December 7th
This is a post that was done on Ace's site. It simply is perfect hence me copying all of it and posting it here. I feel the exact same way.
Commenter polynikes suggested a post about this. Honestly, I didn't feel up to the task. It's big.
Sixty six years ago today, most of the Pacific fleet based at Pearl was
aflame. Aircraft at Hickam, Wheeler, and other bases were smoldering
wrecks. In Hawaii, we were struggling to treat the wounded, find and
bury the dead, and wondering if assault ships were headed in. It was
chaos, blood and pain.
Sixty six years ago today the rest of the nation was just awakening to the reality of what had happened.
Confusion. Chaos. Death. And a nation slowly stumbled to its feet, to
recover from the blow and face the reality that a world existed with
enemies who weren't afraid of us.
This comparison is loathed by certain people. I have a message for them.
Fuck you very much.
Confusion. Chaos. And death.
Six years ago, someone asked me on the morning of Sept. 11 if I had
heard about the plane crash into the World Trade Center. I imagined a
small plane off course. An accident. What else could it be?
And then the next plane hit.
Sixty six years ago today we were reeling. And facing the awful reality
that at that time, an unknown number of us had perished in a
calculated, planned attack. One that intended to kill as many as they
possibly could. It took weeks to count the dead. More were dying while
we counted.
Six years ago we were reeling. We had by now counted the dead.
A Sad Day
Lital has left facebook. In case you were wondering. I know I was because one minute I was looking at it..then I got a message from Spider and the next minute I reloaded the page and it was gone! Literally within 30 seconds her page was gone. She confirmed that she has taken it down. Let us hope that in the near future she will re-join facebook. Good luck with everything Lital!
Last Evening with Shawn
Today Shawn should be on his way back to the snowy East. Back to ice on planes, 10 degree weather (if he is lucky LOL) and a white Christmas. But last night he did stop by around 9:45 pm.
We sat around and just talked a bit, filled him in on whats going on. He filled me in on his next trips - he might be coming back out here. We saw some more clips from the girls. After about an hour of just discussing life in general he left. Good luck on your flight back east!
It was a great visit! It was a pleasure to met him and put a face to the emails and IM conversations!
Posted by Jayson Javitz
Published: Dec 6, 07 12:03 PM
This is the 4th in a series of posts about the year's major business stories:
CBS News
The unionized writers at CBS News called a strike. Irony can be ironic, eh?
Thereafter a media/Democrat debate to be aired on CBS was canceled
on grounds the DNC didn't want its presidential candidates to face the
specter of having to cross a media union's picket lines. Talk about
being hoisted upon one's own petard, huh?
Meanwhile the decision to make Katie Couric anchor of "Evening News"
continued to pay negative dividends. Not only is Katie running third in
a three-horse field but her ratings have dropped below even the
depressed levels of her two immediate predecessors.
Speaking of which, dan raTHer was back in the news. The patron saint
of liberal media bias filed a multi-million dollar defamation lawsuit
against CBS.
For those who missed it, or who've already blocked it out, Texas
Folly used fabricated documents regarding the president's TANG service
in an unsuccessful attempt to dupe the zombie and space cadet brigades
into rejecting the president's re-election bid. CBS didn't have the
cojones to publish the obvious motivation for raTHer's behavior, but it
determined nonetheless the aforementioned documents were bogus;
accordingly, raTHer was dismissed. Now he and CBS are fighting each
other in court.
You can't even make that stuff up.
Liberal Print Media
The liberal print media continued in 2007 to circle the drain.
Virtually every major liberal newspaper around the country posted
declines in paid circulation, advertising revenue and total revenue.
There were massive job cuts throughout the industry. The leftist San
Francisco Chronicle, for example, jettisoned 25% of its news force.
C.nn.C.nbc.msnb.C.P.
The liberal cable news channels descended towards absolute irrelevance.
Far more people watch "Meerkat Manor" on Animal Planet, by way of
example, than any of the vacuous screamfests on MSNBC or CNBC. More
people watch bowling on ESPN than CNN's vapid programming.
The View {of nothingness}
TV writers went out on strike and, as such, there arose the
self-parody of media/Democrat presidential candidates refusing to
appear on the Democrat quasi-political program "The View," in order to
demonstrate solidarity with their striking Democrat union comrades.
Fox(y ladies)
Fox News and its corporate parent continued in 2007 to annoy liberal idiots and to make headlines.
News Corp. purchased the venerable Wall Street Journal. Fox debuted
its business channel. Regarding the latter, I actually sat down out of
sheer boredom recently and watched about a half-hour. As expected there
virtually was nothing in the way of substance. But there was a helluva
lot of fine T&A on display. Yow-za!
driftWood
Wealthy liberal malcontents in Hollywood in 2007 produced not one,
not two, not three, but, count 'em, *four* anti-American, anti-Bush
films. The biggest of these polemics, "Lions for Lambs," was D.O.A. at
the box office and became in the process one of the more noteworthy
Hollywood busts since "Gigli." The remainder didn't even rise to the
level of D.O.A. -- those flicks were stillborn.
