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SO MUCH FOR FOX PROLEFEED'S WISHFUL THINKING BACK IN JULY OF THE JUST-ENDED YEAR, as explains the preceding video vis-a-vis the following NewsHounds item:
On July 1, 2008, a giddy Alexis Glick announced that Fox financial guy Gary B. Smith's prediction was that the Dow would "be above 13,000 by the end the year." Above 13,000? Yesterday - as in the end of the year (December 31, 2008) - the Dow closed at 8,776.39.
Comment: Would you trust your money with a guy who got it so wrong? Me neither. Yet another reason not to watch Fox, ahem, "business news."
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WHICH BRINGS TO MIND THE FOLLOWING CHALLENGE TO ESPECIALLY "THE FOUR HUNDRED," THE TRADITIONAL SCIONS OF POWER, WEALTH AND AUTHORITY: As a way of showing some semblance of True Patriot Love in All Thy Sons Command--preferably in good faith, and out of the goodness of your collective heart--I challenge your element to donate @ least $8,468.10 each towards Reduction of the National Debt as a show of moral as much as social responsibility.
(Which, for the record, is tax-deductible. And can be sent along with your Form 1040 as a separate cheque, payable to the Bureau of the Public Debt with notation of "Gift to Reduce Debt Held by the Public.")
As for the figure of $8,468.10 as a suggested mininum: Such, FYI, happens to be the value of this weblog, as will be seen in the approriate widget in the sidebar. Multiplied by 400, that would mean the National Debt being erased to the value of $3,387,240. Now you know.
WHAT COULD BE MORE ABSURD THAN TO HAVE THE ZEALOTS AND TRUE BELIEVERS AMONG THE CULTURAL CONSERVATIVES exercising what amounts to doublethink--a crude and pathetic doublethink, @ that--when it comes to "recommended" reading and viewing among the so-called "Fundamentals of the Economy" (read: the Lower Classes, a/k/a Kankerdom of the highest order).
As in "suggesting" their reading "good" literature (especially so the classics so beloved by that ilk) and watching "good" films (especially such from when the Hays Office held sway over Hollywood with the Production Code) and TV series (think TV Land here) ... only to pull a fast one @ the last minute and trick the ignorant and vulnerable into essentially no better than "elegant pornoo!" lacking any semblance of plot, story or morals by virtue of featuring nothing but unrelated sex scenes (with occasional displays of animal sex for variety).
And all the while pushing the canard about the "moral superiority" of American culture (based on Die Bransoner Muzikschaukultur, as it were, being the "acid test" for conservative ideals therefor)!
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YOU'VE PROBABLY HEARD OR SEEN THE ADVERTS ON CERTAIN HIGHLY-DISREPUTABLE CABLE/SATELLITE TV NETWORKS OR EQUALLY-DISREPUTABLE RADIO STATIONS (in the latter instance, usually such specialist in conservative prolefeed or religiopolitical pablum) for companies such as Blue Hippo or Tronix Country as target such among the so-called "Fundamentals of the Economy" wanting a decent desktop or laptop computer for the home, but:
on the one hand, lack acceptable credit histories or FICO credit scores to get one through conventional channels such as through retailers or ex-works; and
on the other hand, are unaware of, let alone hesitant to recognise, programmes sponsored by various charitable organisations to provide decent (usually rebuilt) computers free of cost to certain low-income families (usually rooted in overzealous reluctance to ask for charity lest "moral danger" ensue within measurable distance).
Their preferred solution? Weekly payments of $29.99 over the course of a year from your chequing account (translating, in the end, to a total of $1,559.48 down the drain) as will (in theory) entitle you to a spanking new brand-name laptop or desktop computer--plus, as a reward for timely payments, special bonus gifts of an MP3 player and an LCD flat-screen TV.
Which, when you get right down to it, will probably be no better than a badly-rebuilt desktop as was, for starters, probably a factory reject with an outdated version of Windows (as in anything prior to WindowsXP) as the installed operating system--or, worse yet, a counterfeit version packaged as "OEM" (original equipment manufacturer) such which, on closer inspection by trained professionals, turns out to contain all manner of malware and viruses (and deliberately) which can only affect operational performance and, in the process, void manufacturer warranties when brought in for service.
Not to mention the prospect of the hard drive unwittingly containing evidence that the original user(s) may have downloaded child pornography on the sly and forgot to cover their tracks for fear that the police might be hot on their trail.
