Archive for the ‘opinion/news’ Category

And as the terror attacks come, so does the attempt to blame anybody but the true killers:

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was one of the first to muddy the waters, claiming that “foreign hands… a terrorist operation that is alien to us,” rather than homegrown jihadists, carried out the attack. “All of Egypt is targeted,” Mubarak went on, digging deeper. “This blind terrorism does not differentiate between Copts and Muslims.”

Yet no mosque was targeted, and no Muslim was killed. It was a remarkable coincidence that this “blind terrorism” that did not “differentiate between Copts and Muslims” struck at a Coptic church, killing only Christians and no Muslims at all.

Yeah must have been the Flemish Menace at work, but no; Lebanese Shi’ite leader Sheikh Abdel Amir Kabalan finds a different culprit:

“This terrorist act bears the fingerprints of Zionists who keep on targeting religious sights [sic] and are working to … sow discord between Muslims and Christians.” I

Well who is going to back up nonsense like this: Well the Iranians are:

Although, at first glance, the finger is pointed at extremist Wahabi or Salafi groups, it goes without saying that no Muslim, whatever their political leanings may be, will ever commit such an inhumane act.

Attacks on churches in Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq and Tunisia can be analyzed in the context of a Zionist scenario aimed at driving a wedge between Muslims and Arab Christians.

Gee I don’t know why anyone would get the idea that Muslims would do violence:

Israel says it has charged two workers at the British Consulate in Jerusalem with arms trafficking, in connection to an alleged plot by militants to fire a rocket into a football stadium.

Or maybe this:

The latest bloody attack on Iraq’s Christians was brutal in its simplicity. Militants left a bomb on the doorstep of the home of an elderly Christian couple and rang the doorbell.
When Fawzi Rahim, 76, and his 78-year-old wife Janet Mekha answered the doorbell Thursday night, the bomb exploded, killing them, Mekha’s brother told The Associated Press on Friday. Three other people, apparently passers-by, were wounded.
“When I went there, I found both of them cut to pieces near the gate of their house,”

Or maybe this

According to eyewitnesses, a green Skoda car pulled up outside the church shortly after midnight. Two men got out, one of them talked shortly on his mobile phone, and the explosion occurred almost immediately after they left the scene. On the back of the Skoda was a sticker with the words “the rest is coming” (video of car explosion and Muslims shouting “Allah Akbar”).

It was reported that the bomb, locally made, had 100KG of explosives in addition to having nails, glass and iron balls inside. The strength of it not only caused glass panes to be shattered in all the neighborhood, but also made body parts fly into the building’s fourth floor, and to the mosque facing the church.

or this:

Eyewitnesses confirmed that security forces guarding the church withdrew nearly one hour before the blast, leaving only four policemen and an officer to guard such a big church and nearly 2000 people attending the midnight mass. “Normally they would have waited until the mass was over,” said el-Gezeiry.

Well it’s not as if respectable Egyptians are making wild charges

A coalition of Egyptian lawyers accused Israel of being behind an terror attack in Alexandria that killed 22 members of the Christian Copt sect attending midnight mass on New Year’s eve, Army Radio reported Monday.

And of course leading Muslim clerics are standing with the Pope in his request that world leaders protect Christians under attack, aren’t they?

The call, [from Pope Benedict to respect the lives of Christians…] following a deadly church car-bombing in northern Egypt, was “unacceptable interference in Egypt’s affairs,”

Although at least he condemned the bombing and met with the Coptic Pope.

One problem with the argument blaming Israel is the tactic involved as Captain Ed explains:

The bomber died in the blast, according to Egyptian officials, which would tend to rule out the Mossad, which doesn’t exactly have a track record of conducting suicide bombings.

See it’s gotta be the Flemish menace! But when it comes to killing Christians, Andrew Sullivan manages to blame Bush.

…all he has to do is apply for a NEA grant for his videos and then it will be considered art and all will be well.

