The AP and Wireless Week are reporting that Verizon customers in Cleveland are complaining of being billed $1.99 by V erizon for Data Services that they didn’t use.

The problem,  originally received attention by the Cleveland Plains Dealer, a local newspaper, when a reader wrote in to complain about the issue.  Soon another 400 area residents echoed the complaint at which point the Verizon spin machine swung into gear.  Four Verizon executives spent 90 minutes at the newspaper’s offices on Monday including Roger Tang, the company’s regional president for Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia who said Verizon is investigating every complaint, because it doesn’t want to “zing” customers on their bills.

I just love their creative vernacular.  “Zing”.  Why not call it what it really is – theft.  If people actually audited their phone bills every month they would be shocked to discover just how many times their bills are inaccurate in favor of their carrier.  In fact every single time I’ve spent the hour it takes to really specifically audit my own bill I’ve found errors that far exceed $1.99.

This isn’t a case of simple mistakes much as the carriers would like us to believe.  It is a case of theft pure and simple.  These companies add millions and probably even tens of millions in additional revenue to their bottom lines ever year as the result of exactly this sort of thing.  How long, do you suppose, this was going on before someone noticed that they were being billed for a service that they didn’t subscribe to and didn’t use.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  How many of us know which “cost recovery” surcharges are legal and applicable to our bills?  Anyone?  The simple fact of the matter is that carriers can pretty much steal from all of us with impunity and when someone finally wises up and makes a stink they apologize for accidentally “zinging” us and then they rename the now exposed rip-off something else like Universal Cost Recovery Surcharge (recovery from what?  the taxes that they are supposed to pay and which they are levying back onto their customers?) and add another $1.00 to the number and make off with even more of our coin.

Part of the problem with the US these days is the fact that corporations are running roughshod over consumers and the very body that is supposed to be looking out for us, from the President and on to the Senate and Congress are so deep in the pocket of these companies that they may as well simply be on the payroll.

Every day I see a new abuse by a big company and it makes me think that the only way this country will ever get back on its feet is if someone pulls a “fight club” on big business.

I guess that the folks at Apple don’t really believe in the first ammendment.  If they did I simply cannot understand why they would refuse to post the following review to the iPhone App Store.  I have looked and cannot see how anything written in the review posted below violates any of their terms for posting reviews yet they have clearly removed it from the store.

This is not nice and should give everyone pause when considering where we should spend our technology dollars.  I am really disappointed in the company – a company that has received a fair bit of my money, too – and would really like a representative from Apple to explain just what it is about this review that is so objectionable that they would remove it from the store:

Please spread this around.  Company’s that censor their customer’s shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it.

Caveat: I am not a developer so what I am about to reveal may or may not be news to the developer community.  Nevertheless, this is not something that I was aware of previously and I have not seen any mention of this in the media that I subscribe to (which is a fairly broad cross section of the online press).

Further, to my knowledge this is not something that has been specifically authorized by me in the course of my use of either my computer or the software on it or my iPhone and the software running there.  I did not grant permission for this information to be transferred anywhere and I did not ever to my knowledge see any request to allow this information to be collected much less shared and shared without my knowledge.

Here’s the deal.  Today I was going through the console on my Mac Book Pro trying to see if I can figure out why it suddenly won’t display anything on the screen (I was doing this using LogMeIn since I could not work on the computer locally since the display has apparently died.

During the process of digging through the console to see if there was any obvious cause for the completely unexpected display failure I came across something that I found as unexpected as the aforementioned problem and which I (and possibly other iPhone owners) will find very disturbing.

As you can see, this is a snapshot of my console log file.  It shows some surprising information – at least from my perspective.  Unless I am completely misinterpreting this information it looks as if the iPhone is logging everything that happens to it and I mean everything, from usage stats on the baseband to which applications are installed, when they are used and when they malfunction, and then, when you connect your iPhone to iTunes the phone downloads all this information to your console where it is logged.  Further, judging from the text adjacent to the baseband logging details this information has been “submitted”.

This begs the question: SUBMITTED WHERE???

