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Saturday, May 31, 2003
Paying the Bills. Please visit the folowing sites: For used, rare, and out-of-print books, go to: The Jackon Simon Review Bookstore For new books, movies, and music, all in one place and at reasonable prices and deep discounts, go to: Jackson Simon SOME INTERESTING READING. For articles that are interesting, thoughtful, and provocative, go to THE PAMPHLETEER For a different view with a lighter touch, go to PAMELA'S PAGE OF STUFF BOYCOTT SAUDI ARABIA! (The article below comes from Bob Sauer. The editors at JSR wholeheartedly support the proposed course of action. The Saudis are not our friends and we should not make the mistake of thinking that they in any way, shape, or form support the United States of America.) Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia. Just buy from gas companies that don't import their oil from the Saudis. Nothing is more frustrating than the feeling that every time I fill-up the tank, I am sending my money to people who are trying to kill me, my family, and my friends. I thought it might be interesting for you to know which oil companies are the best to buy gas from. Major companies that import Middle Eastern oil (for the period 9/1/00 - 8/31/01). Shell................ 205,742,000 barrels Chevron/Texaco....... 144,332,000 barrels Exxon/Mobil.......... 130,082,000 barrels Marathon............. 117,740,000 barrels Amoco................ 62,231,000 barrels If you do the math at $30/barrel, these imports amount to over $18 BILLION! Here are some large companies that do not import Middle Eastern oil: Citgo 0 barrels Sunoco 0 barrels Conoco 0 barrels Sinclair 0 barrels BP/Phillips 0 barrels Hess 0 barrels All of this information is available from the Department of Energy and can be easily documented. Refineries located in the U.S. are required to state where they get their oil and how much they are importing. They report on a monthly basis. Keep this list in your car; share it with friends. Stop paying for terrorism............. But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of gas buyers. It's really simple to do!! Now, don't wimp out at this! point...keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people! I'm sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) .. and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers! If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it..... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!! . Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. How long would all that take? Being the skeptic that I am when I receive these types of e-mails, I researched and found a legitimate DOE website... http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/ company_level_imports/current/data/summary.html that has a detailed list from 2001. You can check it out for yourself! Quote of the Week: (From Veteran's Advantage.) Freedom - no word was ever spoken that has held out greater hope, demanded greater sacrifice, needed more to be nurtured, blessed more the giver, damned more its destroyer, or came closer to being God’s will on earth. May Americans ever be its protector! — General Omar N. Bradley Nuclear Power (From Bob Sauer, our Bayside correspondent.) > > A stranger was seated next to little Johnny on the plane when the > > stranger turned to the young man and said, "Let's talk. I've heard that > > flights will go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow > > passenger." > > Little Johnny, who had just opened his book, closed it slowly, and said > > to the stranger, "What would you like to discuss?" > > > > "Oh, I don't know," said the stranger. "How about nuclear power?" > > > > "OK," said Johnny. "That could be an interesting topic. But let me ask > > you a question first: a horse, a cow, and a deer all eat grass---the same > > stuff. Yet, a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat > > patty, and a horse produces clumps of dried grass. Why do you suppose > > that is?" > > > > "Jeez," said the stranger. "I have no idea." > > > > "Well, then," said Little Johnny, "How is it that you feel qualified to > > discuss nuclear power when you don't know shit?" THE LEFT COAST REPORT: A Political Look at Hollywood By James Hirsen May 27, 2003 A NewsMax Report Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories): 1. Natalie Maines's Cussin' Clothes 2. American Idol Worship 3. Smoldering Nicole Kidman 4. Slick Willy Elvis 5. Weird Al Yanks the Frogs 6. Moore Moolah 7. Dustin Hoffman Goes Deep 1. Natalie Maines's Cussin' Clothes Country music fans continue to let the Dixie Chicks know just what they think of lead singer Natalie Maines's ill-timed statements about President Bush. The Dixie Chicks performed recently via satellite from Austin, Texas, at the 2003 Academy of Country Music Awards. Despite having been nominated in three categories, the Chicks didn't get scratch. And when crooner Vince Gill mentioned the group's name as one of the nominees for Entertainer of the Year, the audience let loose with some down-home boos. Host Reba McEntire described the audience reaction to the Associated Press as "a pretty big negative response. I don't think it's over." Apparently, Entertainer of the Year Toby Keith doesn't think it's over either. During the Dixie Chicks' performance, Maines sported a T-shirt that bore the letters "F.U.T.K." Maines appears to have a pattern of expressing her thoughts through tage attire. When she kicked off the group's tour in Greenville, SC, she wore a shirt that read, "Dare to Be Free." The speculation at the ACM awards was that the "T.K." may have been a squawk at the guy who took home the top honor of the evening. Gill alluded to the garment in question when he opened the envelope to announce the winner. He quipped, "Well, I think his name was on somebody's shirt tonight." After the event, Keith appeared on the ABC late-night talk show, "Jimmy Kimmel Live." The country singer explained why there is no love lost between Maines and him. "She attacked me about nine months ago over the 'Angry American' song ["Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue"]. I took the high road for a little bit and then she didn't think that she got the fight, I think, that she wanted. So then she attacked our president on foreign soil and got the fight she wanted, I guess," Keith said. Keith suspects we'll be