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NEED I REMIND ALL OF YOU THAT THE END-OF-YEAR HOLIDAY SEASON IS NOT EXCLUSIVELY CONFINED TO THE CHRISTMAS/NEW YEAR'S HOLIDAYS, as you will see:

1. The Muslim hajj (pilgrimage to al-Makkah and al-Mina) is now underway, with its zenith being the Eid al-Adha observance beginning @ sunset on Monday the 8th.
2. The Jewish observance of Haunukkah begins @ sunset on Sunday the 21st, continuing for eight nights (including overlap with Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year).
3. Kwanzaa begins on Friday the 26th, coincident with the Boxing Day observance in Great Britain and Commonwealth countries, and continues until New Year's Day.
4. As Haunukkah winds down for the Jews, Muslims will observe the First of Muharram @ sunset on Sunday the 28th.
5. As Western Christians observe the Feast of the Epiphany, and Eastern Orthodox such observe Christmas Day, both on Tuesday, 6 January 2009, Muslims begin the observance of Ashura @ sunset.

(As reminder, Jewish and Muslim holiday observances begin @ sunset on the day preceding its observance. And in the case of Muslim holidays, one needs to understand that their 30-year-cycle lunar calendar means that the dates of Muslim observances aren't exactly @ the same time from year to year.

(As for the fact of Eastern Orthodox Christians observing Christmas on 6 January, such can be put down to their several churches still following the Julian, as opposed to the Gregorian, calendar.)

Now you know why it's better (@ least IMO) to say "Happy Holidays" as opposed to Fox Prolefeed's preferred "Merry Christmas," never mind the likelihood of their McCarthyist minions reacting as they do. 

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CONTEMPT FOR THE LOWER CLASSES, ESPECIALLY SUCH SEEN AS BEING "ENSLAVED HELPLESSLY TO STATE WELFARE" and its "subtle promotion of Socialistic, Communistic or otherwise un-American beliefs," seems to be a popular article of faith in the Neoconservative propaganda machine.

Especially if such seeks to further marginalise same to the point of being reduced to Objects of Fun for cheap bus-excursions best described as trailer-trash versions of the Cook's Tour--especially when subjected to much the same inhuman indignities that apartheid South Africa reduced blacks and "coloureds" (as they referred to such seen as being of mixed race) to through the agency of the Group Areas Acts, the Separate Amenities Acts and the National Homelands Acts, among other pillars of Afrikaner arrogance and hubris expected out of apartheid.

Case in point: Bill Cunningham's syndicated talkback radio show, carried via WLW Cincinnati to Clear Channel-owned or -controlled radio stations specialist in the talkback format; Media Matters for America has found what amounts to a pattern of overt marginalisation of the poor on Mr. Cunningham's show in recent weeks thanks to their monitoring:

• On his October 28 broadcast, during a discussion with Jack Malanga, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, Cunningham said: "You know, people are poor in America, Steve, not because they lack money; they're poor because they lack values, morals, and ethics. And if government can't teach and instill that, we're wasting our time simply giving poor people money." Earlier in the show, Cunningham stated that "unlike many countries in the world, Steve, we have fat poor people. We don't have skinny poor people. Ours are fat and flatulent."

• Cunningham stated on his October 27 broadcast, "Among the so-called noble poor in America ... [b]irth control is not used so illegitimate children can be brought into the world, so the mom can get more checks in the mail from the government." Cunningham then added: "And then once the child is born, that is the key to financial riches in the poor communities--white and black--in America. And that key is Section 8 housing and vouchers; the key is food stamps, no work--if you work you're punished."

And now, these comments, from Thursday's edition of the programme, as per Media Matters' transcription:

CUNNINGHAM: You know, my -- my grandmother talked about selling apples at 20th and Scott Street in Covington in the 1930s during the Great Depression. Now people are buying Apple computer. So, a Depression was selling apples; now, it's using an Apple computer. You know -- you know, most parts of the world riot when someone throws a bag of rice in the dirt. We riot to get to Wal-Mart.