Again, I wasn’t asked if I wanted this information collected and I sure as hell wasn’t asked if I wanted it submitted either.  If I am correct and what is going on here is that without my prior knowledge let alone my consent this data is being transmitted back to Apple for their own purposes (after all with literally hundreds of crashes of the mobile Safari browser on this iPhone alone, if the data were being used for my benefit someone would have contacted me don’t you think?) using my computer to collect the data and my Internet connection to transport it.

When a Microsoft application crashes and the crash reporter wants to send information back to Microsoft they have the courtesy to ask your permission.  They also take time to explain in writing what is being sent to them and what is being done with it.  They make certain guarantees at this time as well about personally identifying information and how that data is to be used.

I fail to see where such courtesies are being extended to me by Apple.  I fail to see an explanation as to what is being collected, whether or not it is personally identifying or what Apple intends to do with this information once they’ve managed to snoop it from my phone and computer.

Frankly I think this is outrageous.  The fact that this data is being collected at all without requesting permission to do so is bad enough.  The fact that it appears to be sent via clandestine transmission to Apple without any prior disclosure seems to be a criminal trespass based upon my understanding of the privacy laws in this country.

This strikes me as a grotesque abuse of my trust.  What if I had personal medical information stored on my phone?  At this point how would i know who at Apple had accessed this information or with whom it had been shared – again all without my knowledge or consent.

Since when did owning a mobile phone void one’s right to privacy or exempt a company from the need to disclose their data collection policy?  When did Apple wake up and decide that it was okay to spy on their customers in this truly repulsive fashion?

Now, as I said at the outset of this post, I am not a developer so it is possible that either this is something that has previously been discussed and I am late to the party – it is also possible that I am misunderstanding something about these console log statements and that what I think is going on really isn’t.

However, on the off chance that I am neither late to the party nor misunderstanding these log files then this is a real issue that deserves some real attention.  I sincerely doubt that I am alone in feeling completely raped by Apple’s data collection policies and the fact that I don’t appear to have been included in the decision making process about which data will be logged, collected and reported regarding my use of a device that I bought and paid for and for which I have not in any obvious way been notified of zero privacy nor authorized anyone to keep tabs on my beyond my approval for AT$T to track my usage of their network for billing purposes.

Is this grounds for a class action?  I’ll let the lawyers tell me the answer.  Is this grounds for a consumer-company smackdown.  I think it is.  If what I think is going on is really going on then it’s time to put Apple in its place.  The back door was bad enough but this latest is simply egregious.

This just hit my in box from the Forbes/Adify Blog Advertising Network:

I am writing to you with some urgency because our partners at Adify have proposed a short-term campaign for us to run across the Forbes.com Business & Finance Blog Network.
The campaign is very unique in that it is political in nature and may potentially be objectionable to some readers.  We ask that you please take the time to consider whether  you’d like this advertisement to run on your site. It is up to you to decide whether you will accept this campaign.
Some details on the campaign:

The campaign advocates a “Yes”  vote on California Proposition 8, which touches on some potentially sensitive  issues related to familial values and marriage.  Specifically, a “Yes”  vote on Proposition 8 advocates a ban on gay marriage in California.

The campaign will run only in the  300×250 ad size and will feature a video similar to a political television  commercial.

The campaign is Geo-targeted  exclusively to the state of California.

The overall CA-only campaign CPM  is  $2.85 to you.
We are hoping to set this campaign live ASAP as it only runs until November 4th – election day.
To provide you with an opt-out/reject opportunity for this single campaign, Adify has rejected this campaign across our Network. It will appear in your rejected area, at which time you could choose to accept it. We’ve been assured by Adify that the ad WILL NOT automatically serve on your site.”  You can preview the video for this campaign in your Adify account as well.
Please let me know if you have any questions- feel free to call my cell phone listed below.
Have a nice weekend.

My Response:

I do not wish this advertisement or any like it to run on my site.  I believe that all people should have equal rights under the law and any law that discriminates on the basis of gender, age, race or sexual preference is both wrong and unconstitutional.  Further I find the advocacy for such a law personally abhorrent.  People should not be limited in their rights simply because other people don’t like their choices.  Whom a person chooses for their partner whether be it for sex or for life has no impact on others so why should those other people that are not impacted in any way have the right to make a determination about the rights of anyone else?

