http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ SamuraiMarine Blog Forum: Recent Posts en Thu, 09 Sep 2010 20:59:56 +0000 http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=183#post-648 Sun, 08 Aug 2010 01:58:58 +0000 SWSamurai 648@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <!-- sphereit start --> <p>So... those few of you that are still reading this. What are your predictions for the November elections?</p> <p>For those &quot;Obama-ites&quot;, are you sufficiently pleased with what you have gotten so far that you will vote for those that will further his cause? </p> <!-- sphereit end --> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=138#post-647 Sun, 11 Jul 2010 01:16:53 +0000 SWSamurai 647@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <p>Spatter... I knew him in the mid to late 1970s when he was the Rabbi of Temple Beth El here in Bakersfield. </p> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=182#post-646 Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:43:10 +0000 Anonymous 646@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <!-- sphereit start --> <p>Avoid accomplishment Differin sit on the fence your eyes, bath creases unapproachable nose, partner in crime stop lips. If certify does produce be an adjunct to these areas, awash without delay water. 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Do you know anything about his life after the 1960&#39;s?</p> <p>I really appreciate any help you can provide.</p> <p>Spatter </p> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=138#post-596 Fri, 27 Nov 2009 03:07:26 +0000 SWSamurai 596@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <!-- sphereit start --> <p>How many people that voted for Obama can actually still say they are proud of what he has (or has not) accomplished? </p> <!-- sphereit end --> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=137#post-595 Fri, 09 Oct 2009 08:27:16 +0000 SWSamurai 595@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <!-- sphereit start --> <p>This award was given based on his first 12 days in office. What in the HELL did he accomplish that?</p> <p>Seriously... please, someone tell me! </p> <!-- sphereit end --> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=136#post-594 Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:36:48 +0000 SWSamurai 594@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <!-- sphereit start --> <p>In order not to &quot;Offend&quot; his Chinese financiers, Obama has decided not to meet with the Dali Llama.</p> <p><a href="http://gawker.com/5374257/unlike-bush-obama-wont-meet-dalai-lama" rel="nofollow">http://gawker.com/5374257/unlike-bush-obama-wont-meet-dalai-lama</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/04/AR2009100403262.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/04/AR2009100403262.html</a></p> <p>This will be the SECOND first for this president that I am aware of. He was the first since Eisenhower to NOT to attend the Medal of Honor Ball... in favor of the Celebrities that helped him get elected.</p> <p>Now... the Dali Llama has been snubbed. One can only assume it is because so much of the &quot;Obamacare&quot; program is riding on the promise of Chinese money. </p> <p>Everyone... better go out and buy your &quot;Mao Suits&quot;. </p> <!-- sphereit end --> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=135#post-593 Sun, 06 Sep 2009 09:43:09 +0000 Jazzlsnr - Contributing Author 593@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <p>While I completely agree that the gun incident was inappropriate and should not have been allowed to change the debate about healthcare reform that was taking place, i cannot agree with the rest of the comments. </p> <p>The protestors or speakers, participants in the debate have every right to express their opinion, be they right wingers, left wingers or those in between. Isn&#39;t the idea of a town hall to allow the politicians to explain their proposed policies and provide information? And isn&#39;t it our right as citizen&#39;s to participate and demand answers to the tuff questions that are a legitimate part of this debate. If all the politicians wanted to do was sugar coat health care reform, they need not have gone about holding town hall meetings. Just let the media continue to not cover the healthcare debate and the serious questions that have been raised about the contents of the bill. Why should we just blindly accept healthcare reform?? If the goal is cover people who do not have coverage, why not just provide covrage to those people, rather than effect everyone&#39;s healthcare. The answer in thie case is simple. The government wants to control every aspect of our lives from cradle to grave, and that is not what this country was founded on. The best way to cover those without insurance, it to create an insurer of last resort, who would cover those who cannot get traditional insurance either because of health conditions or lack of employment. The only other reform needed in healthcare is a dose of reality for the true cost&#39;s of healthcare. Because of insurance the american public is immune to the true cost. If the government takes over healthcare, that will never happen. We will see $750 aspirin to go along with our $750 hammers and toilet seats, and no we aren&#39;t taking gold plated designer ones, just your everyday run of the mill kind with wood handles and seats made out of plastic. </p> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=135#post-592 Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:07:57 +0000 AtomicNovaGenius 592@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <!-- sphereit start --> <p>I was browsing Facebook today and a friends “status” (like twitter before there was twitter) said this: </p> <p>“Given this nation&#39;s history of whackos (right wing and left wing) trying to assassinate presidents, and it&#39;s history of violence against African Americans, am I not justified in my anger when a white man shows up with a loaded gun at a presidential town hall meeting?”</p> <p>He also had this to say:</p> <p>“I&#39;m not one to trample on a person&#39;s right to bear arms, however, you should have enough common sense to know that at heated town hall meetings and one that the President will appear, it might not be a good idea to have a loaded gun on my person.”</p> <p>To read an article about the gun story to give yourself more context click below.</p> <p><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/08/11/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5235445.shtml" rel="nofollow">http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/08/11/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5235445.shtml</a></p> <p>**Also, it should be noted that the individual who brought his loaded gun and was standing outside the townhall the President of the United States was holding was within his right to do so under New Hampshire state law. </p> <p>I actually had no opinion whatsoever on the gun incident. Personally, I think it was a pointless stunt that really didn’t prove to be beneficial in any way. What bothers me about his status was that this story was his status at all.</p> <p>By broadcasting this story on his status he is doing exactly what the right wing/fringe left, whatever you want to call them, want him to do by allowing himself to be distracted by these types of incidents. The day of this incident the President was there to discuss healthcare insurance reform in this country. To open an honest dialogue with the American people about heatlhcare and the ways he wants to try to make sure every American has heatlhcare insurance. And from that event what was he most angry about? The fact that millions and millions of American don’t have heatlhcare when we are the wealthiest country in the world, that Veterans still can’t get proper healthcare treatment when they return from a duty of protecting us. No, he allowed himself to be distracted from trying to get reform and was pulled into these petty arguments that yield no results. </p> <p>Those fringe people out there yelling and making a scene at townhalls across the country don&#39;t have any fresh ideas to present to the American people, that’s why you see these type of thuggish incidents going around the nation at townhalls. If they truly had the American people’s interest at heart, they wouldn’t allow needed reform to fail because they can’t comprise for the betterment of their own country. When is it going to stop being about you won this and I won that and be about how do we get America back on the right track to where the rest world looks at us as an example of how to progress and evolve as country and not bitter people who are constantly divided by etiology.When I consider patriotism, I always remember the passionate words of Adlai Stevenson: &quot;Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.&quot; </p> <!-- sphereit end --> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=134#post-591 Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:08:44 +0000 AtomicNovaGenius 591@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <p>that&#39;s just wrong...:) </p> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=134#post-590 Sun, 19 Jul 2009 19:06:32 +0000 SWSamurai 590@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <!-- sphereit start --> <p><a href="http://rookery3.aviary.com/storagev12/1463000/1463159_2e09_625x1000.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://rookery3.aviary.com/storagev12/1463000/1463159_2e09_625x1000.jpg</a> </p> <!-- sphereit end --> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=133#post-589 Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:52:05 +0000 SWSamurai 589@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <p>Looks like I spoke too soon!!!</p> <p><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31422688/ns/us_news-weird_news?GT1=43001" rel="nofollow">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31422688/ns/us_news-weird_news?GT1=43001</a> </p> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=133#post-588 Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:45:59 +0000 SWSamurai 588@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <!-- sphereit start --> <p>It's a frikken greek tragedy, I tell ya!</p> <p><a href="http://www.thestar.com/videozone/652024" rel="nofollow">http://www.thestar.com/videozone/652024</a> </p> <!-- sphereit end --> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=132#post-587 Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:59:18 +0000 SWSamurai 587@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <!-- sphereit start --> <p>This is over the top... </p> <p><a href="http://mosnews.com/society/2009/04/14/1013/" rel="nofollow">http://mosnews.com/society/2009/04/14/1013/</a> </p> <!