• It's not just a Packers flag. You can stand in most rooms in about 80% of the residences in southeastern Wisconsin and have a Packers logo visible somewhere. The waste basket, a photo/wallhanging, an article of clothing, the fine china....
  
  
• What, no mention of the Witch's House?
  
  
• The Safe House IS better than Disney Land. Don't forget to order a Hail to the Chief for your friends.
  
  
• Please note that spending all day bashing the Cubs is not strictly a Milwaukee, nor a Wisconsin thing, nor are bashing those people from Illinois. Remember, Illinois borders five states.
  
  
• Isn't Brother Ron off the scene? I haven't seen him anywhere on my last few visits ("The Jesus Car" as this unknowledgeable blogthing person calls him).

- posted by Brian J. @ 9:47 PM   1 comments

Mayor Carol Lombardi has urged Gov. Jim Doyle to veto a plan for merging two college campuses in the Milwaukee area, saying that the move toward consolidation stems from "more politics than practical study."

Lombardi also said that making the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha part of UW-Milwaukee would strain her city's police force and other resources if the suburban campus must be expanded.

• She doesn't want the urban people who go to UWM to infect Waukesha. Since she brings up the cost of police protection, I think this is probably her motive.
  
  
• She's holding the state up for more money, grants, and so on for her fiefdom to spend.
  
  
• She doesn't think government consolidation and efficiency are worthwhile goals if they cut into her pork.
  
  
• She fears the loss of prestige for Waukesha if there's not a University of Wisconsin-Waukesha. Come to think of it, that's all the prestige Waukesha might have. In the right light.

- posted by Brian J. @ 3:54 PM   0 comments

I knew the exact time Terri Schiavo collapsed 15 years ago, and I could tell you that the runaway bride got a half-million-dollar advance to tell her story.

But I had lost track of how many U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq.

I listen to the president making a speech about how much better the world is without Saddam Hussein in power and how much progress we're making in Iraq. That's followed by news stories about a car bomb killing dozens in Baghdad, U.S. recruitment going into the tank, Iran and North Korea getting nuke savvy.

So I've got to wonder if the commander in chief is dealing with reality.

I listen to the vice president calling Guantanamo Bay critics a bunch of anti-American crybabies with nothing better to do with their time, and then I hear those left-wing radicals from the Red Cross talking how the U.S. is using tactics "tantamount to torture."

So how much attention should I pay when the V.P. speaks?

The Bolton nomination and "the deadlock that has centered on Democratic demands to see draft testimony that Bolton's office prepared on Syria for a House committee hearing two years ago and insistence on seeing 36 names Bolton requested and was allowed to see from blacked-out National Security Agency reports."

Or news that "Jennifer Wilbanks, the runaway bride, was found to have prior records for shoplifting in two separate cases."

- posted by Brian J. @ 4:17 PM   0 comments

Now it’s take and take and takeover, takeover
It’s all take and never give
All these trumped up towers
They’re just golden showers
Where are people supposed to live?

- posted by Brian J. @ 11:50 AM   0 comments

I am pleased to announce that our athletics nickname effective July 1st will be the Golden Eagles. This decision was made by you, the Marquette community, through the "MU Voice" voting process. I want to thank all of you who participated in "MU Voice" for taking the time to vote for the nickname that we will use as we enter the Big East Conference on July 1st.

The name Golden Eagles has a proud association in Marquette's history since it was our name from 1994 to the present. I am pleased that this tradition will continue in the Big East Conference, one of the most prestigious and competitive conferences in the nation. The Big East is also known for the academic quality of its student-athletes, and our Marquette student-athletes will be no exception. They excel both in the classroom and in athletic competition.

Ultimately, more than one-third of the Marquette community eligible to vote participated in either phase one or phase two of the voting process, with 35,777 total individuals casting votes. Thank you for your passion and enthusiasm for Marquette University. Your dedication is vital to ensuring our future progress and success.

Let me also thank Advantage Research, Inc., the independent firm that administered "MU Voice," for creating and executing an honest, fair and scientific process. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the work of the Nickname Advisory Committee, comprised of representatives from the Marquette community, for ensuring the integrity and transparency of this process.

Of course, we know that Marquette is first and foremost an academic institution committed to educating men and women to be a leaven for good in our society. We must not lose sight of this important mission rooted in our 450-year Jesuit tradition. Thank you for your care and concern and for the pride we share in the values of this wonderful university. We Are Marquette!

- posted by Brian J. @ 10:54 AM   0 comments

It's a thrilling ride, but even those viewers who aren't troubled that the most expensive film ever made is a parable of American victimhood may grow weary of the family's close-call heroics.