I personally think that Sarah Palin is an imbecile. I simply cannot imagine a country with her as its Vice President let alone its President.  In fact I think this would be enormously detrimental to all Americans in so many ways it is difficult to imagine, much less quantify in any rational way.  This however, is simply my opinion and I do not grudge others their own opinions even if it is different than mine.  Further, I don’t strive to limit the rights of those with a different opinion their opportunity to exercise their right to choose the candidate of their preference even though this choice will have much greater bearing on me and my life than anyone’s choice about whom they marry.

Why this is even a question boggles my mind.  What small minded fear-based bigoted self-righteous meddling moron would spend time, money, or waste the public’s limited attention span on something so totally inconsequential as limiting the rights of people that make different choices to choose whom they wish to lawfully engage in matrimony?  Don’t we have bigger problems than a couple of men or a couple of women choosing to live in a respectful and loving relationship?

This is a modern day witch hunt.  Make no mistake about it.  These same do-gooder right wing Christians are the exact same morons whom a century or two ago were the ones having witch hunts and burning blacks on crosses and before that they were the ones that were holding the inquisitioner’s hearings in Spain.

Shame on Forbes for even considering this ill-intentioned campaign and shame on any blogger whom either out of misguided beliefs or worse, simply for a few dollars would choose to display any of the rhetoric this group espouses.

Sincerely,

Oliver W Starr

We all thought that Shrub was the stupidest person to ever ascend to the Oval Office but it now appears that it is possible – likely even – that some time in the next four years we will be victim to someone even dumber than the current presiding potted plant actually inheriting the position of Commander in Chief.

Now, I’m not writing to discuss the reasons why this might happen – save to say that if the democrats are so stupid that they don’t get their shit together and put an end to the republican voter fraud this time around then they deserve to lose this election.  No, I just want to prep you for what we ought to prepare for under a Palin Presidency.

Nations with morons as heads of state have long been the butt of jokes based upon the idiocy of their leaders so with a leader so clueless that she doesn’t even have a clue that she’s clueless (so clueless it turns out that McCain staffers have revealed that she didn’t know that Africa was a continent!) we should expect no less from our friends abroad.

With that in mind I thought I’d give you just one example of the sort of humor that we should be prepared to “enjoy”.

Here’s a funny:

The leaders of China, Russia and the US are discussing their space programs.  The Chinese leader says “in two years we will put a man on the moon.”  Russia’s leader, Putin, ups the ante by saying “Really?  In five years Mother Russia will put a man on Mars.”  President Palin, not wanting to be outdone by either man says “Well, Gosh Darn it Boys, that’s real impressive, but’chya  know what we’re gonna do?  The Good ‘Ol USA is gonna put a team of men and women on the sun!”

The Russian and Chinese leaders are stunned.  Putin looks at President Palin and says “But certainly you know this is impossible.  It would be a suicide mission!”

Palin derisively rolls her eyes, winks at the audience and says “Well Mr. Smarty Pants, that shows what you know.  We’re going to land at night!”*

Oh the horror!  Somebody wake me please and tell me this is all a bad dream.  With so many smart people in this country is this lineup really the best we could possibly do?  Sad, sad, sad…

*Yes, this is my own original humor.

Editor’s Note:  The post below comes direct from one of the best newsletters you will ever have the opportunity to receive for free:  Mercola.com.  This publication by Dr. Mercola covers health, politics, food safety and other topics that should be of interest to anyone concerned about living a long healthy life.

As someone that has worked in the pharmaceutical and dietary supplement industries and has a long history of getting published as well as consulting for many of the top companies I have some pretty firmly established opinions on this topic.  Dr. Mercola is the first MD I’ve come across with whom I actually agree.  Seriously, this guy gets it and he even brings stuff to the forefront that I hadn’t seen before. I am continully impressed with his newsletter.

