Free Republic

She actively participated in one of the greatest frauds ever to be perpetrated on the voting public. While playing the part of the dutiful wife, she was fully aware of John Edwards’ proclivities, and even lied about his love child until the DNA revealed the truth. All in attempt to secure power for herself.

Every honest article I’ve read about her describes a miserable person who treated others with contempt and was dismissive of anyone she perceived as a subordinate.

No one deserves her fate, but the Karma Wheel does have a way of coming around.

Just for laughs, a quick search of recent postings to FR, and I can pretty much narrow down the state, and perhaps the city, where astronaut resides. Rocket science this ain’t. So, if you’d like to use a service like Facebook, realize what you’re signing up for, exercise caution if you are concerned about your privacy, then go for it.

BTW, I have a friend that is the head enforcement officer for sex crimes for a mid-western state. He laughs every time we talk about internet anonymity. The easiest criminals to convict are the cyber stalkers and other web related offenders, since they leave a digital trail of every activity that can be used in court.

And of course, the irony of posting this in a forum that you must register to join is lost on everyone, apparently.

If you use the net, you’ve opted in. Every time you hit Google, your search is tracked and analyzed. Their business model is meta-data mining. Every website you visit is tracked by your internet service provider. Your IP (and therefore your location) is known when you fire up your web browser. Use Gmail, Yahoo, MSN - your data is shared. Ever buy anything through iTunes? You’re in the system. Send a text message with your mobile device? Yep, you too.

Those long contracts everyone skips through when they sign up for any service, EULAs (or End User License Agreements) basically mean that for the convenience of using the service, you’ve signed over certain rights. In the case of photo-sharing site like Flickr, if they didn’t have the ability to host your image, they wouldn’t be able to have a functional service. So when you sign up, you allow them to do so. And of course, you must realize that every digital photograph contains meta-data (camera, date, gps, photoshop revisions, etc) and that data is something that the website is able to sell: if you share photos, you’re in too.

So bragging about how not using Facebook is protecting your privacy is naive in the extreme. Facebook is a service that is fast becoming the de-facto portal to much of the web. Used properly, and with a little knowledge of its settings, it is an enabling technology.

If someone wants to steal your data, your identity, or track your activities, staying off of Facebook will do little to stop them.

Because the right thing to do after you build a life for yourself in a place you love, a home for your family, friends, business, community... is to run away. Jeez. It was an election. One of them is headed back to Washington, and the other can’t screw the pooch much harder than it is already.

Real Californians (home of Ronald Reagan and FR) will stay and fight for the state, thank you very much. And do so in t-shirts and jeans in December.

This was for everything - air, meals, hotels, all events, buses, rail travel, etc. The only thing we sent with him was a reloadable Visa charge card for incidentals. I felt it was a good program, and he had an absolute blast. Cost was not my main issue. Him getting to see Europe, gain some self-confidence, and experience places like the Louvre were what I wanted out of the program. For three weeks, it seemed reasonable to me.

His experience, and mine, with P2P was positive. If people want to claim that this is some sort of rip-off, I guess that is their prerogative, but I would disagree. My advice is to go to the meeting if you are so inclined, and talk to people who have actually done the program. It’ll cost you nothing and you can form your own opinion.

My son went to Europe for 21 days with the P2P last summer at age 11. I think it is very good program. It cost $6800 for his trip. The student ambassadors (as they are called) are encouraged to raise funds for at least part of their trip. My son received about $1500 in donations. As a group they do a lot of activities not available to the general public (my son met members of Parliament while in London).

If you can afford it, and you think your child can take the separation anxiety, it is definitely worth it.

Actually, yes it would. "Poor old lady"? She's a millionaire... I can give her the number of my gardener (as I'm sure many others have).

This is about someone being stubborn and foolish and rude to those around her, and now after ten years of causing trouble through her arrogance, playing the "I'm old, so give my your sympathy" card.

No sale.

"Since the 1990s, village officials say, Siegel repeatedly has refused to comply with the code regulations for landscaping on a residential property. Code enforcement officers have regularly cited Siegel for "excessive vegetation" that has exceeded height limits and attracted snakes and vermin, village officials say. The Tequesta home has since been declared her homestead, so it cannot be sold, according to Metzger."