Too, you also have the potential for high-pressure, quota-reinforced sales practices by their telemarketing staff (usually @ some offshore call centre, payment on a "per-enquiry" basis) tricking their unsophisticated customers, all the while unaware of other options (including through surplus lots sales, police auctions, hock shops and even charity donations), into paying even more per week in order to qualify for the so-called "free gifts" advertised once the 52-week contract ends. (As well, claims to the contrary notwithstanding, there's also the likelihood of such "liberal credit" computer sellers not selling or sharing information with the credit bureaux, thereby making it difficult to learn if your credit rating will have improved. Which brings to mind a new legal right of asking for free, decoded copies of your credit-bureaux reports once a year, with the right to examine and challenge same for inaccuracies, outdated or misleading information; find out more by clicking here.)
As for the financing arrangements: Notwithstanding the tight credit markets of late, expect such companies to use all-too-closely-affiliated financing companies to handle the back-room details to the point of "tied house" or otherwise interlocking arrangements ensuing, secured by high-yield notes sold to obviously unsophisticated investors needing higher-than-average returns for no reason other than their selfish vanity and arrogance--and more than likely using the "private placement" device to avoid certain disclosure requirements for debt securities.
Meanwhile, there's also the question of whether Dell Computer and Hewlett-Packard (the two manufacturers usually invoked in offers of this sort) have given permission to sell their products to poor credit risks through such channels and on such terms crossing into usury (let alone wondered if they're really acting as a "fence" selling stolen goods). Ditto with the "testimonials" from "satisfied customers" sounding a little too chirpy for their own good, which should raise red flags about such being insincere or otherwise selectively quoted (as well as whether these "endorsers" received special reductions on the payment terms in exchange for being, in effect, Chatty Cathy).
All in all, such glowing-sounding offers should be approached as one with trying to cross an unmarked minefield without getting your legs blown off in the end. Not to mention enough of a reminder to consider looking for decent used computers through the want-ads, the hock shops and even the occasional surplus property sale--or, if circumstances are desperate enough to preclude your own resources being used, looking to various charitable organisations for donations (for starters, call 211 for referrals in your community).
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IN CLOSING, SOMETHING WORTHY OF A NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION, as long as it's the season therefor--especially with many expected to see 2009 as a rather promising year in more ways than one after eight long years of America being too close to the edge of falling into Fascism in the name of preventing further misadventures from International Terrorism, all the while wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross (as attributed to both Huey "Kingfish" Long and Sinclair Lewis):
SOME WORTHWHILE QUESTIONS WORTH ASKING THE CONSERVATIVE TALKBACK RADIO CROWD for once when they start crying "Havoc!" and letting slip the dogs of hate and bigotry in response to Barack Obama's taking the Presidential oath of office--even if it means bordering on pestering to get answers which We, the Right-Thinking deserve:
How can we be sure that the information you're providing is authentic and not forgeries in the Protocols of Zion stylee?
How can we be sure that your "sources" can be considered credible and trustworthy, and not such considered among the Dregs of Society (who, traditionally, have never been considered credible sources of information by especially the police)?
What sort of tests or background checks do you apply to the "information" you furnish, considering that your core audience is, by and large, ignorant and socioeconomically marginalised?
How do we know that your mental faculties are not afflicted in any way by drugs, alcohol, gaming or Loathsome Social Diseases, which can raise questions about credibility right there and then?
What would preclude your providing credible background information about your claims, especially such which can be cross-checked against two independent and credible sources?
How do we know your researchers (or reasonable facsimilies thereof) are not among the Dregs of Society, or close to it? How much are they paid for providing "information" which you probably know is less than credible, or otherwise tends to prolefeed?
Is money or other consideration offered to your "sources," especially such which can provide highly sensational, lurid or otherwise tasteless charges, without due regard for credibility or truth?
Do you receive any payola (as it were) to influence the content of your programmes (as in prepared, scripted and/or otherwise nuanced "talking points") on a regular basis? If so, what prevents your disclosing the details to listeners, let alone exercising the common courtesy thereof?
Have you a known history of alcoholism, drug addiction, problem gaming, sexual addiction (especially if such resulted in contracting a Loathsome Social Disease), mental disorders or dysfunctional upbringing as may affect the tone of your programme?
Are you not consciously aware that the vast majority of your listeners are poor, undereducated to the point of ignorant, easily-influenced to the point of guillability, have limited job and career options beyond unskilled, labour-intensive positions and, in the process, are @ clear and present risk of socioeconomic marginalisation to the point of exploitation by the weird and unwholesome?