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:38 AM   0 comments

"They got a brand new facility down at Guantanamo," Cheney told CNN's Wolf Blitzer last Thursday. "We spent a lot of money to build it. They're very well-treated down there. They're living in the tropics. They're well fed. They've got everything they could possibly want."

I kind of wish the ever-dizzy Blitzer had asked a couple of follow-ups: "Everything they could possibly want, Mr. Vice President? Like a fair and impartial process to see if they even belong there?

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:24 AM   0 comments

Thousands of men and women were improperly detained for more than 30 hours each in a crowded county jail booking room because a sheriff's deputy never moved his computer scroll bar, court records show.

"I think if -- if I may impose on court and counsel's experience, sometimes when the information presented is wider than the screen, there's a little slide bar at the bottom of the computer," Assistant Corporation Counsel John Schapekahm told Circuit Judge Clare Fiorenza. "He never push the slide bar apparently."

. . . .

Information about how long inmates were held in booking was available via computer, Schapekahm said. But that particular piece of information was in the eighth column of a table, and only seven columns showed on the computer that a deputy used to track inmates.

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:34 AM   2 comments

A San Jose woman was recovering from bites to her hands and arms after her 8-month-old pit bull mix attacked her in her home Sunday, police said.

The 36-year-old woman, who was not identified by police, was cleaning up after the dog got sick in the house in the 0-100 block of George Street when the dog attacked her about 6 p.m., according to San Jose Police spokeswoman Gina Tepoorten.

"For some reason, the dog ended up turning on her and attacking her," Tepoorten said.

A teenage boy was bitten and critically injured Monday in the second shark attack in three days along the Florida Panhandle.

- posted by Brian J. @ 3:43 PM   1 comments

As authorities began investigating why police failed to search a car trunk where three missing boys were found dead, the father of one of the children said Sunday he could not understand how they died so close to home.

Anibal Cruz, 38, said the family assumed that police looked in the trunk of the car that was parked just steps from where the boys were last seen playing.

"That was the first place to look," Cruz said. "You can look through the windows and check inside. That is simple. Maybe they should have looked in the trunk."

- posted by Brian J. @ 12:10 PM   0 comments

As this ruling states, "for more than a century," the high court has favored "affording legislatures broad latitude in determining what public needs justify the use of the takings power."

- posted by Brian J. @ 3:48 PM   0 comments

DC fans are conservative, Marvel fans are liberal. Discuss.

- posted by Brian J. @ 12:07 PM   1 comments

Then again, maybe you're one of those people who are incapable of running. In director George Romero's parallel universe, "walkers" are the living dead, the zombies who are slowly invading Pittsburgh. They've been doing it since 1968, biting and converting one victim at a time. As the zombies have become increasingly resourceful in tracking human prey, they've also been increasingly potent symbols of the conformity and consumerism that Romero sees as sucking the life out of America.

The fourth installment in the series (not counting the recent remake of "Dawn of the Dead") is his most unmistakably symbolic movie yet, a savage indictment of the bunker mentality that has zombified the United States in the age of terror.

- posted by Brian J. @ 9:13 AM   0 comments

Conservatives have been trying for years to breathe more life into the constitutional protection of property rights. Many saw the sympathetic cause of the New London homeowners as a foot in the door. But their view could have handcuffed economic development.

The court's decision may fuel the trend for big box stores to displace little businesses and homes, as in Sunset Hills. But it also will help cities improve their economic health or aesthetics. In essence, the decision is a bow to modernity. There aren't castles anymore.

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:25 AM   1 comments

Most Americans believe the government should do more to make the Internet safe, but they don't trust the federal institutions that are largely responsible for creating and enforcing laws online, according to a new industry survey.

- posted by Brian J. @ 2:07 PM   0 comments

A Quincy woman carrying $46,950 in cash through Logan International Airport claims she was on the way to see a Texas plastic surgeon when federal drug agents seized the money she planned to use for a procedure on her buttocks and breasts.

"The agent looked at my buttocks and told me that I do not need an operation," Ileana Valdez, 26, told a federal court yesterday in an affidavit contending she got the cash from selling her Dorchester business and two homes.

DEA Special Agent Anthony Pettigrew said, "This is her version of events on that day. When there's a hearing, DEA will present its version of what happened on that day."

- posted by Brian J. @ 1:32 PM   0 comments

Local officials, not federal judges, know best in deciding whether a development project will benefit the community, justices said.

"The city has carefully formulated an economic development that it believes will provide appreciable benefits to the community, including -- but by no means limited to -- new jobs and increased tax revenue," Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority.

- posted by Brian J. @ 10:45 AM   0 comments

Washington is demanding a new wine accord by July 15 to replace one which expired in 2003 and which would enshrine American wine-making practices banned in Europe.