Below is an article that should scare the crap out of all of us.  Since when is the W3C supposed to be the arbiter of truth or the “decision maker” about what is and what is not a “conspiracy theory”?  I can’t tell you how big brotheresque I find this thought to be.  If it comes to pass that we have the opportunity to voice an opinion we must make it clear in no uncertain terms that we view the W3C as a web standards body and not as an entity charged with determining the validity of content.

The public does a perfectly fine job of voting with their clicks and page views and Google’s PageRank (among other things) is a good indicator of what the public thinks. We doin’t need a couple of biased individuals cow towing to the highest commercial bidder to be telling us what is or isn’t valid online.  We are certainly capable of making these decisions for ourselves thank you very much.  WC3 keep your influence where it belongs if you over reach you’re going to get spanked.

Big Pharma Ties Want to Shut Down Vaccine ‘Conspiracy Theories’

A foundation populated by the giants of business, banking, government and military wants to “vet” websites and limit the spread of information that it says creates “conspiracy theories”.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) says it is worried about the way the web has been “used to spread disinformation”. They want to introduce a new system that would give websites a label for trustworthiness or unreliability.

One “damaging conspiracy theory” they want to shut down is the notion that MMR vaccines are harmful. Of course, this “conspiracy theory” stems not from paranoid forum postings and misquoted blog entries, but from scientific research into the mercury based preservative thimerosal.

Thimerosal was developed by Eli Lilly, and Merck is the world’s largest supplier of the MMR triple jab — and it is little wonder W3C considers such information to be “damaging” given that Eli Lilly and Merck are both paid up and approved members of the Consortium! If anyone should be labeled with an “unreliable” rating, it is the WC3.

If you have concerns about Republican Vice Presidential Nominee Sarah Palin, your instincts are serving you well.  Far beyond her obvious lack of experience and the already revealed questionable behavior exhibited by Sarah in her efforts to use her position as Governor of Alaska to inappropriately force the dismissal of the senior law enforcement officer following his refusal to fire her former brother in law at her request, I submit for your information additional information below.

Her prior misdeeds seem to pale in comparison to what I am about to reveal.  In a letter composed by a resident of the small Alaskan town where Sarah was Mayor prior to her ascension to the position of Governor, details of the real Sarah Palin emerge and they are frightening to say the least.

In fact I find what I have read and that which I’m about to share with you to be of such significant concern that I urge you to re-post this in any public venue to which you have access, copy it into emails and share it with your friends and family.

It is crucial that people are fully informed prior to making a decision at the polls.  I view the release of this information as an essential element of that process.  Sarah Palin has been portrayed largely as a strong independent thinker with a lot of integrity, intelligence and of sound fiscal and political judgment.   From the letter I am about to share, it seems clear that this portrayal is anything but accurate.  Rather, it seems she is ambitious to the point of duplicity, self-righteous and arrogant, willing to abuse her position of power to inflict her wrath upon anyone that she believes is in her way, vindictive, unconcerned with the constitution (and willing to use her office to subvert aspects of the constitution), capable of abusing her position to take unfair advantage at the expense of the typical tax payer, pro-corporate tax break at the expense of the typical tax payer, willing to change her position on key issues if such a change proves to be politically expedient, and further it appears that she has not been completely forthcoming about her background such that the image she has presented to the country is but a sketch of her true nature from what she does in her spare time to how she treats people close to her.

If, after reading this letter, you share my sentiments, please help to raise the outcry, voice your opposition to such an individual being placed within striking distance of the most powerful position in the free world and help protect us from what can only be described as a fate worse than Bush (as if anything could possibly be worse).

The Letter:

Editor’s Note:  The preface to this letter is written by a friend of mine who sent this on to me.  She is a tenured professor at one of the top universities in the US and a highly respected scientist.  As both and also as a person of extreme credibility as well as exceptional intelligence I have every reason to believe that this letter is authentic as she would not have circulated something that could potentially be fraudulent.  Having read this, I find my views to be consistent with hers and share her concerns for the wellbeing of this country should we find ourselves in a position where Palin ends up at the top of the US Power Pyramid.  Please help me prevent this from happening.