JOHN TAMNY (editor, RealClearMarkets.com): Yeah, no, again, we must be rich. I don't -- I don't know what everyone's complaining about, but, you know, it's just a very important point to remind people -- but, I mean, think -- Wal-Mart's a good example. Wal-Mart could give all of its profits to its employees who'd go out and spend the money. But then Wal-Mart wouldn't have the money to expand and create new jobs. And so we have to remind people that spending itself is not an economic stimulus necessarily. You need savings so that businesses can grow.

CUNNINGHAM: We're about the only country in the whole world with fat poor people. And we're told every time at Thanksgiving and Christmas how the -- how the pantry shelves are empty because we're handing out free food. I mean, I'm surprised anybody spends money at Kroger. And the poor community, so to speak, when they have cell phones, they have pagers, they have telephones, they have cars, they have HDTV, and they have those things because they spend no money on food, because it's all given to them for nothing. Why would a grocery store open in the poor community when everyone gets fed free and they eat too much?

TAMNY: It's -- it's a great point. And I think the other thing that needs to be -- come from what you just said there is the next time we hear about how there's 40 million uninsured Americans in terms of health, I want you to remind the person who comes on and says that about the cell phones and HDTVs and cars that the poor people have -- I think they can afford insurance, too.

CUNNINGHAM: They could, but they -- they elect not to do it.

TAMNY: They know that we'll pay for them. Yeah, yeah, 'cause they know they can go to the hospital and get free health care regardless, because someone like -- like you is going to pay for it, so there you go.

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WITH CERTAIN RELIGIOPOLITICAL RIGHT ELEMENTS CONSTANTLY PLAYING UP THE IDIOTICALLY-SINGSONG MEME OF "CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION! CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION!" from time to time in their propaganda, you could just imagine them representing the "morally superior" United States for the purposes of a resolution before the United Nations as is discussed in this editorial from the Jewish weekly Forward entitled "Freedom From Speech," as is perhaps insightful in its own right:

The United Nations saw another shred of its tattered dignity stripped away November 24, when a committee of the General Assembly approved what amounts to a direct assault on Western liberal democracy. In an 85-50 vote, with 42 abstaining, the so-called Third Committee adopted a resolution, submitted by a caucus of Islamic nations, to criminalize expressions deemed to be "defamation of religion," with special concern for Islam. All U.N. member states would be called on to amend their criminal codes accordingly. The measure's next stop is the General Assembly, where it is expected to win handily, probably in December.

The U.N. is no stranger to assaults on decency and common sense. Indeed, the new ban on religious defamation is essentially a restatement of a measure approved by the General Assembly last year but barely noticed at the time.

What makes this year's resolution different, and more dangerous, is that it is supposed to move on from the General Assembly to another forum, where it might acquire real teeth: the second World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, scheduled to convene next April in Geneva.

Many legal scholars believe that the decisions of international conferences of this sort can be incorporated into international law, putting them under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. Individual nations could not be forced to amend their laws, but they might find Interpol knocking at their doors, serving them extradition requests to hand over their cartoonists and novelists. Stand-up comics and philosophers might find they're unable to cross international borders for fear of being arrested and remanded for trial in Jordan or Malaysia.

The Geneva conference is planned as a follow-up to the first world conference against racism, which took place in early September 2001 in Durban, South Africa. That meeting did some serious work, but it was memorably upstaged by a parallel gathering of nongovernmental activists, who staged a noisy show of anti-Israel and antisemitic speech-making, rallies and parades, all under U.N. auspices. And, of course, a week later, on September 11, 2001, all hell broke loose.

The years since then have not been kind to the spirit of reconciliation supposedly invoked at Durban. It has been a decade of intense friction between the West and the Muslim world, of invasions and terrorism, of cartoon wars, eavesdropping, beheadings, Guantanamo and intifada. The religious defamation ban is part of an effort by Muslim nations to retake the initiative. The resolution, which is being pushed by the Organization of the Islamic Conference, is seen as winning back some of Islam's lost stature in world opinion and offering some protection to Muslim minorities in increasingly suspicious Western societies. The idea, it seems, is to reduce Western suspicion of Islam by outlawing criticism.