hearing more hackneyed phrases from Maines. He predicted that "she's still not done. If y'all think she's done, you're crazy. Stuff comes out of her blowhole daily." The Left Coast Report keeps hoping that someone will find a way to cork it. 2. American Idol Worship The last installment of "American Idol" garnered some star-sized ratings. The program also attracted an amazing number of voters. Approximately 24 million phone-in votes were counted when Ruben Studdard squeaked past Clay Aiken. Still, a lot of Clay fans were upset at "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest's changing numbers during the Fox telecast. Seacrest stated that Ruben won by a scant 1,335 votes. He also said that the number constituted a 50.28 percent share. Seacrest is apparently a student of "new" math. Now a telecommunications company is claiming that it handled more than 240,000 misdialed calls from people who were trying to vote in the "Idol" finale. The company's tally will lend even more support to those who believe that the vote was not exactly what it appeared to be. "We took 169,382 calls for Clay, 72,114 for Ruben," Joey Randolph, residential marketing manager for the company, told the Associated Press. "We were joking we ought to find a bookie. It was a landslide for Clay, but it turns out we were wrong." Randolph's company, Cinergy Communications, provides voice-mail backup as one of its telecommunications services. The company determined that the calls were actually for a church in Franklin, Tenn. Rather than the several calls the church would normally receive in an evening, it got almost a quarter million. The church's number was just one button off from the "American Idol" toll-free number. Meanwhile, Fox spokesman Scott Gorgin said, "We can't be responsible for people who dial the wrong number." The Left Coast Report notes that at least Clay Aiken didn't raise a fuss and file a lawsuit like a certain ex-veep. If we can get this many Americans to cast a ballot for "American Idol," maybe in 2004 instead of debates we ought to hold a sing-off. 3. Smoldering Nicole Kidman The director of Nicole Kidman's new flick, "Dogville," shot off his mouth recently about the U.S. And while anti-American rhetoric is getting to be as flaky as a French croissant, this guy's never even been to the states for a visit. "I would love to start a 'free America' campaign. Because we just had a 'free Iraq' campaign," Lars von Trier told the Calgary Herald. "I'm sure it's a beautiful country. I would love to go there, but I'm afraid to go there." Still, it wasn't von Trier's pusillanimous comments that agitated some of the folks at the Cannes Film Festival. It was the unbelievable, outrageous, unforgivable act that Kidman engaged in that really got them stoked. Yes, you guessed it. The actress smoked. An Aussie group called Action On Smoking And Health (ASH) spoke out against Kidman's crime, but so did the previously mentioned director. When her co-star handed her a cigarette, Von Trier chastised Kidman in front of the assembled world press. The actress ignored the whiny director and kept on puffing. The Left Coast Report thinks it's time for the self-appointed nic narcs to butt out. 4. Slick Willie Elvis Bet you just can't wait for the Clinton Presidential Library of Revisionist History to open up. According to The Hill, the library foundation is already putting up "Bill" boards along the highways leading to Little Rock. And in additional stomach-turning news, foundation director Skip Rutherford is trying to put together an alliance with Graceland, Elvis' mansion in Memphis. Rutherford figures that anybody who wants to see Elvis' house will also be willing to drive an extra 140 miles to see the Bubba museum because "Elvis was the president's musical hero." As a matter of fact, the Clinton Library Foundation plans to stage a preview of sorts. It will hold an exhibit of Clinton's Elvis record collection at Little Rock's Cox Creative Center later this year. Rutherford tried to further morph Clinton into a flying Elvi. He said: "Clinton was 'Elvis.' That's what the press nicknamed him. I think there's a natural linkage." The Left Coast Report agrees that there's a connection between Elvis and Bubba. One's the King of Rock while the other's the King of Crock. 5. Weird Al Yanks the Frogs Alfred Matthew Yankovic, better known as Weird Al, has an original song on his new album, "Poodle Hat," that slams the U.S.'s good friends the French. Brought to my attention by an attentive LCR reader, the song, "Genius in France," was written as a tribute to Frank Zappa. Dweezil Zappa plays guitar on the track. The song lyrics make fun of France's tendency to lionize people such as Jerry Lewis and Michael Moore. Here's a sampling: "I'm not the brightest crayon in the box Everyone says I'm dumber than a bag of rocks I barely even know how to put on my own pants But I'm a genius in France." Maybe Al got the inspiration for this next stanza from watching French minister Dominique de Villepin: "People in France have lots of attitude They're snotty and rude, they like disgusting food But when they see me, they just come unglued They think that I am one happening dude." Al's political commentary seems to go into full throttle as he says, "they're puttin' up my statue by the Eiffel Tower." The song then repeats the phrase, "A little more to the left, boys, a little more to the left." The Left Coast Report hears that Weird Al's been looking for a few extras to cast in the "Genius in France" video. No problem - there are plenty of dunces in D.C. 6. Moore Moolah After all the awards that cinema charlatan Michael Moore has piled up, he's now raking in the commodity that he's been vilifying in all of his works - money. "Bowling for Columbine" has taken in more that $50 million dollars, making it the highest-grossing fake documentary in history. In August, MGM will release the film on DVD. As a special bonus, the disk will include an interview, in which Moore justifies the shameful tirade he tried to pawn off as an acceptance speech. The Left Coast Report suggests that if MGM wants to boost sales, it should include the boos and jeers that mercifully drowned Moore out. 7. Dustin Hoffman Goes Deep Unlike Michael Moore, Dustin Hoffman was subdued and dignified at the Academy Awards this year. Now we know why. Hoffman came to the realization that such statements were