These include adding oak wood chips to barrels of wine to hasten the ageing process, adding water to must (the grape juice before fermentation is complete), and the use of ion extractors to reduce acidity.

Representatives of struggling French wine producers appealed at the international Vinexpo wine fair in southwestern Bordeaux this week to Agriculture Minister Dominique Bussereau and External Trade Minister Christine Lagarde to protect their interests in the negotiations.

European Union officials, pushed by traditionalists, are so far refusing to extend a current dispensation allowing the American practices, but US officials say that if no agreement is reached they will tighten application of the Bioterrorism Act.

This law, introduced after the September 11 2001 attacks in the United States, covers imports of all food and drink.

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:42 PM   0 comments

Although this is a heavily researched book that includes amongst its sources almost a hundred people who are or were personally close to Mrs. Clinton, this is not a peek through a keyhole. Instead, it is a peek -- and more than a peek -- into the mind of Hillary. And, whether you like or hate Hillary, the inside of her mind is a fascinating place in which to rove about.

- posted by Brian J. @ 3:43 PM   1 comments

"No matter how hard women work, or whatever they achieve in terms of advancement in their own professions and degrees, they will not be compensated equitably!" shouted Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., at a "wage equity" rally in Washington, D.C.

- posted by Brian J. @ 1:11 PM   1 comments

The Creve Coeur City Council is considering the proposed budget that begins July 1 and ends June 30, 2006.

The council is expected to vote on the proposed budget at its June 27 meeting.

The proposed budget for all funds shows revenues at $16.8 million and expenditures at $16 million. The apparent $800,000 surplus actually will be routed to long-term personnel funds, leaving the city with a $300,000 deficit in the general fund.

The proposed budget includes a modest raise in what residents pay the city through their personal property taxes. Perkins said residents currently pay 7 cents per $100 assessed valuation. He said the city has not determined the amount of the increase but expects it will be between 8 and 9 cents.

Perkins said although an exact amount has not been determined because information from the county assessor's office has not arrived, the city is looking at personal property tax numbers that would translate to about $13 a year more for a home valued at $350,000. The money would generate about $140,000 more for the city.

Other taxes in the city have gone up in recent years. The city's utility tax, after decades of being at less than 5 percent, increased to 6 percent last year and will rise to 7 percent July 1.

Some businesses in the Olive Boulevard Transportation Development District increased their sales tax by one-half percent. The money will be used to pay for roadway and other improvements in the district. The city will not receive money from that increase.

Perkins said the city has begun looking into whether it should consider increasing its tax on business licenses. He said the matter will be reviewed by the city's economic development and finance committees, but the issue is not part of the proposed budget for 2006.

• Personal property taxes--that is, cars and things that apartment dwellers pay, too
  
  
• Sales taxes
  
  
• Business license costs
  
  

- posted by Brian J. @ 10:05 AM   0 comments

In the absence of an antiwar movement, the American people have turned against the war in Iraq. Those two facts, I suspect, are connected.

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:42 AM   1 comments

Keep those pension checks coming.

That will be the battle cry today of some 300 American Airlines employees, who plan to flood the halls of Congress and lobby for pension reform. Airline management and key unions say they are united in preserving employee pensions, a benefit that's been waylaid at other passenger carriers that have succumbed to bankruptcy.

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:16 AM   0 comments

Once a week, Pfc. Joshua Frey, a Marine who spent several months in Fallujah before he was shot Dec. 12, heads to a darkened office in the Naval Medical Center here and places a headset over his eyes.

He attaches biofeedback sensors to his arms, hands and chest, grabs hold of a joystick and enters a video game version of the Iraq war. As he moves through a "virtual" Fallujah, he encounters sniper fire, explosions and insurgents lurking in shadows. A Navy psychologist checks readouts from a flat-screen monitor showing the Marine's heart rate, breathing, hand perspiration and skin temperature.

But for Frey and the U.S. military, this is no game. It is part of a potentially groundbreaking approach to treating the effects of severe combat stress, in Iraq and elsewhere.

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:12 AM   0 comments

St. Charles County Executive Joe Ortwerth says he will veto legislation that would allow voters to decide whether the County Council should have the power to stop his office from filing lawsuits against other political entities.

"The council's action is designed to breach the separation of powers," Ortwerth said. "I am going to defend the prerogative of the executive branch."

- posted by Brian J. @ 3:02 PM   0 comments

From a pale pink velvet fringed chaise to wrought iron patio furniture, the earthly belongings of Milwaukee restaurateur Sally Papia and her daughter will be sold piece-by-piece this week in an estate sale described in a classified advertisement as of one of the area's finest in 33 years.

- posted by Brian J. @ 2:58 PM   0 comments

"I've never been able to understand his appeal. Maybe his mother loved him, but I've never met anybody who does. He's never won anything, as best I can tell," Cheney said in an interview on Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes."

Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean, responding to criticism from the vice president, said he doesn't "care if Dick Cheney likes my mother or not."

- posted by Brian J. @ 2:53 PM   4 comments

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom endorsed a series of measures Monday he hopes will reduce the likelihood of attacks by aggressive and dangerous dogs in the city, including spaying and neutering regulations, a ban on backyard breeding, and imposing fines on irresponsible canine owners.

The city can enact some new policies right away; others that regulate specific breeds, however, would require a change in state law first.

The primary target of the city's crackdown will be pit bulls and pit bull mixes, which are responsible for at least half the vicious dog cases handled by city authorities. City officials don't want to ban pit bulls but are seeking to regulate them.

- posted by Brian J. @ 2:50 PM   1 comments

"But I wanted to appeal to this generation. The script was the funniest thing I'd ever read. I thought the topless scene in particular was the funniest moment in the whole movie. Despite my anxiety I recognised this to be a great role."

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:11 PM   1 comments

The "why" goes something like this: Missouri has the third-highest smoking rate in the nation, spends the third-lowest amount on anti-tobacco efforts and charges the third-lowest cigarette tax.

The correlation is no coincidence.

- posted by Brian J. @ 6:30 PM   1 comments

St. Louis street crews are working to repair a sinkhole that was nearly big enough to swallow a car. City Streets Director Jim Suelman says the hole on Memorial Drive near the Old Cathedral is about five feet in diameter and nearly a foot deep.

- posted by Brian J. @ 4:04 PM   0 comments

Citing heavy financial losses and concern about the future, St. Louis Blues owners Bill and Nancy Laurie have decided to sell the National Hockey League team and its long-term lease on the Savvis Center.

With some cooperative tweaking, local politicians and leaders can ensure the Blues' future in St. Louis.

The state and the city have wobbled and given in on the tax issue before. The state and the city and St. Louis County teamed to pay for a football stadium that eventually housed the Rams. The Rams' lease calls for the stadium to be maintained to high standards, so public money is still being used for periodic upgrades, even though the Rams are highly profitable. The Rams also got deal sweeteners, including a new practice facility, for moving here.

The Cardinals open a new ballpark next season, and they're receiving public money for road and infrastructure work and other stadium-related costs. The city also waived its 5 percent amusement tax for the Cardinals owners to keep the new stadium in the city.

Again, I know what you're thinking: Who cares? No public money for sports teams. OK, fine. But what will we do with Savvis Center? The city owns the arena. If the Blues head out of town, the city is stuck with the arena. Savvis Center creates full-time jobs, and a part-time workforce on the night of the events.

The Savvis Center however, won't do jack for the city, and downtown interests, if there's no hockey team or NBA team to fill valuable dates. That's the reality. So really, it's up to the city to decide what to do with this investment.

And we have a history lesson to draw on.

Once upon a time, when Ralston Purina sold the Blues, no local owners stepped up. The team was sold to Harry Ornest, who was based in Beverly Hills, Calif. After a few years, our civic leaders were so fatigued by the bombastic Ornest, they organized a local group to buy the Blues just to get rid of him.

Obviously, it would have been cheaper to buy the team before Ornest got a hold of it; instead the local leaders paid a lot more for the Blues once the team passed through Harry O's hands.

Same with pro football. After the Cardinals moved to Arizona in 1988, the enormous cost of luring the Rams here was far greater than the cheaper alternative of keeping the Cardinals here.

If high taxes are going to drive the Blues out of this market - say, to Kansas City - then it'll cost considerably more, long-term, to replace them.

- posted by Brian J. @ 10:42 AM   2 comments

• The Kiel Center
  
  
• Savvis Center
  
  
• TBD

- posted by Brian J. @ 9:49 AM   0 comments

The U.S. Department of Justice is quietly shopping around the explosive idea of requiring Internet service providers to retain records of their customers' online activities.

Data retention rules could permit police to obtain records of e-mail chatter, Web browsing or chat-room activity months after Internet providers ordinarily would have deleted the logs--that is, if logs were ever kept in the first place. No U.S. law currently mandates that such logs be kept.

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:14 AM   1 comments

A deer also attacked a person Monday, and two of three people injured by a doe June 7 required hospital care, Sigler said.

- posted by Brian J. @ 3:02 PM   4 comments

• Another pit bull attacks; breed crowds city pound (Springfield, Missouri)
  
  
• St. John will study pit bull regulations (St. John, Missouri)
  
  
• Chief says officer's arrest was more bark than bite (Northwoods, Missouri)

- posted by Brian J. @ 10:43 AM   0 comments

It was a crucial mistake to send out the entire constitution to every French voter, the architect of the EU's first constitution Valéry Giscard d'Estaing has said in an interview.

