This just in from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta’s second-largest bank, Wachovia Corp., will be sold to Citigroup in a deal facilitated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
The FDIC says Wachovia didn’t fail, and that all depositors are protected and there will be no cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund.
The sale of Wachovia Corp. comes just days after the government’s seizure of Seattle-based Washington Mutual Inc. — the largest bank failure in U.S. history.
Wachovia has been among the banks hardest hit by the ongoing crisis in the mortgage market. Its current problems stem largely from its acquisition of mortgage lender Golden West Financial Corp. in 2006 for roughly $25 billion at the height of the nation’s housing boom. With that purchase, Wachovia inherited a deteriorating $122 billion portfolio of Pick-A-Payment loans, Golden West’s specialty, which let borrowers skip some payments.
Read the AJC.com article about Wachovia's sale here.
Read the New York Times article about the Wachovia sale here.
Read the CNNMoney.com article about the Wachovia sale here.
plez sez: first, i have to give props to my friend Torrance over at Raw Dawg Buffalo... he called out the possibility of a Wachovia sale at least a week ago in a comment on plezWorld!
NOW... WTF! two years ago, the mortgage bubble was beginning to bust... who at wachovia thought it was a good idea to purchase a mortgage company that offered loans where borrowers could skip payments?!? that would've seemed like a risky investment in 4 years ago!
i've been with wachovia since i started college back in the early 80's (when it was First Atlanta)... i remember the first ATM machines were named "Tillie"! as a matter of fact, my current checking account is the same account i opened when i enrolled in college. it is hard to believe that things have gotten this bad. i wonder why Wachovia couldn't hold out on this sale until the bailout cash came available?
i'll be honest, plezWorld is not comfortable with this rash of bank failures and the overall contraction of the number of banks. at this current trend, we'll only be left with 2 or 3 large national banks (Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Citigroup)... i'm not an economist, but something tells me that this trend cannot be good for long term economic growth and business development in the united states when all of the financial resources are concentrated in the hands of the few (and when the Treasury Dept holds all of the cards on cash and credit).
More important than the pre-written canned speech - it was written before Sen. John McCain picked her to be his running mate - that Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) delivered before the Republican National Convention earlier tonight is the welcome video she delivered to the Alaskan Independence Party in March 2008.
If you haven't heard, the Alaskan Independence Party (AIP) has a motto: "Alaska First - Alaska Always." In addition, they have called for - on numerous occassions - for a vote on secession from the United States of America, similar to an action taken by the confederacy during the Civil War that began in 1860.
The Introduction to the Alaskan Independence Party website begins with the following quote by Joe Volger, a guy who ran for governor of Alaska three times between 1974 and 1986: "I'm an Alaskan, not an American. I've got no use for America or her damned institutions."
The platform of the AIP is, as one would expect, centered on Alaskan issues. Although it is widely thought to be a secessionist movement, the Party makes great effort to emphasize that its primary goal is merely a vote on secession, something that Party advocates say Alaskans were denied during the founding of the state.
A plebiscite (or referendum) was, in fact, held in Alaska at the state's inception in 1958, but AIP members argue that voting was corrupt and that residents were not given the proper choice between statehood, commonwealth status, or complete separation -- something they say has been granted to other U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico.
And there's more...
The AIP platform states that the purpose of the party is to "seek the complete repatriation of the public lands, held by the federal government, to the state and people of Alaska in conformance with Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17, of the federal constitution ... To prohibit all bureaucratic regulations and judicial rulings purporting to have the effect of law, except that which shall be approved by the elected legislature ... To support the privatization of government services ...”
Before you view the following video, take a few moments to familiarize yourself with the Alaskan Independence Party here and here and here.
Gov. Palin Addressing the 2008 AIP Convention in Fairbanks, AK and undated excerpts from an AIP Meeting:
Gov. Palin to the delegates of the AIP: "...I share your party's vision to uphold the Constitution of this Great State [of Alaska]."
Here is the ABC News blog about Sarah Palin's involvement with the AIP:
September 01, 2008 6:52 PM
The campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., likes to herald the independence of its new running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
Officials of the Alaskan Independence Party say that Palin was once so independent, she and her husband were once member of their party, which, since the 1970s, has been pushing for a legal vote for Alaskans to decide whether or not residents of the 49th state can secede from the United State.
And while McCain's motto -- as seen in a new TV ad -- is "Country First," the AIP's motto is the exact opposite -- "Alaska First -- Alaska Always."
After refraining from commenting on the charge for a day, the McCain campaign on Tuesday asserted that Palin was never a member of the AIP, and
Lynette Clark, the chairman of the AIP, told ABC News on Monday that Palin and her husband Todd were members in 1994, even attending the 1994 statewide convention in Wasilla. Clark was AIP secretary at the time.
This, it should be noted, does not square with official records.
Gail Fenumiai, director of the Alaska Division of Elections, tells ABC News that regardless of the impression given to members of the Alaskan Independence Party, "Gov. Sarah Palin first registered to vote in the state in May 1982 as a Republican, and she has not changed her party affiliate with the Division of Elections since that time."
Clark on Tuesday night said that she had been mistaken.
But for whatever reason, Clark thought that in 1994 Palin was a kindred spirit.
"We are a state's rights party," says Clark, a self-employed goldminer. The AIP has "a plank that challenges the legality of the Alaskan statehood vote as illegal and in violation of United Nations charter and international law."
She says it's not accurate to describe the party as secessionist -- they just want a vote, she says, adding that the members of the AIP hold different opinions on what Alaska should be.
"My own separate opinion as an individual is that we should be an independent nation," Clark says. Others in the AIP "believe that being a commonwealth would be a good avenue to follow." Some advocate statehood -- but a fuller statehood than exists now.
She doesn't know what Palin's position was.
"It never came up in conversation," Clark recalls. "But ...our platform was right under her nose."
Earlier this year, Palin sent a video message to the AIP for its annual convention, where AIP vice chair George Clark told the small crowd that Palin "was an AIP member before she got the job as a mayor of a small town –- that was a non-partisan job. But you get along to go along -– she eventually joined the Republican Party, where she had all kinds of problems with their ethics, and well, I won’t go into that. She also had about an 80 percent approval rating, and is pretty well sympathetic to her former membership."