More here: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2005/12/12/c1b_TEQSEIGEL_1212.html

Seems like she's getting everything she deserves. If my next door neighbor ignored 10+ years of warnings, drove down my property values, and made my property and neighborhood less safe by having a yard that attracted vermin, I'd shed not a tear if they went broke through their own stupidity.

His name was Kevin Peter Hall. He was also Harry the Bigfoot from Harry and the Hendersons. He was a friend of mine, an all-around great guy, and still missed.

And don't forget to "toke" the dealers at the Casino either. A couple of months back, I'm playing Hold 'Em at the Mandalay Bay. This guy across from me is raking chips from a number of suck-outs against a better players (me included), and not tipping once. I'm talking pots of over thousand dollars, which would typically get the dealer at least a 25 chip.

Well, an hour later the poker gods finally catch up with the guy, and he starts hemorraging. His stack is going down fast. Finally, he's all-in against a rock sitting next to me. Showdown, and the guy sitting next to me turns over a flush. The other guy had a set of kings... or so he thought. He shows his hand, but he also has a flush as well (king high, higher than the rock's). Nobody at the table says anything, including the dealer, as the guy mucked his cards and threw them away.

When he left the table, the dealer just smiled. The guy who won the pot with the weaker flush tossed the dealer 50 dollars.

Had that moron been tipping, the dealer would have encouraged him to put his cards on the table, rather than muck them, and he'd have raked a nice pot.

Tag it, Bag it and Fag it

Phantom, thanks for the heads-up. I've been lurking more than posting the past few months due to a crushing project I'm working on that includes lots of travel. Still planning on keeping my screen name, however. Best, Bootyist.

Personally, I preferred the original.

Mr. Spock: Captain Kirk to the bridge! Captain Kirk to the bridge!

Captain Kirk: Yes, Mr. Spock?

Mr. Spock: Sensors are picking up an unidentified vessel, Captain, headed straight for us.

Captain Kirk: Range, Mr. Sulu?

Mr. Sulu: .43 light years, sir, and closing fast.

Captain Kirk: Lt. Uhura, open a hailing frequency.

Lt. Uhura: I've been trying to reach them, but there's been no response, sir.

Captain Kirk: [ into microphone ] This is Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise. Identify yourself. [ to Uhura ] Put them on the viewscreen, full magnification.

Lt. Uhura: Aye aye, sir.

Captain Kirk: [ into microphone ] Repeat. Identify yourself. [ viewscreen shows a maroon 1968 Chrysler limo flying behind them ] What kind of ship is that, Mr. Spock?

Mr. Spock: Fascinating, Captain. It would appear to be an early gas combustion vehicle, at least two or three hundred years old.

Captain Kirk: Run it through the computer. Find out what those little numbers mean. I want answers.

Mr. Spock: Process visual feed. Analyze and reply.

Captain Kirk: I have a hunch, Mr. Spock, that we are about to face a menace more terrifying than the flying parasites of Ingraham B; more insidious than the sand-bats of Manark 4; more bloodthirsty than the vampire clouds of Argus 10. I have a hunch that "thing" out there is deadlier than the Romulans, the Klingons, and the Gorns all rolled into one.

Mr. Spock: Here is the readout, Captain. The computer has identified the alien vessel as a 1968 Chrysler Imperial with a tinted windshield and retractable headlights.

Captain Kirk: And the little blue and orange numbers?

Mr. Spock: That's called a "California license plate", and it's registered, or was in 1968, to a corporation known as "NBC". Wait.. there's something more.. The computer isn't sure, but it thinks this NBC used to manufacture cookies.

Captain Kirk: Could that be some sort of illusion, Mr. Spock?

Mr. Spock: It's no illusion, Captain. Scanner readings indicate two life forms inside that craft.

Captain Kirk: Mr. Sulu, increase speed to Warp Factor Eight.

Mr. Sulu: But, sir, that's only for the most extreme emergencies. The ship can't take it.

Captain Kirk: You heard my order, Mr. Sulu.

Mr. Sulu: Aye aye, sir.

Captain Kirk: [ recording Log ] Captain's Log, Stardate 3615.6. On a routine delivery of medical supplies to Earth Colony 9, we are being chased through space by an automobile three centuries old, owned by a company that manufactured cookies. It would all seem silly if it weren't for this feeling of dread that haunts me, a sense of impending doom.

Mr. Sulu: They're right behind us, Captain.

Captain Kirk: Let's lose them, Mr. Sulu. Prepare for evasive action. Helm hard to port! ..Hard to starboard! ..Hard to port!