In an interview with the New York Times, his first since the French rejection of the constitution two weeks ago, the former French president apportions most of the blame to president Jacques Chirac for failure in the referendum campaign.

One crucial mistake was to send out the entire three-part, 448-article document to every French voter, said Mr Giscard.

Over the phone he had warned Mr Chirac already in March: "I said, 'Don't do it, don't do it'".

"It is not possible for anyone to understand the full text".

Mr Giscard d'Estaing also puts the blame on the present generation of political leaders.

Neither Mr Chirac nor other European leaders had a strategy for ratifying the constitution, he said. "The present generation of leaders, whatever their strengths, never put Europe at the top of their agenda".

- posted by Brian J. @ 11:27 PM   0 comments

• Set in Minnesota, which is the upper Midwest. Although they worship the pagan Vikings and even refer to them once in the book, they're of good Scandinaviagerman stock like my ancestors in Wisconsin.
  
  
• Frantic pace of novel, coupled with allusions to previous novels, intimates an incident in a line and a past to which the characters are privy even if you, fool who starts with book eleven, are not.
  
  
• Main character, in mid forties or so, is: rich due to his sale of a computer company; drives a Porsche due to his wealth; juggles attractive women of his own age with 20-something models; and serves as a deputy chief of police who bends the ear of the chief and the mayor.
  
  Face it, he's the hardboiled fantasy from the 1940s or 1960s aged a couple decades.

• The intro, foreshadowing chapter is ultimately misleading.
  
  
• Multiple murderers throw the investigation off. Also, they confuse the reader.
  
  
• Multiple murderers mean that the bulk of the book spends time chasing red herrings.
  
  
• Book is split between whodunit and high level police procedural; the first chapter would indicate whodunit, but who does it doesn't depend upon clues given but late breaking developments and insights and, frankly, who's not dead among the suspect pool at the end.

- posted by Brian J. @ 11:26 PM   0 comments

I didn't watch much of the news analysis that evening. I switched off Nancy Grace not long after she declared, "Not guilty by reason of celebrity!" The one aspect of the post-verdict coverage that interested me was the jurors' press conference. The fact is that they were there through all of the months of testimony, and we weren't. They listened to the witnesses and studied their demeanor.

And in the end they found reasonable doubt. Watching the jurors, I felt deep respect for the good sense and competence of ordinary people faced with a solemn task. I feel no inclination to say I think they were wrong.

- posted by Brian J. @ 10:14 AM   1 comments

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the 22nd amendment to the Constitution. (Introduced in House)


HJ 24 IH

109th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. J. RES. 24

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the 22nd amendment to the Constitution .

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

February 17, 2005

Mr. HOYER (for himself, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. SABO, and Mr. PALLONE) introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

---

JOINT RESOLUTION

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the 22nd amendment to the Constitution.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification:

`Article --

`The twenty-second article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is repealed.'.

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:12 AM   2 comments

The offending driver had a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit, according to a New Berlin police report.

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:40 AM   0 comments

A bipartisan pair of state lawmakers are recommending a radical change to the way health insurance is bought and sold in Wisconsin by proposing the creation of a statewide insurance purchasing pool.

The proposal is intended to help businesses cope with skyrocketing health care costs and stem the number of uninsured residents. The plan will be unveiled today to an Assembly committee studying reform of the state's Medicaid health care program for the poor, elderly and disabled.

The proposal would essentially impose an 8% to 12% payroll tax on all employers to provide basic health insurance to everyone in Wisconsin younger than 65.

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:18 AM   0 comments

..You are receiving this email notification because... 

-> MICROSOFT SENDS ILLEGAL UNSOLICITED COMMERCIAL SPAM <-

OUR MISSION: Worldwide Boycott of MICROSOFT Software / Hardware / Service
SHOW YOUR SUPPORT: "Don't Support Illegal Spam, Don't Buy Microsoft Products"

OUR GOAL: 100 Billion Views / 99.9% Internet Saturation / 178 Parts (2005-2007)

[SPAMIS Foundation: Strategic Partnership Against Microsoft Illegal Spam] 

[Part 47 of 178]
----- ---- --- -- -  -    -
Microsoft Employee Mike Lyman Speaks Out on Online Spam
Message Board NANAE & Mailing List SPAM-L on Microsoft Spam
___________________________________________________________

MICROSOFT IS ONE OF THE "GREATEST, MOST HATED INSTITUTIONAL SPAMMERS AROUND"

"I'm with one of the greatest, most hated institutional "spammers" around.
 most people speaking officially for the company will go round and round
 with you how we don't spam. Well, in the past it was not always obvious
 that you were opting in, sometimes it still isn't obvious and our sign up
 process still leaves a lot to be desired and is open to abuse."

