As many of you know, I am soon to be married and as such have sold my house in order to "upgrade" to a much bigger one that will accomodate both my and my fiancee (Pamela)'s needs. Well, there's also the fact that we plan on eventually pro-creating. It's located right off of I-24 in Smyrna, up on a hill. It's actually closer to town than Pamela's current place in La Vergne, because it's literally a 2 minute drive to the interstate.

Anyway, I have pictures up. They are here. The decorations are from the guy that is selling us the house - we don't take possession until January 10, 2005.

Pictures of the New House

] Through early October, 99.9 percent of indecency
] complaints --- aside from those concerning the Janet
] Jackson "wardrobe malfunction" during the Super
] Bowl halftime show broadcast on CBS --- were brought by
] the PTC, according to the FCC analysis dated Oct. 1. (The
] agency last week estimated it had received 1,068,767
] complaints about broadcast indecency so far this year;
] the Super Bowl broadcast accounted for over 540,000,
] according to commissioners%u2019 statements.)
]
]
] The prominent role played by the PTC has raised concerns
] among critics of the FCC's crackdown on indecency.
] %u201CIt means that really a tiny minority with a very
] focused political agenda is trying to censor American
] television and radio,%u201D said Jonathan Rintels,
] president and executive director of the Center for
] Creative Voices in Media, an artists' advocacy
] group.
]
] PTC officials disagree.
]
] "I wish we had that much power," said Lara
] Mahaney

Activists Dominate Content Complaints

Remember, kids, the police don't have to call when you dial 9-1-1 and parents who love their children want to protect them with their own arsenal of weapons.

Of course, the coloring book is just one wonderful aspect of the Jews for the Preservations of Firearms Organization.

Brasco the Jewish Militant Coloring Book

Decius wrote:
] This is a post election article from Tennessee. The title was:
]
]
] ] Bredesen sees no significant effect of shift in power
] ]
] ] Tennesseans elected the first state senate majority in
] ] 140 years.
] ]
] ] On the issue of TennCare, Bredesen said, "We've always
] ] known there were two options for controlling TennCare
] ] costs so it doesn't take all the resources of state
] ] government."
]
] Five days later, he kills the program.

Well, I'm trying to figure out where the link between Bredesen, a Democrat, and the Republicans is.

] My mother is on Tenncare. She has a condition which in general
] does not contribute much to her healthcare costs. However, no
] insurance company will provide her with general health
] coverage because of it. Tenncare was really her only option.
] She pays more for Tenncare then most people do for their
] health insurance, and she doesn't get much out of it. She is
] often stuck going to ghetto Tenncare doctors who primary treat
] people who are too poor to pay. We have insurance so that in
] the event of something catastropic we're able to pay.

That's why he's been trying to save TennCare. Right now, 430,000 people in Tennessee are able to at least get some form of insurance that they normally wouldn't be able to. However, the system as it exists today is growing at such a rate that it will bankrupt the state in literally just a few years. When TennCare is dissolved, those 430,000 people will be left out in the cold and the remaining 900,000 on the rolls will have standard Medicaid coverag.

] My mother now joins the growing ranks of the uninsured in this
] country, not because she is a leech on the system, as rock
] stupid Republican fucking commentators consistantly claim
] everyone on Tenncare is, but because actuaries have decided
] that they will not cover her at any price.

You think the commentators are rock stupid? How about those that are suing the State and therefore causing the governor to dissolve the program? Drug costs are the largest single expenditure and there are some scary statistics out there... the average number of prescription drugs in the nation is around 6, I believe. The average for people in TN is will over 10! Bredesen wanted to cap the number of drugs per month at 6, with an allowance under very special circumstances after a review. The main issue that people are suing the program over is the number of drugs covered - they want a preferred drug list with negotiated prices, but no cap on how many. The end result is that most people suing for the uncapped drug amount will end up off the rolls as it is. Oh, well.

TennCare was and still is a good idea because people like your mother can't get insurance elsewhere. Sure, it's expensive, but it's better than nothing. As a die hard social liberal, I think we should just have socialized medicine with an option for privately funded doctors, much like the rest of Western Civilization...

RE: YEAH FU@#$ING REPUBLICANS!!@!@!@!#$

This is so wrong yet funny. Who let their kids be part of this?

2004's Scariest Halloween Costumes

] According to family members, the convoy was being asked
] to go much farther than usual from its southern base --
] on a more than 200-mile trip through and around the
] extremely hostile Baghdad area. The tankers lacked
] bullet-resistant armor and, lumbering along at 40 miles
] an hour, would have made an easy target for insurgents
] lobbing bombs or grenades. The supply trucks are in
] disrepair and prone to breakdown. Many of the soldiers
] hadn't had enough sleep. And %u2013 astonishingly -- no
] armed escort or air protection was to be provided, the
] family members said.
]
] Most absurdly, though, the jet fuel that these members of
] the 343rd Quartermaster Company were risking life and
] limb to transport wasn't even usable. It was contaminated
] with diesel and had already sensibly been rejected by one
] base and would undoubtedly be rejected again in Taji --
] if the convoy managed to make it to its destination at
] all.

