I'm actually in a pretty mellow mood tonight so don't expect a good rant out of me. Heck, I'll even clean up my language.
I've noticed every now and then someone from Boeing visits my site. If you're a sysprog, there's a good chance I may know you. So, hi. And having worked with them, I can tell ya, Boeing has some really good sysprogs.
I noticed the House passed some legislation to relax the embargo with Cuba. No link, I just heard it on National Proletariat Radio as I was driving home. Charlie Rangel, noted (sarcasm on) Libertarian (sarcasm off) Congressman from Harlem stated that a policy of engagement would be best for the Cuban people. I wonder why relaxed trade sanctions will help the victims of a repressive regime in Cuba, while harsh trade sanctions were designed to help victims of a repressive regime in South Africa? I'm just dumb, I guess and don't understand the big picture.
From today's Atlanta Urinal and Constipation:
Israeli officials acknowledged Wednesday that flawed intelligence probably led to the air strike that targeted a leading Hamas militant but also killed 14 other Palestinians, including nine children.
Had the shoe been on the other foot the story in the Arab papers would have begun:
Palestinian thugs officials acknowledged Wednesday that flawed
intelligence probably led to the homicide bombing that targeted women and children
that only killed 14 Israelis, including nine children. There were supposed to be
at least 20 people on the bus sputtered the Palestinian propagandist
spokesman.
Oh, here's an interesting article about Puerto Rico. Some excerpts and comments:
Puerto Rico's transformation is a product of a unique, lucrative and conflicted relationship with the United States, which took the Caribbean island from Spain in 1898.
Contrast Puerto Rico with Cuba, which the United States also took from Spain in 1998. But among Latino's in the United State, Cubans look down on Puerto Ricans. And why does Puerto Rico have a lucrative relationship with the United States?
Puerto Ricans were made American citizens in 1917 and many fought and died for the U.S. military, but islanders can't vote for president and have no vote in Congress. Puerto Ricans pay no U.S. income taxes but receive more than $13 billion in federal funds annually, including veterans' and other benefits.
Wow! What a deal that is! No taxation with no representation and they get money. Where can I sign up for a deal like that?
But some argue the relationship scars the psyche.
Scar away, Jose.
'We are neither here nor there,'' complains Carlos Pesquera, leader of the New Progressive Party, which wants the island to become the 51st U.S. state.
Why? Y'all got a great deal right now. Georgia should have a deal like that. Wanna trade?
The governor, on the other hand, is pushing for even more autonomy, saying Puerto Ricans ''have come along building our own destiny.''
Destiny. Shmestiny. You're getting $13 billion a year from the Feds. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
Meanwhile, tax incentives that once lured U.S. companies are expiring, raising questions about the island's economic future. Unemployment officially stands at 12 percent but private economists say it's nearer 25 percent. In Manati, welfare recipients pick up benefits at an old tobacco warehouse.
But they can sleeep on the beaches and eat coconuts.
The colonial-era plaza where families strolled in Salgado's youth is now roamed by drug addicts and drunks, and Salgado keeps a .38-caliber pistol hidden under his guayabera shirt.
Uh. Oh. No gun control?
He says the young people driving past in Japanese cars with stereos blaring don't understand how hard it used to be. ''There was no light, no water, no nothing,'' he says.
And we had to walk ten miles to one room schools in raging hurricanes.
Salgado isn't particularly grateful to the United States, however, saying ''it had to give help'' for using Puerto Rico and its laborers and soldiers.
$13 billion a year ain't enough? Before my accident, I used to go sailing in the Virgin Islands. We chartered out of the British Virgin Islands. We used to sail down to the American Virgin Islands to do duty free shopping. One of the first buildings I saw, when arriving in Cruz Bay in St. John, was a Department of Social Security and Welfare office. Hey, we're back in America! The American Virgin Islands has ten times the population of the British Virgin Islands and lots more crime.
Oh, and back in the letters section they have a letter (third one down) from ISSAM NASHASHIBI of Dawsonville, Georgia a member of the religion of peaceTM.
Khaled Abou El Fadl has shown that he must have been asleep in his UCLA ivory tower by not noting the plethora of Muslim organizations that condemned terrorism, especially here in Georgia ("U.S. Muslims lax in decrying terrorism," @issue, July 18).
Issam, ol' buddy, I must have been asleep also, since I didn't see or hear the plethora of Muslim organizations that condemned terrorism, especially here in Georgia. Can you name me one? C'mon, just one.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is equally as guilty of promoting hatred and McCarthyism by accusing Muslims of not being patriotic enough.
Still didn't name just one. I guess it all depends on what your definition of plethora is. And we have that old standby, McCarthyism. And speaking of hatred, your religion of peaceTM spews more hatred than the AJC ever could. See Issam, we have tolerance in this country, unlike most Muslim countries. So don't start accusing us of promoting hatred and McCarthyism until your religion of peaceTM gets its act together.
I'm being good. I almost told Issam to f*** off.
And now here is a letter from a scientific sort, Jeff Joseph of Smyrna, Georgia.
Regarding the letter asking why Arab profiling doesn't make sense ("What's puzzling about Arab profiling?" July 23), I offer statistical and historical reasoning.
Bring it on. I'm a software engineer. I love scientific reasoning.
There are more than 1 billion Muslims on Earth. If one were to take a vastly stretched estimate and say that there were 100,000 terrorists among these Muslims, you would still find only one terrorist per 10,000 Muslims. This doesn't even get into the fact that most Arab-Americans are probably even less likely to be a possible terrorists.
Wow Jeff! You must have gone to Georgia Tech. I'm really impressed. Now here's some statistics for you. Out of the 19 September 11 hihackers, 19 were Muslims of Middle Eastern descent. There were no red headed Irish lassies. No 85 year old women in wheel chairs. Palestinians (You know - them Middle Eastern A-rab types) invented airplane hijackings. Over the years the majority of hihackings have been done by Middle Eastern men. How do you like those statistics, Jeffy boy?
Historically speaking, the United States approximated this same profiling during World War II by jailing Americans of Japanese ancestry. As a general rule we now regard this as a large mistake, since the vast majority of these people were patriotic Americans. The greatest testament on this that I can offer is that my father fought and killed Japanese soldiers during WWII, yet he was friends before and after the war with Japanese-Americans.
And that was a big mistake. But, we're not talking about putting Yussef and Mohammed in concentration camps. We're just asking them to put up with some additional bullshit before they get on an airplane. And there were a lot of patriotic Americans of Japanese descent (not Japanese-Americans as I refuse to use any hyphenated American bullshit) who joined the military and fought for this country. And I bet we didn't hear any 'root cause' bullshit for Pearl Harbor. Well, you got to realize that the steel embargo on Japan was causing a hardship. So let's have Yussef and Mohammed put up with the bullshit as a condition for living in the most free and tolerant nation on this planet. If grouchy old cripples were hijacking airplanes it wouldn't bother me a bit to be searched. It doesn't bother me now. I just think it's a stupid policy to ignore the people most statistically likely to hijack an airplane.
One must differentiate between enemies and friends --- and ethnicity will never tell you that.
Tell that to the people who died on September 11, Jeff.
And that's all from GOC Central for tonight.
Posted by denny at July 25, 2002 09:05 PM