Both Puerile and Sophomoric

And you thought the Intifada was funny... 

Vint Cerf: Access to the Internet is Not a Human Right

Every once in a while monkeys fly. Less often, the New York Times publishes something not left of center.

This time they let Vint Cerf, one of the main inventors of the Internet, write an Op Ed. They probably hoped for a squishy plea for free (as in beer) access for all people everywhere in the world. Never mind the costs, taxes on the ricn - quietly defined as anyone who pays taxes - will pay for this gigantic transfer of wealth.

It didn't go as expected. The Op Ed is unequivocal.

 

But that argument [Internet access as a civil or human right], however well meaning, misses a larger point: technology is an enabler of rights, not a right itself. There is a high bar for something to be considered a human right. Loosely put, it must be among the things we as humans need in order to lead healthy, meaningful lives, like freedom from torture or freedom of conscience. It is a mistake to place any particular technology in this exalted category, since over time we will end up valuing the wrong things. For example, at one time if you didn’t have a horse it was hard to make a living. But the important right in that case was the right to make a living, not the right to a horse. Today, if I were granted a right to have a horse, I’m not sure where I would put it.

 

Improving the Internet is just one means, albeit an important one, by which to improve the human condition. It must be done with an appreciation for the civil and human rights that deserve protection â€" without pretending that access itself is such a right.

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Couldn't have said it better myself.

But resist we much, we must and we will much, about that, be committed. -Al Sharpton, MSNBC

Wait, maybe I could have.

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Family Activities - Outings, Camping, Amnesty for Arrest Warrants.

An organization in Saint Louis called Better Family Life has a bit different idea of promoting family values. One activity that gets quite a bit of press coverage is a government approved program in which people with misdemenor warrants (actually, warrants for failing to appear in court for their original charges) can pay ten dollars, sign up for a class, attend the class, pay $100, and get the FTA warrant absolved along with a new court date.

 

[caption id="attachment_371" align="aligncenter" width="399" caption="What's not to Like?"]Saint Louis Amnesty Project[/caption]

 

 

This is a popular event with KSDK reporting over 14,000 taking advantage of it last year.  It sounds like a cynical money grab by a lot of Police Departments participating in the program.

People who have failed to bother to show up for their first trial are relieved of $110.  In return they must attend a class (assuming they merely need education in what the words "at your peril" mean on court paperwork) and show up for a new trial date.  They've already failed to show for their first trial, so what are the odds they can show for two events?

Oddly, nobody keeps statistics on that.  This is merely a sanctioned way for the perpetually wanted to kick the can down the road a couple of months before they're wanted on the same old charges, and for the 54 cities, counties, and munis to get some cash.

How about a program that bypasses the ever-needy nonprofit organizations?  Call for an amnesty, have the accused show up at city halls and get new trial dates instead of taken into custody.  Does there really need to be a third party organizing this and a fourth party teaching a course on what a warrant means?

Obviously there does.

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Email Meme - Dallas Impounding Uninsured Cars

You've probably had this email forwarded to you a couple of times in the past week or so:

 

HAS DALLAS , TEXAS GOT A GOOD IDEA HERE?

Uninsured Cars off the Road

Recently, the City of Dallas , Texas , passed an ordinance stating that if a driver is pulled over by law enforcement and is not able to provide proof of insurance, the car is towed.

To retrieve the car after being impounded, they must show proof of insurance to have the car released. This has made it easy for the City of Dallas to remove uninsured cars.

Shortly after the "No Insurance" ordinance was passed, the Dallas impound lots began to fill up and were full after only nine days. 80 + % of the impounded cars were driven by illegal’s.

Not only must they provide proof of insurance to have their car released, they have to pay for the cost of the tow, a $350 fine, and $20 for every day their car is kept in the lot.

Accident rates are going down and... Dallas ' solution gets uninsured drivers off the road WITHOUT making them show proof of nationality.

Wonder how the ACLU or the Justice Department will get around this one.

Just brings tears to my eyes.

GO DALLAS !  LEAD THE WAY!  HURRAY!

Probably another urban legend, right?

As of July 29, 2011, Snopes hadn't exposed it.  That could mean this is a new prank.

So a quick check of Google led me here.  Low and behold:

 

Dallas Resident,

Beginning January 1, 2009 the Dallas Police Department will begin enforcing the Uninsured Motorist Ordinance, approved by the Dallas City Council on May 28, 2008. Under this ordinance drivers stopped for a traffic violation who cannot show proof of auto insurance meeting state requirements will be issued a citation and will have his or her vehicle towed at the owner’s expense. The City already tows the vehicles of uninsured motorists involved in traffic accidents.