As most of you know I am frightened by Sarah Polin, I have images of Hitler. And I have heard stories that she is very anti-semitic, so it figures. Someone just sent me a document, an open letter, that was written by a woman who grew up with Sarah in their small town in Alaska, of which she became mayor. It is very interesting, and well worth reading. So here it is:

Please read this and pass this on!!!  This is from a friend of mine (Mari who lives in Alaska) and it’s a friend of hers that is a resident of Wasilla who wrote this.
Very interesting…

More Palin info.___ _This is a post  in response to the Washington Independent article entitled “The Reform  Candidate?” [http://www.washingtonindependent.com/3671/the-reform-candidate]<http://www.washingtonindependent.com/3671/the-reform-candidate%5D>

_ _Dear  friends, _ _So many people have asked me about what I know  about Sarah Palin in the last 2 days that I decided to write something up .  . . _ _Basically,, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton have only  2 things in common: their gender and their good looks.  _ _You have my permission to forward this to your friends/email contacts with my name and email address attached, but please  do not post it on any websites, as there are too many kooks out there . .  . _ _Thanks, _Anne _ _
ABOUT SARAH  PALIN _ _I am a resident of Wasilla , Alaska . I have known  Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools.  Her father was my child’s favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city. _ _

She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won’t vote for her can’t quit smiling when talking about her  because she is a “babe”. _ _

It is astonishing and almost  scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a  secret from her children and parents for seven  months. _ _She is “pro-life”. She recently gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby. _ _She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym. _ _

She is savvy. She doesn’t take positions; she just “puts things out there” and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit. _ _

Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin’s kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like that of native Alaskans. _ _Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters. _ _

She’s smart. _ _Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents. _ _During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator.  She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign. _Sarah campaigned in  Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative”. During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food.  The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents. _ _

The huge increases in  tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren’t enough to fund  everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later–to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 &n bsp;yrs without any borrowing. _ _

While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once. _ _These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city. _ _As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska . Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state. _ _

In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues:  spend today’s surplus, borrow for needs. _ _She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them. _ _

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed.  City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin’s attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day. _ _

Sarah complained about the “old boy’s club” when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of “old boys”. Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal–loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged  happened in the case of pressuring the State’s top cop (see  below). _ _

As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla’s Police Chief because he “intimidated” her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska ’s top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it’s pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn’t fire her sister’s ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support. _ _

She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later  elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn’t like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness. _ _

Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her. _ _When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best,  Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs  not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job, that paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a  gutsy fighter against the “old boys’ club” when she dramatically quit,  exposing this man’s ethics violations (for which he was  fined). _ _

As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the  “bridge to nowhere” after it became clear that it would be unwise not to. _As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects–which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance–but with the unobservant she had  gained a reputation as “anti-pork”. _ She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative. _ _

Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call her “Sarah Barracuda” because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah’s mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her. _As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as “AGIA” that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum. _ _Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to global warming. She campaigned “as a private citizen” against a state initiative that would have either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or b)  tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen  to). She has pushed the State’s lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior’s decision to list polar bears as a threatened species. _ _

McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being  President. _ _There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she. _ _However, there’s a lot of people who have underestimated her and are regretting it. _ _CLAIM VS FACT _* “Hockey mom”: true for a few years _ _* “PTA mom”: true years ago when her first-born was in elementary school, not  since _ _* “NRA supporter”: absolutely  true _ _* social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships (said she did this because it was  unconsitutional)._ _* pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote it. _ _* “Pro-life”:  mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life  legislation _ _* “Experienced”: Some high schools have more  students than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska . No legislative experience other than City Council.  Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city administrator to run town of about 5,000. _ _* political maverick: not at all _ _* gutsy:  absolutely! _ _*open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions. _ _* has a  developed philosophy of public policy: no_ _* “a Greenie”:  no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected  parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR. _ _*  fiscal conservative: not by my definition! _ _*  pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets to early 20th century standards. _ _* pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes  for businesses, increased tax burden on residents _ _*  pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla’s history. _ _* pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union doesn’t make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is  pro-labor/pro-union. _ _