FIRMLY ADMITTING THAT MICROSOFT IS A "SPAMHOUSE" AND SENDS OUT SPAM

"We are a spamhouse. Doesn't matter that we're Microsoft.  Our legitimate,
 unsolicited email is still just spam."

___________________________________________________________

MIKE LYMAN:
Microsoft Head Email Abuse Administrator for Microsoft Speaks
Out About Microsoft's Previous & Current Spamming Activities

PREVIOUS CREDENTIALS:
West Point Military Academy Graduate of 1987
Ex-Computer Administrator for the US Department of Defense
___________________________________________________________

MEDIA & JOURNALISTS INTERESTED IN A STORY ON SPAMIS AND/OR MICROSOFT SPAM?
LEGAL FIRMS INTERESTED IN LITIGATION AGAINST MICROSOFT'S ILLEGAL SPAMMING?
Contact: Spamis, Box 1259, Seattle, WA 98111 / Phone or Fax: (206)260-2409

QUESTIONS ABOUT THESE PUBLIC STATEMENTS FROM MICROSOFT:
Microsoft Head Spam Spokesmen: Aaron Kornblum or Ryan Hamlin

SPAMIS EXISTS DUE TO THE IMPROPER, RUDE AND FALSE ALLEGATIONS SET FORTH BY:
Microsoft Head Law Firm: Preston, Gates, Ellis, Seattle, WA - USA
Lawyers at Fault: Robert J. Dzielak / David A. Bateman / Theodore J. Angelis

[Part 47 of 178]
(c)2005 SPAMIS: Strategic Partnership Against Microsoft Illegal Spam

- posted by Brian J. @ 10:41 AM   0 comments

If Nashville's police union has its way, anyone who makes a formal complaint against a Metro police officer could face felony criminal charges if the department's internal investigators clear the officer of wrongdoing.

Nashville Fraternal Order of Police President Ed Mason asked for the enforcement in a March 15 e-mail to Police Chief Ronal Serpas, who has told the FOP that he has concerns about the request.

"The (Fraternal Order of Police) would like the department to present cases to the (District Attorney's) Office when a serious allegation has been made and the case has been cleared," Mason's e-mail reads.

The union's request is based on two situations in which Metro officers were targets of "blatant lies" during the police formal complaint process, Mason said.

However, when asked about the two cases, Mason said he and other FOP officials could not recall the officers' names or the situations.

Serpas has raised concerns about the idea. "Charging every complainant whose complaint was not sustained has been viewed by some courts as an unconstitutional effort to intimidate citizens and keep them from making legitimate complaints," reads a reply from Serpas to Mason, whose union represents most of Nashville's 1,200-plus police officers.

Serpas' written reply, obtained by The Tennessean, also states that he believes the formal complaints made by residents are often based on a misunderstanding of police procedures and policies and that "charging complainants should be considered in only the most extreme cases."

Just because an internal police investigation clears an officer of wrongdoing, it doesn't mean the situation stated in a complaint did not occur, Serpas said.

- posted by Brian J. @ 9:23 AM   0 comments

Some companies are cracking down on employees' off-duty behavior, raising questions about how far employers should go in policing what workers do on their own time.

Employees are being disciplined or fired for such behaviors as drinking on their own time, using competitors' products and displaying political bumper stickers. No one tracks the number of such cases, but some workers rights' groups are concerned that the practice is on the upswing.

"The shock is that there's no legal protection," says Lewis Maltby, of The National Workrights Institute, a non-profit based in Princeton, N.J., that focuses on employee rights. "You can get fired just for having a bumper sticker the boss doesn't like."

- posted by Brian J. @ 6:20 AM   0 comments

While flipping through the book I noticed Taiwan, of all things, had its own entry. Taiwan, according to Microsoft…wait for it… belongs to China. Totalitarian propaganda has actually made its way into a style guide for user manual and Help file writers.

- posted by Brian J. @ 4:24 PM   0 comments

We cannot point blame at personal watercraft for causing accidents when operator-controlled factors such as inattention and inexperience are cited as the leading contributors ("Zippy craft, young riders are making waves," June 4). Irresponsible boaters cause accidents. Because most accidents are preventable, steps must be taken by boaters themselves to improve safety.

People who take a boating safety education course are less likely to be involved in an accident. Rental-business owners should more thoroughly explain the rules to customers, so that they know how and where to ride, in addition to not jumping a boat's wake or riding to close to another personal watercraft.

We applaud Missouri for its new boater education law that requires all boaters born after Jan. 1, 1984, to pass a safety course. But older boaters should take a class, too. Personal watercraft manufacturers support laws that require all PWC operators, regardless of age or previous experience, to take a course. We also support a minimum age requirement of 16 years to operate a personal watercraft and 18 years to rent one.