not appropriate at that place and time. The actor told World Entertainment News Network, "I was all too aware that on the night of the Academy Awards, 15 Marines had been killed - kids my son's age. And their families, I'm sure, did not have the Academy Awards turned on that night. I am not comfortable with adding to their misery, and so I prefer to keep my liberal-a**, left-wing limousine-liberal mouth shut until these lives are no longer being spent." The Left Coast Report is glad to hear the Rain Man making sense. The Left Coast Report is put together by James L. Hirsen and the staff of NewsMax. What a computer is supposed to do... (Courtesy of Pamela Talkovsky, our Bay Ridge correspondent.) Click on this link below and then type in your first name... http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~geoffo/humour/flattery.html NEW TAX BILL (From Special Correspondent, Alphonse Murasso.) NAEA Member David Mellem, EA has put together the following quick overview of the conference report on the $350 billion tax bill which was just approved by the U.S. Senate this morning. Yesterday, May 22, the conference report was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill will now be sent to the President who has indicated he will sign it into law. Highlights of Jobs & Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 TITLE 1 - ACCELERATION OF PREVIOUS TAX REDUCTIONS 1 - Child Tax Credit - increases to $1,000 for calendar years 2003 and 2004. This reverts back to the old law provisions after calendar year 2004, which means the $700 amount will apply in 2005-2008, $800 in 2009, and $1,000 in 2010 & thereafter. An advance payment will be sent to each taxpayer who claimed the credit on their 2002 tax return for a child who will not reach age 17 by December 31, 2003. This advance payment is to be sent to taxpayers before October 1, 2003, or as soon as possible, with no payments to be made after December 31, 2003. Similar to the last advance payment in 2000 (for 2001), taxpayer's who receive the advance payment will take a lower child tax credit on their 2003 income tax return. This advance payment does have limitations. It is equal to the amount of extra money a taxpayer would have received if the child tax credit would have been $1,000 in 2002 instead of the $600. Therefore the normal limits of tax, additional child tax credit, etc. will apply. 2 - Marriage Penalty Relief - The 15% tax bracket for married filing jointly individuals is 200% of the 15% tax bracket for single individuals, effective for tax years beginning in 2003 & 2004. The 180% for 2005, 187% for 2006, and 193% for 2007 are still effective, which means a decrease in the 15% tax bracket for these years when compared to 2003 & 2004 (ignoring indexing). The standard deduction for married filing jointly individuals is 200% of the standard deduction for single individuals, effective for tax years beginning in 2003 & 2004. The 174% for 2005, 184% for 2006, 1987 for 2007, and 190% for 2008 are still effective, which means a decrease in the standard deduction for these years when compared to 2003 & 2004 (ignoring indexing). 3 - 10% Tax Bracket - This bracket will increase to $14,000 for married filing jointly individuals, stay at $10,000 for head of household taxpayers, and increase to $7,000 for other taxpayers, effective for 2003 & 2004. This will revert back to the $12,000, $10,000, and $6,000 levels in 2005 and continue as under old law. 4 - Reduction of Tax Rates - The tax rates scheduled for 2006 apply for 2003 and thereafter (no reverting later). This means the tax rates for the individuals in the higher income levels are 25%, 28%, 33%, and 35% effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2002. 5 - Minimum Tax Relief - The AMT exemption amount for 2003 increases to $58,000 for married filing jointly individuals and $40,250 for single individuals. These are effective for tax years beginning in 2003 and 2004. 6 - Sunset Provision Number 1. Unless an earlier date is given above, each of these items will sunset at the same time they would under the Economic Growth Act, which means they all are gone after 2010. TITLE II - GROWTH INCENTIVES 1 - Bonus Depreciation - The 30% bonus depreciation increases to 50% for property: - a - Acquired by the taxpayer after May 5, 2003 and before January 1, 2005, and the there was not a written binding contract in effect before May 6, 2003, - b - The original use is with the taxpayer, - c - The property is placed in service by the taxpayer before January 1, 2005, (property found in §168(k)(2(B) has a January 1, 2006 date), and - d - The taxpayer makes an election to use this 50% instead of the 30%. The 30% bonus depreciation still exists for those taxpayers that prefer to use it instead of the 50%. Automobiles have a first year depreciation/§179 limitation of $7,650 plus the normal limitation if the taxpayer elects the 50% bonus depreciation. (This limitation remains at $4,600 plus the normal limitation if the taxpayer uses the 30% bonus depreciation and at the normal limitation if the taxpayer elects out of the bonus depreciation entirely.) The 30% bonus depreciation rules are changed by replacing the September 11, 2004 deadline with January 1, 2005. This provision is effective for tax years ending after May 5, 2003. 2 - Increased §179 Expensing - The expensing limit is increased to $100,000 for tax years beginning after 2002 and before 2006. The maximum purchases before the phase-out increases to $400,000 for these same years. These amounts are indexed for inflation in $1,000 increments. Off-the-shelf computer software is now eligible for the §179 expensing election starting with tax years beginning after December 31, 2002. The §179 election can now be irrevocably revoked for any tax year beginning after 2002 and before 2006. In other words an election to use §179 can be revoked to not use it, but the taxpayer can not elect back in after making the election and revoking it. Once you are using §179, you can undo it but can't redo it. 3 - Sunset Provision Number 2 - Surprise! No sunset provision for this portion. TITLE III - REDUCTION IN TAXES ON DIVIDENDS AND CAPITAL GAINS 1 - Capital Gains Tax Rate Decreases for Individuals - The 10% rate decreases to 5% (0% in tax years beginning after 2007). The 20% rate decreases to 15%. The tax computation for years that include May 6, 2003 will be similar to the 1997 computation. Gains prior to May 6, 2003 will normally be taxed at the then existing rates and only new gains will be taxed at the new lower rates. The Alternative Minimum Tax adjustment for the §1202 exclusion decreases from 42% to 7%, effective with dispositions after May 5, 2003. These rules are effective for taxable years ending after May 5, 2003. 