Category: News

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Gawker tells the Church of Scientology to Stuff it

Gawker Media received a take down notice from the Church of Scientology for two videos it is showing that are used to indoctrinate people into Scientology.
The videos came to life when Andrew Morton wrote the unauthorized biography of Tom Cruise. The videos show Cruise talking excitedly about Scientology.

When you’re a Scientologist, and you drive by an accident, you know you have to do something about it, because you know you’re the only one who can really help…

Scientology is known to be litigious, so journalists have been said to shy away from being critical of this so-called religion. But Gawker stood up to them and told them they are covering this as a news story in the pubic interest and they would not be removing the videos.

The videos were previously posted on Google Video, YouTube, and other video sites.

This video is down right scary. How this can be classified as a religion and have tax-exempt status is beyond me. I think Germany got it right in seeking to ban Scientology.

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160 people fail to show up for jury duty

9NEWS – Article – RSS – Apologies flooding in following jury duty roundup
To all the lame people who failed to show up for jury duty in Greeley:

I can’t believe it.  It is your civic duty to show up for jury duty.  If you don’t show up, you better have a good reason.

As the article implies, the weather was fine.  So no “Too much snow!” excuses.

Because you were selfish, many more people were inconvenienced when they were taken off the street to fill your place.  People who were going about their business were then served and had to immediately report.

People should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.  Shame on you!

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Behind the scenes with Katie Couric

I saw this video and watched it. It is video of Katie Couric behind the scenes and the interaction between Katie and everyone it takes to put on CBS Evening News.
A lot of people are being critical of her, but to me this is not bad. It shows the confusion and work that goes into putting on a major news show. Sometimes you just need to liven things up.

Take a look:

http://www.mydamnchannel.com/xml/mdc_embed.swf?episode=367

What do you think?

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Neumann to return deposits, finish some homes

Neumann to return deposits, finish some homes — chicagotribune.com
This is definitely good news for those of us who live in a Neumann neighborhood.  In our neighborhood there are a few homes that were started that were not finished.  There was no home that was not started.

I have seen activity around the homes that were almost done.  It will be nice to see them finished off.  Hopefully it is not too late and they won’t have to tear any of them down.

There are also a lot of workman working at the model home/sales office.  They are removing the last signs of it being an office.

It will be nice to see them done with construction.  Hopefully the spec homes that have not been sold get sold.

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Commodore 64 versus Apple IIe

On the CNET Daily News Podcast, they went old school today discussing the Commodore 64 and the Apple IIe.
This podcast brought back a lot of memories for me because we had an Apple IIe in our house and it was fun to play with a variety of programs that Apple had out at the time.  Appleworks were key, but it was fun to play our with basic and get the computer to do fun things.

But what was the best was going to some of my friends houses and the time and playing games on the Commodore 64.  We would load up the cassette tape and wait 15 to 30 minutes for a game to load and then we would go at it for hours.

Recently, the Commodore 64 celebrated its 25th Anniversary.  It is hard to believe that the Commodore came out that long ago.  But it would have been the right time for me to be 13 years old.  I remember how dedicated we were to get programs.

We would get magazines and the code for the programs would be in there.  Several pages long.  You would code a line and get a confirmation code.  If the code matched the code on the screen, then you coded the screen correctly.  I can’t even remember the magazine names now.

It is a lot different today than it was back then.  I mean,  the Commodore 64 had a screen resolution 360 x 268 and 64 KB of RAM.

Animation of C64 Startup

The programs around today wouldn’t even be able to run on this system.  But it did the job and launched the career or many programmers and computer geeks.  It helped start the revolution amongst a wider audience than previous computers did.  It was just affordable.