-- sphereit end --> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=131#post-586 Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:51:52 +0000 SWSamurai 586@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <p>That's not nice... I do not care for Obama, but I certainly would not compare him to Hitler. </p> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=131#post-585 Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:19:18 +0000 Jazzlsnr - Contributing Author 585@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <!-- sphereit start --> <p>Just a question......</p> <p>Wasn't there another famous head of state who got involved in the car business?</p> <p>hmmm.....seems familiar................. </p> <!-- sphereit end --> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=130#post-584 Sun, 26 Apr 2009 22:37:01 +0000 SWSamurai 584@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <!-- sphereit start --> <p>Tonight I decided that, since my stomach was still not quite at 100% since this bout with what I can only assume was a stomach flu, I would go to the Subway Sandwich shop here by my home.  Not a long drive and the fresh air... well... as fresh as Bakersfield can grant, would do me some good.</p> <p>Upon entering and subsequently waiting in line behind the woman who probably single handedly inspired Carol from a slightly demonic version Brady Bunch, whose six children might have been models for  "Chucky" and whose ability to control them was slightly akin to Captain Binghamton's ability to control Lt. Mchale  (Yes... I know most of these analogies are lost on anyone younger than thirty...)  Her and her kin were waiting for their food to be made when "IT" happened.  During one of the critical moments of public sandwich-making when children are present, happened.  The sandwich guy's Mayo jar ran out.</p> <p>Anyone who has been in a Subway when this happens, knows what that means.  Yes... the Mayo jar made a rather loud sputtering sound.</p> <p>It was at this time that one of the kids happily announced to no one in specific and everyone in general that... "The sandwich guy farted!"</p> <p>This had the effect of turning the already noisy group of children into a now laughing group of children sounding something slightly similar to what Pee Wee's playhouse might sound like on laughing gas... oh... never mind.</p> <p>To make matters worse, the now very self-conscious sandwich guy made the sound three more times... in the ever-efficient effort to get every last drop of the mayo out of the jar.  This, in turn, evoked a chorus of laughs and giggles... now not just from the children, but also from the few other adults that were there as well.</p> <p>Yes... even me,  mister stoic... the gruff, 40 something former Marine, started to smile at this point.  For me, however, I think I was smiling more at the way the sandwich guy was looking at the children.  With that fake smile, hiding the sudden desire to start practicing Hannibal Lecter's craft in the kitchen, beginning with the little starting lineup of the might munchkin football league that he had in his dining room.  All he was missing was the quiet time, fava beans and nice Chianti.</p> <p>It was about this time that he, the sandwich guy, announced that he had to go get more Mayo, then went to the back.  Either to actually GET mayo, or to contemplate his new career as a serial murderer and cannibal.   This I do not know, as the sandwich gal who was working with him took over and finished making the sandwiches for them and then, myself.</p> <p>The woman and her small restaurant assault team went off valiantly to ransack the Domino's pizza next door.</p> <p>I saw no further sign of the sandwich guy that night... I hope the rest of his evening went better, and that it did not end with him having his partner for dinner with beans and wine.</p> <p><span style="color: #ff0000;"><em><strong><br /> </strong></em></span></p> <p><span style="color: #ff0000;"><em><strong>Note to the reader... some of the events may have been embelished for the entertainment of the reader.</strong></em></span> </p> <!-- sphereit end --> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=129#post-583 Sun, 26 Apr 2009 12:40:10 +0000 SWSamurai 583@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <!-- sphereit start --> <p>So... as of this last Wednesday (22 April 2009), I am now a Master Mason.</p> <p>Masonry has been a part of my family for a few generations now.  Most recently it was my Great Uncle... William Yelland.  He was a Mason to the core and made it to the lofty 32nd degree in the Scottish Rites.  If you were to look at the life he led and the things he had accomplished, there would be no doubt that he was a benefit to the lodge and they to him.</p> <p>Thinking about it now, this is something that I should have done years ago but I never was able to set aside the time to do so.  This is mostly my fault.  I got lazy and never MADE the time to do this, something that was important to me because of the connection that it has to my family and to myself.</p> <p>And just remember.</p> <p><a href="http://www.freemason.org/index.php" target="_blank">"To become one, ask one."</a> </p> <!-- sphereit end --> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=128#post-582 Sun, 19 Apr 2009 14:55:01 +0000 SWSamurai 582@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <!-- sphereit start --> <p>While walking around work today, I noticed something that just really had not struck me before.  It is the way that there is one set of rules for one group of people, yet an entirely different set for others.</p> <p>What do I mean?