Duped!!!! The American people are duped once again by congress, the Federal Bank, and the reporting media. Has the US really turned into a mass of uneducated soulless blobs? I say yes, here's why:

We've elected members of Congress to represent us on our behalf. Instead, Congress has stopped representing their electorate except on issues that don't have a damn bit of business being addressed by the Federal government. We are hippocrites! I say this because people will raise all hell whether or not gay marriage is legal on the grounds of family values, but do nothing about an escalating divorce rate that is already at an all time high.

The Federal bank would do better to be regulated by a computer program designed to optimize (reduce) the budget deficit instead of by people who want to get rich and propagate bad decisions by rewarding them! I can't state enough regarding how bad this is. We do not, should not, nor even contemplate rewarding companies or people that make bad financial decisions. The Federal Reserve is doing just this by supporting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two companies that have made very bad business decisions by investing in risky mortgages to the extent their businesses risk becoming insolvent (running out of money). If I spent all my money on an investment, and it failed, I would be punished by having to apply for federal welfare as I wouldn't have a penny to my name. Instead of going out of business, the Federal Government is allowing these companies to remain in business by giving them more money to make even worse decisions. Even worse, that money if my tax dollars, money that should be spent to balancing the budget or social programs. Even worse, Congress is contemplating investing in these companies with our tax dollars. Even worse, these companies will be able to apply for guranteed loans at low interest from the Federal Bank. ARHGH!! Mother F*#(ers! This means these businesses, who have made bad decisions, will make record profits because of their new found access to low interest rates. Not only that, their stock value will increase thanks to Congressional buying using out tax dollars.

American people, it is out duty to tell our Congressional representatives that this is a very, very bad idea. If we do not weed out bad financial behavior now, it will propogate. Such bad behavior should be stopped before things get much worse, and they will unless the behavior is stopped right the hell now.

The media is not reporting on the implications of events, just that the events are taking place. I believe the media does not understand the implications of events that are taking place. Why should they? Their business is to present desired news to people at a sub high school graduate level. This is wrong, the media should make it their business to educate us and present intellectual reports on the cause / effects of current events.

America, stop rewarding bad behavior. Do not allow congress to invest in companies that make bad decisions. Do not allow the Federal Bank to back companies that make bad decisions. By rewarding such ludicrous behavior, we are encouraging it. This is bad for me and you, it's bad for America, it's bad for our government.

Okay, so how do we fix it? Let these companies go out of business and transfer the mortgages to the Federal Bank. How do you like them apples!!!! The bad companies will not be rewarded, they CEO's will need to look for other jobs with their resumes stating "I make bad decisions". The people with transferred mortgages will have theirs backed by the US government at lower interest rates, which has the benefit of offering slight relief to the middle to lower class taxpayer, someone who could really use it. The Federal Reserve would have done a damn good job instead of a horribly bad one.

Wake up America and smack someone.

With a presidential race looming around the corner, American's economic future is certainly at stake. The question is, how will the outcome of the next election affect the economy for both the United States and the world.

The simple answer is that McCain offers the best solution for the American economy while Obama offers the best solution for the world economy. But what about an ideal solution? What if we could elect a president who's sole goal is to fix the economy. How would it occur, what steps would need to be taken?

Here's my solution for the best fix to the American economy. Hey, I live in the US, I'd rather fix things more locally if we can:

1) Leave the WTO. This organization should not be able to over turn federal mandates in favor of business profitability.
2) Don't put Federal money into mortgage rescue or bank rescue loans. This only encourages bad behavior and risky investing by rewarding those who have made bad decisions. The correct solution to this it to let the market find it's own solution to this. If these means that banks close and some businesses go bankrupt, then let it happen. The same mistakes will not be made in the future.
3) Good grief, how stupid is the US automobile industry? America can no longer afford to compete with Union labor against cheap foreign labor. This is why many people are finding themselves jobless. It would have been better for Union's to not demand unrealistic wages. The result of this will be high foreclosures in Detroit as the artificially high income meant that people would buy artificially high houses. The current solution to this (sorry union workers) is that the automobile industry is outsourcing work to other countries (Mexico and Canada)! The better solution would be for the US worker to accept a lower lifestyle. This means smaller houses, living with extended family, not purchasing big screen TV's or cable, using more efficient and cheaper energy for cooking, heating, and cooling, and recycling waste water for gardening. I'm sure there are other things too. By accepting lower salaries and lifestyles, the price of homes would plummet, we'd save energy and the cost of energy would decrease, the automobile industry could afford to make a smaller car. Yes, that's the other big thing, why has the US automobile industry not made smaller, fuel efficient cars like foreign companies (Toyota and Honda on top)? I'll tell you, because it wasn't profitable with Union labor! Now to cope, jobs are moving overseas and Union workers are going jobless. They will likely have to find another non union industry to work in. Some may have home foreclosures until
enough occur and the price of homes drop sufficiently to where those with lower salaries can afford them.
4) Technology! Yes, the US is still capable of doing so much with it's current infrastructure. We need more scientists and engineers. We need to make these jobs seem cool again. Currently, today's youth wants to work minimal hours for a large salary. So you guessed it, everyone wants to be an investment banker where bad decisions are rewarded. This must be fixed, we should not subsidize bad decisions. Today's youth should not be under the illusion that money is easy to make. It must be earned, and it is hard work, hard physically, mentally, or both. If we encourage imagination, the US can be powerful again, which brings us to the next point.
5) Education must be changed at all levels! Let's start with grade schools, eliminate state or federal testing period. We do not need these to know that children can or can't succeed in the next grade. It's obvious! By eliminating these tests, schools can focus on improving the lifestyles of kids and the community by teaching art, music, and physical education/nutrition. Let's not forget finance! These aspects are not covered sufficiently at a young age for anyone to be successful through the public educational system.
6) Medical care, you guessed it, needs to be changed. We should begin by not encouraging unhealthy lifestyles. Workers should not sit at a desk for 8 hours, let's have a 6 hour maximum, with 2 hours of activity. There are many ways to accomplish this, business should make it a priority for their workers to find the best solution for them. Mandatory insurance is not a solution, we have mandatory car insurance, and that does not work. What will happen is that the insured will subsidize the uninsured. The best solutions would be to subsidize trips to foreign countries with medical tourism. Why pay $100,000 for a procedure when it's available for $15,000 in another country? Sure, the quality is somewhat less, but the end result will be the same. If that's not acceptable, lets make it easier for doctors to work in this country by not requiring malpractice insurance. Also, make it tough for fivilous lawsuits to be filed. This can be done by a jury, ask a panel of people if they agree that a lawsuit should be filed before it even goes to court! A panel can whiz through several of these in an hour.

Enough for now, there are many other aspects that need to be addressed, but I feel better after I've ranted on this. I wonder if anyone will listen or even better, come up with their own valid ideas.

Nappy Headed Hos! There, I said it. What's the big fricken deal exactly? I'll explain it to you.

Al Sharpton's image is his greatest virtue, particularly when it comes to his income. Do you think he really cares about the ladies' basketball team? I say not, he's not advocating that they spend more time studying and less time playing. He's not advocating that they wear different uniforms. He's advocating that a white man can't say anthing percieved as deragatory about the black community. He's doing this to keep up his image as a righteous crusader for "those people", but you can't refer to the black community as "those people" because it's deragatory.

However, since Sharpton's activities have resulted in the firing of a prominent radio personality, he has given himself more power in the eyes of his community. This means he can charge more for appearances or consulting or whatever mechanism he utilizes to appear righteous to his community.

Think about this, the best thing he could have done for the black community was nothing. Without the publicity, a majority of people wouldn't have known about the radio DJ's comment. But because so many more people have heard it directly due to Sharpton's remarks, some will perceive the remarks as true, especially since there is such an uproar over it. Yes, why wouldn't people react the way they do if it weren't true? Sharpton, you aren't a righteous crusader, you are sacrificing the image of the black community for your own personal gain and you know it. The reason you get away with it is because the community does not percieve it as such.

What can the public do about this? It's difficult for a group to change an image based on stereotypes, but it can be done when the media broadcast news or events on a regular basis that challenge the stereotype in question.

As for the advertisers who were pulling away, they should create advertising the challenges the negative stereotypes portrayed!

After finally coughing up the cast for Company of Heroes, I'm slightly disappointed in the play testing. When using an intel core2 duo processor with an ATI x700 Pro card, the game will consistantly crash at a certain sequence early in the game.