WHY AM I WRITING  THIS?_ _First, I have long believed in the importance of  being an informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting programs in the schools. If you google my name (Redacted), you will find references to my participation in local government,  education, and PTA/parent organizations. _ _

Secondly, I’ve  always operated in the belief that “Bad things happen when good people stay  silent”. Few people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings. _ _

Third, I am just a housewife. I don’t have a job she can bump me out of. I don’t belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in the future: that’s life. _ _

Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100 or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah’s attempt at censorship. _ _

Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to say anything because they were somehow vulnerable. _ _

CAVEATS _I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor) from information  supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of Wasilla , and I can’t  recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible for a private person to get any info out of City Hall — they are swamped. So I can’t verify my numbers. _ _

You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the population of Wasilla, ranging from my “about 5,000″, up to 9,000. The day Palin’s selection was announced a city official told me that the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90’s. _

The fact that a situation Michel Chossudovsky, the author of the international bestseller America’s”War on Terrorism” Global Research, 2005. [21] , refers to as

“The most serious crisis in modern history which in a very real sense
threatens the future of humanity.”

has been all but completely ignored by the mainstream press should give you pause.

Why is none of this making headlines in any newspaper or on any major news show?

Why, even, do the avant garde Internet news sites appear to have completely missed what may well prove to be the most critical story to take place during our lifetimes?

In fact, skimming Google doesn’t even yield substantially relevant results until you go far down the first page and find a site called Newstim that contains links to a comprehensive report by Chossudovsky on what is happening in the region and why, as well as how certain other key world events (like the sudden conflict in Georgia) have been preemptively manufactured in an apparent effort to reduce Russia’s ability to respond to a serious military action taking place against their ally, Iran.

According to the very detailed analysis that Chossudovsky has prepared this has been a part of the Neocon “Project for a New American Century” since at least 2003.  As if this isn’t terrifying enough by itself, Chossudovsky goes on to say that a resolution to enforce a naval blockade against Iran was approved by both parties.  Did we  learn anything from the Iraq debacle?  Apparently not.

Or perhaps, as I am now beginning to believe, our government has been so completely subverted by the military industrial complex that it possibly resembles a junta more than it does the democratic government we believe it to be.

Further, it seems to me that whomever is pulling the strings at the top of the power pyramid – be it Bush, Cheney or some shadowy third party operating from behind the scenes – whomever it is, they can only be insane.

As inconceivable as it sounds these people are actually speaking of the possibility of a third world war as if this is a strategic consideration and not what it really would be which is likely the end of all life on this planet.

In order to grasp at even the most rudimentary level the outline of this very complcated picture you really must spend a half an hour reading Chossudovsky’s site that provides the situational analysis as well as the historical perspective that makes this grand chessboard somewhat understandable.  Understandable but incomprehensible.

The option to use nuclear weapons as a premptive first strike is even discussed.  I can’t believe that this is a sentence that I could possibly write truthfully but I kid you not.  Our country, the USA, land of the free, home of the brave is actually considering the option of using tactical nuclear weapons as a “peacekeeping mechanism”.  Forgive me for being obtuse but how in the world nuking a sovereign nation is a peacekeeping initiative doesn’t make the least bit of sense to me.

The “limited capability tactical nukes” which have only six times the power of the weapon we detonated on Hiroshima (six times more!) are said to “not impact civilians” because they are detonated under ground.  Okay, can someone please explain to me how this works?  Are we assuming that all Iranian soliders are sequestered away in deep underground facilities or that our accuracy with these WMDs is so perfect that we won’t have one rad of extra radiation hitting even one civilian?? Please.

I have been sick to my stomach ever since I read this report and began looking into this to see if the facts were really accurately stated (they are).

We need to stop for a moment and consider what is about to take place here.  The US is attempting to position itself as the controling body with the dominant position astride 2/3 of the world’s remaining oil reserves.  This, in spite of the fact that every bit of evidence we drum up supports the fact that out of control burning of hydrocarbons is causing escalating and unpredictable damage to our global ecosystem.  Damage that has the potential to threaten our way of life if not our very lives themselves.

