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July 20, 2005

Stop CAFTA

Has anyone else seen this site? It's a site devoted to stopping the "Central American Free Trade Agreement." It's not been big news that I've seen, but the bad things brought out by the opposition seems pretty darn serious. I'm still trying to learn about it, but I've heard that there's provisions that subject American companies to UN regulations.

If that's really in there, count me as opposed to this one right away, no matter what else is in there. I think Ron Paul really has it right with his opposition:

Every member of Congress who votes for CAFTA is voting to abdicate power to an international body in direct violation of the Constitution.

And the best part of Mr. Paul's opposition:

We donÂ’t need government agreements to have free trade. We merely need to lower or eliminate taxes on the American people, without regard to what other nations do.

How damn clear is that?

Posted by: Ogre at 10:02 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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More North Carolina Taxes

If you live in North Carolina, Jim Black, Marc Basnight, and Richard Morgan want YOU to pay more taxes so they can have more blank checks. And if you or your representative oppose them, they will just ignore you until you go away.

Many newspapers are reporting this year that they simply do not have enough money in Raleigh to meet all the needs of the state (even though school spending, with the lottery, is due to increase by at least $800 MILLION this year alone). However, they do seem to have enough money for Mr. Morgan to quite literally spend $2.89 million on anything he wants -- from bribes to cash payouts wherever and whenever he wants.

Mr. Black has $4.6 million, and Mr. Basnight has $6.5 million. I've mentioned before that the state auditor (an evil Republican) has determined that these blank checks that are used for quite literally any reason (I am NOT making this up) are clearly illegal and against the state Constitution. However, since the Attorney General is a Democrat (running for governor), there is no one to prosecute them for breaking the law.

So when you read about your taxes in North Carolina increasing an average of $800 on every family, while NC already has the highest income tax and corporate tax in the southeast, 9th highest in the nation; and the debt has quadrupled since 1996, keep in mind that it is the Democrats that you voted for that are wasting over $13.9 million on buying anything they want (including votes).

Posted by: Ogre at 05:04 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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July 19, 2005

e-Postal Shooting Match

Want to enter a shooting competition across the blogosphere? It sure sounds interesting to me! Mr. Completely is sponsoring a "handgun e-Postal series" competition.

He provides a link to a target that you download, rules for the shoot, including range, caliber, and instructions. Next you go shoot. When you're done, you take a picture or scan of the target and sent it to him. He will post the scoring results after the deadline -- August 8.

I don't know about you, but I have GOT to find time to get to the range and participate in this one!

Posted by: Ogre at 07:02 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Homespun Blogger Symposium XXIX

The Homespun Bloggers are

a loose association of bloggers for whom blogging is a labor of love, and no more.

Each week they ask a question and seek responses from other Homespun Bloggers. If you'd like to join up, Read this and follow the directions there (send an email). They've got weekly roundups, these symposiums, and even radio blogging.

This week, they are asking about Joseph Farah's article that claims that al-Qaida already has nuclear weapons in place inside the United States. If that article is true and accurate, the Homespun Bloggers ask:

What do we do about this potential threat not only to the United States, but to the global economy and the history of mankind?

more...

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Ogre Luvs Llamas

Due to popular demand from Jay and Bou, I attempted to make the "Ogre Luvs Llamas" license plate. However, for some silly reason, the License tool wouldn't make it for my state. Instead, I got limited like the real license plates to 8 characters and ended up with this:

Have fun with that one!

In the meantime, I just picked another state I like a lot and made my plate the way I wanted. Is it coincidence that the Free State is the one that allowed me to make my plate the way *I* wanted to?

Posted by: Ogre at 10:05 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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2004 Election almost over

A few of my regular readers might remember the story about the 2004 election for North Carolina Superintendent of Public Schools. This is the only election contest for the 2004 election in the entire country that has not been decided -- and the election STILL is not over.

At issue are some at least 11,310 ballots that are illegal ballots. The North Carolina Supreme Court very clearly determined and decided that those ballots were illegal. In case you glossed over that, I'll repeat it. The Supreme Court of North Carolina already decided that the 11,310 ballots ARE illegal. But this is North Carolina.

You see, the candidate that is leading by just 8,000 votes is a Democrat. And this state is run by iron-fist Democrats who care only for themselves and power, and really do not give a damn what the people of the state think or want. Therefore, the legislature tried to change the rules of the election after the election.

So now, a legislative committee is holding fake "hearings" to determine the result of the election. The alleged "committee" meeting is pointless, as there is exactly a 100% chance they will suggest to the legislature that the Democrat should be declared the winner. There is also a 100% chance the legislature will "vote" to decide the Democrat should win, since the legislature is gerrymandered to be Democrat.