2 - Dividends Tax Rate Decreased - Dividends will be combined with the taxpayer's net capital gain and will be taxed at the rates described above for capital gains. Qualified dividends include those received during the current year from domestic corporations and certain qualified foreign corporations. There are special provisions and exceptions. Dividends that are not eligible include: - a - Dividends paid from a corporation that was exemption under §§501 or 521 for the payment year or the preceding year, - b - Dividends described in §404(k), - c - Dividends allowed as a deduction under §591 (dividends paid by mutual savings banks), and - d - §246(C) with some modifications. There are other restrictions that apply to REITs and RICs. Dividends will not be considered investment income for investment interest expense deductions unless the taxpayer elects to treat them as such (similar to the old capital gains provision). 3 - Sunset Provision Number 3 - These provisions sunset for tax years beginning after December 31, 2008. TITLE V - CORPORATE ESTIMATED TAX PAYMENTS FOR 2003 Twenty-five percent (25%) of any corporate estimated tax payment due in September 2003, is not due until October 1, 2003. TITLE IV - TEMPORARY STATE FISCAL RELIEF & TITLE V TEMPORARY STATE FISCAL RELIEF These do not appear to contain provision involving federal income tax. Please note: - The proposals for NOL relief, uniform definition of "child" for EIC, HH status, and dependency, and "exclusion" of dividends, changes in expatriation, denial of deduction for punitive damages, and other provisions previously discussed in the news are not part of this package. ................ National Association of Enrolled Agents Refdesk Thought of the Day: Tis the business of little minds ... " ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death." - Thomas Paine If you would see ... "If you would see how interwoven it is in the warp and woof of civilization … go at night-fall to the top of one of the down-town steel giants and you may see how in the image of material man, at once his glory and his menace, is this thing we call a city." - Frank Lloyd Wright Try to learn something ... "Try to learn something about everything and everything about something." - T.H. Huxley Education is ... "Education is a private matter between the person and the world of knowledge and experience, and has little to do with school or college." - Lilian Smith At high tide ... "At high tide the fish eat ants; at low tide the ants eat fish." - Thai Proverb Today's Refdesk Links of the Day are: Contacting the Congress Contacting the Congress is a very up-to-date database of congressional contact information for the 108th Congress. As of April 15, 2003 there are 516 email addresses (of which 404 are Web-based email homepages), and 537 WWW homepages known for the 540 members of the 108th Congress. More traditional ground mail addresses are available for all Congressmembers. State Health Facts Online This resource contains the latest state-level data on demographics, health, and health policy, including health coverage, access, financing, and state legislation. Site also allows you to compare data for all the states. Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth Astronauts have used hand-held cameras to photograph the Earth for more than 30 years, beginning with the Mercury missions in the early 1960s. Crewmembers on NASA missions have taken nearly 400,000 photographs with Hasselblad, Linhof, Rolleiflex, and Nikon hand-held cameras. About 85 percent of these photographs are Earth-looking views. The rest show satellite deployments, extra-vehicular activities, and astronaut activities in the cabin. This NASA site gives you access to all photographs taken since 1961. FBI: Ten Most Wanted Fugitives The official FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list is maintained on the FBI World Wide Web Site. The FBI is offering rewards for information leading to the apprehension of Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. Check each fugitive page for the specific amount. Area Code and Zip Code Look-ups This site offers numerous U.S. demographic look-ups including: "Lookup ZIP Codes, city names, the location of phone numbers or the cities covered by an area code." - "Enter any street name in the U.S. and get a listing of which states and cities have the street name. Even displays local street address detail." - "2000 Income tax information by ZIP Code. Includes average AGI, number of returns, average refund, filing status, age and more." - "Lookup any Canadian address and get the Postal Code, time zone and area code." - "Displays a listing of the Area Code + Prefixes and Zip Codes that fall within a radius." - "Obtain a list of the ZIP Codes in any county in the United States." Monday, May 26, 2003
Paying the Bills. Please visit the folowing sites: For used, rare, and out-of-print books, go to: The Jackon Simon Review Bookstore For new books, movies, and music, all in one place and at reasonable prices and deep discounts, go to: Jackson Simon SOME INTERESTING READING. For articles that are interesting, thoughtful, and provocative, go to THE PAMPHLETEER For a different view with a lighter touch, go to PAMELA'S PAGE OF STUFF Today's Refdesk Link of the Day is: The Cambridge History of English and American Literature Considered the most important work of literary history and criticism ever published, the Cambridge History contains over 303 chapters and 11,000 pages, with essay topics ranging from poetry, fiction, drama and essays to history, theology and political writing. The set encompasses a wide selection of writing on orators, humorists, poets, newspaper columnists, religious leaders, economists, Native Americans, song writers, and even non-English writing, such as Yiddish and Creole. Refdesk Thought of the Day: The general who advances ... "The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace, whose only thought is to protect his country and do good service for his sovereign, is the jewel of the kingdom." - Sun Tzu ======================================================== CHAPTER-A-DAY NONFICTION ONLINE BOOK CLUB Let me know if you're enjoying this week's book. Email Suzanne@chapteraday.com Visit our award-winning home page: www.chapteraday.com ======================================================== Let me know if you're enjoying this week's book, which begins right after my "Dear Reader". Dear Reader, Happy Birthday to me...