The Muslim charm campaign also features an escalation of hostility toward Israel. The package of resolutions prepared for debate and adoption in Geneva breaks new ground in diplomatic Israel-bashing. It accuses Israel of crimes against humanity, of practicing "a new kind of apartheid" and — apparently for the first time in a formal document — "a form of genocide."

It's a risky game the Islamic countries are playing. They may have overestimated the strength of its automatic majority at the U.N. The resolution on religious defamation, for example, failed to win a majority in the committee this year and passed only by a plurality. That is, a majority of U.N. members refused to support the Islamic nations' proposal, a rare setback. The 85 votes the ban did secure represent a sharp decline from last year, when the same measure received 108 votes.

Also facing unexpected resistance is the anti-Israel draft language. Efforts are underway to organize a Western boycott of the Geneva conference if the anti-Israel language is not softened. Canada has already announced plans to stay away. On Capitol Hill, Jewish and black representatives are working together to line up support in the administration and in various African capitals to reject the defamation ban. France is flatly threatening to stay home if the anti-Israel language is not changed, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy is said to be reaching out to other European leaders to close ranks.

Surprisingly, Saudi Arabia is leading its own behind-the-scenes effort, with moderate Arab states, to soften the anti-Israel language and prevent a Western boycott, according to several close U.N. watchers. Saudi King Abdullah is said to view the extreme anti-Israel rhetoric as an Iranian ploy to alienate the West and sabotage the conference. Abdullah favors cooperation with the West, and he fears Iran. That's why he's offered his own peace plan, convened an inter-religious dialogue and invited Israeli President Shimon Peres to his recent New York tolerance forum. Abdullah can't boycott Geneva, but he can work quietly within the Islamic bloc to cut out the worst Israel-bashing. But he needs something to show the folks back home that he is defending the faith. Some diplomats speculate that he might accept a ban with fewer teeth.

If Europe, America and their close allies were to skip Geneva en masse, the conference would become a gathering of Third World nations rather than a world forum, and the proceedings would lose their significance. That would hurt sub-Saharan Africa, where the Durban process is cherished as a long-delayed acknowledgement of African suffering under colonialism. The prospect of a boycott, then, puts pressure on the Africans to find a way of softening their Muslim allies' stance.

No one, however, has more to lose than Europe. European leaders view the Durban process as a form of penance for their role in Africa, and they're anxious to see progress at Geneva. On the other hand, Europe is home to large and restive Muslim minorities, and the clash of cultures puts tolerance to the test daily. Friction between traditionalist and sometimes militant Muslims and the freewheeling societies of Denmark and the Netherlands has already led to crisis and bloodshed. Legislating absolute protection for religious sensibilities without equal protection for secular, democratic beliefs would tilt the playing field against the European democracies as they struggle to defend their values on their own home turf. But holding firm could undermine Abdullah, arguably the best hope for reconciliation.

No wonder the Religiopolitical Right is as hard-wired as they are in their misreading of history suggesting that America is, was, and will forever be, a White Low Church Christian Nation, a Pecuilar Among the Nations and accorded Divine Precedence Among the Nations as is now under threat (or so this line of thought hath it) because of our "having been led astray from G-d's Holy and Divine Will" because of, among other "sins and aberrations," tolerating diversity and multiculturalism and accepting homosexuality.

Get a life for once ... especially if it turns out that much of the Religiopolitical Right's leadership is too close to Al Cohol for comfort.

more the engrish!

(BUT THEN AGAIN, FOX PROLEFEED JUST CAN'T BE TRUSED AS CREDIBLE OR RELIABLE, when all is said and done ...)

Meanwhile, notwithstanding claims by certain weird, unwholesome and misinformed types that Barack Obama is Constitutionally ineligible for the Presidency by not being a "natural-born citizen" (which, methinks, amounts to nothing less than dog-whistle code for perpetuating racism @ the highest echelons of power and authority, confidence and trust), it's emerged that the Obama campaign has accumulated a $30 million surplus in the campaign funds department.