A day after ABC News requested a response from Palin as to whether she was ever a member of the AIP, McCain campain spox Brian Rogers told ABC News that Clark's "allegations are false."
"Governor Palin has been a registered Republican since 1982," Rogers says, providing voter registration documentation showing her to be a Republican. "As you know, if she changed her registration, there would have been some record of it. There isn’t."
Rogers says that Palin didn’t attend the AIP convention in 1994, "but she visited them when they had their convention in Wasilla in 2000 as a courtesy since she was mayor."
When asked if Palin ever identified herself as a member of the AIP, Rogers said, "No, she's a lifelong Republican."
The AIP platform states that the purpose of the party is to "seek the complete repatriation of the public lands, held by the federal government, to the state and people of Alaska in conformance with Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17, of the federal constitution ... To prohibit all bureaucratic regulations and judicial rulings purporting to have the effect of law, except that which shall be approved by the elected legislature ... To support the privatization of government services ...”
Walter Hickel, a former Republican governor, was elected to the governorship in 1990 as an AIP member -- the third-largest party in Alaska -- with a plurality vote of 38.8%. A Seattle Post-Intelligencer story that year said that "Hickel is running with the Alaskan Independence Party, a fringe group advocating that the 49th state declare itself a sovereign nation. But he's not a separatist; he's an opportunist: the Independence Party was the only 11th-hour ticket to the general election."
Hickel returned to the Republican Party in 1994; he endorsed Palin in her gubernatorial run in 2006. Subsequent AIP gubernatorial candidates did not fare as well as did Hickel, garnering less than 2 percent of the vote.
Lynette Clark says that Palin is "a fine individual. She's forthright and she puts Alaska first."
She is not a fan of McCain.
"I can't understand why in God's name she has aligned herself with a candidate who opposes the development of our republic and Alaska's resource wealth," Clark says.
Read the ABC News article about Sarah Palin & AIP here and here.
Read the LA Times article about Sarah Palin's involvement with separatist Alaskan Independence Party here.
plez sez: WTF?!?
some have said that she was a member of AIP until she ran for mayor of wasilla, ak, while others contend that she has been a lifelong republican. some say that she attended the convention in 1994, others contend she attended in 2000 when she was mayor of wasilla. no one disputes the fact that her husband, todd, was a member for 7 years (now he is undeclared). as has been the case, since her unvetted behind was dragged out of the backwoods of the alaska high country into the presidential campaign of america, we get more "he said-she said" stories about gov. sarah palin.
another round of rumors. more unsavory innuendo. more backpedalling and side stepping by the mccain campaign than a high school football team's two-a-days! more clarification of palin's muddled past. and more people scratching their heads saying, "WTF?"
how much will be enough?
take off your rose colored glasses for a moment here and let's peep into my plezWorld crystal ball:
let's imagine the outrage and utter condemnation that would've rained down on Barack Obama if it had even been hinted that he'd attended a National Communist Party meeting.
Michelle Obama was pillaried for the mere suggestion that she had only just begun to be proud of america, what if she had actually been a member of the National Socialist Party or the Black Panther Party? Would Barack Obama be the Democratic presidential nominee today?
the reason for this LONG "A" election cycle was to get to know the candidates. to kick the tires. to run 'em around the track a few times. john mccain has had since april 2008 to vet every single republican on his long list for vice president, yet he waits until the eleventh hour to pick an unvetted unknown who hails from the remotest region of the country... the most INDEPENDENT region of the country. the only state in the country with an Independence Party that advocates secession from the United States. the last time there was even a serious discussion about secession was during the period leading up to the civil war in the late 1850's! The last time there was a serious discussion about state's rights was in the era of desegregation and integration during the 1950's and 1960's!
And whether she was an active participant or just a casual observer... Gov. Sarah Palin has given "aid and comfort" to the Alaskan Independence Party as recently as March of this year!
Is this the person we want "one heartbeat away from the presidency"?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
oh yeah, about the speech... she got a chuckle out of me a few times. she reads damn good off that tele-prompter thing! it was obvious that the speech was written for her with SHORT GEORGE W. BUSH-LIKE sentences, with plenty of pauses for roars of applause from the audience.
basic republican fare: the democratics want to raise your taxes (even though, Barack Obama spoke of tax breaks for the middle class), we're thisclose to winning the war in iraq (huh? who are we fighting in iraq), a call for more drilling for domestic oil (off shore and in alaska - drill baby drill!), light on specific policy items and heavy on partisan rhetoric (like her running a town of 6,000 people and a state of only 670,000 has been this big test), and the obligatory family values introduction of her brood (the 4-month old baby is officially a campaign prop, they passed him around mid-photo op to make sure he got in each picture - yes, i know that there is a crude joke in there somewhere, but plezWorld ain't going there! and they even dressed up and presented the f...in' redneck who knocked up her daughter).
if you had a checklist of basic republican talking points, you know the contents of the speech (sprinkled with an occasional rye joke at the expense of their competitors).
once again, no introspection, no deep thought, no real concern for folk other than the republicans sitting in the arena - what we call in the "business" boilerplate. she gives good tele-prompter!
The heavyweight division of boxing once sported the biggest names in all of sports: Jack Johnson, Joe Lewis, Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Mike Tyson, Larry Holmes. These guys were bigger than life, the biggest, baddest MEN on the planet. I would pay top dollar to watch them engage in the "sweet science."
I was often entranced by my father's recounting of the epic Ali-Frazier I battle that he witnessed in New York City back in March 8, 1971. Many still consider the Ali-Frazier fights to be greatest between the two greatest heavyweights of all time. As a little boy, my friends and I would slap box, and argue about who was the best fighter of all time (Ali? Foreman? Frazier? Lewis? Marciano?). As I got older, I would drag my wife along to fight parties, I would host fight nights at my house, paying $50 for pay-per-view, and invite my frat brothers over to watch Mike Tyson demolish some poor soul in the first round.
My, my, my... what pawns itself off as a legitimate sport is now a shadow of its former self. On Saturday night, Wladimir Klitschko (the reigning champ?) took on the top ranked contender named Tony "The Tiger" Thompson, a clumsy, slew-footed tomato can that I'd never heard of of until Saturday night! What HBO Sports billed as a heavyweight boxing match for the title was little more than a blip on the sports radar. You'll get more excitement from a late night replay of a women's fast pitch softball game.
plezWorld wasted a good 90 minutes of my life to witness the most uninspiring heavyweight title fight ever! Heavyweight boxing, once the gold standard of sports, is now eclipsed by the personalities that encompass WWF (fake) wrestling or that mixed martial arts *ish* where the combatants roll around on the mat trading bare knuckled punches to the face (ugh!).