Posted by Jayson Javitz
Published: Dec 5, 07 06:17 PM
Economic Growth
The country's services sector grew in November for the 56th
consecutive month. Services account for 80% of economic activity.
Services growth in November was less than October's strong growth rate,
but well above the expansion/contraction line. The country's
manufacturing sector also grew in November.
Worker Productivity
Revised figures show American workers even were more productive in
Q3 than originally reported. The labor force in Q3 posted a 6.3% gain
in productivity, following a 2.2% productivity gain the prior quarter.
Q2 was not bad, but Q3's showing was stellar. Unit labor costs dropped
both in Q2 and Q3.
This all is very good news.
Higher productivity and lower unit labor costs portend less
inflation. As such, for obvious reasons, these facts will not make the
cut on tonight's network evening news broadcasts.
Mimicking last year's $10.7 billion deal between American
refiner ConocoPhillips and Canada's biggest oil and gas producer,
EnCana Corp., BP and Husky Energy will exchange stakes in Husky's
Sunrise oil sands venture in Alberta and BP's Toledo, Ohio, refinery
through a pair of joint ventures.
There's more:
Canada is the biggest crude oil exporter to the United
States, accounting for nearly a fifth of its southern neighbor's
imports, and there's a deepening of already strong ties between the two
countries. ConocoPhillips and EnCana kicked off the trend in October
2006, while Marathon Oil Corp. recently closed its takeover of Western
Oil Sands Inc., a minority partner in the vast Athabasca, Alberta, oil
sands project led by Royal Dutch Shell.
Ah, yes, Canada.
The oil. The natural gas. The women. The ice hockey. The timber. The epic rock bands Rush and Triumph.
What more could you want from a potential military conquest, er, I mean, from a key economic trading partner?
A New Car?!?
When I got my escrow overage check my sister had an idea that I should use that money and trade in my car to get a new one. I told her I did not really want to go down that road until after my vacation to Israel. After the vacation I thought that I could explore the possibility of a new car (if I had my choice a Lexus!).
However, some things have come to light and I think the time might be more advantageous to start shopping for a new car now. So, Saturday I will be at my sisters place and we plan to go furniture shopping and car shopping for me. We are somewhat organized (Very organized when it comes to the furniture) in that I know what I need to get.
As for the car shopping - well this is going to be more research oriented. Since I am still waiting for my title for the car and waiting for the $4500 the college (money money money! whooo!!!) So that I could have a sizeable down payment.
It would be so cool to have a brand new car. This would seriously be my first brand new car - if I do go that route!
Dinner with Shawn again!
So, last night Shawn and I went out for dinner again. Actually I think this time was better becuase neither of us were as tired as on Monday. And, Shawn was a bit better used to Phoenix.
We went to the Claim Jumper and I warned him ahead of time that the food there was intense (Huge portions). But he was really hungry so we got an appitzer (Nachos), he got the Widowmaker and I got the Jambalaya. It was all great and we were catching up on the clips and I even showed him the DVD that Lital had sent. He got to see most of the clips and was extremely excited.
And, since yesterday was the beginning of Hanukkah I showed him sort of what I did (lit the menorah but my prayer book was upstairs) so I just sort of went through the motions. Afterwards we just relaxed at my place, watched the DVD that Lital sent and also part of Defending your Life (with Albert Brooks). By this time it was getting late and he left. It looks like we might be meeting up for Dinner again on Thursday. It has been a great time and experience!
Hanukkah Begins tonite!
I just wanted to wish everyone a very happy holiday season!
In the next couple of hours it will begin over here. I hope Lital, Adi, Yair and Dino and all of their friends and family have a wonderful holiday with their friends and family!
Environmentalists vs Judaism
Fucking Environmentalist wackos. I hate them with a passion served only equal to the UN, Communists, and Nazis. Instead of doing something productive they have decided to attack Judaism - From Ace!
In a campaign that has spread like wildfire across the
Internet, a group of Israeli environmentalists is encouraging Jews
around the world to light at least one less candle this Hanukka to help
the environment.
The founders of the Green Hanukkia campaign found that every candle
that burns completely produces 15 grams of carbon dioxide. If an
estimated one million Israeli households light for eight days, they
said, it would do significant damage to the atmosphere.
You know, not only is this absurd. This is patently offensive. And I'm not even Jewish.