May I suggest that @ least a part of it be donated to Reduction of the National Debt, as if willing to show a commitment to reducing that which His Fraudulency's Great Within only made worse thanks to forgeries, trick, deception and lies packaged as True Patriot Love in All Thy Sons Command.

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MEANWHILE, OUTSIDE MY APARTMENT WINDOWS HERE IN WINONA, A FRESH ROUND OF LIGHT SNOW IS FALLING for what must be the third time this week, with another 1-2" possible by tomorrow morning per the current forecasts.

Still, though, a White Christmas is probably likely up in the Minnwissippi.

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AS FOR HELPING CALL ATTENTION TO THIS BLOG, SOON TO MARK ITS ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY, KNOW, EntreCard has helped greatly after just one week; in fact, there were (as per SiteMeter.com tracking) 1,004 hits to the site (averaging 143 hits/day) and 1,009 page views (averaging 158 such/day) in the last week.

On average, each visit last week generated 1.005 page views.

For the year to date, however, the five biggest months for traffic to The Exaggerator were:

1. September 2008 (1,722 visits/2,092 page views; average 1.215 page views/visit)
2. June 2008 (1,701 visits/2,005 page views; average 1.179 page views/visit)
3. March 2008 (1,613 visits/1,816 page views; average 1.126 page views/visit)
4. October 2008 (1,504 visits/1,844 page views; average 1.226 page views/visit)
5. May 2008 (1,428 visits/1,619 page views; average 1.134 page views/visit)

Translating, on average, for those five busiest months to 1,594 visits and 1,875 page views/month, thus averaging 1.176 page views/visit/month.

(Understand, though, that such was before I decided to use EntreCard as a traffic builder last weekend in response to the uncertain state of BlogMad after its acquisition by Today.com.)

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MEANWHILE, VIS-A-VIS THIS WEBLOG, ENTRECARD IS JUST ONE WAY I'M TRYING TO ATTRACT TRAFFIC AND ATTENTION: Note where, off on the left-hand side, I also mention the fact of this blog being entered in the Blogger's Choice Awards, voting for their 2009 edition now underway.

And that I've entered this in four categories thereof, the maximum permitted any contestant: Best Blog of All Time, Worst Blog of All Time, Freakiest Blogger and Most Obnoxious Blogger.

If you're already registered for the Blogger's Choice Awards, I'd appreciate a vote in any (or, for that matter, all) of these categories for this blog. If not, register ... and cast some of your first votes for The Exaggerator.

Regardless of how you're attracted to this blog, thanks for your support.

And while you're @ it, I could use the business from the online-shopping area. (Not to mention the money such can bring in, as in commissions on sales made off this blog.) Disability benefit can only go so far, and besides, it may be awhile yet before I come into significant and measurable pretty polly.

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READERS, I ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE LINE "TRUE PATRIOT LOVE IN ALL THY SONS COMMAND," WHICH I OFT USE TO DESCRIBE NEOCONSERVATIVE MODELS OF FORCED PATRIOTIC EXCESS, is the second line of the English version of Canada's National Hymn, "O Canada."

And is intended to have a depantsing effect, so to speak (as if such specimens of conservative Zealotry and True Belief want to enforce such True Patriot Love, etc., with strokes of a bullwhip, sjambok, leather belt or suchlike so as to maximise pain and suffering, as if the one conducting same was vying for some class of a King of Pain title).

But for sheer hyperbolic excesses of True Patriot Love, usw., displayed for purely distracting ends among the ranks of Kankerdom short of sending ungrateful kids to The Kanker Pit for what turns out being the worst kind of sexual introduction known, you need look no further than Fox Prolefeed--or, better yet, NewsHounds, which has this interesting summary of recent "patriotic" misadventures into obnoxiousness per The O'Reilly Factor, a frequent purveyor thereof:

Tuesday night’s (December 2nd) Factor was yet another strange trip into the bizarre world of Bill O’Reilly. It seems America’s Daddy has his clean, white panties all in a bunch because evil atheists were granted permission to set up a sign, declaring that there is no God, in the rotunda of the Washington state capitol building as part of the state holiday display. Bill devoted a discussion segment, an interview with rightwing radio talk show host Kirby Wilbur, and his “Talking Points” to this issue that threatens, like the protests against Prop 8, to end the world as we know it. I’ll report on the discussion segment now and, later, if I have the stomach, I’ll cover the other two which, in total, took up most of the airtime. During the discussion statement, Bill made a comment that showed, at least, a lack of historical knowledge and, at most, yet another example of his severe mental health problems.