The challenger, Tony Thompson, was a tall, rangy, slo-motion fighter with a mid-section that was about as flabby as mine! WTF! I'm sorry, this brother could've done a couple of hundred crunches for the past six months as he prepared for the biggest payday of his albeit short career. He entered the ring as a relative unknown with a short career that spans less than ten years. His boxing ability is suspect: very little in the way of a jab, lack of a real power punch, no head movement, plodding foot movement (got tripped up twice during the fight), and no second gear to his motor. His appearance was so nonathletic and his demeanor was so lackadaisical, this was one time that I was hoping for the white guy to knock the shit out of the Black guy!
The champ, Wladimir Klitschko, is a tall, muscular, mechanical fighter with abs that were as ripped as Thompson's were flabby. But he is no fun to watch, it's almost as if his trainer - Emmanuel Stewart - has to program into his memory chip exactly what punches to throw and when. I call him a "paint by the numbers" boxer: jab, jab, jab, jab, jab, jab, jab, jab, jab, jab, jab... okay, now throw your first power punch in the third round! He paints a very drab, monochromatic picture to say the least. Thompson is such an inexperienced fighter with poor mechanics, Klitschko should've dispatched with him in the first or second round... third round tops. Thompson literally hung around as a glorified punching bag until the 11th round of a 12 round fight. The pace of the fight was so horrible, I was sitting in my easy chair wishing it was over, but like a car wreck, I couldn't divert my attention nor could I change the channel. Klitschko has a glass jaw and it would've only taken one good left from Thompson to end the fight on a different note.
If this was the best that heavyweight boxing has to offer, soon these title bouts will be shown on ESPN at midnight in midweek. There was a time when I arranged my entire schedule around a heavyweight bout, last night, I just happened to stumble on it while channel surfing. The answer is never going to be Wladimir Klitschko, any of the guys I mentioned earlier would've knocked this gym rat into next week before the opening bell stopped ringing in your ears. Hmmmm... that would've been fun to see his right foot twitching as he lay prone on the mat after one of Mike Tyson devastating right hooks.
After Ricky Hatton did a disappearing act against Floyd Mayweather on a pay-per-view bout a few months ago, I have sworn off paying extra to watch the product of a hype machine. After last night, I'll have to seriously consider whether it would be too much of a waste of time to even watch boxing at all. Next time, I'll look for the replay of a women's softball game!
For your reading pleasure, I've included a link to Yahoo! Sports coverage of the fight here.
The Senate gave final approval on Wednesday to a major expansion of the government’s surveillance powers. The bill, approved by a vote of 69 to 28, is the biggest revamping of federal surveillance law in 30 years. It includes a divisive element that President Bush had deemed essential: legal immunity for the phone companies that cooperated in the National Security Agency wiretapping program he approved after the Sept. 11 attacks. The vote came two and a half years after public disclosure of the wiretapping program set off a fierce national debate over the balance between protecting the country from another terrorist strike and ensuring civil liberties.
The contentious part of the bill provides immunity against lawsuits for telecommunications (phone, internet, etc.) companies for divulging information to federal authorities. Supporters claim that the final plan, which overhauls the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) Act passed by Congress in 1978 in the wake of Watergate, reflected both political reality and legal practicality. Wiretapping orders approved by secret orders under the previous version of the surveillance law were set to begin expiring in August unless Congress acted. The Democrats did not want the Republicans to go to their convention in August with an apparent hole in our national security.
Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, the West Virginia Democrat who leads the intelligence committee and helped broker the deal, said modernizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was essential to give intelligence officials the technology tools they need to deter another attack. But he said the plan “was made even more complicated by the president’s decision, in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, to go outside of FISA rather than work with Congress to fix it.”
He was referring to the secret program approved by Mr. Bush weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks that allowed the N.S.A, in a sharp legal and operational shift, to wiretap the international communications of Americans suspected of links to Al Qaeda without first getting court orders. The program was disclosed in December 2005 by The New York Times. Congress repeatedly tried to find a legislative solution, but the main stumbling block was Mr. Bush’s insistence on legal immunity for the phone companies. The program itself ended in January 2007, when the White House agreed to bring it under the auspices of the FISA court, but more than 40 lawsuits continued churning through federal courts, charging AT&T, Verizon and other major carriers with violating customers’ privacy by conducting wiretaps at the White House’s direction without court orders. The passage of the bill by the House essentially ended the lawsuits.
The FISA issue put Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, in a particularly precarious spot. He had long opposed giving legal immunity to the phone companies that took part in the N.S.A.’s wiretapping program, even threatening a filibuster during his run for the nomination. But on Wednesday, he ended up voting for what he called “an improved but imperfect bill” after backing a failed attempt earlier in the day to strip the immunity provision from the bill through an amendment. Senator Hillary Clinton voted against the bill.
Read the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act as approved by the House and Senate here.
Read the entire New York Times article about passage of the FISA bill here.
plez sez: WTF?!?
how does the lamest of lame duck presidents continue to wield such power when the opposition party is in power? and was Barack Obama's vote to support the bill an indication that he intends to use these powers - which many claim is a direct violation of the 4th amendment - when he takes over next january?
it is clear that he initially opposed the measure and failed at trying to negotiate a compromise, but questions of his integrity must be asked if he bowed to political pressure from the bush administration to support their objectionable areas of the bill. his vote was not necessary for the bill to pass, so i wonder why he chose to vote for the "improved but imperfect" bill?
i agree with other Obama supporters who are pissed off with Obama's FISA vote. by permitting the president to continue to trample the rights of americans for political reasons shows a lack of conviction and betrays the basic tenet under which the Obama for President campaign was waged: change the way of doing things in washington. this vote was simply politics as usual!
Earlier today, as I pondered my choices for lunch, I decided to roll through the Wendy's drive-thru for a chicken club sandwich (hold the mustard) and a bottle of water. I rolled up to the first window to pay for my order and took a passing glance at a memo about tomatoes and sandwiches. Didn't think much of it until I got my food and started to chow down on my lunch... there wasn't the wobbly slice of tomato that I usually pull out and discard in the bag with the french fries.