</p> <p>If I were to put pictures up in my work area of women wearing bikinis or underwear, it would not be long before one of two things would happen.  First, I would probably be written up for something along the lines of sexual harassment.  Second, I would probably be looking for work elsewhere, since most companies have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to things like this.</p> <p>All this being said, why is it that when I walk through my work, there are several people that have pictures of people like Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp with their shirts off or similar?  How is a guy with his shirt off or just wearing a towel any less of an offense to the company policies on things like this than if I put a scantily clad picture of, for example, Gigi Edgeley or Tyra Banks?</p> <p>Am I supposed to accept that it is right for the ladies in my office to enjoy the sight of their favorite actor in a semi-clothed state, yet if I put up a picture of an actress, model or any other picture of a lady with the same amount of clothing on, it is considered wrong?  Are the rules really that skewed in favor of women that they are exempt, or are people just afraid to stand up and say anything about it to someone?</p> <p>To be fair... it is not just my current job, but this is something that I have seen at a couple of my other jobs too.  There was one office that I worked at where a woman had her desk littered with pictures of various men, not only in various states of undress, but in some provocative positions as well.  Yet I would be willing to BET you that should one of her male counterparts put up a picture of Jessica Alba in a bikini, SHE would be one of the first ones to raise a stink about it, and HR would be all over him, say little or nothing about her desk.</p> <p>Is it just me, or does anyone else notice these little contradictions in life?  I am sure that I cannot be the only one out there that sees things like this.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <!-- sphereit end --> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=127#post-581 Sun, 19 Apr 2009 01:55:54 +0000 SWSamurai 581@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <!-- sphereit start --> <p>What are your stands on gun control, who should be allowed to own guns and what restrictions should be placed on gun ownership, if any? </p> <!-- sphereit end --> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=125#post-580 Wed, 08 Apr 2009 22:25:53 +0000 SWSamurai 580@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <p>As a side note... I am disabling the system that replicates the postings from my blog into the Forum. I would rather people commented in the blog, not here. This area will return to use for general topics. </p> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=125#post-579 Wed, 08 Apr 2009 22:17:54 +0000 SWSamurai 579@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <p>Whataya talkin? I have not even seen the movie. I am going strictly by the previews. Unless you have not seen the first movie. In which case you are not missing much... really.</p> <p>Just imagine your hero from 24 on dope... oh... wait... nevermind. </p> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=125#post-578 Wed, 08 Apr 2009 05:43:15 +0000 Jazzlsnr - Contributing Author 578@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <p>umm....two little words..."spoiler alert" would have been nice........ :)</p> <p>luckily i stopped reading, i am sure it was a nice article, which i will read after i have seen the movie.... </p> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=126#post-577 Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:45:47 +0000 SWSamurai 577@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <!-- sphereit start --> <p>I have decided to revert the blog back to a simpler appearance.  While I liked the "Old West" feel of the old theme, it was apparent that this was slowing things down a bit.</p> <p>So...  in an effort to make the site more appealing to those that may find it... I have opted for simplicity over beauty.</p> <p>Enjoy... </p> <!-- sphereit end --> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=125#post-576 Sat, 04 Apr 2009 14:05:35 +0000 SWSamurai 576@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <!-- sphereit start --> <p>A while  back the wife and I watched a movie called  Crank.  This was not really something that I was looking forward to, but to make the wife happy, I relented.  I knew she had a thing for Jason Statham, and I really think that this is the only reason she wanted to see it.</p> <p>Well... in the end of that movie, for those of you who did not see it, you see the Hero of the movie fall from a helocopter and plunge about a thousands feet to the street in the middle of the town.  The last scene is him hitting the ground and then one last blink before it fades to black.</p> <p>First off, lets JUST look at the physics behind this.  Any person, no matter how tough or strong, that falls from that high, is going to be nothing more that a puddle of bloody goo when it hits the street.  The only cleanup you are going to need to worry about is that which requires a mop and a shop-vac.</p> <p>Now there is a new movie coming out called "Crank: High Voltage".  Staring Jason as the same "Chev Chelios" character.  Only this time, it appears that some folks come acros his body, revive him and, so the previews appear to be saying, harvest his organs.</p> <p>OK...  