There is a reason 8 candles are lit in the Menorah to celebrate
Hannakuh (9 if you count the "Shamesh", the candle used to light the
others.) When the Jews overthrew the oppressive vestiges of Alexander
the Great's Hellinistic Empire (under which the practice of Judaism was
outlawed by successive rulers) and rededicated the second temple, God
didn't make one day's supply of oil burn for 24 hours. The oil didn't
last 4 days. Or 6 days. Or 14 days.
It lasted 8 days.
To attempt to encourage observant Jews to abandon the traditions of
their religion to accomodate some New Age Fad is abhorrent. Symbols and
traditions are important: they help define a people and a culture. They
are a source of strength and of continuity. They are not to be changed
whimsically. A people that have historically been subjugated, as the
Jews have been, know this inherently.
Fortunately, the cavalry appears to be coming to the rescue:
United Torah Judaism MK Avraham Ravitz called the
environmentalists "crazy people who are playing with the minds of
innocent Jewish people." He said the campaign would only convince
people who do not light candles anyway.
"They should encourage people to light one less cigarette instead," Ravitz said.
Rabbi Benny Lau of Jerusalem's Ramban Congregation, who is himself an
environmental activist, praised the good intentions of the people
behind the campaign. But he said the environmentalists should be trying
to reach out to observant Jews instead of running campaigns that turn
them away.
"People in the green movement who have an agenda have unfortunately made it anti-religious,"
Lau said. "This makes religious people think incorrectly that anything
environmentalist is against them. The damage ends up being a thousand
times the benefit. Tikkun olam [fixing the world] must be done by
adding more light and not by adding more darkness."
Emphasis added.
This is exactly correct. It is the replacing of one belief system with
another, incrementally. It is as repulsive a notion as any of the
numerous accomodations that have been made to soothe the feelinigs of
the Religion of the Perpetually Aggrieved. And it should be objected to
strenuously.
So, I'm going to do my own little bit this year. I won't be lighting a
menorah, as I won't be a part of belittling the tradition to make a
political point.
Instead, I'm going to do something that I never do. I'm going to burn the biggest damn Yule Log I can fit into my fireplace.
It may not be a candle on a menorah, but it ought to offset the actions of many of those who choose to laugh in the face of God.
Because when it comes to choosing sides between these two religions, I know what side I'm on.
Dinner with Shawn
Last night it was a pleasure to meet Shawn. He called me around 6pm and told me he got in to Phoenix and invited me out to dinner. About 7 pm he got to my house...Of course I showed him the DVDs that I had received...caught up on things and then headed out the door. I took him to Garcia's Mexican Restaurant - one of the best Mexican Restaurants in Phoenix. As we were relaxing we were catching up on what was going on with the girls, latest info, reviewing the clips LOL (he has this IPOD sort of thing that will actually play clips so he has most of Lital's clips stored on there!) We also talked about life and my upcoming vacation - overall it was just a nice and relaxing evening - with good food and even better company! If everything goes right tonight will be round two.
Here's a good article concerning Google's plans for that upcoming government auction of wireless networks.
Home Sweet Home
I searched around for a non-biased, non agenda-driven article
concerning those ongoing talks, regarding ARM loans and foreclosures,
among major mortgage lenders, Wall Street investors, the Treasury
Dept., and mortgage servicers. Mostly in vain, by the way. The media's
reporting on this topic generally was laden with such a heavy-handed
agenda I thought for a split second I was watching a Hollywood movie
about the Iraq war.
In any event, this article by Reuters' business news services was the best MSM product I could find.
Mostly this is a dog-and-pony show. If big Wall St. lenders
unilaterally freeze the rates on their ARM loans -- en masse -- that
will avoid a bunch of foreclosures, but it also will drag out for an
extra year or three the process of the final bottoming out of the real
estate market.
No matter how you slice it, however, the administration's entreaties
with the mortgage industry make a lot more sense than actual nanny
state legislation. Private agreements brokered by the government set
bad precedents in colloquial terms, but misguided *laws* are much, much
worse.
Upcoming meeting
Hopefully this week I will be able to met Shawn! He stated that he was probably going to be sent out here to the Phoenix area and now it looks like it is gonna happen! And here I thought all this time the first people from our group I would be able to met would be Lital and Yair! LOL How cool is this!
Health Tip for men
Gentlemen, do you want to be healthier and live longer lives up to 5 years longer? Well gentlemen there is a way...oh yes, there is a way! How you might ask? How about staring at women's breasts! Oh yes, according to a medical study, if a man stares at a woman's breast he lives longer life (up to 5 years) It has to be true its a scientific study!
A German research published in New England Journal of
Medicine and Weekly World News said that men staring at women’s breasts
in fact prolong their lives with years.
“Just 10 minutes of staring at the charms of a well-endowed female
such as Baywatch actress Pamela Lee is equivalent to a 30-minute
aerobics work-out,†said author Dr. Karen Weatherby, a gerontologist.