(and to you, if today's also your birthday). I was born at 8 a.m. in Madison, Wisconsin forty-nine years ago. It's always interesting to look back and see what was going on the year you were born, so I thought it would be fun to see what people were reading in 1954. Here's what was on the Best Sellers list then: Nonfiction 1. The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version 2. The Power of Positive Thinking, Norman Vincent Peale 3. Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book 4. Betty Crocker's Good and Easy Cook Book 5. The Tumult and the Shouting, Grantland Rice Fiction 1. Not as a Stranger, Morton Thompson 2. Mary Anne, Daphne du Maurier 3. Love Is Eternal, Irving Stone 4. The Royal Box, Frances Parkinson Keyes 5. The Egyptian, Mika Waltari Have a wonderful day and thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends. My best wishes to you, Suzanne Beecher www.emailbookclub.com P.S. Win one of 3 signed copies of "The Midwife's Tale" by Gretchen Moran Laskas. We're reading it this week at our Fiction Book Club. Send me an email and you'll be entered to win. ======================================================== =======================TODAY'S BOOK==================== Today We Begin a New Book! THE ONLY GIRL IN THE CAR by Kathy Dobie (fiction) Published by The Dial Press A division of Random House, Inc. Copyright (c) 2003 by Kathy Dobie (Chapters used with permission of publishers and authors.) To reference this email: CAR (Part 1 of 5) ======================================================== FROM THE BOOK JACKET: Bookworm and dreamer, Kathy Dobie was a young girl with a tender heart, an adventurer's spirit, and a child's terrible confusion about her proper place in the world. As the oldest daughter in a family of six children, she seemed trapped in her role as Big Sister and Mommy's Helper. Then, one day, teetering on the brink of adolescence, hormones surging, she heard someone call her "cheesecake," and suddenly saw her path. "Cheesecake, jailbait, sex kitten"--the very words seemed to be "doors opening" to a splendid new self. But from the moment she decides to lose her virginity and reels in her prey, a "full-grown man," fourteen-year-old Kathy is headed for trouble. One cold, raw March night some months later, parked in a car on the outskirts of town with four boys she thought were her friends, she finds it. Though she could never have foreseen the outcome of that night, the "boys in the car could just as well have been Gypsies foretelling my future," she writes. Girls who break the rules in small towns like the one she lived in are expected to pay a very high price for their transgressions--and she did, And yet...this young girl, as scrappy a protagonist as any in our literature, manages to transform her fate. How she stepped out of that car forever altered, to be sure, yet not forever damaged, how she was able to use her experience to take her to a place she could never have gone without it, is the story she tells in this book--an extraordinary coming-of-age tale. * * * BrainEmail Daily Triva * * * ================================== (Courtesy of John Babina. To JOIN the BrainETrivia list send a message to: trivia-subscribe@brainemail.com) =========================================================== What was the formal alternate name for Memorial Day? What other holiday had a name change? Please Scroll down! --------------------------------------------------------------------- In 1865, Pharmacist Henry C. Welles of Waterloo, NY, suggested that honor should be shown to the deceased soldiers of the Civil War by decorating their graves. In the Spring of 1866, he suggested it again to General John B. Murray, Seneca County Clerk. General Murray liked the idea and the town planned a day devoted to honoring the Civil War dead. It was known as Decoration Day. The first official recognition of Memorial Day was issued by General John A. Logan, commander of the Grand Army of the Republic. His General Order No. 11 established "Decoration Day". The date of the order was May 5, 1868, two years after the Waterloo observance. The main purpose of the day was to decorate the graves of the fallen soldiers. Many of the Southern states considered Decoration Day a "Yankee holiday" and did not embrace it for many years. The 1994 Information Please Almanac shows that Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky and Louisiana also celebrate a Confederate Memorial Day [on various dates other than the end of May]. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Veterans Day, Nov. 11th, used to be called Armistice Day. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Partial Source: http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyseneca/memorial.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------- ================================================================== * * * Welcome to BrainEmail Word-A-Day * * * ============================================ (Courtesy of John Babina. To JOIN the Word-A-Day list send a message to: word-subscribe@brainemail.com) =========================================================== Today’s word is sprue. (rhymes with slue and few) Please scroll down! --------------------------------------------------------------------- A sprue is the little plastic knob or rod sticking out of an injection molded part. It is the place where the plastic was squeezed into the mold. It is usually not cut off perfectly clean and can normally be seen on the under side or non-visible portion of a part. This is an old word that is a holdover from medieval times. It was used for the channel where molten metal was poured into a sand mold. The archaic form of the word is sprew. The alternate meaning of sprue is a tropical disease. Origin unknown. (BTW: I am still overloaded with work . . . hope to be more free in July) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Sources: Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th Ed. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Valid form/definition for North American Scrabble[TM] Players. SPRUE, SPRUES noun a tropical disease The alternate spelling, sprew, is still used in some molding manuals but it is NOT a scrabble word. rue sprue -------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================================== Be sure to tell your friends about the BrainEMail Word-A-Day list! TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^================================================================ Sunday, May 25, 2003