During the discussion segment O’Reilly, who is fighting mad about the inclusion of this sign, discussed the issue with liberal blogger David Golstein and attorney Ann Bremner. Goldstein hit it out of the park when he responded to O’Reilly’s question as to the wereabouts of Governor Gregoire (whom O'Reilly described as a “coward”). Goldstein said that Governor Gregoire is busy meeting with President elect Obama and trying to deal with the economic crisis "instead of worrying herself over this annual tempest in a teapot, which is what this is." Bremner acknowledged that she was friends with Gregoire so she was reluctant to criticize; but she felt that the sign was offensive and inappropriate and said that it would be like allowing the KKK to put up signs next to a commemorative exhibit for Martin Luther King, Jr. (Comment: some irony here, as the state of Washington allowed a group of separatist Neo-Nazis to use the capitol steps for a rally. Wonder if Hannity was in attendance?)

Bill was just outraged and the outraged sputtering took a strange turn when he claimed, after Goldstein referred to the constitutional right to free speech, that the holiday is about Jesus and “our Constitution is based on a lot of his teachings.”

Comment: Just when you thought Bill O’Reilly couldn’t get any crazier, we have something even crazier than usual. It would actually be funny if it weren’t for the fact that a lot of misinformed Fox watchers become even more misinformed when they hear this bull crap. I realize that this is an “opinion” show; but isn’t there some responsibility to historical accuracy? No wonder Fox News, in a recent Pew Study, is ranked last in the number of “high knowledge” viewers. The U.S. Constitution is based on a variety of historical concepts chief among them the notions of democracy as embodied in English Common Law and the philosophy of the Enlightenment. The philosophies of Montesquieu and John Locke influenced the Constitution. I suppose you could say that Jesus’ admonitions about social responsibility affected, in a macrocosmic way, the Constitutional mandate to promote the “general welfare;” but that is stretching it. Not noted by Bill O’Reilly was that the decision to allow the display was based on a lawsuit, filed last year, by a person who was outraged that the state had a Menorah and no nativity scene. The state then allowed the Creche. Yesterday, the Governor and the Attorney General of Washington put out a statement. As noted in the Seattle Times, "the federal lawsuit led the state to create a policy allowing groups to sponsor a display "regardless of that individual's or group's views." "The U.S. Supreme Court has been consistent and clear that, under the Constitution's First Amendment, once government admits one religious display or viewpoint onto public property, it may not discriminate against the content of other displays, including the viewpoints of nonbelievers.” It's ironic that the person who sued about the Nativity Scene has this to say about the atheist sign: "I appreciate freedom of speech and freedom of access. That's why they're in there, and hey - you know, that's great." O’Reilly also claimed that this only happens in “looney” Washington; yet a similar sign has been erected in Madison, Wisconsin (which O’Reilly has referred to as a hotbed of Satanism.) But thanks to Bill O’Reilly and his culture warriors, the governor’s office, which has other far more important things to deal with, is dealing the hundreds of calls and e-mails (who knows how many death threats) from O’Reilly’s cadre of Peasants With Pitchforks. But Bill does have his priorities and the bogus and hateful “culture war” is tops on the list.

If Bill O’Reilly wishes me Merry Christmas, I have a two word response and it ain’t Merry Christmas!

And speaking of Mr. "No-Spin Zone," is he getting his Kulturkrieg notions by way of studying the propaganda techniques of Nazi Germany and/or apartheid South Africa, the latter not allowing television broadcasting until 1976?

Could the same be said of Fox Prolefeed generally?

