First Amendment? Or What?

So, Hayden Barnes, this punk kid at Valdosta State (In, of course, Valdosta GA), decides to twist the administration's tail a bit. This is VSU's Administration, in the person of the President, right?

Read the whole thing HERE.

Well, the Prez, Ronald Zaccari, decided to expell young Mr. Barnes as a "clear and present danger to this campus".

The "clear and present danger to this campus" consisted of an entry in a FaceBook.com page, a collage with a reference to a "Zaccari Memorial Parking Garage."

Point #1: College students are always getting outraged over something - and flapping their jaws about it, whatever it is.

Point #2: College presidents are the face of The Administration. Good Heavens, they might even get mocked!

Point #3: His Eminence Zaccari needs to get over himself.

I mean, Mr. Barnes could have referred to the Prez as "The Little Zucchini", right?

Mr. Barnes gets a hearing on 26 November, which means that THIS quarter/semester is completely shot to doll rags.

The Little Zucchini has, with malice aforethought, laid VSU (and the taxpayers of Georgia, which means me) open to a whopping great lawsuit and judgement based on the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States - and that, my friends, really annoys me.

Why shouldn't it? After all, it IS my money, right?

The Nobel "Peace Prize"

From the Will of Alfred Bernhard Nobel

...and one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.

And.... so where does AlGore stand in the above?

For that matter, how about Yasser Arafat?

The Nobel "Peace Prize" has degenerated to a bucket of smelly stuff.

'Nuff said.

MoveOn Dot Org is afraid of Susan Collins??

It seems quite silly, actually.

One of the least visible, least influential Replican Senators, Susan Collins of Maine, has been targeted by MoveOn dot Org.

Senator Collins' campaign attempted to buy ads on Google to refute MoveOn Dot Org's attack ads.

Move On Dot Org promptly lit a fire under their lawyers, saying "Stop that Republican Senator from Taking Our Name In Vain!"

Which they promptly did.

Adam Kovacevich, responding to questions via e-mail from FOX News, said Google prohibits ads that include trademarked names if those trademark holders oppose those users. "Under our advertising policies, companies and organizations that demonstrate that they own trademark rights can request that their trademarked terms not be used in the text of ads on Google. MoveOn made such a request, and as a result we required that this advertiser rewrite their ad and remove the trademarked terms."

Now, I think we can all agree that Google lived up to the letter of their policies. However, we can also agree that their policies regarding political speech in advertising needs a good, solid review, especially considering Google's caving in to other left-wing organizations such as the People's Republic of China (aka "Red China").

We can also see that MoveOn dot Org is not interested in political debate. MoveOn dot Org is interested in winning (but their track record there sucks) and intimidation, at which they're actually pretty good, when pushing most Democratic politicians, and some Republican politicians around.

Now, this blog, OWW2.BLOGSPOT.COM, is hosted on BlogSpot, which is a unit of Google. Therefore, remember what the official name of the NAZI party was? The "National Socialist Worker's Party". And consider that the following has been demonstrated:

MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.

And just a little itty-bitty reminder, Google and MoveOn - this is political discourse, does not violate the Terms of Service, and is protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Should MoveOn.Org make any attempt to silence me, I expect Google/Blogspot to step up. If Google/BlogSpot caves in to MoveOn.Org, well, we'll know who's who and what's what, won't we?

Good "Free" Stuff For Your PC

Today is another "Things Computerish" day, wherein I point out some of the good free stuff that I use. "Free" as in "It doesn't cost me one thin dime, and is More Than Good Enough". This is stuff that I use and depend on. This stuff should all be at the top of the list for anyone who is at all concerned about getting the best out of their Windows computer.

SECURITY

Virus Protection: AVG AntiVirus can be had HERE. Good, solid stuff, and it does not get in the way of normal operations like Norton, or McAfee. You'll have to dig a little on their site, but trust me, it's worth it.

SpyBot Search and Destroy is HERE. Afraid of Malware? You're not? You should be! Use this, and you'll happy.

AdAware Personal is HERE. See above.