Paying the Bills. Please visit the folowing sites: For used, rare, and out-of-print books, go to: The Jackon Simon Review Bookstore For new books, movies, and music, all in one place and at reasonable prices and deep discounts, go to: Jackson Simon SOME INTERESTING READING. For articles that are interesting, thoughtful, and provocative, go to THE PAMPHLETEER For a different view with a lighter touch, go to PAMELA'S PAGE OF STUFF Reason's Weekly Dispatch By Jeff A. Taylor and the Reason staff Visit http://www.reason.com/re/rextext.txt for the plain text version of Reason Express. Visit http://www.reason.com/re/current.shtml for the html version. May 20, 2003 Vol. 6 No. 20 In this issue: 1. Ship Sighting 2. Penguin Patrol 3. Conserving the Future 4. Quick Hits 1. Ship Sighting If the word "quagmire" is too strong and premature for the occupation of Iraq, how about the simple term "mess"? The Bush administration is clearly flailing about in search of a response to rampant lawlessness. Maybe fresh infusions of U.S. troops into Baghdad will fix that. Maybe they won't. But there is no denying that the old exit plan is in shreds. Of course, that assumes there ever was a real exit plan rather than vague assurances that everything would just come together. In fact, there now is a sneaking suspicion that the real "exit plan" was never any more than a way to transition to the next shooting war. Some 15,000 troops from the 1st Armored Division are slated for peacekeeping duties in Iraq. In recent weeks U.S forces in Baghdad have increased by a third, to 25,000. Overall, some 200,000 coalition troops are now in country. Recall that Army chief-of-staff Gen. Eric K. Shinseki was all but sent to dig latrines for daring to tell Congress that Iraq would need peacekeepers in the hundreds of thousands once the fighting stopped. The Pentagon unofficially pushed a number closer to 80,000. Perhaps the Bush administration was been wildly off in its expectations for postwar Iraq. Or perhaps the calculation was that if events force the deployment of tens of thousands more troops, so much the better to send a message -- one way or another -- to other countries in the region. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A4348-2003May17?language=printer http://www.nandotimes.com/world/story/892065p-6214527c.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Penguin Patrol Someone in Redmond was a wicked sense of humor -- and timing. Just after the SCO Group got done sending letters to 1,350 users of the Linux operating system warning them that "Linux infringes on our Unix intellectual property and other rights" and that "legal liability that may arise from the Linux development process may also rest with the end user," Microsoft decided, gee, let's license some SCO Group software. In one delicious move, Microsoft has in effect hired its old antitrust nemesis, David Boies, to go to work beating Linux competitors off its Windows server installs. The SCO Group had selected Boies to research an intellectual property case that many in the software industry felt was bogus -- nothing more than a last-ditch attempt by a failing software company to shake some cash from the trees. Sure enough, the SCO Group sued IBM in March, charging unfair competition and breach of contract. Now, with Redmond lining up behind SCO and Boies, IBM must be just thrilled. For a tiny investment Microsoft gets to make potential corporate buyers of Linux, or IBM's operating system AIX, worry about getting dragged in court over the software running in their back office. The message is clear: Buy Windows, stay out of court. Of course, this is why it was a horribly bad idea for Netscape and friends to run to the feds and the state attorneys general over Microsoft Internet Explorer way back in the day. Make politicians, lawyers, and judges the arbiters of good software, and you'll get software as buggy as the law. http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=10000075 http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1094546,00.asp http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=9559 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Conserving the Future The American Conservative Union wants to broker peace talks between the warring right wings, paleo and neo, that are barely on speaking terms over Iraq. It's an honest effort, but maybe nothing short of a time machine can heal all the wounds. The split is not just over tactics or points of emphasis: It goes to the very purpose of the American state. On top of that is a cultural rift between the two camps that alone would be hard to bridge. The paleos are extremely suspicious of any policy flowing from Washington, except on abortion, while the neos have the technocratic love of a good policy hack. But the American Conservative Union embodies a little of both tendencies, infused as it is with the animating spirit of the Reaganite crusade -- the first attempt to translate modern conservatism into national policy. Plus, it harbors a few people old enough to remember the fusionist attempts to bridge the divide between libertarians and conservatives in the early 1960s, as well as a time when "conservative" did not necessarily mean "Republican." It should be interesting to watch. http://www.conservative.org/pressroom/revitalizingconservatism.asp -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Quick Hits Quote of the Week "We created the Department of Homeland Security to track down terrorists, not law-abiding citizens." --Rep. Jim Turner (D-Tex.) on Texas state officials using the Department of Homeland Security to help track down Democratic state lawmakers who went into hiding rather than vote on a redistricting plan http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/politics/state/stories/051603dntexdps_early.20a32706.html A Three Hour Tour, A Three Hour Tour New anti-terror regs for pleasure craft and sightseeing boats could sink skippers on both coasts with requirements to screen passengers, luggage, and cargo. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-05-18-ship-terror_x.htm Redneck Justice Last year an appeals court ruled that a New Jersey school district overstepped its bounds when it claimed that T-shirts with the word "redneck" or a Confederate flag constituted harassing behavior. This week the Supreme Court let the decision stand. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A10226-2003May19?language=printer Eat and Some More A critique of fast-food salads is itself critiqued by experts who note that tiny, non-filling salads do not a meal make. As a result, some other snack junk will probably get eaten as well. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine's report says salads from McDonald's and the like are too big and fatty. Others say, hey, at least it's a start. http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB10523485736646700,00.html Snow Blind Treasury Secretary John Snow opens his mouth again, and the dollar falls more against the yen and Euro. Looks like a deliberate move to talk the dollar down, no matter how much the White House denies it. http://www.thestreet.com/_tsclsii/markets/marketfeatures/10088194.html Exits are Sealed? Arundhati Roy thinks Big Media has control of the world. Took it over from Gaia, then? http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0518-01.htm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE LEFT COAST REPORT: A Political Look at Hollywood By James Hirsen May 20, 2003 A NewsMax Report Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories): 1. Bye-Bye, Becker 2. Honoring Barry White 3. Taxation on Gratification 4. Color Bind 5. After School With the Kindergarten Cop 6. Brigitte Bardot's Book Boo-Boos 7. Heavy Metal Misfortune 8. Hollywood Furious with Deck of Weasels 1. Bye-Bye, Becker Looks like CBS is going to improve on its fall schedule. Remember the sitcom where a certain physician character chewed out a teen for not wearing a condom? The fake doc berated the kid with a high-caliber Hollywood insult. He said, "You just stooped to the level of stupidity reserved for Republicans and other lower primates." Part of the reason Republicans were fair game in this particular sitcom was because the physician role was played by enviro-loon Ted Danson. We're talking about the show "Becker." It's purportedly been canceled, although sources indicate that it might come back as a mid-season replacement. Either way, the Danson household needn't worry. Longtime Hillary comrade and Danson spouse, Mary Steenburgen, is set to get a new gig on CBS. The drama supposedly will be called "Joan of Arcadia." It's about a couple whose daughter talks to God. The Left Coast Report has to wonder if the game plan is to switch from assaulting Republicans to attacking people of faith. 2. Honoring Barry White "Ohhh, Baby." The City Council of Los Angeles finally agreed on something. In a unanimous vote, council members decided to name a park recreation center after R&B legend Barry White. White recently underwent some serious surgery. Apparently, he's been sick for years and is awaiting a kidney transplant. The recreation center is in the community of South Park, the place where White grew up. The singer has remained connected with his old digs. Last year he even got involved in a local protest over land use in the neighborhood. The Left Coast Report notes that there was little opposition to naming the center after White. There was, however, some concern that kids who play there might experience an unusual side effect - with no advance warning their voices may suddenly drop several octaves. 3. Taxation on Gratification The German economy is in a recession and local governments are searching for new revenue sources, just like the ones in the U.S. are. Some cities in Deutschland have decided to try and skim a little from the world's oldest profession. Believe it or not, they're implementing a "pleasure tax." According to Reuters, the cities of Berlin and Cologne plan to tax brothels, sex shows and erotic trade fairs. They're following the lead of Gelsenkirchen and Dorsten, which have already put through a similar tax. Prostitute lobbying groups have called the tax "pretty absurd." Martin Schulmann, spokesman for Gelsenkirchen, told Reuters, "Our tax inspectors are combing through sex adverts in local newspapers and then paying visits, but equipped with measuring tapes." The Left Coast Report hopes California Gov. Gray Davis doesn't get wind of this one. Otherwise Hollywood Boulevard is going to be loaded with tax collectors trying to look like Hugh Grant. 4. Color Bind The record-breaking box office hit "The Matrix: Reloaded" has thrown some folks into a white-hot frenzy. As usual, Hollywood is taking some heat for its choice of villains. The movie bad guys in question have white hair, red eyes and very light skin. This has raised the ire of the melanin-challenged among us. Dr. Jim Haefemeyer of the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation told Jeannette Walls of MSNBC that letters were sent to Warner Bros. expressing the concerns of the group. So far the studio hasn't written back. A rep for Warner Bros. gave an explanation for the villains' ghostly appearance. "We don't call them albinos. They're dead. That's why they're pale." What he's saying is that they're really those time-honored ghouls commonly known as vampires. Maybe the whole problem stemmed from the fact that so many in the entertainment press had already classified the evil pallid twins as albinos. On another light note, the legendary real life albino Johnny Winter has the rent control blues. The New York Post reports that Winter had been enjoying below-market rent on New York's Upper East Side since 1974. But when he renewed his lease three years ago, he used a corporate name, "Ole Pa." This allowed the landlord to claim that rent control no longer applied. A judge sided with the landlord and Johnny had to move to Connecticut. The Left Coast Report asks, How long do you think it will be before the Dems try to play the skin pigment card against the Republicans? 