WTF!... where is the friggin' tomato?!?
I ambled home and dove headlong into Google. What was going on with the tomatoes? To my surprise, the FDA and CDC have confirmed that an outbreak of salmonella food poisoning first linked to uncooked tomatoes has now been reported in nine states. Lab tests have confirmed 40 illnesses in Texas and New Mexico as the same type of salmonella, right down to the genetic fingerprint.
An investigation by Texas and New Mexico health authorities and the Indian Health Service tied those cases to uncooked, raw, large tomatoes. At least 17 people in Texas and New Mexico have been hospitalized, none have died. In Texas and New Mexico, raw large tomatoes — including Roma and red round tomatoes — were found to be a common factor in the 40 illnesses.
Well, today, not only Wendy's, but McDonald's and just about every fast food joint worth its salt has stopped serving sliced tomatoes on all of its sandwiches in the US until the source of the salmonella has been identified.
The FDA has broadened its list of tomatoes to avoid because of a salmonella outbreak that has sickened at least 145 people in 16 states since the middle of April.
Salmonella bacteria can cause diarrhea (which may be bloody), fever, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Serious and potentially fatal cases are more likely in young children, frail or elderly people, and people with weak immune systems.
Read the WebMD article on the CDC ban on tomatoes here.
Read the Yahoo article on salmonella tainted tomatoes here.
Read the New York Times article on McDonald's tomato ban here.
plez sez: when i was a mere toddler, no more than two years old, i would frolic in our family garden, chasing our pet rabbits and occasionally settling down with a ripe red tomato plucked from the vine. of course, i don't remember doing it, but there are a number of pictures in the family photo album documenting such activity.
i guess i should clarify the fact that i don't always throw out the tomatoes from my sandwiches, just the wobbly and soggy ones that taste slimy in my mouth. UGH! in the coming weeks, i will more than likely start to miss the "half fruit/half vegetable" in my submarine sandwich (does anyone call it a wedge?) or as an addition to my wendy's burger. makes me wonder what the heck is going on with our food supply.
salmonella is a bacteria that passes from the feces of people or animals to other people or other animals. and that is the weird thing, i've always associated this type of outbreak with meat products (stuff from animals). i'm wondering how this animal germ is making its way into vegetables and fruits (in the last two years, there have been salmonella outbreaks in raw spinach and lettuce).
i once got food poisoning (salmonella) from some undercooked chicken. the symptoms are horrendous and i don't wish food poisoning on my worst enemy. now these germs have been introduced to the types of foods that are not normally cooked which means hundreds or thousands of people can get sick before anyone recognizes the trend or the cause. this makes one wary about eating raw salads these days (even though the cdc says that the raw cherry tomatoes are safe)... go figure.
"...don't push me, 'cause I'm close to the edge." - from "The Message" by Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five
plez sez: surprisingly enough, i felt like this a couple of weeks ago. it would've only taken someone to bump into me or saying the wrong damn thing... and i would've wrecked the joint! *smile*
back in the day, this was referred to as "Going Postal."
As if today's "snow panic" (i.e. the obligatory run on the grocery stores for bread, eggs, and milk when there is even the hint of snow) wasn't enough (Saturday brought the second snowfall of the week - a new record for these parts), the SugarPlum and I decided to take a leisurely sojourn to our local Publix grocery store after her ballet class was cancelled (see "snow panic" above). We had an accumulation of less than one inch by noon... then it rained and washed everything away.
Not realizing the madhouse that awaited me as I pulled into the completely full parking lot, we strolled into the store to buy some coffee beans to make a fresh pot of coffee to go with our dozen glazed Krispy Kreme donuts! And a madhouse it was, buggies clogging each aisle, the bread guy just planted a rack of loaf bread in the center of the bread aisle and watched as the customers grabbed loaf after loaf like we were going to be snowed in for a week! I'll admit, I was so taken into the feeding frenzy, I left the bread aisle with a loaf of Honey Wheat bread and some hot dog buns. I elbowed my way past the dairy department and slipped the SugarPlum in an opening by the bacon packages to grab some Nathan's hot dogs. After making a plezWorld blend of assorted coffees, we made it to frozen foods for a couple of Marie Callender chicken pot pies... yummy!
Since there were no buggies or little green baskets to carry our booty, the hood on SugarPlum's coat served to hold the hot dogs, coffee beans, and chicken pot pies. I don't like my bread smashed, so we had to delicately hand carry the bread to the checkout lines. Each line was 15-20 people deep. Imagine the quandary of keeping a 6-year old's attention with all of that human activity around us! Twenty minutes and ten SugarPlum Death Threats later we were heading to sliding doors that would yield the winter wonderland before us... but not so fast!
Out of the corner of my eye, I see the usual line up of bubblegum vending machines that stand guard at the entrance of every grocery store in America. These days, they aren't limited to just bubblegum, they have bouncing balls, blowup balls, fake gold necklaces and rings, and other rubbery throw away trinkets. One in particular caught my eye, because it was top row, dead center, and had little figurines in the window... and the word "HOMIES" inscribed on the label as though written by some graffiti artist.
Upon closer inspection, one can see that the background was vaguely reminiscent of "the 'hood", with tenement buildings and old fashioned power lines (where I live, most utilities are underground). For 50 cents, you can get a random "Homie" figurine for Series 10: bandanna clad gangbanger, Kangol cap wearing homeboy, single mother, Mexican migrant worker, Black dude with backwards fitted cap wearing a Raiders jersey, a dude wearing a white wife beater, a butcher... and just about every other stereotypical 'hood rat imaginable!
I saw no humor. I saw no socially redeemable value. I saw nothing even remotely entertaining about the lineup of characters.
I don't live in the 'hood... far from it! I don't embrace it, I don't even claim to be from it! I'm not ghetto, never lived in a ghetto, and god willing, don't plan to. Call me elitist... call me bourgie (just don't call me late for dinner!)... but I find this particular enterprise to be offensive on a number of fronts. These vending machines are geared to and for children; I do not want my daughter playing in her doll house with a dude wearing a do-rag or worse yet, a pimp! I don't want her to think any of those characters displayed live the kind of life that plezWorld expects for her. And most importantly, I don't want her growing up looking at people as stereotypes.