So why are they spending hundreds of billions and perhaps even trillions of dollars to attempt to commandeer the last of the oil when they could be spending a fraction of that money to develop other renewable resources that would sustain us in a clean, environmentally responsible way?

The only reason I can come up with is that the people in power suffer from a form of greed that is so pervasive and so pathalogical that it is beyond all forms of reason, rational assessment or outside comprehension.  It is an all encompassing fervor that seems to put the fervor of the religious zealot to shame.

Such is the pervasive and diabolical groupthink that appears to grip the regime that is destroying our country that they don’t seem to care if they poison the planet, don’t seem to care that their actions may sentence their own families to the same hideous fate as the rest of us, and don’t even care that their plans may yield a future so brief and so terrible that all the money in the world won’t make one bit of difference where they are likely going.

In many ways, the worst part about all this is the feeling of complete powerlessness that grips me.  What can I do?  I can see where this awful path is leading and I am certain that others could too but what can we do against the massive and powerful war machine that Bush’s despotic regime controls?

I can ony come up with one answer to that question and it is this:

We must say “NO MORE” to Bush and his criminal cabal.  We must say “NO MORE” to these wars of aggression on foreign soil that are being brought about under false pretenses.  We must say “NO MORE” to the raping of this planet’s resources for the benefit of a few at the expense of many more.  We must say “NO MORE” to alliances that foster hatred and breed fear and distrust.

American’s are facing a critical decision here and we had better wake up and take a look around because if we don’t mobilize and mobilize quickly there’s a good chance that our next wake up call will be our last one.  Ever.

Please don’t let the media blackout on this information succeed.  Please repost this in full or in part or use it as the basis for your own posts.  Please email your friends and families and please, please speak up.  We must not be silent on this issue.  Even if we fail to get the attention of our own government the fact that the people of the United States of America do not support the continued aggression of our government upon other sovereign nations must be made known to the world.  We need to take action to remove from power the criminals that have corrupted our democracy, shredded our constitution, laughed in the face of international law and committed high crimes and treason here and  by their actions abroad.
By now it should be clear that every event that has taken place over the last eight years has been manufactured by Bush and his colleagues and we, the people of the US have been suckered and deceived again and again.

This time, though the truth is in the open and we’ll have only ourselves to blame if we fail to take action to preempt the disaster unfolding an ocean away.

Yahoo is reporting that Steve Jobs has admitted to the fact that Apple has installed a “kill switch” on the new iPhone that allows the company to take action to remotely remove an application from the device.

According to the story Jonathan Zdziarski, author of the books iPhone Open Application Development and iPhone Forensics Manual, discovered a URL buried in Apple’s firmware that  links to a file dubbed “unauthorized Apps” where malicious or simply bad apps might go once they disappear from the App Store.

Apple has already pulled several applications that were initially approved form the App Store including a tethering application called NetShare, a frivolous and stupid application called I Am Rich (if anyone bought this and you know them, please do us all a favor and take them out behind the chemical shed and shoot them for treason, sedition and really bad taste), and another application called BoxOffice.

It’s one thing to remove an application from the store but it seems to me to be altogether different to remove an application from someone’s device – particularly an application that someone paid for.

Jobs claims that the function is only there in case a malacious application is somehow distributed through the store but there have been many stores selling applications for years and never before has a kill switch been necessary to protect the consumer.

Of perhaps even greater concern is the fact that Apple didn’t admit this up front but only came clean when this was discovered by Zdziarski.  One has to wonder if they ever would have revealed this sneaky inclusion in the firmware had the enterprising developer not done such a good job investigating the device.

Further it begs the question what else has Apple hidden in the iPhone 3G that we haven’t discovered yet?  Are their invasive elements to the phone that make it easier to tap than another device?  Is the device secretly logging history and reporting it back to Apple for contextual advertising?  Is it logging my every step with the gps and figuring out where I go and when both to advertise more efficiently as well as for the more neferaious purposes of Homeland security.