It won't really make any difference, but feel free to watch as the legislature overrides legal votes of the voters to give another Democrat a position of power because they really don't care what you, the voters, wanted. I only hope the Republicans have the guts to hold a party-line vote to oppose them -- but I imagine many RINOs will vote with the Dems so they can claim it was a bi-partisan vote -- and those who dare to not vote with Jim Black and Democrats WILL be punished, I assure you.

Do you still like voting Democrat in North Carolina?

Posted by: Ogre at 05:06 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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July 18, 2005

Carnival, carnival!

Time for the Monday evening edition of various carnivals. For those new readers, a blog carnival is simply a bunch of blog posts on different blogs that all share some idea or theme. The carnival posting is one post that lists links to all the other blogs who have posted on that topic.

First up, some laughter with the Carnival of Kids. This one features various kid-related topics, usually with many pictures of kids being kids.

The Tarheel Tavern is supposed to be at Billy the Blogging Poet, but as of Monday evening, I can't find it. Did I miss it? Did no one else participate this week?

UPDATE: Thanks to Slowly She Turned, the Tarheel Tavern has been located! Hooray!

One of the newest carnivals, and quickly becoming one of my personal favorites, is the Carnival of Liberty. This carnival attempts to highlight posts about liberty in all sorts -- from news to progress, to destruction of. A big pile of entries there, too.

The Homespun Bloggers have a weekly carnival highlighting some question of some importance. This week they asked if we were winning the war on terror.

That's all I've got for this week -- a number of carnivals seem to have vanished, or I just can't locate the posts for the week -- education, vanities, and a couple more.

Oh, and I almost forgot -- for the newest entries into the blog world, please do go and see the New Blog Showcase Carnival! These are new people who have new blogs, who really appreciate new readers.

Posted by: Ogre at 08:21 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Custom License Plates

I was thinking just this past weekend that there must be something like this on the internet somewhere. I happened upon it just today, linked from Owlish Mutterings. The silly tool lets you generate a custom image of any license plate for any state, and even lets you create rather... large license plates.

Now, however, I'm wondering...would the ACLU support this license plate?

Somehow, I think they would. They do, however, oppose ones like this:

Ah well. Just go play with the tool. And as The Great Feathered One points out, using it as a blog banner has already been done (but that doesn't mean you can't do it, too!).

Posted by: Ogre at 10:06 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Checks and Balances in North Carolina?

Not too likely.

This editorial from the News-Record of Greensboro points out quite well a few questions about the state government -- and then accurately notes that nothing will be done about them.

Recently the state auditor, Les Merritt, REPUBLICAN, noted that the state legislature was in violation of the law. He pointed out that the leaders of the legislature were spending tens of millions of dollars from slush funds. The state law clearly states that money cannot be spent that has not been approved by the legislature. The leaders were using the slush fund on expenditures that had been turned down by the House and Senate.

In addition, the legislators were using the money to direct state agencies, allegedly under the executive branch, what to do. So the legislature was using slush funds to tell members of the executive branch who to hire and what money to spend, also a clear violation of the law.

However, Mr. Merritt's report was sent to the state Attorney General. North Carolina's Attorney General is Roy Cooper, a Democrat who is already running for governor for the 2008 election. If Mr. Cooper actually investigated, the legislature would likely punish his office financially, and most certainly he would not be supported in his 2008 gubernatorial run.

I imagine this clearly outlined violation of the law has already been filed by Mr. Cooper -- in File 13.

Posted by: Ogre at 04:06 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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July 17, 2005

New Neighbor #22

Last weekend I missed the new neighbor feature. Sorry about that! The weather has been great here recently on the weekends, so I've been rather busy outside enjoying it. The same happened this weekend, but we'll still have the new neighbor feature. Without further ado, I'd like to present:

Expresso Roast

Expresso Roast is a blog by David Price that is "reflections and commentary on life issues involving culture, politics, religion, current events, and trends."

The title of the blog comes from David's ~~obsession with~~ enjoyment of coffee. Personally, I never have liked the taste of coffee, much less the smell of it. Heck, I don't even like coffee ice cream. But if you do like coffee, you might want to go discuss coffee with David!

On his about page he also says something that I really wish more people would understand: "truth is not, in fact, relative." I cannot understand those who claim that everyone gets to make their own truth. David did just earn a degree in Theology, so that might explain a little bit about why he's got such a view on life.

He's got lots of posts on current news, including pointing out silly news and serious news. There appears to be consistent regular posting, and the site has been around since October of 2004 at least.

The site design is good, it loads quickly, and it's easy to read. He's even got a whole page on book reviews. Need summer reading material?

So, if you've got a little time and want a new read, take a peek at Expresso Roast today!

Posted by: Ogre at 09:48 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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July 16, 2005

Legal Bloggers Guide

In case you haven't seen it and you care about such things, I discovered this legal guide for bloggers.