When I was about 8- or 9-years old, Frito-Lay had a character associated with its Frito's Corn Chips: the Frito Bandito. He was a Mexican bandit complete with gold tooth, mustache, wide sombrero, two six-shooters, and criss-cross bullet belts across his chest. He spoke with a heavy Mexican accent and sang a song warning you to watch out for the Frito Bandito because he would steal your corn chips! I remember that I had a yellow Frito Bandito character eraser for one of my pencils. Well, pressure from various Mexican-American groups had the offensive character and commercials banned in 1971.
I googled "homies" and was SHOCKED at what popped up... there is a whole city of these urbanites: shirtless gangsta rapper dripping gold, a pimp, a nun, a homeless guy, a guy with a pit bull, and the Grim Reaper! You can even buy "HOMIES" figures from past series on eBay.
I'm sure this isn't a sign of the apocalypse, but it does make plezWorld say, "WTF?!?"
On Sunday, the heavily favored NFC Eastern Division Champion Dallas Cowboys lost to the surging New York Giants, a team that they had beaten twice this season. During the postgame press conference, Terrell Owens pulled a bitch move: sniffled and cried as he tried to defend the poor performance of his quarterback, Tony Romo.
plez sez: WTF!
TWO (count 'em), two BITCH MOVES on one day... first bob johnson dissing obama and then terrell owens sobbing to the rescue of his overmatched and overrated QB! where were the tears when he was pissin' on donovan mcnabb in philly?!? at least, mcnabb got them to the NFC Championship game for 4 straight seasons and one super bowl... tony romo can't get the cowboys out of the first round of the playoffs!
T.O. seems to be unstable... didn't he have a failed suicide attempt a few seasons ago? they may need to keep an eye on this brother, because i ain't ever seen any *ish* like that before!
and my frat brother, ny giants rookie michael matthews, is heading to green bay next week to play for a shot in the super bowl... congrats!
After having his viral video cult classic "Chocolate Rain" blowup over the Internet, the New York Times reports that Tay Zonday was given an opportunity to rework the song and post a version that will become an ad for Dr. Pepper's newest flavor "Cherry Chocolate Diet Dr. Pepper."
plez sez: i posted about the tay zonday "chocolate rain" phenomenon a few months ago. this updated version of the song is kinda catchy. pretty good for a graduate student at the university of minnesota who posted the original song as just something to do.
Bush plans to announce a plan the would freeze interest rates for up to five years for a portion of the two million homeowners who bought houses in the last few years with subprime loans. The plan will allow borrowers to keep the low introductory rates and escape an increase of 30 percent or more in their monthly payments when the rates expire.
The New York Times reports the provisions of the plan:
The homeowner must be current on their payments.
The plan excludes any borrower whose introductory rate expires before January 1, 2008.
The plan excludes borrowers whom the mortgage companies conclude are making enough money to afford the higher monthly payments.
It is estimated that roughly 12 percent of all subprime borrowers will get relief with the Bush plan.
ok... we (the u.s.) have been mired in the after effects of this "mortgage price gouging" scheme for alittle over a year now, and this is the best that george "lining the pockets of his friends" bush can come up with?!? people are being put out of their homes, entire neighborhoods (mainly in minority areas where this scheme was perpetrated) are boarded up eye sores, and the economy is on the brink of a recession; and this is the best they could come up with?
i live in an area that is predominantly Black and the surrounding neighborhoods are in trouble. especially, for homes that cost more than $300,000, it is becoming increasingly difficult to resell homes and new developments are sitting idle because of this mortgage mess. this has been going on for more than a year, but leave it to bush to provide token assistance for those homeowners who were FLEECED by the mortgage companies as they used loan shark tactics to sell their tainted products. i have former neighbors who were taken in by the bait-and-switch, start-'em-low mortgages that balloon into a behemoth payment that the borrower would never be able to afford... and the bad part is that many borrowers didn't know about the increases until the mortgage coupon appeared in their mailbox.
if you take a look at the bush plan, you will see that we can spend BILLIONS of dollars attacking foreign countries, but will barely lift a finger to defend AMERICANS from predatory lenders:
The homeowner must be current on their payments. this plan will only help those whose payments have not ballooned, the New York Times states: "it is estimated that 22 percent of all subprime borrowers are behind in their payments." this plan is not going to help over a fifth of all of the people who have these mortgages AND it does not even touch the ones whose homes are already in foreclosure or have been sold on the courthouse steps. why not freeze ALL subprime loans or provide a mechanism to pull their rates in line with a traditional mortgage (around 6 percent)?
The plan excludes any borrower whose introductory rate expires before January 1, 2008. correct me if i'm wrong, but hasn't this "problem" been around for over a year (by some estimates, it has been over two years)? it is estimated that $57 billion in subprime loans are scheduled to be reset at higher rates before the end of 2007. this provision of the plan just goes to exclude more homeowners and does nothing for those who are on the brink of foreclosure. since the mortgage companies are dealing with federally insured funds, why not require that the mortgage companies refinance all subprime loans to traditional loans, as a punishment for this predatory practice?
The plan excludes borrowers whom the mortgage companies conclude are making enough money to afford the higher monthly payments. this mortgage mess has depressed home values all over the country, thus stripping away the investment value of home ownership... ALL subprime loans should be refinanced to a traditional loan.
in typical bush fashion, he rides in on his white horse to save the damsel in distress: unfortunately he shows up late and goes to the wrong address!
bush's plan was created in concert with the mortgage lenders and wall street firms in an effort to minimize the affect on their business, but does little to help the people who are struggling under the burden of the mortgage companies' predatory lending habits of the past 3 years.
Yes, the title of this post is correct. The health center in King Middle School in Portland, Maine can now dispense birth control pills to girls... without parental consent!
On October 17, 2007, the Portland School Committee in Portland, Maine voted to allow the health center at the King Middle School in Portland, Maine, to offer birth control prescriptions to its students, who range in age from 10 to 15.
Excerpts from the ABC News report follows:
The Portland School Committee voted 7 to 2 last night to allow the health center at the King Middle School in Portland, Maine, to offer birth control prescriptions to its students, who range in age from 10 to 15. Dr. Pat Patterson, the medical director of School-Based Health Services in Portland said she was "thrilled" with the vote.
