when it comes to American Society.
Israel escalates war in Lebanon
The IDF has moved over 8,000 troups into Southern Lebanon in their latest attempt to root out Hezbullah guerillas. This is a new massive front in this war and I can only hope that they are successful.
Israel has been waging a war of survival since 1948 and when peace seems to be just around the corner for them, another Muslim group comes along and tries to destroy it. What I find interesting about this war is that with the exception of Syria and Iran, I have heard little in the way of other Arab nations truly calling out for Israel to stop. There is a huge void of silence coming from the likes of Egypt (with whom Israel has a peace accord that is still standing today), Saudia Arabia, Afganistan, Kuwait, etc.
I am no longer concerned with collateral damage. Sorry, but war is war and there always have been and always will be innocent people killed. This was a unprovoked attack upon Israel by Hezbullah across the Israeli border; to ignore it and negotiate would have welcomed further attacks.
You cannot negotiate with terrorists. Pure and simple. All I am concerned with at this point is that Israel is able to finally put an end to this group and their continous attacks on their land.
Israel has been waging a war of survival since 1948 and when peace seems to be just around the corner for them, another Muslim group comes along and tries to destroy it. What I find interesting about this war is that with the exception of Syria and Iran, I have heard little in the way of other Arab nations truly calling out for Israel to stop. There is a huge void of silence coming from the likes of Egypt (with whom Israel has a peace accord that is still standing today), Saudia Arabia, Afganistan, Kuwait, etc.
I am no longer concerned with collateral damage. Sorry, but war is war and there always have been and always will be innocent people killed. This was a unprovoked attack upon Israel by Hezbullah across the Israeli border; to ignore it and negotiate would have welcomed further attacks.
You cannot negotiate with terrorists. Pure and simple. All I am concerned with at this point is that Israel is able to finally put an end to this group and their continous attacks on their land.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
My problem with Dog the Bounty Hunter
Dog the Bounty Hunter is a licensed bounty hunter in the State of Hawaii and is permitted to operate in Colorado as well. His television program is one of the more successful reality programs on today, and yes, I have a ** HUGE ** problem with it.
First, let me be clear about one thing, Duane Lee Chapman is a convicted felon. A felon not for petty theft, or check kiting, but rather Mr. Chapman is a convicted MURDERER!
He seldom discusses this issue, but the fact of the matter is Duane Lee Chapman was convicted of first degree murder in the State of Texas.
I have a huge issue with felons acting as bounty hunters with little to no supervision from the state and I have a real problem with Colorado (a state in which I used to live) allowing an outside convicted felon coming into the state in order to apprehend someone. That is the job of the police and not a FELON!
His program glorifies his tactics, his lies, his deceit, and most of all his felonious life.
Personally for being convicted of first degree murder he never should have been allowed out and the fact that he is walking the streets a free man is a problem for me; yes, I do believe in rehabilitation but in his particular case, he should be flipping burgers not out chasing criminals.
First, let me be clear about one thing, Duane Lee Chapman is a convicted felon. A felon not for petty theft, or check kiting, but rather Mr. Chapman is a convicted MURDERER!
He seldom discusses this issue, but the fact of the matter is Duane Lee Chapman was convicted of first degree murder in the State of Texas.
I have a huge issue with felons acting as bounty hunters with little to no supervision from the state and I have a real problem with Colorado (a state in which I used to live) allowing an outside convicted felon coming into the state in order to apprehend someone. That is the job of the police and not a FELON!
His program glorifies his tactics, his lies, his deceit, and most of all his felonious life.
Personally for being convicted of first degree murder he never should have been allowed out and the fact that he is walking the streets a free man is a problem for me; yes, I do believe in rehabilitation but in his particular case, he should be flipping burgers not out chasing criminals.
Greg Maddux is washed up
I recall when the Chicago Cubs lost Greg Maddux to the Atlanta Braves. It was one of the biggest coups in the history of baseball and I said then that Atlanta would end up getting the best years of his career.
Fast forward to 2004. Chicago fans thought they were getting the same Greg Maddux who had won all those game for Atlanta; how wrong they were. By the time Atlanta allowed him to leave, Maddux was only a shadow of his former self.