Have you no sense of Decency, Sir, @ long last?
Have you left no sense of Decency?
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COME TO THINK OF IT, SOMETHING WHICH YOUR CORRESPONDENT WOULD LIKE TO HEAR ABOUT IN THIS THE NEW YEAR would be where some conservative talkback radio hosts suddenly, and without provocation or warning, lets slip on the air one or more of the so-called "Seven Dirty Words," especially so the F- or S-such.
Let alone trying to find a defence therefor when pressed to explain, knowing full well that such a lapsus linguĉ as they pulled on air has serious consequences for their credibility, let alone the confidence and trust of their highly-ignorant and easily-influenced core of listeners (or what passes for it). Especially when tapes surface showing that the host may have been in Tipium Grove beforehand, as witness the speech being rather slurred and incoherent--a common trait of heavy drinkers.
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TELL ME IF FIXING CHILI WITH A POUND EACH OF GROUND TURKEY AND TURKEY BREAKFAST SAUSAGE, not to mention chicken or turkey broth in lieu of the water (along with a packet of Williams Original Chili Seasoning Mix, which seasons 2 lbs. of meat--great value for money right there), isn't the closest thing to chili perfection.
Or, for that matter, Nirvana.
(The reason for the turkey is to reduce the fat content against ground beef; I, for one, have to be especially mindful of cholesterol because of "genes-and-chromosones" issues--as in family history of high cholesterol.
(Which also explains my preference for whole-grain saltines and low-fat shredded cheese being added.)
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AND MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT: SUCH WHO SYMPATHISE WITH THE PALESTINIAN CAUSE OVER ISRAEL BASED ON THE RATHER LAME "ENEMY-OF-MY-ENEMY" ILLOGIC, and in spite of otherwise holding racist fear and loathing over Jews, Muslims and Arabs, are no doubt siding with the Palestinian cause in response to Israeli military action of late in Palestinian Gaza to deal with Hamas-led missile attacks of late into Israeli soverign territory.
Even to the point of raising funds for "humanitarian relief" as are more than likely to be redirected to further Palestinian missile attacks against Israeli troops as much as innocent Israeli civilians, and without the common courtesy of an explanation therefor.
In particular such with known and notorious connexions to Ku Kluxers, neo-Nazis and such still clinging to idealised delusions of apartheid South Africa being the final perfection of Civitas Dei on Earth.
"ANOTHER YEAR OVER, AND A NEW ONE JUST BEGUN," as the songwriter phrased it.
Which Your Correspondent essentially slept through, what with Winona not being the sort of town to provide much in the way of decent amusements with value for money to mark the New Year's welcome. And was the case in recent years.
Which, in any event, means no risk of hangover--which you can't get on soft drinks like iced tea or Dr Pepper such as Your Correspondent prefers of late. (And from what I've heard, one of the more legendary cures for hangover, Mexican stylee, is a bowl of menudo--which, for the uninitiate, is a stew of tripe and hominy.)
Just keeping it quiet for the most part is probably the best approach to welcome in the New Year @ my 47 years of age.
Which, in Motherdear's case (she's 87 and requires cane or walker to help get around), can tire her out (as is the case, by her own telephonic admission, over the Festive Season, with the hope that such will pass by Twelfth Night on 6th January. Or will it?)
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IN OPPOSING SOUTH AFRICA'S NEFARIOUS AND NOTORIOUS POLICIES OF RACIAL SEGREGATION KNOWN AS APARTHEID during its 46 years of high carnival (1948-1994), there was no racial monopoly on the opposition therefor.
Come to think of it, there were actually white South Africans, otherwise expected to regard themselves as "privileged" and "entitled as of right" solely on warped racial grounds, who were as vehemently opposed to the depravities of apartheid as much as blacks were.
And one of the more prominent names in white opposition to apartheid was Helen Suzman, perhaps the only legislative voice which the South African Parliament had in opposition to apartheid's excesses aimed @ keeping the black-majority population all the more down @ heel in the name of White Racial Honour--especially so following elections in the wake of independence in 1961, which split her Progressive Party to the point where she was the de facto opposition to the overbearingly dominant National Party.
Which, for its part, was the acme of Afrikaner hubris as sought to keep alive the feeble flame of "white superman" thought which the defeat of the Nazis in World War II theoretically extinguished, reinforced by overzealously Calvinist religiopolitical influence.