The new ordinance is in response to the large number of people driving in the City of Dallas without the proper state required auto insurance. These uninsured drivers place an unfair burden on those who comply with state law and maintain auto insurance. The Dallas Police Department currently issues about 75,000 citations a year to motorists with no auto insurance. With the new ordinance, the city anticipates fewer of these citations as more drivers comply with the law to avoid having their vehicles towed.

To find out more about the Uninsured Motorist Ordinance that amended Section 28-4 of the Dallas City Code, please review the ordinance.

If you have any questions about this policy please call 311 (the City of Dallas Customer Service Helpline) or 214-670-5111 when calling outside the City of Dallas.

Comply with state law: contact an automobile insurance provider and obtain auto insurance.  It's the law.

Well, that's good evidence.  The Houston Chronicle confirmed the law.

Gee, actually taking uninsured cars off the streets.   Contrast this with:

  • Officer stops and cites motorist
  • Motorist ignores citation, continues to drive
  • Court issues Failure To Appear warrant
  • Motorist fails to appear in court again to answer the charge of failing to appear on their first offense
  • Motorist gets stopped by police again, arrested for FTA and driving uninsured vehicle.
  • Officer must take motorist to station for booking, taking a cop off the street for about 2-3 hours.
  • Motorist either released on bail (how'd he get bail $$ when he can't buy insurance?) or kept in jail until trial, taking up space in jail.

Is it better to let an uninsured driver (and car) go and then put the driver in jail when he's caught later for an offense, or to get the uninsured vehicle off the streets until it's in compliance?

Granted that vehicle may have gotten the saintly downtrodden driver to his job to support his family, but if he's in jail, he sure can't go to work either.  And whoever would drive the uninsured car in the meantime runs exactly the same risk of a useless citation and eventual jailtime.

Good job, Dallas.  I like your style.

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What Racist, Sexist, Bigot, Homophobe Would Oppose Raising the Debt Ceiling?

Time to form a chanting mob and go after whoever said this:

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government can not pay its own bills.  It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that "the buck stops here." Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.

What, our dear leader actually said that? I'll never believe it unless the Progressives at Snopes verify it. Oh, they did. This makes perfect sense to a Leftist. Words have only the meaning we attach to them. There is no "truth", only a hazy relativism that is bent as needed to further a goal. And that goal is to: get re-elected in order to fundamentally transform the US into a "socially just" state.

So despite the 180 degree change, there is no problem in the minds of Progressives. Words are just tools.

And so are folks who believe that.

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Saudi Cleric Issues Fatwa Defending Pedophilia as ‘Marriage’

Media_httpwwwtheblaze_hiofb

In all civilized cultures, murder and pedophilia are universally taboo. In the Muslim culture they are not.

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If George Bush was an Idiot...

From an email passed around in May 2011.

If George W. Bush had doubled the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had then proposed to double the debt again within 10 years, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had criticized a state law that he admitted he never even read, would you think that he is just an ignorant hot head?

If George W. Bush joined the country of Mexico and sued a state in the United States to force that state to continue to allow illegal immigration, would you question his patriotism and wonder who's side he was on?

If George Bush had pronounced the Marine "Corps" like Marine "Corpse" over and over again in a speech to the Marine Corps would you think him an idiot?

If George W. Bush had put 87,000 workers out of work by arbitrarily placing a moratorium on offshore oil drilling on companies that have one of the best safety records of any industry because one company had an accident would you have agreed?

If George W. Bush had used a forged document as the basis of the moratorium that would render those same 87,000 American workers unemployed would you support him?

If George W. Bush had been the first President to need a TelePrompTer installed to be able to get through a press conference, would you have laughed and said this is more proof of how inept he is on his own and is really controlled by smarter men behind the scenes?

If George W. Bush had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to take Laura Bush to a play in New York City , would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had reduced your retirement plan's holdings of GM stock by 90%and given the unions a majority stake in GM, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had given England 's Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, a set of inexpensive and incorrectly formatted DVDs, when Gordon Brown had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have thought this embarrassingly narcissistic and tacky?

If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia , would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had visited Austria and made reference to the nonexistent "Austrian language," would ou have brushed it off as a minor slip?

If George W. Bush had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current on their income taxes, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had stated that there were 57 states in the United States , would you have said that he is clueless.

If George W. Bush would have flown all the way to Denmark to make a five minute speech about how the Olympics would benefit him, would you have thought he was a self important, conceited, egotistical jerk.

If George W. Bush had been so Spanish illiterate as to refer to "Cinco de Cuatro" in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was the 5th of May (Cinco de Mayo), and continued to flub it when he tried again, would you have winced in embarrassment?

If George W. Bush had misspelled the word "advice" would you have hammered him for it for years like Dan Quayle and potatoes as proof of what a dunce he is?