It's got sections on legal liability issues, intellectual property, defamation, privacy, election law, and "bloggers as journalists." So if you're concerned, if you just want to know, or if you have some time this Saturday morning, head on over and have a read.

Posted by: Ogre at 07:55 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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July 15, 2005

Heh?

Word at The Alliance is that Evil Glennn wrote a book. Our regular readers know that when a rumor appears, Ogre's Politics and Views likes to send out our research team to see which rumors are true and which ones are false.

The team reported back that they hacked into the Amazon site where they found databases showing images of books that were yet to be released. After they sorted through all the various pictures of the latest Harry Potter books (with different potential covers), they finally found this image:

I don't think there's anything else that can be added to that.

Posted by: Ogre at 09:54 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Fun Facts - North Carolina Legislature

I subscribe to a few sources that provide me instant links with various news stories and related activities of the North Carolina Legislature. No, it's not enough to penetrate the veil of darkness and shadow in which this group operates, but it does give a little insight into what's going on.

I recently got a notice about a government site that listed "Fun Facts About the NC Legislature." I couldn't resist following and reading that link (your tax dollars at work). They only listed six facts, but I thought I might help them out by providing the REAL answers to their facts... more...

Posted by: Ogre at 05:04 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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American Eagle

At Bush Gardens, they have an exhibit where they rehabilitate wild bald eagles. They really are awesome to watch and see up close.

Posted by: Ogre at 02:02 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Cat Names?

Now I'm all for caring about domesticated animals, but having a database of five THOUSAND names? That's what this person's set up. Well, if you really can't decide what to name fluffy, have at it.

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Holy Crap Lions! Tours

Time for a little more on the lighter side for Friday.

If you've been reading blogs for awhile, you may have come across a post or two that mention the phrase, "Holy crap lions tours," especially on blogs written by members of the Bad Example Family. To be technically correct, this should read as the title of this post does, "Holy Crap Lions! Tours." If you want to know why, you haven't seen the video...you should watch the video.

It's completely safe for work, but you HAVE to have speakers. It really doesn't work without them (you will NOT get the effect) - if you don't have speakers, resist the temptation to follow that link until you do -- it will be worth the wait.

And in case you think you might have seen the video, but you're not sure, this picture should remind you:

I have GOT to learn how to make those.

And if you want an illustration of some people who REALLY have too much time on your hands, there's a live action version of that cartoon. Gah.

Posted by: Ogre at 09:05 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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Mayor McCrory & Education

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory is the perfect example of what is termed a "RINO" (Republican in Name Only). Each year he runs on the Republican ticket, and he gets the votes of the Republicans. Every year he votes and works for the Democrats, so he gets the votes of the Democrats. He has been mayor of Charlotte since 1995, and he is running again this year, basically unopposed.

As of the writing of this article, his web site does not have any information. However, I heard a clip of his announcement on the radio. He claims he's working to expand light rail (liberal plan), reduce crime (not possible with Democrats on the city council), and tell our children what is acceptable in a polite society (liberal plan).

Well, Mayor (who has absolutely no say or control regarding the schools, that's for the school board) McCrory -- you want to know what's wrong with our schools? How about them encouraging cheating and then insisting that nothing is wrong with it? more...

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1 We operate on a system with three six-week terms per semester. Our district has a policy of "no grades below a 50", on the theory that the lower grades could make it impossible for a kid to ever pass. We teachers don't have a problem with that per se -- except when it comes to the third six-week term. After all, there is no way a student can "recover" from the final term of the semester. What's more, the kids know this, and some figure their average and "slide" during that third term, knowing that they cannot fail the semster if they do so. And we won't get in to the question of a kid who misses 90% of the semester but ends up with a grade of 50.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at July 20, 2005 09:24 AM (3VVx3)

2 I can see the reasoning behind that sort of system, but I do think it's still dishonest. If the child did 20% of the work the first third, they deserve a 20. If they do 100% of the work the remaining two-thirds, that averages out to 73. Some people aren't supposed to have high school diplomas, and some people simply do not want them. Why do we FORCE people to get them, especially when they have so little meaning anymore?

Posted by: Ogre at July 20, 2005 10:32 AM (/k+l4)

3 "Government schools really do stink?" Excuse me. Which government schools? Where? How, exactly do they stink and why? Does not the fact that someone blew the whistle indicate that at least someone is at least trying to do right within this single school? Certainly there is administrative stupidity in some schools, but not the majority. If that was true, we would be facing a very real, national disaster. We are not. If a school board is filled with ninnies, the voters--and here we assume they are not themselves ninnies--have the means to eject them from office and replace them with capable people. That ninnies retain control of school boards is not a comment on the schools and the teachers who struggle mightily to improve them, but on the public who all too often, just don't care.