Proponents of the proposal tacked up black-and-white posters of a baby, contrasting the cost of raising a child with the cost of birth control, while several opponents bowed their heads in prayer. National and local media jostled for positions at the front of the room.
Mary Ibrahim, another Portland resident, said that just because kids may be having sex doesn't mean they should be having sex. And offering birth control services is a form of encouragement. "Let's be leaders. Let's be parents. Let's be grownups," said Ibrahim.
Amanda Rowe, the head nurse in Portland's school health centers, emphasized that students must have a signed parental permission slip to use the student health center. Although, by state law, if a student requests confidentiality, health care workers must honor it. Meaning birth control pills could be prescribed without a parent knowing.
Rowe said that patients fill out an 18-point health history form and risk questionnaire. If a student indicates that they are having sexual relations, the "discussion begins and includes a strong counseling component" said Rowe.
Overall, over the past four years, there were a total of 17 pregnancies at Portland's three middle schools. And that's why the caregivers felt so strongly that offering birth control prescriptions would fill a desperate need. "Many parents are not being honest with themselves. They just don't realize the extent of risky behaviors these kids are engaged in," said Amanda Rowe.
Read the entire ABC News article and view the accompanying video here. And read the AJC article here.
plez sez: [EYES BUGGING OUT OF MY HEAD IN AMAZEMENT AS I READ THE ARTICLE]
WTF?!?
maybe i'm just stuck in the 70's, but since when has schools been in the business of "planned parenting"?!? i believe that sex ed should be part of the school curriculum, but i am four square against this asinine reasoning for providing 12-, 13-, and 14-year old girls with birth control pills. if the school finds out that little mary jane is playing hide the ding-dong with the little boys at her school, she shouldn't be given a month's supply of contraceptives and sent back to the boys' locker room... i would think that little mary jane's parents (or legal guardian) should be notified and sexual education counseling would be necessary for the entire family.
by allowing youngsters to circumvent the authority of their parents and exercising "their privacy rights" without parental consent is WRONG! this practice shouldn't be done in high schools and it damn well shouldn't be done in middle schools. who would expect a 13-year old girl with the hots for some horny jock on the football team to make a reasonable and level-headed decision about whether to engage in sexual intercourse with that boy? much less decide whether or not she should be popping birth control pills so that she doesn't get pregnant... UGH! this story has made me ill.
if the parents have to be notified if the school nurse gives your child an aspirin, they surely should notify the parents if they are dispensing hormone-altering drugs! this is flat out wrong and those board members who voted for this provision should be removed from office.
and with the free pills, these kids will now think they have free reign to be sexually active and promiscuous... i have no doubt that the rate of STD's will climb dramatically in this community.
"No flash, no bang." - Atlanta-based Rapper T.I. upon receipt of machine guns and silencers from his bodyguard while under surveillance by ATF agents.
While Clifford "T.I." Harris should have been preparing for the BET Hip Hop Awards on Saturday evening, he was being booked into jail by ATF agents for purchasing three 9mm machine guns and two 9mm silencers. As a convicted felon (drug trafficking and distribution charges), T.I. is not allowed to own or possess firearms. Special permits are necessary to own semi-automatic weapons, and silencers are illegal.
T.I. has a bond hearing scheduled for Friday, October 19th.
Oct. 2: Harris' bodyguard asks a licensed gun dealer about buying a machine gun without registering it, as required by law. The dealer reports the incident to ATF agents, who give the dealer the cell phone number of an undercover ATF agent, posing as a machine gun dealer, to pass along to the bodyguard. The bodyguard calls the number within hours.
Oct. 10: Harris arranges for the bodyguard to pick up $12,000 in cash from his bank on Northside Parkway to buy the weapons. Later, the bodyguard meets with the undercover agent at a K-Mart store, 5997 Buford Highway, Doraville. The bodyguard gives the agent $2,200 and a .223-caliber pistol in exchange for three 9mm machine guns and two 9mm silencers. The bodyguard is then arrested. He tells agents he was buying the guns for Harris. He also says he has purchased about 25 firearms over the past 18 months for Harris and others. ATF agents confirm the purchases.
Oct. 11: After agreeing to cooperate with the ATF, the bodyguard makes a monitored phone call to Harris. He tells Harris that he has "everything for you."
Oct. 12: Harris calls his bodyguard and arranges for him to deliver the firearms the next day.
Oct. 13, approx. 12:45 p.m.: Harris calls the bodyguard and asks him to bring the items to a recording studio. At the direction of ATF agents, the bodyguard suggests that they instead meet at a shopping center parking lot at the corner of Piedmont and North avenues in Atlanta.
Oct. 13, 2:22 p.m.: Harris arrives at the parking lot. The bodyguard gets into Harris' vehicle and shows him the machine guns and silencers. When the bodyguard explains the function of one silencer, Harris says, "No flash, no bang." Harris also asks about ammunition, the capacity of the magazine and about "change left over" from the $12,000. Authorities then move in and arrest Harris without incident. A search of his vehicle uncovers three firearms, including one tucked between the driver's seat and the center console.
Oct. 13, 2:40 p.m.: ATF agents begin searching Harris's home in College Park, GA. They find three rifles, two pistols and a revolver in a walk-in closet in his bedroom. Five of the firearms are loaded.
Oct. 15: Harris, held in federal custody over the weekend, makes his first appearance in federal court on two felony charges: possession of unregistered machine guns and possession of firearms by a convicted felon.
Read the entire story about rapper T.I.'s rise to fame and fall from grace here.
plez sez: i've seen his pictures on the news the last few days... i don't know any of his music [sic]. this story has little or no interest to me, t.i. can spend the rest of his days rotting in a prison somewhere for all i care, but here is another case of a relatively high-profile, successful(?), Black man in the ATL who is stealing the headlines and basically tarnishing the reputation of Atlanta.
this t.i. (or t.i.p.) character is either the dumbest m.f. in college park OR the ATF agents arrested the wrong guy (and have the wrong guy on surveillance tape talking about the purchase of machine guns and silencers in direct violation of the terms of his release on felony drug charges). i'll stick with him being the dumbest guy around!