COME TO THINK OF IT, IT SEEMS AS IF THE "FREEPER" COMMUNITY (AS IN FREEREPUBLIC.COM) HAS THIS FETISH FOR TRICKING the ilk of polling organisations vis-a-vis the issues of the day, and for potentially deceptive ends besides.

Case in point: Results of a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey as showed significant and measurable public opposition to proposals before Congress to provide Federal loans to automakers on "essential industry" grounds (methinks the "Freeper" agenda seems to be based upon letting one of the "Big Three" go into Carey Street as one with Natural Selection vis-a-vis the evolution of free-market capitalism with American characteristics into its final, "pure" form).

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AN INTERRELATED FORM OF "FREEPING" INVOLVES THE OLD "WINNING OF HEARTS AND MINDS" ANGLE BEING USED TO EXPLOIT THE VULNERABLE AND IGNORANT in support of prevailing conservative articles of faith through trick and deception.

AllSpinZone's Steven Reynolds makes note of how WorldNetDaily is trying to use their minions of readers to prevail upon SCOTUS to enquire into whether President-elect Obama, for the purposes of the Constitution, is "native born" (which, if you ask me, is nothing but right-wing "dog-whistle" code for White European-American Low Church Christian) to the point of harrassment by proxy:

In their latest attempt to make money off their wing ding readers, WorldNetDaily, the journalistic equivalent of cow pies, is urging those readers to give the Supreme Court a piece of their diseased minds. They are offering a service where they will, for a fee, FedEx a form letter to the Supreme Court before the hearing concerning the challenege to whether Barack Obama is a natural born citizen. Yes, this is a way WorldNetDaily can scam their wing nut readers concerning a whack job theory. Here’s where WorldNetDaily begs for the money:

You can make sure the Supreme Court justices have a piece of your mind when they review a case Friday challenging the eligibility of Barack Obama under Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution, which stipulates the position can only be filled by “a natural born citizen.”

They say the offer [ended @ noon Thursday]. Of course, it is not clear that any Justice takes any letter from citizens into account on any decision. They work with the law, with briefs presented by lawyers who have standing in front of the Supreme Court. In short, WorldNetDaily is perpetrating a fraud.

Worse, WorldNetDaily is promising to send the pieces of tens of thousands (145,000 is the number they are using for boasting purposes) of people’s minds to the Supreme Court, people who are so feeble-minded as to believe the bogus issue concerning Obama’s citizenship, and who were additionally feeble-minded enough to be scammed by WorldNetDaily. So many messages by whack jobs sent to the Supreme Court could conceivably be considered WMD sent by WND.

And you'll never guess what the typical WorldNetDaily reader is like: Poor, undereducated or homeschooled, easily-influenced, dysfunctional family upbringing (with @ least one or two run-ins with the millicents), limited and limiting job and career prospects beyond unskilled manufacturing or other menial trades and prone to exploitation with clear and present risk of mental harm.

Which is what your typical "work-from-home," "home business," "cashflow gifting" and "MLM" carpetbagger would love to see as their plum targets all the more over the coming months, especially considering where unemployment is now @ its highest level in 34 years (complicated all the more by a Presidential transition and the baggage being left by the "lame duck" such seeking to evade responsibility therefor).

"Money is the root of all evil."
Why not invest yours in United States Savings Bonds?

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WITH THE AVERAGE NATIONAL GASOLINE PRICE BEING $1.75/GALLON (46.2¢/LITRE) FOR REGULAR UNLEADED, and falling still further, Your Correspondent hath it that the President of Gulf Oil has been quoted as suggesting that, if present trends continue, gasoline could be down to as little as $1/gallon (37.85¢/litre) by the start of the summer driving season next Memorial Day long weekend.

Barring, of course, the likelihood of gas tax increases which some in the Obama Administration-in-Waiting are suggesting may be all the more necessary to help cover the cost of repairing deferred maintenance to the nation's roads and bridges as has been going on for way too long with fuel taxes @ ridiculously low (by international standards, know) rates excused as being "in the national interest."