5. After School With the Kindergarten Cop Arnold Schwarzenegger and the cast of his upcoming sequel, "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," deftly used the Cannes Film Festival for some pre-publicity. Now the celebrity cyborg is taking on an unusual real-life adversary - the president of the United States. You see, Arnie runs a national after-school foundation. And he was previously in charge of the initiative that increased after-school programs in California. Acting more like a Kennedy in-law than the conservative that's so desperately needed in the formerly Golden State, Schwarzenegger is lobbying against the Bush administration's plan to cut $400 million in after-school spending. The former Mr. Olympia has already addressed the Senate on the subject and plans to meet with Education Department officials, police and teachers in June to discuss the issue. The Left Coast Report encourages Arnold to get all this after-school stuff out of his system so he can become a political terminator and help protect California from the Marxist machine that's taken over the legislature. 6. Brigitte Bardot's Book Boo-Boos Brigitte Bardot is finding out what it's like to live in the mad world of the ultra-politically correct. Two groups in France are threatening legal action because of the content of Bardot's new book. Passages from "Cry in the Silence" ("Cri dans le Silence") were published in the France-Soir. The excerpts questioned the role of women, but the lawsuit enthusiasts really hit the French ceiling over alleged anti-Muslim comments. "I'm against the Islamization of France ... our grandfathers, our fathers gave their lives for centuries to chase all successive invaders out of France," one of the excerpted passages reads. Michel Tubiana, president of France's Human Rights League, told the Associated Press, "We're going to go to the corrections court against Brigitte Bardot." Tubiana referenced passages in the book that were offensive, saying, "Muslims can't be French - that's a real problem - or that Muslims are invading France, that Muslims are all terrorists. ... This type of generalization is unacceptable." Tubiana claims the statements about Muslims break French anti-racism laws. The Left Coast Report points out that when a nation reaches the level of PC insanity that France has, it's pretty obvious that truth is being guillotined to protect a warped definition of diversity. Watch your neck, America. 7. Heavy Metal Misfortune Many well-known hard rock bands have been seeing their earnings plummet due to heavy Internet downloading. With an album soon to be released called "St. Anger" and a few Internet concerns of its own, the metal mavens of Metallica are taking a creative marketing approach. The group hopes to increase sales with freebies like a DVD of rehearsals and a CD-ROM preview of the band's upcoming videogame. "The idea was to throw out a bone that you won't get in a download," Metallica's James Hetfield told Gannett News Service. Could it be that a dip in record sales has caused Hetfield to forego the expense of custom-made outfits for his concerts? Well, apparently he's unhappy with the current baggy jeans fashion trend, so the rocker's found a frugal solution - wearing women's clothes. Hetfield told the San Francisco Chronicle's "Daily Dish": "They don't make men's stretch jeans anymore. Nowadays it's all about homie, baggy stuff, so I have to go to a size-14 women's extra-long." The Left Coast Report says if, thanks to the Internet, CD sales keep heading south, Hetfield may have to borrow some of Cher's old outfits. 8. Hollywood Furious with Deck of Weasels NewsMax is already hearing that several Hollywood stars are just furious with our latest "Deck of Weasels" -- our playing and information cards that expose the anti Americanism of the political world and Hollywood. One mega star's producer told us late last week that "Everyone is talking about it, and a lot of people are worried." Worried about what? Well, the crazed liberals that make up Tinseltown's elite thought the "Bush war" against Iraq was truly going to be a disaster -- and that they would be vindicated. Sorry, Charlie, it didn't work out that way, did it? Now the Hollywood libs were hoping that their anti American fervor would evaporate into recent memory. That was until the Deck of Weasels hit late last week. The 55 playing cards not only depict the angry Hollywood establishment -- with the likes of Ed Asner, George Clooney, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and others -- but reveals their most outrageous quotes. Some are thinking that certain big box office stars may soon be going the way of the Dixie Chicks. Well, let's help them! Check out NewsMax's new Deck of Weasels... get them and pass them around to your friends and family. They are fun and informative. Find out about the Deck of Weasels - Click Here Now. The Left Coast Report is put together by James L. Hirsen and the staff of NewsMax. Today's Refdesk Link of the Day is: Learn CPR This site is a free public service supported by the University of Washington School of Medicine. Site provides you with the information you need to learn the basics of cardiopulmonary resuscitation-CPR. Refdesk Thoughts of the Day: Power is not revealed ... "Power is not revealed by striking hard or often, but by striking true." - Honore de Balzac The self-fulfilling prophecy is ... "The self-fulfilling prophecy is, in the beginning, a false definition of the situation evoking a new behavior which makes the originally false conception come true. The specious validity of the self-fulfilling prophecy perpetuates a reign of error. For the prophet will cite the actual course of events as proof that he was right from the very beginning." - Robert King Morton Technology ... "Technology ... the knack of so arranging the world that we don't have to experience it." - Max Frisch Knowledge ... "Knowledge -- Zzzzzp! Money - Zzzzzp! -- Power! That's the cycle democracy is built on!" - Tennessee Williams Perhaps it is this specter ... "Perhaps it is this specter that most haunts working men and women: the planned obsolescence of people that is of a piece with the planned obsolescence of the things they make. Or sell." - Studs Terkel For the first time ... "For the first time, the first, I laid my heart open to the benign indifference of the universe. To feel it so like myself, indeed, so brotherly, made me realize that I'd been happy, and that I was happy still." - Albert Camus |
