What's in a Name?

Wow. I was bored at work like usual and browsing Digg. Came across a link which led to another which led to...you know the game. Check this out, yet another great example of corporate America.

A family was trying to upgrade from AT&T dial up to Verizon DSL. They were refused service by Verizon b/c of their last name: Libshitz. No Shit!

This is how the doctor remembers it:



"We called their help line, and got a wonderful young man in the Philippines who told us:

'We can't install it because your name has - in it.'

"These people have no trouble putting me in their phone book. They send me mail with that name, they send me a bill routinely, and they cash my checks with Libshitz on it.


http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/26089374.html

Racism?

"A Frisco bank customer who was held at gunpoint last fall after a Wells Fargo employee thought he might rob the bank filed a lawsuit this morning in Dallas, alleging racial profiling.

The plaintiffs' lawyer, Royce West, a Democratic state senator from Dallas, said his clients went to the bank last September to close on a vehicle loan when employees called police to report suspicious behavior.

Mr. West said his clients were held at gunpoint until officers determined there was no robbery attempt.

Mike Gruber, another lawyer for the four plaintiffs, said it appeared that "the only issue used to determine whether police should come out and treat it like a robbery was the color of our clients' skin."
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/yahoolatestnews/stories/070908dnmetbanksuit.40894726.html?npc

So my only question is...why did the lawsuit take so long to be filed??? !!!

There Goes Our Freedom!

In case you were too busy watching Japanese game shows imported to America or The Bachelor, let's catch up. On Thursday, we Americans we be losing one of our constitutional rights: the right to be free from search without a warrant.


For most of us, this doesn't really seem like that much of a big deal. We aren't serial killers, major criminals and don't have much to hide (except maybe a little pot!). But what happens with the government is that when we give them an inch, they stretch that into a mile! One of the hot blog topics this week online is how this new law will be used against people who download music or movies online without paying for them. Regardless of your opinion on this matter, I doubt very many of you would support a law that would allow law enforcement to break down someone's door and invade their home without a warrant, to catch someone downloading the newest Coldplay cd.

The Ehren Watada Story

While reading bloglines this week, I came across this story from MTV News. Ehren Watada is the first active solider to refuse deployment to Iraq. "The court-martial of Ehren Watada, an Army lieutenant who refused to deploy to Iraq, ended in a mistrial Wednesday (February 7) after a judge ruled that the soldier misunderstood a document he signed admitting to some of the charges against him. Military judge Lieutenant Colonel John Head, who set a March 12 date for a new trial, ruled that Watada intended to acknowledge that he did not go to Iraq with his unit in June but never meant to admit he had a duty to go there."


And you can watch this story on youtube here.


There are tons of videos about him on youtube, and here is his official website.

Unfortunate 4th Anniversary of the Iraq War

Finally! For the past year I have desperately been searching for a group of people here in Dallas that I could protest this lame ass excuse of war with. I finally found one, and want to invite everyone to the upcoming Unfortunate 4th Anniversary of the Iraq War protest in March.



For more info, please see www.dallasrally.com. And help spread the word !

Global Warming a Myth ?

Jerry Falwell has done it again. Sometimes I wonder who is worse, this guy or Pat Robertson. On Sunday, Falwell delivered a sermon in which he called global warming a myth. According to him, it's a dangerous area that Christians should stay away from. The only thing we should be concerned with, he said, was saving souls. In other words, save people from hell, but to hell with the planet itself. It reminds me of the homeschool scene in the movie Jesus Camp, in which a parent instructs her child that global warming is just something those evil liberals made up.

Though you can find a link to this story on any number of news websites, I liked this one from a blog, which actually quotes Falwell in detail.

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/02/24/183040.php

Damn it

This pissed me off !

YouTube deal with CBS unravels

"The two companies had been closing in on a multiyear deal, The Wall Street Journal said in its Wednesday edition, citing people familiar with the matter. The companies also discussed ways to peddle CBS Radio advertising spots to Google advertisers, the newspaper said.

But the media company and the Internet search company could not agree on issues such as how long the deal would run, the paper said, citing a person knowledgeable about the talks.

Although the talks could be revived at some later date, the paper said, for now Google and CBS intend to work together only on more modest initiatives."

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6160895.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn

Goodbye Gyspy !

That's right, the rumors are true. The best club (?) in Dallas is closing, perhaps as soon as this week.

"Despite rumors to the contrary, the Gypsy Tea Room will be closing on Mar. 31, as previously announced.