Mr. Spock: Frankly, Captain, I'm exhausted.

Captain Kirk: Me, too. Stabilize, Mr. Sulu.

Mr. Sulu: Look, Captain, it's no use. We can't shake them.

Captain Kirk: Then we'll give them a fight they won't forget. [ into intercom ] All hands! Man your battle stations! This is not a drill! Red alert! Man your battle stations! Red alert!

Mr. Spock: But, Captain..

Captain Kirk: Lock phasers on target, Mr. Sulu.

Mr. Sulu: Phasers locked on target, sir.

Mr. Spock: But, Captain, you can't..

Captain Kirk: Stand by to fire.

Mr. Sulu: Phasers standing by, sir.

Mr. Spock: But, Captain, we don't know who the aliens are, or what they want. To kill them without warning would be highly illogical.

Captain Kirk: Fact: their intentions are unknown. Fact: I am responsible for the lives of 430 crewmen. And, fact: I can't afford to take any chances. Fire main phasers! [ nothing happens ] I said, "Fire main phasers!"

Mr. Sulu: I'm trying, sir. Nothing is happening.

Captain Kirk: Arm and lock photon torpedoes, Mr. Sulu.

Mr. Sulu: They're not working either, Captain.

Captain Kirk: Deflectors up.

Mr. Sulu: Captain, the helm does not respond. The controls are dead.

Mr. Spock: We're slowing down, Captain. We're stopping.

Captain Kirk: Bridge to engine room, acknowledge.

Voice of Mr. Scott: [ through control panel ] Scotty here, Captain.

Captain Kirk: What in blazes is going on, Scotty?

Voice of Mr. Scott: I dinna know, Captain. We're losing power, and I don't know why!

Captain Kirk: Well, do something, man! Go to manual override. Cut in auxilery systems.

Voice of Mr. Scott: Saints preserve us, Captain, but even the emergency systems are out.

Captain Kirk: Well, fix it, Scotty. I don't care how, but fix it! The lives of 430 crewmen hang in the balance.

Mr. Spock: Life support system are still operative, Captain.

Captain Kirk: But for how long, Mr.Spock? For how long? Lieutenant Uhura, inform Starfleet Command of our situation.

Lt. Uhura: All communications are dead, Captain.

Dr. McCoy: Jim, Jim.. I.. I.. Jim..

Captain Kirk: Great God, man, spit it out!

Dr. McCoy: The aliens have boarded us, Jim, and they're headed this way!

Captain Kirk: But how, Bones? How did they get on board? Did they beam on? Did they suddenly materialize?

Dr. McCoy: No, they just sort of stepped out from behind the curtains.

Mr. Spock: Describe them, Doctor.

Dr. McCoy: There's two of them. Bipeds, humanoid in appearance. Their clothing is drab except for a bright piece of cloth worn around the neck of the leader.

Mr. Spock: Was their anything else odd about their clothing?

Dr. McCoy: I'm a doctor, not a tailor, dammit! Wait, there was one other thing about them that seemed a bit strange. They spoke English! Quick, Jim, I hear them coming up the Turbo-lift! They'll be here in seconds!

Captain Kirk: We'll be ready for them, Doctor. [ they all point their phasers at the entranceway as two executives enter ] Welcome aboard the Starship Enterprise. I'm Captain James T. Kirk, representing the United Federation of Planets.

Herb Goodman: Hi, I'm Herb Goodman, head of programming for the network.

Captain Kirk: Stand back, I won't hesitate to shoot!

Herb Goodman: Can I have your attention. Curtis, you want to turn off those sound effects?

Curtis: Sure thing. [ turns sound effects off ]

Herb Goodman: Everyone, please, can I have your attention? I have an announcement to make. Due to low Nielsen ratings, we at NBC have decided to cancel "Star Trek".

Captain Kirk: Fire at my command!

Herb Goodman: On your way out, stop by the cashier's office and pick up your checks.

Captain Kirk: Set phasers on "stun." Fire!

Dr. McCoy: They're not firing, Jim!

Captain Kirk: Try "kill!"

Dr. McCoy: Nope, still nothing.
Herb Goodman: You'll make sure the property department gets those things back ,won't you, fellas?

Mr. Spock: Most peculiar, Captain.. I can only conclude that they possess some sort of weapons deactivator, in which case I shall merely render him unconcious with my famous Vulcan nerve pinch.