UTILITY

The Ultimate Boot CD for Windows can be had HERE. If you are the "Family, Neighbors, and Friends Local Computer Geek", and you don't have this, you're working 'way too hard. Also true if you are a professional supporting a Windows desktop environment. You don't need it often, but when you do need it, you need it Real Bad.

DIRMS is one of my favorites. It's included in the UBCD, and is a really good disk defragger - much better than Microsoft's included disk defragmenter. Stand-alone DIRMS can be had HERE. I highly recommend that you boot with the UBCD, and then use DIRMS to do a thorough and complete defrag of your system's hard disk. Your system will run faster and your hard disk will be less likely to fail.

AutoIT is for geeks only, and is available HERE. If you have to do lots of scripting, AutoIT is far superior to any other scripting language I've worked with. The learning curve is very steep, but the folks in the forums will be delighted to help, and the end result is simply astounding. If you have to support lots of PCs in a networked environment, you really need this one. If your management is being difficult, work up a couple of simple tasks (I used an installer for a terminal emulator that has lots of install options), and then do a Dog-And-Pony Show.

APPLICATIONS

NoteTab can be found HERE. Think Notepad on steroids. Good stuff, and absolutely free!

FireFox can be had HERE. I don't use it (I have to support Internet Exploder 6.0, so I use it, and I know it all too well!), but Mrs. OWW won't use anything else.

Now I've got a Teenager in the House!

Today is one of "those" days - "those" being defined as Very Important Days that you always remember.

Today Chickie went from being a "kid" to being a "teenager".

I've seen flashes of "teenagerness" of course. Clothing style. Hair. Nails. Smart-mouth. Unexpected tears. Maniacal laughter over nothing at all. From happy and smiling to red-hot rage to broken-hearted tears, and back to happy and smiling, all within fifteen bewildering seconds.

And that was just a taste.

I've been through this before, with Katydid, my first girl-child, about twelve years back.

Which brings up a story for me to tell.

We were still living in California, and Katydid was visiting for the weekend (Katydid's Mom and I were divorced many years ago), and we went off to the local supermarket to get some groceries - Katydid, Chickie, and me.

Katydid was carrying Chickie on her hip, and 'round about the time we hit the canned fruit section, this really nice older lady walked up to Katydid (who still had Chickie on her hip), and said "Your baby is beautiful!"

Katydid made me very proud of her that day, and eased my mind considerable, for I was dreading the "teenage years", and all the perils for a young lady.

Katydid replied, very nicely, to the nice older lady, "Thank you. But this is my sister."

Of course the nice older lady wanted to sink right into the floor.

When we got around the corner (into the "Ethnic Foods" section, as I recall), Katydid said to me, very quietly but with great intensity, "Daddy! As if I could be So Stupid!"

Well, Chickie, not so long ago, you made me equally as proud of you.

We were talking about one of your acquaintences here in Georgia, and you said something about her probably going to be an "un-wed teenage mother with no education, no husband, and no life, and NOT like me at all, because she's being an absolute dum-dum!"

On top of all that, Chickie, you are, for the most part, a pretty good kid, mostly, and I love you very much.

There's no doubt in my mind that the coming years will drive me right out of what's left of my alleged mind - but there's a few things I won't have to worry about. Much. I hope.

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart. I Love You....

Music and Weather

It's been raining, with occasional thunder and lightning, all day.

Perfect weather for listening to E. Power Biggs cookin' away at The Mighty Wurlitzer.

Toccata and Fugue in D-Minor. Fugue in G-Minor.

There ain't much better, anywhere, by anybody. J.S. Bach played by E. Power Biggs.

You think you know music? Def Leppard is OK, Queen rocks, the Moody Blues come close, but I tell you three times, pure music is defined by J.S. Bach as played by E. Power Biggs.

And yes, I am Old Weird Ward.

My place, my rules.

The Barbarians Among Us

Dr. Jerry Pournelle puts my opinion out there far better than I can. See it all HERE (You'll have to scroll down a bit)

I expect black and white citizens to act civilized, and finding excuses for barbarism does not seem like a worthwhile activity.

Tasers and Student and Stoopit, Oh My!

OK, here's the local news coverage on Andrew Meyer, the Florida Taser Kid.