The scary thing is that we can’t possibly be sure WHAT Apple has hidden in the code and we certainly can’t trust them to tell us the truth.  They’ve already lied to us so many times that you think we’d be used to it by now and perhaps maybe we are.  After all, no one bothered to delve into the bricking of the iPhones in much detail last year and Apple had another dirty secret that time around that I won’t even print for fear of reprisals.

Of course this also reaffirms Apple’s position as god – how many companies could get away with this and have a customer base left the following day.  If someone found this kind of code in a Microsoft application or a Sony device (the rootkit debacle anyone?) we’d all be screaming bloody murder.

I love Apple gear as much as the next guy but isn’t it time we wiped the smug smile of their faces when they pull crap like this?

Remember when this was Apple’s image? 

Since when did they go from anti-establishment to being “big brother”?

The blanket of lies our government has used to cover up the truth about extraterrestrials is apparently starting to wear thin and even unravel entirely in some spots. The latest hole in the government’s story comes from Clark McClelland a retired space ship operator for NASA.

In a post that appeared on his website on the 29th of July of this year, McClelland stated:

“I, Clark C. McClelland, former ScO [Spacecraft Operator], Space Shuttle Fleet, personally observed an 8 to 9 foot tall ET on his 27 inch video monitors while on duty in the Kennedy Space Center, Launch Control Center (LCC). The ET was standing upright in the Space Shuttle Payload Bay having a discussion with TWO tethered US NASA Astronauts! I also observed on my monitors, the spacecraft of the ET as it was in a stabilized, safe orbit to the rear of the Space Shuttle main engine pods. I observed this incident for about one minute and seven seconds. Plenty of time to memorize all that I was observing. IT WAS AN ET and Alien Star Ship!”

When added to the statements made just the other day by Dr Edgar Mitchell, the prior remarks by Bob Lazar (which perhaps should be reevaluated given these recent revelations), and the mounting body of evidence that contradicts NASA and our government’s words on the topic it is starting to look more and more likely that what was once thought to be fertile ground for those with only a thin grasp on reality might be more or less the truth of the situation.

In my opinion one of two things is happening; either this is simply a continuation of our Government’s plan of action which requires that the public be gradually desensitized before a full disclose can take place or else these individuals have reached a point where they feel that they are no longer at risk of certain reprisals that the powers that be might inflict upon them for their breach of certain security oaths and their consciences – perhaps due to their advancing age – has compelled them to come clean before it is too late.

There are some things that I am certain about. One is that this trend is only going to continue at an ever increasing pace until all the facts are out on the table and/or two, that an irrefutable extraterrestrial visitation event takes place such that no further denial is possible.

In either case, those of us that have steadfastly believed that we were not alone and have been resolute in that belief in spite of scorn, ridicule and the derision of our peers will ultimately be vindicated by what I think are now becoming more and more obvious facts.

The truth has been a long time coming – one can only hope that when it finally does come all the way out that those that have lied, deceived and taken advantage of their privileged positions for their own personal material benefit will be forced to account for their transgressions and that they will in some way pay for their crimes against the people of this and other planets.
On another note, you might have missed it since they appeared to have tried to minimize what is perhaps the most significant news ever received from a Martian rover lander; Phoenix has confirmed the presence of water ice on the surface of mars. As the mission scientists put it: “We’ve touched and tasted water on Mars”.

It has long been held that were there is water there is usually (in fact so far as we know there is always) life. Don’t be too surprised if the next news coming from the red planet is that they have found living organisims (but not by Phoenix nor any of the current rovers that don’t have the equipment required to make a definitive detection of living material).

This is also part of the desensitization process. First microbes, then plants, then lower life forms and before you know it we’ll be meeting our new nine foot tall overlords in their anti-gravity super-luminal craft.

Actually I agree with Dr Mitchell on this one. If the extraterrestrials we’ve encountered so far were hostile we’d either be gone already or else we’d be in their form of the galley of some Ben Hur ship or chipping away for some sort of ore in huge underground caverns.

No. They are our friends. Or at least we are so insignificant to them that they can’t be bothered to destroy us. Either way is fine by me. Just so long as they’re not like the aliens in “Mars Attacks”. That would be a real disappointment.