To prevent an enjoyable boating day from becoming an unfortunate tragedy, we all must take steps to assure that safety and responsibility come first.

Maureen Healey
Executive Director
Personal Watercraft
Industry Association
Washington D.C.

- posted by Brian J. @ 9:56 AM   0 comments

Four members of seminal British rock band Pink Floyd will play together for the first time in 24 years at London's Live 8 charity concert for Africa on July 2, publicists for the event said today.

Guitarist David Gilmour, drummer Nick Mason and keyboard player Richard Wright will be on stage with bassist Roger Waters for their first public performance since they played at London's Earls Court in 1981.

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:03 PM   0 comments

The judge ruled that Gillette's claims that its M3Power could raise the stubble on one's face were not true.

The court ordered Gillette to change the TV and print ads and the packaging for the product in 30 days.

Gillette yesterday asked the court for a clarification. The razor maker argued that neither the packaging nor the instore displays for M3Power depict hairs "changing angle or changing length."

"'Gentle micro-pulses stimulate hair up and away from skin,' does not suggest that hairs are changing angle or changing length," it argued in court papers.

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:12 PM   2 comments

A clump of cloth mixed with plastic was found in the stomach of the bear, who died of surgical shock and cardiac arrest.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will review the St. Louis Zoo's care of Churchill, a polar bear who died May 26 during surgery to remove an abdominal obstruction.

"An investigation is just a closer look," Jim Rogers, an agency spokesman in Washington, said Friday. "It doesn't mean any laws were broken."

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:03 PM   0 comments

I see that the Mighty Bear had a logo contest and the winner was a doozy of an entry. Perhaps a logo contest for this site is in order . . .

Crap, I don't know Logo.

Can't we just use BASIC instead?

- posted by Brian J. @ 9:28 PM   0 comments

THEY may look like lovable pets but Britain’s estimated 9m domestic cats are being blamed by scientists for infecting up to half the population with a parasite that can alter people’s personalities.

- posted by Brian J. @ 4:15 PM   0 comments

Cleaned a lot of plates in Memphis,
Pumped a lot of 'tane down in New Orleans

- posted by Brian J. @ 3:10 PM   0 comments

Daley isn't the only public servant receiving scrutiny. Our embattled governor, Rod Blagojevich, is on everybody's minds and lips. His name came up in three very different conversations I had with three very different people one day this week. Since I am known as being a negative sort, I will present the bare facts behind the trio of comments without any kind of embroidery: Time: 12 noon. Place: Back room at Gene & Georgetti's. Speaker: a well-respected, longtime Chicago editor:

"I've been watching politics for 40 years, and he's the worst governor we've ever had, bar none."

Time: 2:30 p.m. Place: Editorial board room of the Sun-Times. Speaker: a longtime state officeholder:

"He's missing in action and not paying attention."

Time: 5:30 p.m. Place: the Metra Milwaukee North Line. Speaker: a lady on a train:

"He's in over his head. He doesn't know what he's doing. I kinda feel sorry for him."

- posted by Brian J. @ 10:09 AM   0 comments

Joggers are today being warned about violent crows in London parks after an attack left a man bloodied and needing hospital treatment.

- posted by Brian J. @ 9:28 AM   2 comments

Child welfare officials seized a 12-year-old cancer patient from her parents, saying they were blocking radiation treatment that doctors say she needs.

Last week, authorities issued an Amber Alert to gain temporary custody of Katie after receiving an anonymous tip about possible neglect. She was found with her mother at a family ranch, about 80 miles west of Corpus Christi near Freer, on Saturday.

Michele Wernecke was arrested on charges of interfering with child custody and was released Monday after posting $50,000 bond.

- posted by Brian J. @ 6:53 AM   0 comments

So please stop bull-------- us.

- posted by Brian J. @ 11:13 AM   0 comments

Dear Valued Sprint Customer,

At Sprint, our focus is making sure that we always provide you with the highest level of service. Therefore, our policy is to send you emails only with your permission. Click here if you'd like to continue receiving email communications regarding account information, special offers and product updates. Remember that Sprint respects your privacy and will never share, sell, or rent your email address to any third parties.

Whether your current Sprint Service Plan is for personal or business use, we believe that email is the most efficient and environmentally friendly way to communicate with you. If you do not respond to this message, you will no longer receive emails from Sprint (unless you later provide us with your permission). This does not apply to online invoice notifications.

Thank you,
Sprint Customer Service

- posted by Brian J. @ 4:46 PM   0 comments

"The masculine ideal is being completely modified. All the traditional male values of authority, infallibility, virility and strength are being completely overturned," said Pierre Francois Le Louet, the agency's managing director.