Two points:

1. Meyer was being a PITA - a loud-mouthed low-rent jerque (spelling intentional).

2. Meyer was vioating Niven's Law.

What is "Niven's Law"?

This comes from the Democratic National Convention of 1968, when there were riots in the fair city of Chicago, and Hubert Humphrey was chosen to be the Democrat candidate for the Presidency.

Niven's Law: "Don't throw baggies of dog squeeze at armed police officers."
Corrollary: "Don't stand next to people who throw baggies of dog squeeze at armed police officers."

You think I'm being harsh? View the entire video, keeping in mind that Meyer jumped the line, and is/was an obnoxious big jerque, in the finest French tradition.

Note: Niven's Law belongs to SF author Larry Niven, may be copyrighted by him, and it's essential truth is self-evident.

Trash or Treasure?

As part of the GHIP (Great Home Improvement Project), we discovered a big box just chock full of old photographs - some of them over 20 years old. That's "treasure"

To see some of the trash, follow the link above.

Mrs. OWW is going to fire up the Smoking Scanner - and some of the evidence will be posted for all to see.

Incriminating evidence, of course, will be properly disposed of, even assuming that it ever existed in the first place, which it didn't, 'cause I wasn't in Vegas at the time, nor do I have any interest (fiscal or otherwise) in sports memorabilia.

Where's Old Weird Ward and What's He Doing?

Sweatin' my butt off in 90/90 weather, that's what!

The 90/90 refers to 90 F and 90% humidity.

See the whole ugly affair HERE.

The whole thing reminds me, yet again, why I like working in a nice air-conditioned office.

September 11th

Today has been One Of Those Days.

Firstly, at 8:46AM I took a minute.

Went outside, and reflected on the happenings of September 11th, 2001.

Over the past five years, I have done this every September 11th.

My conclusions remain the same: The Islamfascisti have made War upon us. We shall continue to make War right back at 'em. Even if some future adminisitration should choose to "forget" that the Jihadis hate us, I, an individual American, shall not choose to "forget". And I'm gonna hate 'em right back.

I shall remember our dead civilians. I shall remember our dead military men and women. I shall remember, every day, to say a little prayer for our people who are in harm's way.

I shall also remember those who say "this is too hard", who say "we must give up", who say "we must 'redeploy' our forces".

I say to them: "I remember you. You called me 'baby killer'. You called me a 'tool of American aggression'. You said that I am like 'Jengis Khan'.

Oh yes. I shall remember. I shall remember all that you have said and done.

On this day, I remember our dead. I most especially raise my hat to the firefighters of September 11th. When the Twin Towers came crashing down, FDNY Fire Fighters were still going up.

I remember the heroes of Flight 93 - those heroes succeeded in their mission: The ordinary Americans of Flight 93 prevented the Islamofascisti from completing their plan, at a most terrible cost. Indeed, "Let's Roll".

Today has been One of Those Days.

From Out of the Past

'Way back there, when I was young, immortal, and fairly good looking, I was in the US Navy, stationed aboard ships that were home-ported in San Diego, California. For the whole time I was there, the San Diego Union had a box, on the front page, counting the number of days that the USS Pueblo had been in the hands of North Korea.

Today I saw, buried on the inside of the Florida Times-Union (Georgia edition)a little blurb about the Pueblo. I can't find it in the on-line edition, so I did a little google, and found THIS. Then I looked at an on-line chart. Guess what? To get from Wonsan to Pyongyang requires a little trip in international waters, which was done in 1999, during the administration of Mr. Clinton.

Now, I'm not gonna snivel too much at Mr. Clinton's in-action - after all, many previous presidents completely ignored the status of the USS Pueblo.

But it looks like the Navy hasn't forgotten - the USS Pueblo is still carried as an active ship of the US Navy.

Of course, now that that's been drawn to the attention of the wusses in the State Department, there will be much hand-wringing as to how "provocative" we're now being...

Sunday, Lazy Sunday

Me? Lazy? Just because I let Chickie (the 12-yr-old) run the riding mower to cut the grass in the back yard?

Nahhhh.... she asked if she could.

I'm crazy, not stupid - I said "yes" in a heart-beat. I check on her about every 10 minutes or so, and I just gave her a bottle of water to drink while she runs the Mighty, Thundering, Craftsman LTX-1000! She's pretty pleased with herself...