But in the end, apartheid would be its own undoing, eventually giving way to multi-racial, multiparty democracy thanks to a new constitution which she helped to draft in 1994--which was but the culmination of a slow but painful unravelling of apartheid as began when the pass laws used to keep blacks "in their place" were repealed in 1986.
Ms. Suzman died @ 91 years of age @ her home outside Johannesburg as 2009 arrived across South Africa.
In keeping with this blog's belief that "it's a small world, after all," The Exaggerator sends its condolences to the Suzman family and to the South African people and nation, united in their loss.
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WOULD IT BE STRETCHING THINGS TO IMAGINE A VIDEO OF LeROY ANDERSON'S HOLIDAY-SEASON CLASSIC "SLEIGH RIDE" in an updated stylee--as in a snowmobiling party through the woods of southeastern Minnesota?
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WITH THE CONSERVATIVE PROPAGANDA MASHEEN'S DEPRAVED MISSION OF MAKING LIFE FOR THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION ALL THE UNEASIER, we the "Right-Thinking" need to remain all the more vigilant for clear and present signs of their propaganda crossing the line into dog-whistle code pandering to latent racist feelings in their target audience.
Otherwise known as the poor, ignorant (perhaps deliberately), easily-led and socioeconomically-marginalised to the point of exploitation by the carpetbagger mountebank community seeing only dollar signs in real or otherwise imminent socioeconomic dislocation and uncertainty.
Especially when such involves so-called "cashflow gifting" schemes whose algorithms are deliberately manipulated to pervert the whole notion of "mutual self-help" that is theoretically being promoted thereby, thus benefiting only those of the "Great Within" vis-a-vis said schemes.
"Five Reports" chain letters such as were popular a few years back, especially around the Unfortunate Events of 9/11 and the ensuing socioeconomic near-meltdown.
Even such "work-from-home" schemes using "spam" e-mail claiming as the Subject "I found you a new job" as are making the rounds of late, but are unlikely to produce the results advertised (especially if you're asked to send money in advance as a requisite of such "employment," which, notwithstanding claims that such is a "deposit" or "guarantee," should instead be seen as a "red flag" notwithstanding claims of big-big money likely to be made for just a few minutes' time online every day).
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AND WHILE ON THE SUBJECT OF "MAKE-WORK/FAKE-WORK" SCAMS EXPLOITING THE IMMINENCE OF MAJOR SOCIOECONOMIC DISLOCATION OR UNCERTAINTY, especially such as target those with few or no realistically marketable job skills beyond unskilled, labour-intensive manufacturing--who, ironically, are much the same target audience for conservative talkback radio--Your Correspondent still recalls where many "Five Reports" and "mailing-list generator" chain letters in "spam" form a few years back contained this feeble attempt @ creating a false aura of legitimacy:
If you have any questions, please refer to 18 USC 1302 and 1341 (U.S. Mail Fraud and Related Crimes Statutes); also refer to 16 CFR 255 and 436, which state that "a product or service must be exchanged for money received."
Which, as a matter of fact, was really closer to a sick joke @ the expense of the targeted vulnerable, knowing where they don't exactly have time to research the laws in question, especially as the senders didn't even bother with the common courtesy of including the texts of @ least 18 USC 1302 and 1341 in so invoking.
Why? you may ask.
Simple: Those two laws in question specifically proscribe use of the mails to, under pain of a fine and/or penal servitude:
send lottery tickets or other matter relating to lotteries; and
perpetuate any type of fraud or swindle, with enhanced penalties if a financial institution is ultimately involved.
As for the two sections of Title 16, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) thus invoked, 16 CFR 255 is a Federal Trade Commission rule as deals with the use of testimonials and endorsements in advertising; meanwhile, 16 CFR 436 (again, from the FTC) governs the conduct and practices of direct-selling companies (as in those using itinerant agents to sell their products or services door to door, as opposed to traditional retail channels). Put simply, those two rules give no legal stature or recognition to "Five Reports," "mailing-list generator" or similar schemes.
Hence, in their collective paranoia, many such virtual mountebanks will turn to PayPalin attempting to create an aura of credibility and legitimacy, especially where "cashflow gifting" is invoked, unaware of their possibly facing Wire Fraud charges (and know, the Information Stuporbahn relies on wireline telephony as much as broadband telephonic and cable-TV services for the sake of 18 USC 1343, which proscribes transmission or dissemiation "by means of wire, radio, or television communication in interstate or foreign commerce, any writings, signs, signals, pictures, or sounds" in furtherance of such schemes under pain of fine and/or penal servitude).