(As in "low taxes=jobs=social stability," further expected to translate into a theoretical nil rate of unemployment based on free-market capitalistic paradigms and parameters. But is it feasable absent any type of a State-based social-welfare safety net ... as in essentially reducing the State's role in social-welfare provision to being Provider of Last Resort, requiring those in need to jump through hoops, as it were, showing where they've been unable to obtain help from friends, relatives and even faith-based social service agencies "despite reasonable efforts"?)

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SOME ADVICE FROM OUR GOOD DROOGS @ THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU OF WISCONSIN AS COULD BEST APPLY NATIONWIDE heading into the Festive Season:

The Wisconsin Better Business Bureau is warning consumers to keep their guard up and their wits about them in order to fend off a new string of phishing e-mails making the rounds this holiday season.

Hackers and scammers are pretending to be customer service personnel from some of the biggest names in business—including FedEx, UPS, and Wal-Mart. Hackers are impersonating well-known companies that do a lot of business this time of year—specifically retailers and shipping companies—in order to quickly earn recipients’ trust and gain access to computer drives, files and accounts to steal personal information such as Social Security, bank or credit card numbers. 

“While most of the country is spreading peace and love this holiday season, cyber criminals are spreading computer viruses and stealing identities and information,” said Randall Hoth, Wisconsin BBB president/CEO. “Hackers using e-mail phishing messages are conning consumers by posing as trusted businesses such as Wal-Mart, FedEx and UPS this time of year to take advantage of the seasonal increase in online shopping and shipping of merchandise all across the country.” 

Following are three phishing e-mails BBB has spotted, and that con artists are relying on this holiday season to take advantage of consumers:

Shipping
Hackers have created phishing e-mails which pretend to be from shipping companies claiming that there is a problem with delivery of merchandise. Commonly, the e-mail will include a hyperlink for recipients to click that will take them to another Web site that might install malware or solicit personal information. A message currently making the rounds has a subject line that looks like, “Subject: Tracking Number 13040065504.” The body of the message claims that a package couldn’t be delivered and advises the recipient, “To take your package back you should print the copy of invoice that is in the added file.” Of course, the attachment is actually a virus that will infect the computer if opened.

BBB ADVICE: Instead of clicking on the link in the e-mail, go directly to the shipper’s Web site or contact the company via phone in order to confirm whether there is a shipping problem with your package. Do not open attachments to unsolicited e-mails.

Surveys Offering Holiday Spending Cash
In an effort to take advantage of cash-strapped holiday shoppers, phishing e-mails are circulating pretending to be from retailers such as Wal-Mart. One e-mail has a subject line that reads, “Online Survey from Wal-Mart Stores!!!” And the body of the message states, “This survey has been sent only to a few people from our random generator!”, and “You’ve been selected to take part in our quick and easy 9 questions survey. In return we will credit $90.00 to your account - Just for your time!” Ultimately, the e-mail includes a link to a Web site where the recipient is supposed to take the survey, but in fact leads to a phishing site.

BBB ADVICE: Do not respond to unsolicited e-mails that promise money for answering surveys. Spam e-mails that offer big rewards with little effort will almost invariably cost you in the end.

E-Cards
E-cards are an extremely popular—and inexpensive—way to deliver season’s greetings to loved ones. Typically, with legitimate e-cards, the recipient receives an e-mail with a hyperlink that will take the user to the e-card which is housed on a Web site. Unfortunately, by design, e-cards are an extremely easy way for hackers to disguise their phishing e-mails and direct users to their Web sites which install viruses and malware.

Consumers should think twice before clicking on a link in an e-card e-mail as the hackers will often use logos from recognized brands and companies in order to appear legitimate.

BBB ADVICE: Phishing e-mails posing as e-cards can be difficult to spot. Spelling and grammatical mistakes are a huge red flag. Also, don’t follow the link in an e-card if you don’t recognize the name of the sender.

Consumers who receive suspicious e-mails should report them to the Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov.

(Come to think of it: How do we know those involved in these "phishing" scams exploiting the Festive Season aren't really connected with weird and unwholesome elements, regardless of their being from within or without?)