WTF! what is a high profile rapper who is up for numerous hip hop awards doing in a drug store parking lot completing the transaction for high powered semi-automatic guns and silencers when he should've been at home polishing the BLING that he'd planned to wear later that night to the awards show?
the level of stupidity of these people never ceases to amaze me. if nothing else, he should get 20 years for being the dumbest muthaf**** in metro Atlanta! and after reading more about him, you will see that he is little more than a two-bit thug who probably relishes the thought of more jail time. i'm saddened, again!
Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse... it does!
As a condition of his plea agreement, Michael Vick is subject to a series of drug tests until his sentencing on December 10th. He apparently pee'd in a cup on September 13th and that sample resulted in a positive test for marijuana.
Falcons quarterback Michael Vick tested positive for marijuana, has been confined to his Virginia residence at night, forced to wear an electronic monitoring device and ordered to receive mental health counseling, according to court documents filed Wednesday.
Vick tested positive in a urine sample submitted on Sept. 13, 17 days after entering a plea agreement in federal court on felony charges related to dogfighting. He faces up to five years in prison on those charges and will be sentenced on Dec. 10. court documents filed Wednesday, Hudson ordered that Vick submit to any method of testing "for determining whether the defendant is using a prohibited substance." Such methods may be used with random frequency and include urine testing and the wearing of a sweat patch.
According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, marijuana "can be detected by standard urine testing methods several days after a smoking session. However, in chronic heavy users, traces can sometimes be detected for weeks after they have stopped using marijuana."
As an Atlanta Falcon, Vick's transgressions included:
Giving the hometown fans "the bird" while being hurled a number of insults after an ugly loss during the season.
Being detained at the Miami Airport when a "water bottle" that he was carrying was found to have a secret compartment that contained a funny (i.e. marijuana) smell; he claimed he used it to carry his jewelry... RIGHT!
In July 2006, a picture of Vick with his girlfriend with a box of matches on his lap and a blunt in his hand surfaces... of course, he profusely denied that he loved Mary Jane ("do ya! do ya! do ya! do ya really love me, Mary Jane?" - Rick James) ...the story failed to grow any legs.
The drug raid at his home in Virginia due to illegal drug activity of one of his cousins; the property had evidence of illegal dog fights and abused animals, which led to the investigation and the eventual indictments for which he has plead guilty.
Gets suspended indefinitely by the NFL Commissioner after his cohorts roll on him and take a plea agreement.
He cops a plea on August 27th, pleading guilty to basically bank rolling the dogfighting enterprise and contributing to the slaughter of uncompetitive dogs; the result of the agreement means that he'll do some jail time.
After he signs the plea agreement, the Falcons move to recoup a portion of his signing bonus, maybe as much as $20 million.
Surry County, Virginia DA says they plan to file an indictment of their own for Vick's dogfighting operation which was run in that county.
A Canadian Bank sues Vick for a defaulted $2.5 million loan because of changes in his employment... basically, he's unemployed!
And now, word comes out that on September 13th, just a few weeks after he signs the plea agreement, Vick flunks a drug test... testing positive for marijuana. OUCH!
plez sez: [THROWING MY HANDS UP IN AMAZEMENT] WTF?!?
He just had to hit that blunt, just one more time, didn't he?
When I was in college, I drank to excess and occassionally imbibed on the bong and the blunt. *smile*
But guess what? The company that I work for and most of our clients test us for illegal drugs, as a condition of employment. Because I want to stay employed by my company and our clients, I do not do drugs. It's that simple!
As I wrote back in pre-indictment May, "I've given Mike Vick a pass ever since he's been in Atlanta; he is undoubtedly the most thrilling and exciting player in the NFL (in my opinion). With that said, I'm highly disappointed in his behavior and his lack of leadership."
Personally, I'm tired of the apologies, the fake contrition, and the bold faced lies. I've invested enough emotion, caring, and pixels on this dude. He has continued to embarrass and piss on every fan who has been supporting him through this ordeal. He's even dragged down the NAACP with his "Bad Newz"!
When he spoke of wanting and needing to change so that he can do what he loves to do (play football), I thought that he had turned the corner... I thought that he finally acknowledged that he could no longer play lip service to change, but that he would have to employ some actionable tactics to make it happen.
Well, he didn't!
Of course, he invoked the name of Jesus during his post-indictment press conference; so now Michael Vick is not only a liar, but he's also a f*ckin' blasphemer!
So now, I don't care. He has just added more fuel to the fire for every racist, redneck, and sports talk pundit about his THUG persona, lack of intelligence, and lack of productivity on the football field for the last two seasons. As far as I'm concerned, you can feed Mike Vick to the dogs!
plezWorld is DONE! My homeboy (yeah, I went to high school in the Hampton Roads area) has received his last post on this blog. He's ruined his life and in the process, he's also f*cked up the Dirty Birds (who are now sporting a dismal 0-3 record, with ZERO wins in sight), and ruined my football season (because Georgia Tech is also playing like crap and I have no one to cheer for this fall) to boot! At this point, Vick gets everything that he deserves... and then some.
This is the LAST WORD on Michael Vick on plezWorld!
"As a society, we should aid in his rehabilitation and welcome a new Michael Vick back into the community without a permanent loss of his career in football. We further ask the NFL, Falcons, and the sponsors not to permanently ban Mr. Vick from his ability to bring hours of enjoyment to fans all over this country... his crime is, it was a dog." - R.L. White, President of the Atlanta Chapter of the NAACP, supports Michael Vick's return to the NFL after he serves his sentence after pleading guilty to his role in a dogfighting operation.
W.E.B. DuBois (one of the founders of the NAACP) must be rolling over in his grave every time this august (and once noble group) comes out of the woodwork and voices an opinion about matters that may (and in most cases) may not have any affect on the Black community. R.L. White may not have been speaking for the entire organization, but as the president of the Atlanta Chapter of the NAACP, his words are taken as those for the entire organization. It seems that on a daily basis, the NAACP goes out of its way to prove how out of touch and irrelevant it has become.
Michael Vick is in his predicament because of something that Michael Vick has done. The media. The fans. The Falcons. The NFL. The poor humiliated citizens of metro Atlanta. The aforementioned folk (save Michael Vick) are the victims in this whole sordid affair: our city's only bone fide star of the NFL cast his lot with the wrong crowd, threw away a football career of unfulfilled promise and boundless riches, will spend at least a year in the Big House with a bunch of criminals, and will miss at least 3 years of his prime in football!