So don't come crying and bawling and boohoohooing to me in case the FBI starts to ask questions about your Internet connexion being used for a "cashflow gifting" scheme; you only brought yourself into it.
The best advice I have: Don't even think about it. Even if you have designs on pleading poverty or reduced circumstances as a legal defence; I'm not sure if the courts would buy them in this day and age, even if the Information Stuporbahn were an agency of such schemes.
WHICH, I HOPE, WILL BE THE CASE WITH ALL OF YOU, especially in such parts of the world (and, by extension, the Information Stuporbahn) where 2009 has now arrived.
Including per UTC time, which, considering the global nature of said Infobahn, is the standard by which this blog runs for the most part. And besides, as Disneyland and Walt Disney World's quasi-National Hymn remind us, "it's a small world, after all."
In any case, earlier today, Your Correspondent had luncheon with Mein Innkeeper Friend @ Timbers Steakhouse here in Winona, it being a worthwhile occasion to chat and schmooze over a lunch that, in my case, involved chicken-fried steak and mashed potatoes ... and, in Mein Friend's case, an elk burger.
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MEIN INNKEEPER FRIEND ALSO USED THE OCCASION OF OUR LUNCHEON TO MENTION WHERE HIS RESIDENCE, BEHIND SUGAR LOAF BLUFF in the West Burns Valley section of Winona, was purchased some years back from the same Michelle Bachmann who is now a rather infamous Congressperson representing areas near the Twin Cities.
(As in her associations with racists, white supremacists, neo-Nazis, "Wise Use" types and suchlike among the Dregs of Society.)
Which, as it turned out, was something of a rather notorious Little House of Horrors, or reasonable facsimilies thereof, when Mein Innkeeper Friend (and wife) purchased same some years back--which I say when you stop and consider that Mein Innkeeper Friend found a number of defects and deficencies that the original owners (as in the Bachmanns) chose to gloss over "for reasons [Mein Innkeeper Friend] would understand," or so the thinking could have went. Especially so the connexion to the sewer line, which was found on later inspection to have been grossly clogged and plugged up to the point of costly repairs being required.
The Chamber of Horrors @ Mme. Tussaud's in London would probably have nothing on the Bachmann house before Mein Innkeeper Friend purchased same, and the sellers took considerable pains for no other reason than their own vainglory to gloss over the deficencies.
Which gives you reason to pause over just what went through the mind of Michelle Bachmann before she entered Congress--all the while parroting the propaganda line of the bigot, the racist and the xenophobe (and hoping for mainstream attention, only to see her efforts cross the line into backfiring upon her name and repute).
A TIP OF THE GIMME CAP TO KITCHEN RETRO (PICKED UP ON VIA ENTRECARD, BY AND LARGE, KNOW), for calling my attention to this classic attempt @ a sensible and coherent TV advert as illustrated on an episode of I Love Lucy which had Our Heroine attempt to be a pitchwoman for a tonic called "Vitameatavegemin," unaware all the while that said product also contained liberal doses of alcohol alonsgide the vitamins, minerals and meat and vegetable extracts.
As witness her getting so hilariously plastered when she attempts to run through the advert, slurring words and even spilling some of the tonic onto the set.
Which, to some of you, will probably recall the Art Fern character in the "Tea Time Movie" segment of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, poking fun @ certain mid-afternoon movie shows then popular in especially the Southern California area as included some rather unbelievable-sounding adverts for equally-incredible sponsors (as well as driving directions which included the Slauson Cutoff, otherwise known as California 90, to reach premi that were, for the most part, two gallons or so from Magic Mountain).
Or, if you're in the Upper Midwestern states and Of a Certain Age, perhaps recalling that time Cedric Adams was delivering a commercial for Taystee Bread on his Ten O'Clock News over WCCO Radio 8-3-0, "the Good Neighbour to the Northwest"--specifically, when Taystee was introducing to the Twin Cities market a Swedish-type rye bread known as "Svenska Limpa"--and he mispronounced the name to such an extent that he unwittingly generated such unbelievable demand therefor, demand that Purity Baking Company (as Taystee Bread's bakers in the Twin Cities were then known) was unable to keep up with, even running out of baking pans within days.
