SOMETHING AIN'T KOSHER

Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement divison of DHS raided a meat packing plant in Iowa. At least 300 persons were arrested for immigration and identity theft violations. Their employer, Agriprocessors, is the largest kosher beef processor in the nation. Doesn't it seem a wee bit odd that an employer would have that many illegals working for them? And that nobody in their Human Resourses dept. noticed anything odd about the names not really matching up with obvious cultural distinctions? No word yet if the DHS plans to file charges against the company. They should.

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One thing the bad guys should learn. When you fire a weapon at someone while commiting a crime, the chances, especially in Texas, are the person might just return the favor. And be a better shot. My newest candidate for the Lex Luthor Doesn't Exist prize.

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Former Chicago police officer and former actor on the tv show "Law & Order", Dennis Farina was arrested and booked yesterday on a felony charge of attempting to board a plane at LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) with a firearm in his carry-on luggage. He claims he forgot it was there. Another Barney Fife Syndrome candidate.

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In an obvious power play, NBC-TV has announced a shake up in their late night scheduling. Jay Leno's contract ends in June of 2009 and network execs are already expressing doubts that the two parties will be able to reach an agreement on a new deal. Just their little way of telling Leno that they have no intention of paying him the big(ger) bucks he is worth. To see how the deck is being reshuffled, just check this out.

Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive

"Let's all be careful out there!"

ARE WE AN EASY "MARK"?

When Oliver Wendall Douglas and his beautiful wife, Lisa Douglas, moved to Hooterville from New York City, they bought a farm from the local conman, Mr. Haney. No matter how many times Haney swindled the Douglas', they always returned to him to buy items of need. In today's world, the USA portray's the Douglas' and China is our Mr. Haney.

Toys covered in lead paint. Contaminated pet food. Pharmaceuticals that kill rather than heal. Now the latest is the "knock-off" computer equipment they've marketed to our gov't. I guess we are as stupid as those "marks" who buy genuine "Rolex" watches from a street vendor for $35. I guess we could be compared to a tenent behind in their rent who'll do whatever their landlord wants, as long as he doesn't call in the debt. China owns most of the US debitures and I guess, if we don't play as their patsy, they could actually force our nation into bankruptcy. Which probably explains why we removed ourselves from the M-3 reporting and run the money-making machines 24/7. Our debt is in US dollars, not gold, and we can pay anytime they want. Of course the currency would be worthless, but we already know that, don't we. China really doesn't care though. They just purchase our stocks, bonds, whatever and, since they think in the "long-term", they know that given enough time they will own everything in America. To them its like a chess game. The experts plan their moves 15-20 spaces ahead. We are the amateurs playing in reaction to only the move in front of us. Being led to our own ruin.

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Televison as we know it is about to make another drastic change. When I was a kid most communities were lucky if they could even receive one station from a distant city by erecting antennas a few hundred feet high. And the broadcast business was controlled by three major networks. In the '80's cable-tv made massive inroads and we could get 36 channels and didn't have to rely on just the big 3 for our entertainment. The number of channels grew, direct satellite TV service came into existence. Along the way the internet grew. Connection speeds increased to the point where we can now watch live broadcasts from anywhere in the world. Through all this the TV networks market share has dropped steadily. The next step in TV will be people totally forsaking traditional broadcasts. Instead they will seek out those feeds that fill their niche needs. If you do a google-news search, you'll see that the next step will be to interlink your digital-TV with the web. The direct satellite feeds, the cable providers and over-the-air broadcasters don't have the bandwidth to provide the necessary HD and super-HD channels that are in our near future. Only the web will be able to satiate the publics desires. Eventually all web programming will ignore local, regional and national boundries. Television, ver 7.0, will be truly global. Advertisers will be able to market to exactly the demographic market they desire. Tailoring their ads for each specific segment of their audience.

Theaters are also losing market share. With the new digital big screen sets, theater quality (or better) home sound systems and the ability to "pause" when necessary, why bother even going to a movie house anymore. We can now purchase and download movies on the same day the DVD goes on sale. How much longer before it'll be cheaper and easier for the studios to just go to direct release rather than waste money on antiquated distribution systems? For the consumer its not a bad idea. The costs of the tickets and knoshes at a theater for the entire family are way more than what a download would cost.

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From today's Overheard In New York:

Comedy guy: I like your accent. Where you from?
Tourist: Ohio.
Comedy guy: You sound disappointed.
Tourist: Have you ever been to Ohio?
Comedy guy: Good point.

Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE

Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive

"Let's all be careful out there!"

IT AIN'T OVER...

'TIL THE FAT LADY (in the pantsuit) SINGS

While all the other candidates took Sunday off for Mother's Day, the only true "mother" in the campaign kept on impersonating the Energizer Bunny. The fact is she can't afford to quit acting like a viable candidate. She has $11 million of her own money at stake. Money that she only has a chance of recouping if she stays in the race. I am sure that her "people" and Obama's "people" are working in some back room to cut a deal where she will drop out if his organization pays off her debt. I wonder if she would accept the Ambassadorship to Somalia?

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One thing that both McCain and Clinton agree on is the "Gas Tax Holiday" for this summer. So, if they get their wish, what do you, the motoring public, receive in return? Not very much, actually. The Fed tax is 18.4¢ a (US)gallon. So on 20 gallons you would only save $3.68. Or, at 1 20-gallon tank of fuel per week, about $55 during the 15 weeks between Memorial Day and Labor Day (your savings may vary depending on your driving habits). WOW!. Also the fact that neither candidate can find one notable economist to endorse their idea says one hell of a lot. And how much would this cost all of us in the long run. Oh, as much as $9 billion in federal revenue for road and bridge construction. Or the equivalent of 51 days of the Iraqi War.

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A very strong (7.5 magnitude) and shallow (29 miles) earthquake struck China today at 06:28 UTC. Thats about 300 times stronger than the one the middle of America felt earlier this year. It was felt in Bangkok, Thailand, 2500 miles away, where tall buildings swayed for some long minutes. Officals haven't been able to make contact with the area near the epicenter and have no idea as to structural damage and injuries/deaths in that part of the country. Here are the latest stories.

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You have to give credit to that Aussie swimmer attacked by a Great White Shark this weekend. I am not sure that I would have had the presence of mind to poke and gouge its eye as he did.

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I think I am going to hold off on installing the new XP SP-3. I've seen acrobatics acts that looked more simple to do. Besides this latest, and allegedly last, seems to create more problems than it solves. Who wants to wake up, turn on their PC and be faced with "the blue screen of death"? Not a fun way to start your day.

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Thank you very much for stopping in. I'll be back later with more. Have a fantastic day!

Mahalo

Aloha

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THE PICTURE GALLERY

Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive

"Let's all be careful out there!"