As reported by numerous sources including CBS 11 (with a "blasting" from The Observer's Robert Wilonsky), the club has filed for bankruptcy, with a closing date set for the end of March. But rumors started circulating that the club would close even sooner. One even surfaced as a comment from a member of the Pegasus community, who'd heard from a supplier that the club was closed already."

http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2007/feb/02/gtr-closing-end-march-despite-scuttlebutt-contrary/

I was there on Monday night to see the Roots, and they said from the stage that this was the last week. Word has it that all shows currently booked will be moving to the Granada. Well now you know.

Laid Off: Happy Valentine's !

What a great day before Valentine's gift: getting laid off. At least we made the paper!

"ADDISON – About 550 Home Depot employees will lose their jobs when a call center closes on March 12, the company said this week.

The center, which opened in May 2006, had assisted customers who purchased floors through the Home Depot, said Ron DeFeo, a company spokesman. Local store associates would respond to flooring questions once the call center closes.

“As we continue improve the customer experience in our stores, we felt it was a priority to restore that customer-associate relationship,” he said.

The Home Depot has about a dozen call centers, including one in Dallas and New Braunfels. Those centers will remain open, Mr. DeFeo said.

Associates will be compensated for 60 days following their departure, the company said in a statement. The company said it was also helping employees with job placement.

The company announced its decision during a staff meeting on Tuesday."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/021507dnmethomedepot.826d6887.html

I wonder if it has anything to do with the CEO who left a couple months ago with a 200 million dollar bonus ?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/03/ap/business/mainD8ME3O781.shtml

Left Behind...The Game ?

Yep, your eyes are not deceving you. The makers of the best selling, Christian horror fiction series Left Behind, have now created a video game.

"The people behind the kooky Christian "Left-Behind" science fiction novels (about the futuristic battles on earth after the Rapture takes all the good Bible-bashers to heaven) have produced a violent, bigoted video-game version of their stories. Ironicially, the game is drawing fire from Jack Thompson, himself a nutcase Christian Conservative who hates video-games more than he hates sinning liberals."

"Players can command the army of good - the Tribulation Force - against the anti-Christ's Global Community.

The game's makers reject criticism, saying their detractors "have a clear hatred of Biblical Christianity".

An alliance of liberal groups including the Christian Alliance for Progress, the Campaign to Defend the Constitution, and Talk2Action, have urged the giant retailer Wal-Mart, among others, to stop stocking the game, which was released last month.

"It's about religious warfare. The way to win is to convert or kill. You have both the Inquisition and the Crusades," says Frederick Clarkson of Talk2Action.

"Anybody who is not a follower of Jesus is the enemy," he claims. "

Too scary.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6178055.stm

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/05/31/left_behind_christia.html

Cloned Food ?

So much happens in our fast paced world today it can sometimes be very hard to keep up. And this is probably just the way that big brother wants it. Did you know that the FDA is wanting to clone cattle for dairy and beef consumption? And I am not a wacky conspiracy theorist (ok maybe I am !) talking about something that might happen someday in the distant future. They are trying to do this right under our noses, in the next couple of months! And nothing will stop them unless we do something about it!

"The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) draft risk assessment that meat and milk from cloned animals are safe for human and animal consumption does not give consumers the big picture when it comes to the impact of animal cloning, according to a critical issue report released by The Organic Center.




The 22-page report, "Is the FDA's Cloning Proposal Ready for Prime Time?," delves deeper into the technology background, safety and food quality issues, animal health effects, labeling and economic impact of what the FDA has proposed. One of the arguments made in the FDA assessment is that clones are "virtually indistinguishable" from normal progeny and therefore may enter the food supply.

"Virtually indistinguishable is not a scientific standard," says Jim Riddle, organic outreach coordinator at the University of Minnesota, and author of The Organic Center critical issue report on animal cloning. "The FDA report shows that subtle changes occur in the 4 to 7 percent of animals that survive the cloning process and appear to be similar to other animals. The public is not likely to accept similarity of appearance as the decisive food safety hurdle standing between animal clones and the American food supply."

The Center's critical issue report highlights the other side of the animal cloning debate that many consumers will not hear from FDA or biotech officials."

I ask you, can we really trust our government? Make your voice heard on the FDA's official website, while there's still time.

http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/070130/0209170.html

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2006/NEW01541.html

God says . . . ?

Pat Robertson is in the news again. This time, claiming that God spoke to him of an upcoming disaster to hit America this year, possibly killing a million people. How many times is this guy going to do this ? What really worries me is that there are actually some sincere people in our country who will really believe that God spoke to him. What happens when they want to turn this into reality? Scary !

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/01/07/MNGA7NEDPU1.DTL&feed=rss.news

I guess that I haven't realized how much I have changed over the past several years. Anyone who claims to be so certain and absolute about anything, especially faith and religion, frightens me.