Herb Goodman: Of course, if it was up to me, you could keep them - as souvenirs, give them to your kids, whatever.. But you see, they're planning to market a complete line of Trekkie merchandise, and I have to send these to Taiwan to be copied.. [ Mr. Spock applies the Vulcan nerve pinch, but Goodman misinterprets his action ] ..Isn't that fabric something? You just can't buy material like this in the States. No way! But I was lucky enough to find this great little tailor who flies in from London four times a year.. oh, Nimoy, we'll need those ears back, too, I'm afraid. [ pulls Spock's rubber ears off ]

Dr. McCoy: For God's sake, man, we're on a five-year mission to explore space, the final frontier, and dammit, we've only been out three years!

Herb Goodman: Sorry, but it's those Nielsens. If it was up to me, of course..

Captain Kirk: What are these "Nielsens" that the alien keeps mentioning, Mr. Spock?

Mr. Spock: If I remember my history correctly, Captain, Nielsens were a primitive system of estimating television viewers once used in the mid-twentienth century.

Dr. McCoy: If Man were meant to fly, he'd have better ratings, is that what you're saying, Mr. Goodbody, whatever your name is? Come on, George, Nichelle.. let's go tie one on.

Lt. Uhura: I'm with you, Kelley.

Mr. Sulu: Maybe I'll just go home..

Captain Kirk: Belay that kind of talk, Dr. McCoy.

Dr. McCoy: Forget it, Bill. We lost. It's over. Are you coming, Leonard? [ Spock attempts nerve pinch on Dr. McCoy ] Knock it off, you joker!

Captain Kirk: Wait, Mr. Spock! We have yet to try Vulcan mind meld, where you actually enter the alien's brain, merge with his intelligence and read his thoughts.

Mr. Spock: I entered Mr. Goodman's mind while you were talking to Dr. McCoy, Captain. [ Curtis enters and pries the set apart with a crowbar ] It was all.. all dark and empty in there. And.. and there were little mice in the corners and spiders had spun this web..

Captain Kirk: Spock!

Mr. Spock: I kept bumping my head on the ceiling, and once..

Captain Kirk: Snap out of it, Spock!

Mr. Spock: [ with a shudder ] It's okay, Captain.. I'm alright now.

Herb Goodman: What do you think, Curtis? Any chance we can sell this junk to "Lost in Space"?

Curtis: Well, it all comes apart..

Captain Kirk: Hey, get away from there!

Curtis: Right on, Buck Rogers! Is that an order?

Captain Kirk: No, it can't end like this! I won't let it! This is my ship! I give the orders here! I give the commands! I am responsible for the lives of 430 crewmen, and I'm not going to let them down! There's got to be a way out!

Curtis: Let's go, boys.

[ a group of NBC stagehands enter and begin to dismantle the set ]

Mr. Spock: You are becoming quite emotional, Captain. Needless to say, my trained Vulcan mind finds such open displays of emotion distasteful. Emotion, you see, intereferes with logic, and it is only by dealing with problems in a logical, scientific fashion that we can arrive at valid solutions. Now, with regard to the alien takeover of the Enterprise, I would suggest that we seek some new alternative, based upon exact computer analysis, of course, and taking into consideration elements of.. [ suddenly breaks into a weeping lunatic ] ..Oh, God! I don't believe it! We're cancelled! How could they do this? Everyone I know loves the show! I have a contract! What about my contract! I want my ears back!

Herb Goodman: Curtis, can you give me a hand here?

Curtis: I have a couple Valium in my tool box, maybe that'll help.

[ Spock exits the set ]

Captain Kirk: So, it's just me, is it? Well, I've been in tougher spots. Surrender? No way. I'd rather go down with the ship!

Herb Goodman: Oh, Shatner, your agent called you. Something about a margarine commercial. He said he'd call back.

Captain Kirk: Captain's Log, final entry. We have tried to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before. And except for one television network, we have found intelligent life everywhere in the galaxy. Live long and prosper. Captain James T. Kirk, SC 937-0176 CEC.

[ camera zooms out to show Captain Kirk/William Shatner sitting alone in what is revealed to be an empty TV studio. Further zoom out reveals studio cameras, boom mikes and technicians. Fade to black ]

Thanks. I use a Bluetooth headset now (Bluetrek G2). I'll never go back to wires.