Posted by: Mike at July 20, 2005 09:23 PM (G5PGV)

4 I went to school in Charlotte back in 74-76. The system was atrocious then. Anyone who had money sent their kids to private school. (We didn't have money.) One of my closest friends moved to Charlotte five years ago. The system is still atrocious. Two of her kids are in private school. The other is in public school. N- has the math and language skills of an eighth grader but will be graduating this next year. The school passed her in all her classes, despite the fact that she failed most of them, at least by grade. It's at least as bad as this post describes and I don't see how people can't know it. But they don't act on it. That's obvious. Otherwise, thirty years later, it wouldn't still be terrible.

Posted by: Suzi at July 21, 2005 12:23 AM (3TZQi)

5 Mike -- the fact that someone blew the whistle was good -- but it was a former employee, and the school actually admitted that they lied and cheated, but then declared that NOTHING WAS WRONG. How can anyone consider a system that claims lying and cheating is not wrong is anything but garbage? Also, I do believe we are facing a national disaster. Take a look at how many people who have high school diplomas from the 21st century that cannot calculate their own overtime pay, find France on a map, or name the second president of the United States. As for the school board being replaced, you have to realize that the voters do not have that choice. In Mecklenburg County, the school board is ruled by the Democrats who gerrymander districts to absolutely ensure there is zero competition for the school board -- no one else has a chance -- and the elections are rigged in that illegal votes are counted in the very corrupt system. Suzi, I think the biggest reason people don't act on it is that they don't want to admit "their" school is bad. If they did that, they've have to admit that their child was getting by. It's much easier for people to just look the other way, send them to private school (as you mentioned), or just teach them at home. It is a horrible, broken, garbage-filled system. Government should absolutely and entirely get out of the business of schooling because they simply cannot do the job. The education system today is about money and power and has absolutely nothing to do with actual education or learning.

Posted by: Ogre at July 21, 2005 07:32 AM (/k+l4)

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July 14, 2005

ACLU Loves Terrorists

Ok, I changed my mind. Today, instead of just the one post for the ACLU Blogburst, it's a two-for-one special. I read another article and just decided I needed to point out more bad things that the ACLU is doing.

Here in North Carolina, the ACLU is demanding that terrorists be allowed to swear on the Queer-an in North Carolina courts, because they so despise the Bible. I've got a Remington 1100 they can swear on if they like.

Look, Freedom of Religion (NOT separation of church and state) has limits, just like the Freedom of Speech. The classic example of the limit on Freedom of Speech is yelling "Fire" in a crowded movie theater. You do not have the right to do that because it is dangerous. Same with libel and slander -- they damage or harm other people, so you simply do not have that right. I wish religion would be treated the same way, but certainly the ACLU wouldn't like that.

I could not form my own religion and base it upon cannibalism (although I'm quite sure the ACLU would support me...at least until I ate them). You can't form a religion that physically endangers people -- that is NOT freedom of religion.

Muslim law requires Muslims to kill Americans. WHY IS THIS TOLERATED? The Muslim religion wants YOU dead if you are not one of them, no matter where in the world you exist. This is a fact, no matter what you might hear people who claim to be of that religion.

We should not only not allow the Queer-ran into courtrooms, we should declare this "religion" to be what it is -- beyond freedom of religion and simply dangerous to Americans. But the ACLU loves them. That tells you a lot about what the ACLU thinks of Americans, doesn't it?

Posted by: Ogre at 05:02 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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ACLU Hates Freedom

This week the Stop the ACLU Blogburst has a couple of topics. Some of the blogburst members will be mentioning the unbelievable support for murderous child molesters (aka terrorists), while others will be blogging about Supreme Court nominees. I have chosen the latter topic, as it is an area I research a lot.

The ACLU is already complaining about President George W. Bush's pick for supreme court justice, and he hasn't even made a choice. He hasn't even leaked a list of names for them to attack, and they are already complaining. Unfortunately, this is likely having it's desired effect -- many good and qualified jurists are likely to refuse the nomination simply because they do not want to be vilified by the ACLU, Democrats, and Socialists.

Their press release of July 1, 2005 needs a little interpretation, so I'll have a go at it in the extended post:
more...

Posted by: Ogre at 01:49 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Celtic Quiz

Owlish claims he is a Hornbeam Tree. I like trees. Therefore, it seemed only logical to see what the silly quiz would have in store for me (sorry Smokey).

What do you know? I'm a tree, too:

You Are A Rowan Tree

You are full of charm and cheer. You light up a room.

And while you crave attention, you do it without ego.

You are an interesting mix of contradictions - and very unpredictable.

You are both dependent and independent, calm and restless.

You are passionate, emotional, gregarious, and (at times) unforgiving.

What is Your Celtic Horoscope?

Posted by: Ogre at 12:05 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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