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Pearl Harbor Day

I just want to take a second and remember all those who lost their life on December 7, 1941 in the unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor.
They gave their lives defending our country and need to be remembered.  As President Roosevelt said, “The day that will live in infamy. “

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Saudi Arabia justice system abominable & barbaric

The Saudi Arabia justice system is abominable and barbaric. I can’t believe anyone would treat a women like this.
For those of you who haven’t heard, a women was gang-raped about a year ago. But the Saudi justice system ruled that she was having an affair with a man and she was sentenced to six months in jail and 90 lashes and then 200 lashes. The man the justice system said she was having an affair with only received 90 lashes.

The women’s statement a year ago was that she was meeting with a man to get a picture back after recently being married. She said two men got in the car and drove them to a secluded place where more men were waiting. Both her and the man were gang-raped.

She originally received 90 lashes, but her penalty was increased to 200 lashes on appeal because the justices said she was using the media to influence the case.

The men who gang-raped them received five years in prison.

The Saudi Foreign Minister is now trying to distance the Saudi government from this ruling. In a story that is on the ABC Australia website, Prince Saud al-Faisal says “bad judgements” happen in legal systems.

For a country and religion that talks about how they respect women, their actions don’t show it. In fact, their actions show they have no regard for women at all. I think we may be seeing the true face of the Muslim religion and how they see women.

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Good news to talk about

One of the things that I dislike about the current mainstream news on the networks and cable news networks is the lack of good news.
They are always reporting on OJ Simpson, Iraq, Lindsey Lohan, Britney Spears, or some latest murder or crash.  Never someone doing something good.

Well that was different on CBS Sunday Morning this morning.  They had a great story by Steve Hartman on “Reporting the Good News“.  It focused on three positive stories; a young boy who is working to clean-up city park in New Orleans; a top brain surgeon who came to America as an illegal immigrant and worked the fields in California, and a man who has kept his first car he bought in 1937 and the memories who went with the car.

I think my favorite story was the man who kept the car.  He bought it with $10 he saved from salvaging junk from garbage piles and he got it to go by stealing his dad’s moonshine.  But his best memories are of him and his wife in the car.

From having his first kiss in front of her house to the many trips they took together.  Even though she passed away in 1998, he has the memories, especially her initials carved in the steering wheel.

This is what good about this country.  It is always nice to see positive stories on the news and news shows.  I just wish they would put more of them on.

I guess that is why I like CBS Sunday Morning.  It is a nice relaxing look at news and it is full of fun, positive news stories and I always learn something.  Keep it up.

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DIA de-icers get faulty training : Airlines & Aerospace

DIA de-icers get faulty training : Airlines & Aerospace : The Rocky Mountain News
This is a report that aired this evening on CBS 4 News and was put together by Brian Maass.

This is appalling to me.  I fly a lot, including in the winter, and rely on de-icers to make sure that my flight is safe.  I also rely on the airlines and Federal Air Administration to ensure that my flight is safe.

Because they were not checking up on their contractor, Servisair, they passed everyone by giving them the answers.  That is not acceptable.  It shouldn’t take an investigative report from the CBS affiliate in Denver to uncover this.

The company should be checking up on their instructors, including planting people in the class, to make sure they are following the rules.  In addition, the FAA and the airlines (who hired Servisair to de-ice planes) should do independent checks to ensure that make sure Servisair is doing their job.

I must let you know Servisair was appalled by what they saw on the tape and suspended and eventually fired the person who administered the tests and called everyone back to take a refresher course and re-take the tests.  But to me, it is a little late.

Let’s just hope that there are no problems this year with de-icing planes.

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Youth football team gets into playoffs, then removed

9NEWS – Article – Youth football team gets into playoffs, then removed
This is just sad for the kids who were supposed to play in the game, the Panther Gold.

The parents of the team that was banned from the playoffs should be ashamed of themselves.  Their coach violated the rules, the team needs to abide by the rules and deal with the consequences.

What does this say to the kids?  I think one of the kids said it perfectly in the piece, that it is ok to cheat.

Continue reading “Youth football team gets into playoffs, then removed”