Instead today's males are turning more towards "creativity, sensitivity and multiplicity," as seen already in recent seasons on the catwalks of Paris and Milan.

- posted by Brian J. @ 11:21 AM   0 comments

Pass enough laws, and a pissed-off cop can find something you've done wrong.

- posted by Brian J. @ 5:36 AM   0 comments

Making my way downtown
Walking fast
Faces pass
And I'm homebound

- posted by Brian J. @ 2:10 PM   2 comments

• 5 Commodore 64s, including 3 1541 drives.
  
  
• 2 TI 99/4as. I don't have the Dataset, but I do have the Speech Synthesizer module, which I haven't actually tested yet. I don't have a working set of joysticks, yet, which sucks since most of my dozen cartridges are games. Also, note that the two TIs I have now are the latest in my possession; I've owned 4 in my life; the preceding two also came in the 1990s, after the TI was way obsolete.
  
  
• 1 Laser 200, a computer I never heard of until I bought the one which languishes on my closet shelf. It booted, though, and I paid a couple bucks for it.

- posted by Brian J. @ 9:37 PM   7 comments

Another pair of wrecked Wave Runners. Just the latest.

One of them - a $3,500 machine that can hit 70 mph - sat with its front end sheared off outside Mike Lynn's rental shop. The two watercraft had crashed in a game of "cat and mouse," although both riders escaped injury.

Nine of 10 watercraft at Lynn's Bikini Pier Rental, a shop in the shadows of the Grand Glaize Bridge, come back damaged.

But a new Missouri law effective Jan. 1 is aimed at curbing these accidents, especially among younger drivers, who need to be only 14 to pilot such a craft alone. State residents younger than 21 are now required get a boating safety identification card by passing a boater education course.

The new card is required to operate all motorized vessels on Missouri lakes, even when renting one. A card costs $15.

"It's going to help. It's got to help," Lynn said. "I'm all for it." [Emphasis added.]

.9 * (percentage of underage rentals * safer riding because of certification)

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:59 PM   1 comments

According to Virginia-based Community Associations Institute, one in six Americans live in communities governed by indentures, in part because the added layer of governance can assure harmony and stable property values. [Emphasis added.]

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:49 PM   0 comments

It's not just that Dean's obnoxious, it's that he's either an idiot or a liar.

- posted by Brian J. @ 12:06 PM   1 comments

An RMS Strategies Poll released today reports that 46 percent of 401 registered voters in West Virginia would vote for Byrd if the election were held now.

- posted by Brian J. @ 2:29 PM   0 comments

Maryland State Police say they issued 111 tickets last night in a seat belt enforcement operation in Rockville.

The fine for not wearing a seat belt in Maryland is 25 dollars.

- posted by Brian J. @ 11:06 PM   1 comments

A representative of New Riverside said last month that the arrival of the new Milwaukee Theatre, the taxpayer-supported venue under the control of the Wisconsin Center District, was "driving us out of business." The Milwaukee Theatre opened in November 2003.

The managers of both venues generally compete for the same artists. In one case, comedian Jerry Seinfeld opted to go with the new Milwaukee Theatre instead of the Riverside. New Riverside officials said last month that Seinfeld rejected the Riverside even though the rental fee was waived.

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:14 AM   0 comments

If you are a Microsoft user, there's a big change coming in Longhorn -- the code name for the next MS operating system: the "My" prefix is disappearing.

Microsoft users have become used to the "My Music," "My Pictures," and other "My" folders, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, reported. Those Windows folders will still be yours -- but they won't keep hitting you over the head with that terminology.

Ending a longstanding tradition, Microsoft says, starting in the next Windows version due out next year, folders will be known simply as "Documents," "Music," and so on.

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:04 AM   1 comments

Bible teachings, much like the lessons from any religion, are designed as a guide for your personal life. The Bible is not a behavioral guide for state and federal governments. Governments have limited jurisdictions and powers. By reducing state overhead, and avoiding tax increases, Matt Blunt leaves money in your pocket to contribute to charity in any way you, or your religion deem appropriate.

- posted by Brian J. @ 2:52 PM   0 comments

The $2,600 (280,000 yen) contraption by Japanese robot maker Tmsuk Co. and electronics company Sanyo Electric Co. (SANYY) can connect with the owner's mobile phone to relay streaming video taken on the robot's digital camera.

It can be remote-controlled with a handset to go forward, backward, left or right. The buttons also adjust the angle of the digital camera to look up or down.

- posted by Brian J. @ 10:37 AM   0 comments

More than a fifth of the planet's bird species face extinction as humans venture further into their habitats and introduce alien predators, an environmental group said on Wednesday. [Emphasis added]

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:34 AM   0 comments