After two and a half tepid years in Chicago, they have now traded him to Los Angeles and unfortunately for Maddux his career will end up a roller coaster, being traded from team to team until he is finally released.
I like Maddux and he is certainly one of the greatest pitchers of all time, but I feared this was going to happen. He would serve his own legacy well if he announced his retirement at the end of the 2006 season. He should have done it after 2004 but too many players play beyond their ability and Maddux has fallen victim to the same scenerio.
Fast forward to 2004. Chicago fans thought they were getting the same Greg Maddux who had won all those game for Atlanta; how wrong they were. By the time Atlanta allowed him to leave, Maddux was only a shadow of his former self.
After two and a half tepid years in Chicago, they have now traded him to Los Angeles and unfortunately for Maddux his career will end up a roller coaster, being traded from team to team until he is finally released.
I like Maddux and he is certainly one of the greatest pitchers of all time, but I feared this was going to happen. He would serve his own legacy well if he announced his retirement at the end of the 2006 season. He should have done it after 2004 but too many players play beyond their ability and Maddux has fallen victim to the same scenerio.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Happy Birthday to me!
Could not help but wish myself a happy BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday to me :)
I am still younger than Dawn :)
Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday to me :)
I am still younger than Dawn :)
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Death Penalty
It is no secret that the older I get, the less and less I like the death penalty. The issue for me is quite simple, are we so sure that the person committed this crime that we are willing to exact the final punishment that once applied has absolutely no recourse?
I can no longer get there. We know that the general public firmly believes that eye witness testimony is fail proof, yet we also know from DNA evidence that eye witness testimony can be wrong and has been on more than one occasion (See: http://agora.stanford.edu/sjls/Issue%20One/fisher&tversky.htm ) for further information.
We also know that 123 individuals (fathers, friends, brothers, neighbors, coworkers) have been not only charged with a crime they did not commit, but were also convicted and were sentenced to death; only to find out afterwards it was a mistake. How do we repay this person for this? Do we accept it as an inevitable consequence of our judicial system? Or do we, as highly intelligent people, try to find a better way of determining the facts before it gets this far?
What we do not know, is how many innocent people have been put to death. Is it one, ten, fifty or perhaps a thousand? We have no way of knowing because once the sentence is carried out, the legal system does not put forth the effort to truly investigate the matter; we also have no client to continue to represent.
It has been said by our forefathers that it is better for ten guilty men to go free than for one innocent man to be wrongfully sentenced. That is a profound statement, but unfortunately many no longer view it in personal terms. We for the most part do not know the defendant, his family, etc., and therefore do not care. That is unfortunate because when we begin to view it in those terms, we lose sight of the truth.
As I read on this subject I thought it might benefit some to list (just for the State of Illinois) the men who were convicted and sentenced in ** OUR ** name and were later proven to be innocent:
Perry Cobb - Convicted 1979, Acquitted 1987 (8 years death row)
Darby Tillis - Convicted 1979, Acquitted 1987 (8 years death row)
Rolando Cruz - Convicted 1985, Acquitted 1995 (10 years death row)
Alejandro Hernandez - Convicted 1985, Charges dismissed 1995 (10 years death row)
Joseph Burrows - Convicted 1989, Charges dismissed 1996 ( 7 years death row)
Verneal Jimerson - Convicted 1985, Charges dismissed 1996 (11 years death row)
Dennis Williams - Convicted 1979, Charges dismissed 1996 (17 years death row)
Gary Gauger - Convicted 1993, Charges dismissed 1996 (3 years death row)
Carl Lawson - Convicted 1990, Acquitted 1996 (6 years death row)
Anthony Porter - Convicted 1983, Charges dismissed 1999 (16 years death row)
Steve Smith - Convicted 1985, Acquitted 1999 (14 years death row)
Ronald Jones - Convicted 1989, Charges dismissed 1999 (10 years death row)
Steve Manning - Convicted 1993, Charges dismissed 2000 (7 years death row)
Aaron Patterson - Convicted 1986, Pardoned 2003 (17 years death row)
Madison Hobley - Convicted 1987, Pardoned 2003 (16 years death row)
Leroy Orange - Convicted 1984, Pardoned 2003 (19 years death row)
Stanley Howard - Convicted 1987, Pardoned 2003 (16 years death row)
Gordon Steidl - Convicted 1987, Charges Dismissed 2004 (17 years death row)
That is 18 men wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death, those 18 men served an average of 11.77 years before they were finally released.