An interesting read and certainly there should be more investigation into the matter, but I don't know how much is hype versus how much is swept under the rug. CNN had a headline about this the other day as well, but I just heard it in the background while working around the house. I'm sure we'll see more about this story next week.

Revolt in the ranks in Iraq

Jello wrote:
] ] TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- A Japanese publisher will
] ] suspend a comic series in its popular weekly magazine
] ] after receiving angry protests over its characterization
] ] of the 1937 "Rape of Nanjing," in which Japanese soldiers
] ] brutally massacred Chinese civilians.

This has been an area that just slipped by the history books. I had never heard of the Rape of Nanjing in high school history classes. It didn't come up in college during my World History 1500-Present class, either. I first learned about this issue when an idiotic hotel manager and tour company owner booked 200-300 Japanese men on a trip to Nanjing for a weekend of prostitution... on the anniversary weekend of the Rape of Nanjing. The organizers were sentenced to life in prison for pandering and promotion of prostitution. This is in China, where prostitution laws are never enforced - hence the popularity of Karaoke bars. I then read several books on the subject and the photographs printed from Japanese newspapers are compelling enough to convince one that it happened. Two Japanese officers had a beheading competition during the week of siege on Nanjing (the former capitol city of China, for those who don't know the significance) that the Japanese newspapers kept running numbers on, along with pictures of the beheadings.

Anyway, I think it's good that a comic/manga publisher IN JAPAN finally wanted to educate people about their past. It's ridiculous that the local politicians still want to keep it under the rug and claim that it never happened.

Dolemite

RE: CNN.com - 'Rape of Nanjing' comic draws ire - Oct 14, 2004

Decius wrote:
] Dolemite wrote:
] ] k wrote:
] ] ] ] Now, any Californian who shares files with more than 10
] ] ] ] people must add their e-mail address to the file. Those
] ] ] ] who break this law could be fined up to $2,500, spend a
] ] ] ] year in jail or both.
] ] ]
] ] ] Anonymous speech on the Internet is now illegal in
] ] California.
] ] ] The MPAA is coming to your state next.
] ]
] ] Alright, so I know that I'm in the minority here, but the
] law
] ] isn't prohibiting anonymous speech on the internet.
]
] Do you have the text of the bill? I could not find it this
] morning. The articles all seem to say someone distributing
] "files" to more then 10 people.

http://info.sen.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=sb_1506&sess=CUR&house=B&site=sen

Here's the pertinent info from the Senate analysis:
This bill (1) requires a person who
electronically disseminates (e.g., through the Internet) a
commercial recording or audiovisual work to include his/her
true e-mail address, (2) defines a misdemeanor crime, with
a maximum jail term and fine of one year and $2,500
respectively, where a person fails to make such a
disclosure, (3) defines certain exceptions from the
disclosure requirements, and (4) sunsets in 2010.

RE: Wired News: California bans anonymous speech on the Internet

k wrote:
] ] Now, any Californian who shares files with more than 10
] ] people must add their e-mail address to the file. Those
] ] who break this law could be fined up to $2,500, spend a
] ] year in jail or both.
]
] Anonymous speech on the Internet is now illegal in California.
] The MPAA is coming to your state next.

Alright, so I know that I'm in the minority here, but the law isn't prohibiting anonymous speech on the internet. It's prohibiting anonymous re-distribution of copyrighted material on the internet. The bill that I read had nothing in there prohibiting one from distributing either public domain or their own material (speech) over the internet. According to the article the bill could limit anonymous speech on the internet, but at this point it doesn't. There has to be some level of compromise between all out copyright chaos and strict enforcement. I think the limit may be a little low at 10 - especially if it's considered a cumulative total over time, rather than all at once - but it still allows people to share with a few friends under the basic intent of "fair use".

Yes, the MPAA and RIAA are evil cartels. Yes, they screw the real artists and creative people. No, putting the screw to them doesn't help the artists who were originally screwed. I'm not being soft on the cartels, I'm just trying to think of a way that we can find a middle ground that is realistic.

Dolemite

RE: Wired News: California bans anonymous speech on the Internet

Midwest Airlines canceled a flight ready to take off for San Francisco after a passenger found Arabic-style handwriting in the company's in-flight magazine and alerted the crew.

OMG! TERRAR!!!!

How silly can you get? Next thing you know, the Women's Wall Street Journal will be running a 12 part series on how there was a secret concerted effort to throw away some McDonald's bags and assemble a bomb in the lavatory.

Arabic-style writing prompts flight cancellation - Sep 21, 2004