In other news, HERE, the Democrat's funding scandal looks to be getting bigger - like that's a big surprise. What's also not a surprise is that the MSM is not getting in Hillary's face about it. Or Obama's, for that matter. Can you just imagine the feeding frenzy if any of the 'Publicans was linked to Hsu?

Things Automobilish

So, I'm on my way into work this AM, and the little red light indicating low coolant comes on. This is my 100K-miles-plus-a-bit Saturn SL2 that I've bragged on in the past, OK?

OK.

Get to work, and there's drippins' under thet-thar SaturnMobile.

"Oh, crap!"

$200 later (including new anti-freeze and a new radiator), Sally the Saturn is ready to go. Until the next time.

So far, the big expenses on Sally have been a temperature sensor ($15), a thermostat ($25), a radiator ($185) and anti-freeze ($25 for all the above).

Yes, I'm sniveling - even if she does have 100K+ and those are the big expenses.

I like sniveling, if I'm the one that gets to do it.... Ò¿Ö

Still Alive, Just Not Kicking Much

There's a ton of stuff out there to comment on, in politics especially - politicians and what is described as "political thought" is a laughable combination.

One of the better ones is our local Sheriff, who's having a major kerfluffle with our County Commisioners.

Sheriff Bill Smith has been having difficulties with:

- County prisoners walking away from work details
- County prisoners working on private projects (a big no-no under Georgia law)
- A county prisoner that got access to a Sheriff's Office "personal
water-craft" (read "JetSki") and promptly ran it into a dock, breaking
various and sundry bones
- Arguments with the County Commission about the Sheriff's budget
- A purchasing agent misusing a Sheriff's Office credit card
- Sheriff Smith's use of a county car for personal business

On the gripping hand, the County Commissioners aren't having a real good time either. It has taken them two years to find a County Executive. The last one quit, for no reason that's ever been put before the public. Plus, of course, the fact that one of the Commissioners is an employee of the Sheriff's Office, (I know, sounds fishy, but she did get elected, and she does not vote on issues relating to the Sheriff's Office, which makes it OK, I guess.)

And the above is just the lowest of the low spots.

Use Google for "Sheriff Bill Smith", then select "News".

Jeez, I was going to write "I ain't died, yet", and look what happens! Damned addictive blog anyway....

Today, Part II

This is not one of my better days.

A little script I've written to take care of a perfectly routine, and very repetetive chore has been kicking my red-neck butt all around the block. For two freakin' days. Microsoft IS the Evil Empire. Bill Gates is gonna burn in Hell....

And then, during my lunch 1/2 hour, my car rolled over and died. Actually, the battery died.

Sigh....

I'm feeling a little cranky, OK?

And then there's THIS.

"You Can't Deport Us All"

WTF???

You wanna make some book on that, hose-head?

If'n us Americans get pissed-off enough, just watch and see what happens, HomeBoy.

Illegal aliens have placed such a strain on the public services of California, and have screwed up the American culture of California so badly, that many of us have heaved a huge sigh of relief when we left California.

I'm seriously considering moving back to California, just so's I can be a large-scale pain in the butt to MeCHA and La Raza.

I think I'll start with an Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America:

The Official Language of the United States of America shall be English. All official documents and proceedings, including but not limited to Court Proceedings, Laws, Rules, Regulations, and Promulgations of the Governemnt of the United States, the Courts, the Congress, and the Executive branch, shall be in English.

And I'm not done. The best is yet to come...

Moonbattery Outside of California

California has more than it's "fair share" of Moonbats. Nancy Pelosi and her announced opponent in the next election, Cindy Sheehan come immediately to mind.

It's true that Moonbats tend to gather together. We even have a few right here in Jawja. Cynthia McKinney (Dem), formerly a Congresscritter from Atlanta comes quickly to mind.

And then there's the Mayor of the bustling metropolis of Macon, GA, an alleged gentleman by the name of Jack Ellis, or maybe that would be Hakim Mansour Ellis...

See the whole story HERE.