As a result, the whole campaign for Taystee Svenska Limpa had to be revised because of Cedric's mispronuncing "Svenska Limpa" late one night (remember, everybody called him Cedric)--but there was a happy ending: Soon afterwards, then-Minnesota Governor Luther Youngdahl, himself of Swedish descent and proficent in Swedish, was on Cedric's newscast and took time to coach Cedric on air as to the correct Swedish pronunciation of "Svenska Limpa."
(Incidentally, about the closest I could think of to Vitameatavegemin being available is Watkins Beef, Iron and Wine Tonic, intended primarily for such with iron deficencies. Swift's 3-S Tonic is similar.)
FIRST OFF, APPY POLLY OGGIES ARE IN ORDER FOR WHAT SOME OF YOU MAY HAVE EXPERIENCED YESTERDAY WITH THIS BLOG as precluded your viewing same @ times, let alone not being able to view new content: It turns out that Blogdrive, as makes this weblog possible, had some power-related problems forcing them to go on backup generators for a time.
Hopefully, things have returned to normal, and Your Correspondent regrets any inconvenience suffered in the process.
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TOO, I HOPE THAT THE LEAD IMAGE OF "SHATTERPROOF" CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS BEING SHATTERED is an apt commentary on the end of another year, a year certain to go down in the history books in more ways than one.
Especially so the color bar having been shattered vis-a-vis the American Presidency with the election of Barack Obama to that position, notwithstanding potentially frivolous court challenges questioning Obama's fitness for the office under the Constitutional mandate that a candidate therefor be "native born"--to the forces of Zealotry and True Belief behind these rather inane actions, white, European-American and Low Church Christian.
And speaking of so-called "European-American issues" which are the latest distraction among Those Who Should Know Better, I would call upon such causes representing various ethnic- and national-heritage groups to resist pressure from the David Duke crowd to play along with a "United Front" canard based on the racist acronym ORION ("Our Race Is Our Nation") "to defend European-American culture, heritage and values from usurpation" under an Obama/Biden Administration (or so imagined).
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STAYING WITH SO-CALLED "EUROPEAN-AMERICAN VALUES" FOR A MOMENT, you have to wonder if the following item from Lima, Ohio qualifies in the minds of its Zealots and True Believers:
A state employee whose job is to prevent discrimination sent racist and sexist e-mails from his government account, an investigation found.
Robert Habern remains at his Ohio Department of Transportation position, despite being reprimanded last year for sending an e-mail joking about giving jobs to women with large breasts.
Jokes about men kissing and a woman's genitalia, as well as a racial joke and a caricature of Barack Obama, were in the latest e-mails sent by Habern, according to an ODOT report obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.
Habern, 55, is the department's Equal Employment Opportunity contracts coordinator in the Lima office. His job is to ensure that vendors with agency contracts comply with federal and state anti-discrimination laws.
Habern, who makes $51,000, was suspended 10 days without pay in October for sending the new e-mails, which investigators said he confirmed sending. He received the verbal reprimand last year for sending the e-mail about women with large breasts, and was suspended 20 days without pay in 2004 for viewing inappropriate material online, including sexually explicit Web sites.
"Everything's all taken care of and squared away," Habern said in a brief phone interview Tuesday. "It's over with. I don't even want to bring it back up. It's done and over with."
Highway department investigators say Habern's e-mails, sent to fellow ODOT employees and non-state workers, are troublesome given his job as an anti-bias coordinator.
A "significant number of emails reviewed portrayed activities inconsistent with federal and state anti-discrimination statues," the Aug. 29 report on Habern said. "As such, Habern's activities are even more egregious in nature due to his position at the Department."
Department officials defended keeping Habern in his position despite the repeat violations, calling October's unpaid suspension "pretty harsh."
"We followed the appropriate disciplinary process," said spokesman Scott Varner. "He's been well aware that another infraction could lead to his dismissal."
Habern signed a statement in 2004 acknowledging he understood the agency's computer use policy. Nevertheless, he told investigators he wasn't familiar with the department's e-mail policies.
Varner said that statement was disappointing given the department's emphasis on appropriate computer usage.
In addition to signing the computer policy, for example, ODOT employees see a pop-up reminder about the policy each day when logging on.
The agency launched its latest investigation into Habern after receiving an anonymous tip about the e-mails.
Since when did "European-American culture and heritage," pray, become one with excusing racist and sexist jokes, songs and balladry?