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FINALLY, AN INTERESTING BIT OF TRIVIA: These five state capitols in the United States are not situated directly on the Interstate Highway System:

• Juneau, AK (accessible either via air or via the Alaska State Ferries)
• Dover, DE
• Jefferson City, MO
• Carson City, NV
• Pierre, SD

Also not on the Interstate System (for obvious reasons) are the several territorial capitals:

• Pago Pago, AS
• Palikir, FM
• Agana (Hagatna), GU
• Majuro, MH
• Saipan, MP
• Charlotte Amalie (St. Thomas), VI

Honolulu, HI has Interstate highways, which are designed mostly to connect local military installations on their respective islands; they are, however, prefixed "H" in Hawai'i's case. To wit:

• I-H1: Honolulu-'Aiea-Pearl City-Wainahe-Makakilo City, ending just before Barbers Point.
• I-H2: Between the H1 in Pearl City and Wahiawa (Schofield Barracks).
• I-H3: Between the H1 @ Halawa Heights to Kane'ohe and Kailua, ending @ the Kane'ohe Marine Corps Base.

Now you know. 

more the engrish!

EVEN YOUR BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU WILL TELL YOU THAT, CONTRARY TO A NUMBER OF ADVERTS YOU MAY BE HEARING on disreputable radio stations (especially so the sort specialist in conservative prolefeed) for so-called "debt negotiation" services, there is no legal right to negotiate any outstanding and valid debts down to reasonable levels, and pay such so that the resulting balance is recorded as "paid in full."

As a matter of fact, "debt negotiation" services, technically known as "debt consolidation" or "debt factoring," are subject to licencing and bonding requirements depending on your state; hence, check with the approriate consumer-protection channels for the law in your state.

And check with the Better Business Bureau in your area for reports on the character and repute of any company/ies you may want to use for "debt consolidation."

(As a safeguard, check your local 211 infoservice for availability in your area of debt-counselling agencies such as the Consumer Credit Counselling Service, "operating Purely for Principle and Not for Profit.")

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WITH STATE LOTTERIES IN SOME PARTS OF THE COUNTRY REPUTEDLY SEEING HIGHER TICKET SALES THANKS TO THE CURRENT SOCIOECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY, especially so in culturally-deprived environments, something which the Religiopolitical Right may want to think of promoting as a counter to lottery expansion as would "empower" (or so they think) the Lower Classes, rather than almost-constant bellyaching on the problem and its ensuing evils, the likes of mutual savings banks as would promote thrift and self-reliance.

So what stands in the way? Latent anti-Semitism vis-a-vis the banking community? "More pressing issues" like abortion, the Evil of Homosexuality, "threats" to Our Traditional Culture and Heritage and other distractions?

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AND SPEAKING OF "OUR TRADITIONAL CULTURE," how are we to guess that the Zealots and True Believers in Cultural Conservatism want to see Die Bransoner Muzikschaukultur as the "litmus test" they have in mind for establishing a Definitive Amerikanischer Realkultur?

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AND FOR SUCH WHO SPEAK ABOUT "THE DEFENCE OF EUROPEAN-AMERICAN CULTURE AND HERITAGE" AS ONE WITH "RACIAL AND NATIONAL HONOUR," you have to wonder what prevents their displaying the European Union flag alongside Old Glory as a "display of solidarity" (or so they perceive).

As for what the European Union flag looks like:

So ... what exactly is the fear of displaying Old Glory and the European flag side by side? Fear of facing up to the Harsh Reality that the EU's member states are united in their objections to the same articles of faith as xenophobia, racism, bigotry, intolerance and hate that you hold dear as "healthy" and "patriotic" among your so-called "European-American peoples" who are more than likely poor, ignorant, easily-influenced and socioeconomically vulnerable all the more?

Fear that the European flag might eventually be approriated by that Evil Empire in your mind otherwise known as the "New World Order," especially absent substantiative evidence?

Which brings to mind the following worthwhile and @ once timely video:

Besides: Don't you know this is the 21st century already?