In an effort to continue playing, I installed the game on a second PC. There doesn't seem to be any problem when using an AMD x64 single core chip and an ATI 9700 Pro card. I'm left to assume there is some bug with directx graphics in company of heroes and an intel dual core CPU.

The game (when it works) is well done. The history and story line immerse the player in the game. This feat alone is worth of mention for an Real Time Strategy game! The language is appropriate and the single player mode's playability is superb. The game seems to be well balanced, even in easy mode.

I hope a patch is available soon, either from ATI, intel, or Company of Heroes to address the problem on a dual core system and ATI's graphic card when playing Company of Heroes.

Okay, I'm very dissapointed after seeing "A lady in the water". Don't get me wrong, it's a good date movie, emphasizing the virtures of hope, love, and trust. However, my message to M. Night Shyamalan is simple, plot twists does not a good movie make! I want depth, intellect, wit, and something worthy of discourse. This movie does not compell any of the above. At least Clerks II offers an opportunity for discussion on the validy of racial slurrs. Sigh... Holywood, give me an entertaining movie!!! So far the years best is Pirates of the Carribean II, and that's not saying much.

Here's how to compile QT 3.3.5 statically, since clicking on the compile static libraries option when compiling qt does not work:

cd qt\3.3.5\mkspec\msuc-logs
change the first two lines containing "mdd -7mtd" to "mdd -7mt"

cd qt\3.3.5\src
qmake qt.pro
nmake clean
nmake
qmake qtmain.prj
nmake clean
nmake

These instruction would have been nice if they were available some where.

This transcipt of Tony Blair and George Bush at a private luncheon at the G8 is amuzing in many ways. See for yourself, thanks to drudgereport.com for this. I did find the men's views regarding the middle east tension rather unintelligent.

Bush: Yo Blair How are you doing?
Blair: I'm just...
Bush: You're leaving?
Blair: No, no, no not yet. On this trade thingy...[inaudible]
Bush: yeah I told that to the man
Blair: Are you planning to say that here or not?
Bush: If you want me to
Blair: Well, it's just that if the discussion arises...
Bush: I just want some movement.
Blair: Yeah
Bush: Yesterday we didn't see much movement
Blair: No, no, it may be that it's not, it maybe that it's impossible
Bush: I am prepared to say it
Blair: But it's just I think what we need to be an opposition
Bush: Who is introducing the trade
Blair: Angela
Bush: Tell her to call 'em
Blair: Yes
Bush: Tell her to put him on them on the spot.Thanks for [inaudbible] it's awfully thoughtful of you
Blair: It's a pleasure
Bush: I know you picked it out yourself
Blair: Oh, absoultely, in fact [inaudble]
Bush: What about Kofi [inaudible] his attitude to ceasefire and everything else ... happens
Blair: Yeah, no I think the [inaudible] is really difficult. We can't stop this unless you get this international business agreed.
Bush: Yeah
Blair: I don't know what you guys have talked about but as I say I am perfectly happy to try and see what the lie of the land is but you need that done quickly because otherwise it will spiral
Bush: I think Condi is going to go pretty soon
Blair: But that's that's that's all that matters. But if you, you see it will take some time to get that together
Bush: Yeah, yeah
Blair: But at least it gives people...
Bush: It's a process, I agree. I told her your offer to...
Blair: Well...it's only if I mean... you know. If she's got a..., or if she needs the ground prepared as it were... Because obviously if she goes out, she's got to succeed, if it were, whereas I can go out and just talk
Bush: You see, the ... thing is what they need to do is to get Syria, to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit and it's over
Blair: [inaudible]
Bush: [inadubile]
Blair: Syria
Bush: Why?
Blair: Because I think this is all part of the same thing
Bush: Yeah.
Blair: What does he think? He thinks if Lebanon turns out fine, if we get a solution in Israel and Palestine, Iraq goes in the right way...
Bush: Yeah, yeah, he is sweet
Blair: He is honey. And that's what the whole thing is about. It's the same with Iraq
Bush: I felt like telling Kofi to call, to get on the phone to Bashad [Bashir Assad](9a and make something happen
Blair: Yeah
Bush: [inaudible]
Blair:
Bush: We are not blaming the Lebanese government
Blair: Is this...? (at this point Blair taps the microphone in front of him and the sound is cut.)

Thanks to Adam Cottam, Julia Alasheyeva, James Rubin and Barnay Green for help compiling this.