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AS IS SOMETHING OF A TRADITION ON NEW YEAR'S EVE, THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF UNICORN HUNTERS @ LAKE SUPERIOR STATE UNIVERSITY in Sault Ste. Marie, MI have come out with their annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness--to wit:
"Green" or "going green" (especially when used by businesses in environmental contexts)
"Carbon footprint/offsetting" (again, with particular objection to use by businesses in environmental contexts)
"Maverick"
"First Dude"
"Bailout"
"Wall Street/Main Street" (and, methinks, its likely British counterpart of "The City/the High Street")
"Monkey" (when used as a suffix)
"<3" (as a texting avatar for "love")
"Icon/ic"
"Game Changer"
"Staycation"
"Desperate Search"
"Not so much"
"Winner of five nominations" (in the context of the major film-industry awards such as the Oscars, the Golden Globes, the People's Choice Awards, and more specialised awards such as the Writers' Guild and Directors' Guild Awards; could also apply to the several permutations of its television counterpart, the Emmys, especially so the Daytime and Prime Time such ... and, to a lesser extent, their stage counterparts of the Tonys and the Drama Desk Awards)
"It's that time of year again"
Have we become, perhaps, too unaware of the prospect of some weird and unwholesome types (Fox Prolefeed in particular) wanting us to use little more than a robotic-sounding cipher known as Orwellian Newspeak?
(Speaking of the term "prolefeed," can you just imagine Eric Cartman, per South Park, shouting "PROLEFEED! PROLEFEED!!" in the same key as his trademark line "BEEFCAKE! BEEFCAKE!!"?)
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WITH SHEBOYGAN, WISCONSIN GETTING PLENTY OF WEIRD NEWS NOTORIETY FROM TIME TO TIME, sometimes as much as once a week (let alone the producers of the animated mockumentary Surf's Up placing the "Chicken Joe" character therefrom), you have to wonder if there must be something in the local water supply as explains Sheboygan's predestination for being a major source for weird-news material as some would call "prolefeed."
Even if Sheboygan is quickly gaining a repute as a bedroom community for Milwaukee thanks to I-43, never mind the commute therefrom being the exclusive monopoly of the automobile for the time being absent any decent commuter bus or rail alternatives.
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TELL ME THAT GMAC'S NEW CUT-RATE FINANCING OFFER FOR NEW GENERAL MOTORS VEHICLES JUST TO KEEP THE DEALERS BUSY isn't quickly becoming something which the so-called "Wise Use Movement" is smecking its lips over in depraved and arrogant pride.
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AND WHERE EXACTLY ARE CERTAIN DISREPUTABLE CABLE-TV COMPANIES DIVERTING ILL-GAINED LUCRE VIA SCARE TACTICS TARGETING CUSTOMERS suggesting that they have to pay for the costs of converting their systems over to digital transmission standard when, IIBC, Federal law proscribeth the practice (over and above their monthly subscription fees)?
(Especially when the campaigns in question target especially lower-income or culturally-deprived environments which cable operators claim are "difficult to serve" or otherwise "unprofitable.")
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THE ELMER GANTRY MOVEMENT MUST BE REJOICING IN THEIR LUSCIOUS GLORY OF PARANOIA over an online "viral video" making the rounds showing, thanks to computer-generated animation, what happens when a meteor crosses into the earth's atmosphere--accompanied by scare and atrocity reports suggesting that a major meteor strike could occur in the New Year on a Major Populated Centre, with substantial devastation and loss of life.
Especially so such suggesting that same would be an ideal wake-up call for American to Return Herself to Her Divinely-Ordained Place of Honour Before G-d and Heaven, as if invoking the opening line of the Mayflower Compact ("In the Name of G-d, Amen") and that line about "the Glory of G-d, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country" supposedly entitling America to an Antient and Pecuilar Status in the Divine Order of Things.
Come to think of it, could you imagine a better show of Divine Judgement than a meteor falling upon, and destroying, the premi of the so-called "Westboro Baptist Church" in Topeka--especially so during Divine Services in which Rev. Fred Phelps is carrying on with his excesses of hysterically overdone zealotry about G-d Revoking His Blessings Upon America for as much tolerating homosexuality as the election of Barack Obama to the Presidency?
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ONE THING MORE, as the world sees 2008 segue into 2009 (never mind a leap second being added @ midnight, the better to resynchronise the world's atomic clocks to compensate for the slowing rotation of the earth):