The ABSOLUTE LAST thing that Michael Vick or fans of the NFL will have to concern themselves with at this time is how Vick will be embraced upon his release from prison! And he will NEVER don the #7 jersey for the Atlanta Falcons, the owner of the Falcons was played for a sucker as he signed Vick to the richest contract in NFL history ($130 million), I doubt he'll be a fool to let him rejoin the team when he gets out of federal prison and serves an NFL suspension.
A few days ago, my 5-year old daughter asked me, "Daddy, why did he kill those doggies?" I just shook my head in disbelief and changed the subject. How many parents have had to try to shield their children from this foolishness?
Maybe I should be more upset about the dogfighting charges or the gambling ring or the killing of those dogs, but I couldn't care less about that... I'm serious! I'm a football fan and I've been jonesin' for the college football and NFL season to start since early January! I've been jonesin' to see #7 dazzle us and carry the Dirty Birds back to the playoffs after a 2 year hiatus. I HATE that his dumb ass has ruined yet another Falcons football season with his stupidity and arrogance.
And I hate that there are apologists, like the NAACP, who try to find some justification in Michael Vick for f*ckin' everything up!
Here is the top video on YouTube.com. An original song by Tay Zonday
"Chocolate Rain"
Chocolate Rain/Some stay dry and others feel the pain/Chocolate Rain/A baby born will die before the sin
Chocolate Rain/The school books say it can't be here again/Chocolate Rain/The prisons make you wonder where it went
Chocolate Rain/Build a tent and say the world is dry/Chocolate Rain/Zoom the camera out and see the lie
Chocolate Rain/Forecast to be falling yesterday/Chocolate Rain/Only in the past is what they say
Chocolate Rain/Raised your neighborhood insurance rates/Chocolate Rain/Makes us happy 'livin in a gate
Chocolate Rain/Made me cross the street the other day/Chocolate Rain/Made you turn your head the other way
(Chorus)
Chocolate Rain/History quickly crashing through your veins/Chocolate Rain/Using you to fall back down again [Repeat]
Chocolate Rain/Seldom mentioned on the radio/Chocolate Rain/Its the fear your leaders call control
Chocolate Rain/Worse than swearing worse than calling names/Chocolate Rain/Say it publicly and you're insane
Chocolate Rain/No one wants to hear about it now/Chocolate Rain/Wish real hard it goes away somehow
Chocolate Rain/Makes the best of friends begin to fight/Chocolate Rain/But did they know each other in the light?
Chocolate Rain/Every February washed away/Chocolate Rain/Stays behind as colors celebrate
Chocolate Rain/The same crime has a higher price to pay/chocolate Rain/The judge and jury swear it's not the face
(Chorus)
Chocolate Rain/Dirty secrets of economy/Chocolate Rain/Turns that body into GDP
Chocolate Rain/The bell curve blames the baby's DNA/Chocolate Rain/But test scores are how much the parents make
Chocolate Rain/'Flippin cars in France the other night/Chocolate Rain/Cleans the sewers out beneath Mumbai
Chocolate Rain/'Cross the world and back its all the same/Chocolate Rain/Angels cry and shake their heads in shame
Chocolate Rain/Lifts the ark of paradise in sin/Chocolate Rain/Which part do you think you're 'livin in?
Chocolate Rain/More than 'marchin more than passing law/Chocolate Rain/Remake how we got to where we are.
(Chorus)
plez sez: someway, somehow... this video has gotten over 2 million hits over the past 3 months on YouTube.com! the video is so strange, the music (if you want to call it that) is so strange and different, i couldn't resist posting it on plezWorld.
looking at the lyrics, it seems that this song is some type of social/political commentary on being Black (references flipping cars in France, the bell curve controversy, raising housing insurance rates, every February washed away (that's Black History Month), the same crime has a higher price to pay, etc.). your thoughts?
OK, we're all in agreement... the 10 year sentence for Genarlow Wilson because of his New Year's Eve indiscretion (receiving oral sex from a 15-year-old) was too harsh. Even Thurbert Baker (the Georgia Attorney General who filed an appeal that is keeping Genarlow Wilson in jail pending the outcome of the appeal) says that the sentence was too harsh!
But now I read in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the mother of the young lady who performed "lip service" on the night in question has gone public saying that the sentence was too harsh. She regrets that she didn't get the prosecutors to drop the charges.
Excerpts of the article:
The tape shows Wilson having intercourse with a 17-year-old. Both appear intoxicated in the video. Wilson was charged with raping the 17-year-old but was acquitted.
In another part of the video, Wilson is lying on his back in one of the motel room beds and receiving oral sex from Cannon's daughter. Wilson does not appear to be forcing the girl in the video. [Ms.] Cannon said her daughter told her the sex was consensual.
plez sez: HUH?!? Come again?!? Veda Cannon, 39, of Douglasville, GA said the sex between her daughter, Wilson and four other teens was consensual and regrets she didn't ask prosecutors not to charge them. What mother, no, what parent in their right mind would condone their daughter having an oral sex train being run on them? What the f**k is going on with these people! Now I'm thinking: the girl's mother is the one who should be in jail.
Her 15-year-old daughter had FIVE funky, drunk boys run their nasty little dicks up in her daughter's mouth and she doesn't think that's criminal? She's quoted as saying, "She did not want any of this to happen. She was friends with all of them."
Word to the mother: friends don't let friends skeet in their friend's mouth!
But I guess that's why she was a 37-year-old grandmother; her daughter (who is now an 18-year-old girl) is the unmarried mother of a 2-year-old son! Count 'em... that's 3 generations of one family that's shot to HELL!
~ husband ~ father ~ son ~ brother ~ mentor ~ subdivision dweller ~ northern by birth ~ southern by choice ~ raised a black baptist, now guided by the spiritual ~ raised a kennedy democrat, now politically dead center (moderate) ~ raised in a Cadillac Coupe Deville, now hooked on an SUV ~ college educated and still a student of life ~ wild college frat boy and now a settled alumnus ~ intellectual yet fun-loving geek ~ technical and leading edge ~ corporate cog ~ consultant ~ college football saturday devotee ~ and a ramblin' gamblin' helluva engineer (GO JACKETS!) ~
This is my personal blog. The views expressed on these pages are mine; and they are in no way associated with the views of my employer, family, friends, or associates.
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