First off...  are we supposed to believe that there is any way that a human body could survive a fall from that height... and, not only that, be in good enough condition to be harvested for anything more than compost.</p> <p>In the previews that we see in the theaters we not only see that he is alive, but almost unscathed.  But this time he is trying to keep himself alive after the people that are harvesting his "parts" have taken his heart and replaced it with a artificial one, which happens to look like a K-Mart brand Jarvik heart.</p> <p>The plot, this time, is that he has a dying battery for his artificial heart and he must run around town, through various weak plots and exploits, to locate his own heart and get it to a doctor so that he can have it placed back in his own body.  All the while he needs to keep recharging his battery.</p> <p>My only thought as I sat in the theaters and watched this proview was that it is sad that this is the best that Hollywood can come up with for entertainment.  I cannot even see that this would be a big draw for the most die-hard Statham fan.  This appears to be one of those movies that the writers were either playing rock, paper, scissors or based the story on a poorly played game of craps.</p> <p>Strangely enough, Naty has admitted that she will not be watching this movie.  Even thought Jason is in it, she has desided that this one is just a little too dumb even to watch just for him. </p> <!-- sphereit end --> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=124#post-575 Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:30:44 +0000 SWSamurai 575@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <!-- sphereit start --> <p>So... a couple weeks ago Battlestar Galactica ended.</p> <p>I really liked this show, a lot.  But like <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105946/" target="_blank">Babylon 5</a>, years before, the writers were smart, and instead of creating an open ended storyline that would keep going until it was little more than an excuse to keep a franchise running (... can anyone say "Enterprise"?), they made a series that would have a clearly defined beginning, with interesting people who all had back-stories, and ran with it, keeping us guessing the entire five years. Then, like clockwork, it had a clearly (or not so much, depending on who you ask.) defined end.</p> <p>If you are one of those people that has not seen the whole series yet, you may want to stop reading now, I plan on talking about the last show and some of the other things that I saw through the series that made me stop and go "Hmmm", as Arsenio Hall might have said. So consider this your "Spoiler Warning."</p> <p>First...  I liked the feel of the Galactica from the onset.  It looked like a Battleship, had the feel of a battleship, and even had that appearance that you might expect from a ship that was made for battle in an airless environment.</p> <p>As an example, take a moment the next time you watch BSG, and look at the layout of the ship, then watch a movie like "Hunt for Red October" or "Red Tide", and notice that the Galactica resebles a submarine in many aspects.  This is also, more than likely, how any near-future ship that we send into space will look.</p> <p>Then there is the story line.  While this BSG series used most of the same issues and plots of the original series from the 70s, it did it the way I think the original writers wanted the stories to flow.  For those of us who recall, the original series was kinda campy and hard to take too seriously.  But there was good reason for that, from my point of view, that was that it was competing against the legacy of movies like Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  There was just too much serious Sci-Fi out there at the time, so they had to "lighten it up" a bit.</p> <p>This series, the new BSG, was dark.  Yes, It had it's ups and downs, but overall, like one of the guys in the little show right before the series finale said... how happy can you make a show, when your race is in jeopardy of destruction?  There were no "cutesy" or "warm and fuzzy" moments in it, and no thought provoking epilogue from Captain/Admiral Adama at the end of the show.  If you recall the original series, you will remember what I am talking about.</p> <p>The storyline that the new BSG carried with it is one that I think we will all carry with us.  Watching Rosalyn grow as a character and then watch her as the cancer ate her alive but she still fought through it all, then, once they were all safe on the new "Earth", she finally lets go and dies with Adama by her side, his last act being that of placing his ring on her finger.  Seeing Cara Thrace seem to die, then come back... only to discover, in the last episode, that she probably was never really there to begin with.  Then to learn that the colonists may have been the seeds of what you and I are today in some form of modernized Panspermia.</p> <p>BSG was one of those programs that, now that it is over, has left a hole in me.  Not just in the sense that now there is some open slot in my Television viewing schedule, but in the sense that it leaves so many questions open to interpretation.  There things that you sit and try and think out, now, that probably will never be answered.  I hope, though, that Ron Moore and his team leave it that way.</p> <p>Let BSG be one of those things that all of us, the fans, will sit around for years and wonder about.  Let it fuel our conversations as we sit in Starbucks (pun intended) and drink our latte's, and talk nerd talk about these shows.