If George W. Bush had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel to go plant a single tree on Earth Day, would you have concluded he's a hypocrite?

If George W. Bush's administration had okayed Air Force One flying low over millions of people followed by a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan causing widespread panic, would you have wondered whether they actually get what happened on 9-11?

If George W. Bush had failed to send relief aid to flood victims throughout the Midwest with more people killed or made homeless than in New Orleans, would you want it made into a major ongoing political issue with claims of racism and incompetence?

If George W. Bush had created the position of 32 Czars who report directly to him, bypassing the House and Senate on much of what is happening in America , would you have approved.

If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?

So, tell me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive? Can't think of anything? Don't worry. He did all of this in his first 21 months -- so you'll have two years and three months to come up with an answer.

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Fundamental Transformation at Work

(Washington Examiner) â€" Dan McLaughlin at RedState.com notes an interesting parallel in acceptance rates at two of America’s best-known institutions.

McDonald’s recently received a million job applications during it’s one-day application event, while Harvard completed consideration of applicants for its 2015 freshman class. The fast-food chain accepted 62,000 of those applicants, which means, McLaughlin observes:

“That’s a 6.2% acceptance rate. Harvard College’s acceptance rate for the Class of 2015? 6.2%. In Barack Obama’s America, it’s officially now as difficult to get a job flipping hamburgers as it is to get into Harvard.”

 

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Be true to your teeth | The Freeman >> The Freeman Sections >> Cebu Lifestyle

Check out this website I found at philstar.com

Evidence that Dr. Rolex Omega, DDS actually exists as a practicing Dentist in Cebu, RP.

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Total Intellectual Bankruptcy - Obama is Reaganesque

Statists love to accuse others of what dirty tricks they use - forcing innocents to say "No, you do that" and look like children saying "I know you are but what am I?"

Now it's working in the opposite direction.  Leftist talking points now include the comparison between Presidents Obama and Reagan.  The Washington Times has a compelling comparison between the two presidents.

Do they really think Conservatives will buy the lie for a second? I believe they are so bereft of ideas that they literally have nothing of their own to claim that is attractive. So co-opting their enemy is the only thing left to do.

Before talk radio and new media, they would have gotten away with it. No more.

Reagan: Fostered national pride in the military.

Obama: Fostered gay pride in the military.

Reagan: We begin bombing in five minutes.

Obama: We begin golfing in five minutes.

Reagan: Made big government a bad word.

Obama: Made big government a bad dream.

Reagan: A shining city on a hill.

Obama: A home mortgage under water.

Reagan: Just say no.

Obama: Yes we can!

Reagan: Stood up to the Soviets.

Obama: Bowed to the Saudis.

Reagan: “Tear down this wall.”

Obama: Tearing down this country.

Reagan: “Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.”

Obama: Concentrated power has always been the objective.

Reagan: Put labor unions in their place.

Obama: Put labor unions in charge.

Reagan: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”

Obama: We are that generation.

Reagan: Morning in America.

Obama: Mourning for America.

Reagan: “Man is not free unless government is limited.”

Obama: Man is not limited unless government is free.

Reagan: “Government programs, once launched, never disappear.”

Obama: That’s the plan.

Reagan: “The best minds are not in government.”

Obama: The best mind is in the Oval Office.

Reagan: “I did not take the oath I have just taken with the intention of presiding over the dissolution of the world’s strongest economy.”

Obama: It’s all Bush’s fault.

Reagan: Our adversaries “counted on America to be passive. They counted wrong.”

Obama: Who else can I apologize to?

Reagan: “Trust, but verify.”

Obama: Let’s do whatever Putin wants.

Reagan: “We have a rendezvous with destiny.”

Obama: I have a rendezvous with destiny.

Reagan: Abortion is murder.
Obama: Abortion is paid for.

Reagan: Thou shalt not speak ill of any Republican.

Obama: Thou shalt not speak to any Republican.

Reagan: Appointed the wise Justice Scalia

Obama: Appointed a wise Latina

Reagan: A citizen-politician

Obama: A citizen (?) politician

Reagan: Proposed a missile defense

Obama: Disposed of missile defense

Reagan: “Go ahead, make my day.”

Obama: Go ahead, tax and spend.

Reagan: The nine most terrifying words in the English language are:

Obama: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.

Reagan: “Let’s not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards from man-made sources.”

Obama: Why not?

Reagan: Middle class values

Obama: Middle class tax hikes

Reagan: “Information is the oxygen of the modern age.”

Obama: Invented the internet kill switch.

Reagan: Supported the death penalty
Obama: Supports the death panels

Reagan: “I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead.”

Obama: Let me get back to you on that one.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2011/01/26/amanpour-hails-obama-reag...

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