I am not sure that I am willing to live with the fact that we came very close to executing these 18 innocent men for crimes they did not commit.
Now that I think about it, I AM SURE that I am NOT willing to live with the fact that we came very close to executing these 18 innocent men for crimes they did not commit.
To Mark L. I know you have said before that you could live with that fact, I only wonder if you could actually tell these 18 men to their face that you believe their sacrifice would have been worth it?
I can no longer get there. We know that the general public firmly believes that eye witness testimony is fail proof, yet we also know from DNA evidence that eye witness testimony can be wrong and has been on more than one occasion (See: http://agora.stanford.edu/sjls/Issue%20One/fisher&tversky.htm ) for further information.
We also know that 123 individuals (fathers, friends, brothers, neighbors, coworkers) have been not only charged with a crime they did not commit, but were also convicted and were sentenced to death; only to find out afterwards it was a mistake. How do we repay this person for this? Do we accept it as an inevitable consequence of our judicial system? Or do we, as highly intelligent people, try to find a better way of determining the facts before it gets this far?
What we do not know, is how many innocent people have been put to death. Is it one, ten, fifty or perhaps a thousand? We have no way of knowing because once the sentence is carried out, the legal system does not put forth the effort to truly investigate the matter; we also have no client to continue to represent.
It has been said by our forefathers that it is better for ten guilty men to go free than for one innocent man to be wrongfully sentenced. That is a profound statement, but unfortunately many no longer view it in personal terms. We for the most part do not know the defendant, his family, etc., and therefore do not care. That is unfortunate because when we begin to view it in those terms, we lose sight of the truth.
As I read on this subject I thought it might benefit some to list (just for the State of Illinois) the men who were convicted and sentenced in ** OUR ** name and were later proven to be innocent:
Perry Cobb - Convicted 1979, Acquitted 1987 (8 years death row)
Darby Tillis - Convicted 1979, Acquitted 1987 (8 years death row)
Rolando Cruz - Convicted 1985, Acquitted 1995 (10 years death row)
Alejandro Hernandez - Convicted 1985, Charges dismissed 1995 (10 years death row)
Joseph Burrows - Convicted 1989, Charges dismissed 1996 ( 7 years death row)
Verneal Jimerson - Convicted 1985, Charges dismissed 1996 (11 years death row)
Dennis Williams - Convicted 1979, Charges dismissed 1996 (17 years death row)
Gary Gauger - Convicted 1993, Charges dismissed 1996 (3 years death row)
Carl Lawson - Convicted 1990, Acquitted 1996 (6 years death row)
Anthony Porter - Convicted 1983, Charges dismissed 1999 (16 years death row)
Steve Smith - Convicted 1985, Acquitted 1999 (14 years death row)
Ronald Jones - Convicted 1989, Charges dismissed 1999 (10 years death row)
Steve Manning - Convicted 1993, Charges dismissed 2000 (7 years death row)
Aaron Patterson - Convicted 1986, Pardoned 2003 (17 years death row)
Madison Hobley - Convicted 1987, Pardoned 2003 (16 years death row)
Leroy Orange - Convicted 1984, Pardoned 2003 (19 years death row)
Stanley Howard - Convicted 1987, Pardoned 2003 (16 years death row)
Gordon Steidl - Convicted 1987, Charges Dismissed 2004 (17 years death row)
That is 18 men wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death, those 18 men served an average of 11.77 years before they were finally released.
I am not sure that I am willing to live with the fact that we came very close to executing these 18 innocent men for crimes they did not commit.
Now that I think about it, I AM SURE that I am NOT willing to live with the fact that we came very close to executing these 18 innocent men for crimes they did not commit.
To Mark L. I know you have said before that you could live with that fact, I only wonder if you could actually tell these 18 men to their face that you believe their sacrifice would have been worth it?
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