</p> <p>That is what keeps the characters alive. </p> <!-- sphereit end --> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=122#post-574 Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:57:20 +0000 SWSamurai 574@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <p>Unfortunately for the USA... I think you might be right. I think it was a congressman from one of the Dakotas that said something about cessation from the Union.</p> <p>While I can see Jazz right now getting ready to intervene and remind me that it takes something like 4/5ths approval to secede, than is not entirely true. The governor of a state CAN deploy the state police (usually highway patrol) and local militia to block entry into a state and forcefully declare independence. It would be hard, but this was actually the basis for a Made of HBO movie back in the 90s.</p> <p>Back to the more probable, though. Lets say that four years go by... CBO and his gang do NOTHING. The economy is still in the tank. Wall Street is a 3500 or lower, unemployment is at 19~22%, and the average tax rate for middle class is at 22%. Two things are going to happen.</p> <p>1. After eight years of Bush and four of CBO, the people will lose all respect for both parties and either call for a massive restructure of both, or people will leave both in record numbers.</p> <p>2. We will see a MASSIVE move to reorganize government as a whole. Probably moving us to more of a Democratic Republic than a Representative Democracy, like we are supposed to be.</p> <p>Like I have said in the past. The system is pointing in the wrong direction. The government should be afraid of us. They should be terrified of the people of the country. Instead, we are all living with a worry about what they are going to do next. </p> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=122#post-573 Tue, 10 Mar 2009 16:44:49 +0000 Jazzlsnr - Contributing Author 573@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <p>I just fell off the chair and am rolling around on the floor gasping for breath. Something is wrong in the universe!!!!!</p> <p>Ang-nice to see you back... I have been absent myself due to internet connetions isssues which have now finally been resolved and its nice to have access once again.</p> <p>As to the post. While I am not yet ready to cut the cord, I do agree with many points in the post. The reality is this, both the repubs and the dems are both asleep at the wheel. Seems to me tat the goal of both parties has become, do whatever we can to stay in power. What ever happened to a citizen legislature? Where those that serve, do so only cause they have too, instead of spending their whole life planning on running for President, Congressman or Senator. To name a few, the clintons, the bushes, obama, the kennedy's. To all politicians I say this, "shut up and get out of the way, and let the people govern" It's time all the right thinking people took back our government and return to the principles of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln. "A goverment of the people, by the people, for the people"</p> <p>Dare I say this, it may be time for a little revolution!!!! </p> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=123#post-572 Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:35:41 +0000 SWSamurai 572@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <!-- sphereit start --> <p>So... after almost twenty years with AT&amp;T, feeding the giant, so to say, the wife and I have decided to move our phone line to <a href="http://www.vonage.com/" target="_blank">Vonage</a>.</p> <p>I am sure that this evokes images of the silly commercials and the famed<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHPA79XQL6s" target="_blank"> "Woo Hoo" song by the "5,6,7,8's"</a> who sang the song in the first installment of the Kill Bill movies.</p> <p>All that aside, I have actually been with vonage for a few years... about four or five now, they provide my 877 number for this site and the second line that comes into my house.  More often than not, I use that line as my main line because the clarity is so much greater than that of the land line.  It is also the line I use for the TTY device I use to speak to my mother, who is deaf.</p> <p>In all, vonage does offer a lot of features for what you pay.  The few times I have had to call them for something, I have never had to deal with anyone rude or with an accent so thick I almost feel like I need a passport just to ask for technical support... much like I have to go with any time I call AT&amp;T for line or DSL support, when I am at work.</p> <p>I have had a couple people tell me the not do this, but I have to think that they have been around long enough to be considered stable... and if my office "SamuraiMarine Hotline" is any sign of thing to come, then I am sure I will be plenty happy.</p> <p>Besides...  it is also going to save me about $25 dollars a month making the move! </p> <!-- sphereit end --> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=122#post-571 Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:43:03 +0000 SWSamurai 571@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <p>Whoa... ANG and I in agreement? I better go buy a hell of a lot of lotto tickets right this damn moment! ;-D </p> http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=122#post-570 Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:17:24 +0000 AtomicNovaGenius 570@http://www.samuraimarineblog.com/bbpress/ <p>Here, here! </p>