It would seem that Hizzoner Mr. Ellis (or would that be His Most Excellent Effendi Ellis?) sent off a little missive to that great humanitarian and lover of liberty His Excellency El Presidente Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

...the mayor of the central Georgia city formally reached out to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez with a declaration of solidarity. Mayor Jack Ellis said the declaration, sent about two weeks ago by courier, was a message that local leaders can stand together despite disagreements at the highest reaches of government.

Of course, Hizzoner is taking a little heat from his neighbors and friends...

The mayor's decision prompted 20 pages of comments on The Telegraph's online message board before the newspaper decided to take it down. Some called for demonstrations and other ways to signal their distaste for the mayor's move. Ronald Johnson, a 71-year-old resident of nearby Houston County, called the move "treasonous" and is urging neighbors to boycott the city's businesses until Ellis is rebuked by city officials. "It's unbelievable that he would do what he's done," said Johnson. "That is so wrong."

It would seem that Fox News follows the lead of AP/REUTERS/CBS/CNN/ABC/NYT in noting Ellis' party affiliation at the end of the article, whereas an affiliation to the major opposition party would be noted in the very first paragraph.

Amnesty Redux

Note to Senator Arlen Spector:

Senator, do you really want to get hammered yet again?

See the full story HERE.

Some Republican leaders say they smell a rat in Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's compromise proposal to get an immigration-reform bill through the Senate this year. Mr. Specter now suggests the 12 million illegal aliens he says are already here should be given the equivalent of "green card" status but "without the automatic path to citizenship" that critics labeled "amnesty."

Last month, the American citizenry called, and wrote, and made their wishes known: No Stinkin Amnesty!

You clowns in the Senate and the House tried to shove amnesty down our throats, you got caught at it, and, quite properly, you got hammered good and proper.

Now then, we're already peeved at you folks up there in D.C. D'you want to make us really angry with you again?

Beauchamp Admits to Lying

The "Baghdad Diarist", Pvt. Scott Beachamp, has now admitted in a sworn statement that the articles submitted to the New Republic were fabrications. From Fox News:

The Weekly Standard has learned from a military source close to the investigation that Pvt. Scott Thomas Beauchamp -- author of the much-disputed "Shock Troops" article in the New Republic's July 23 issue as well as two previous "Baghdad Diarist" columns -- signed a sworn statement admitting that all three articles he published in the New Republic were exaggerations and falsehoods -- fabrications containing only "a smidgen of truth," in the words of our source. Separately, we received this statement from Major Steven F. Lamb, the deputy Public Affairs Officer for Multi National Division-Baghdad: "An investigation has been completed and the allegations made by PVT Beauchamp were found to be false. His platoon and company were interviewed and no one could substantiate the claims." According to the military source, Beauchamp's recantation was volunteered on the first day of the military's investigation. So as Beauchamp was in Iraq signing an affidavit denying the truth of his stories, the New Republic was publishing a statement from him on its website on July 26, in which Beauchamp said, "I'm willing to stand by the entirety of my articles for the New Republic using my real name."

In other words, the SOB flat-out lied about his comrades.

In case this sounds a little familiar to those of you of a certain age, this link will take you to the "Jengis Khan" quote.

They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country.

John Kerry. Scott Beauchamp.

Lying SOS's, the both of them.

Contemptible little twerps, the both of them.

Bah.

US History and Constitution Questions

OK, I've got a "meme" going here.

I'm not going to pass it on to anyone else - this one's all mine.

A little background: About two months back, at my local Giant Bookstore (name changed to protect the guilty), I picked up a copy of Neal Boortz's "Somebody's Gotta Say It" expecting the usual ranting drivel.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Boortz's rants were and are actually intelligently written, and upon occasion, amusing.

There is one section in there that is deadly serious.

The subjects will be American history, and the Constitution of the United States and the first ten amendments thereto.

So, here's the "meme": At various times, OWW is going to pose questions. You're free to do your own research, then answer the questions in the comments (I'll even include links to assorted pertinent documents). I'm going to crib heavily from Boortz's book (The chapter's entitled "What Kind of Mindless Horsesqueeze Is This?") and cherry-pick the questions.

Here's the first one:

Where in the Constitution of the United States does the word "democracy" appear?

Here's the research link: US CONSTITUTION