I haven’t seen the full videos yet so I don’t know how far over lines he crossed but if this has been out for 5 years and the crews didn’t have an issue with it who am I to say otherwise? I’m inclined to give a bunch of folks trying to keep loose while deployed far from home a bit of a pass but I reserve the right to change my mind once I’ve seen the full videos.

Update: No one of any import asks if this is the start of a purge:

My gut feeling is, this guy was trying to connect with his crew in a positive way. He was trying to help sailors have fun. He was purposefully ignoring all manner of political correctness.

For that, I salute Captain Owen P. Honors.

We all know what political correctness gets us, anyway.

It gets us children who can’t call dogs “Nazis.”

It gets us children who can’t play Cowboys and Indians.

Goodness knows, it gets us Season’s Greetings instead of Christmas.

Oh, by the way. The USS Enterprise is scheduled to deploy soon. Are they going to replace its CO because of these four-year-old video clips? After the hard work that Captain Honors has successfully seen the ship through?

I hope not. We’ll see.

Captain Honors’ job is high-profile. This controversy comes two weeks after the repeal of DADT. Coincidence? The beginning of a purge? Or simply a disgruntled sailor, looking for revenge?

Her perspective is superior to mine on this issue.

Ignorance of the Tax law is no excuse

Posted: January 2, 2011 by datechguy in economy, opinion/news
Tags: ,

After recovering from the biggest Christmas open house ever I called my brother who had missed the party and inadvertently found out that I have some work to do ASAP.

Back when I owned a business decades ago I paid what was called quarterly wages, basically estimated tax payments.

Well I don’t remember how it came up (then again after a party that started at 2 p.m. and ended at 4 a.m. anything I remember today is a big bonus) but this also applies to individuals, that is: if you haven’t paid the vast majority of tax due the previous year by Jan 15th or so you pay an additional penalty.

Given the California IOU’s business (and just being broke) I suspect a lot of people didn’t have taxes deducted from unemployment. Given the massive amount of unemployment in the country, there are likely going to be millions upon millions of people getting a nasty tax penalty at the time they can least afford it.

For those who considered their unemployment “fun-employment” the party is about to end.

4:00 a.m. The 70th guest left at this time and the party officially ended. Wow!

7:44 p.m. 63 and counting

5:40 p.m. 52 the record is broken

4:11 49 people already 3 shy of the record Wow!

42 at it’s not even 4 p.m. !

31 after 90 min holy guacamole!

Up to 28 and it’s only an hour in!

17

Update 3: 13 down 39 to go

Update: Two guys have come early, current guest count 2

Update 2: count now 11 41 to go for the record

My annual Christmas Open house is today from 2 p.m. till the last person leaves.

The rules are: turn up any time, stay as long as you want, leave any time. The party end when the last person leaves.

There is a VERY limited amount of beer and some booze but there is Lasagna, Ham, braciole, wings, sauce, meatballs, some sausage, deserts etc etc etc.

The only beer is a sixpack of Wachusett Country Ale (even though they aren’t advertising with me HINT HINT) so if you have a favorite you might want to bring it.

One note, due to today’s show I’ll be leaving around 8:15 p.m. to go to the studio, do the show and then come back, likely around 11:15 or so.

Remember the party ends when the last person leaves, the latest its gone is 2 a.m. and the earliest 10:45 but since DaScienceGuy will be in the car the last guest will be here till 11:15 at least.

There will be game systems set up in two rooms and many types of board games to choose from Apples to apples to Cave Troll to the munchkin games to chess.

So eat drink and be Merry and celebrate the 8th day of Christmas with us!

And if you want to know what to bring:

  • Your favorite Booze or beer in case we don’t have it (we have vodka, stoli, Rum and raspberry stoli, a little Lambrusco and some Chivas)
  • Ice
  • Or any dish you wish if you wish.

but mainly bring yourself.

And not to be a party popper but don’t be bringing drugs, if you do we will kick you out and call the cops on you.  And if you are under age I don’t care if your 21st birthday is tomorrow don’t even think of touching a drop of booze here or you will be kicked out and the cops called on you.