America at war...

• All and all, not a good week for the country...The USA that is:/
  Fox up from Mexico, promoting the take over of the USA by millions more Mexicans,
  B&B, that's Bush and Blair at the Casa Blanca for war strategy session
  as usual, more bad news from Iraq,
  Not easy times for the USA I'm sure...What next...

Bird Flu Virus, important link

http://www.inforingpress.com/articles/fluplan.pdf

17 pages of tips, you need adobe7 to view and print details, adobe can be downloaded free

world troubles....

Nothing much new, the immigration thing, Iraq, congress troubles...same old.
Figured I stop by and post a little picture....I just love pictures...Duerer this time!

this and that...

Oshawa/Courtice Autotown then / painting by Diana / Black Creek runs thru my backyard

Fraud

• 

Watch out, Nigeria Fraud, usually the Central Bank of Nigeria is mentioned, with a name of a high official...a General or Professor or something.

So if you get one of those stupid fraud notices, inviting you to collect your overdue money owing ( usually from 7 to 35 Million Dollars),Just send a copy of this shit to the bank. If they get about 1,000 e mails a day they are bound to take action some day

• ...Re the picture, call it a no brainer.
  
  Comments added since publishing this blog.
  Nigeria, central west coast of Africa is a beautiful country. Oilrich with a population of 134 Million (almost as many as Russia) this country is and has for many years been one of the most corrupt places on earth.

try this ;You will be astonished / it figures...

Have you ever, well, sort of given some thought to taking a penny, one cent ok? And then the next day, double it. Two cents. Third day, double that and you arrive at four cents.
Well, if you keep this up for a few days by day 10 you will have a figure of 510, that would be 5 bucks.
Suppose you keep this up for say 30 days, just one month, how much would you accumulate.
Astonishingly by day day 30, you arrive at over 5 million Dollars. I dropped the penny decimalpoint somewhere and still arrive at $5,368,705. Well that's figures. Hard to believe. And no wonder some of the pyramid schemes have made some people very rich indeed.

Does anybody care

does anybody care?

I learned a couple of weeks back that every second of the day ( and night for that matter) 4.1 new people arrive in this world. Newborns, Babies, of all colors, races etc., human beings.
The same little news item also claims that every 1.8 seconds somebody dies.
Old age, Murder, Famine, Hunger War...Whatever every 1.8 seconds, zip, another one bites the dust.
So I started figuring, these would be my calculations I could be off a bit but as a point of interest, here it is:
Current World Population is estimated to be 6.5 Billion ( almost half of this in Asia alone).
So if you figure 2.3 added per second x 60 (hour) x 24 (day) x 365 (year) I come up with about 75,000,000 a year... That is 75 Million
Or if this is easier to grasp over 200,000 a day...

In the meantime, we are burning the rain forests the glaziers are melting, haven't heard about the ozone layer lately, we are using up whatever oil and gas may be left in the ground. We are also creating nuclear waste and don't know what to do with it..

Quite frankly I am not a gloom and doom kind of guy but this must make you think.

Fraud

This Morning I removed 3 (three) posts from this blog....
I did not remove them in anger, I rarely allow myself to get angry. I did not write them in the first place because of anger being annoyed or god knows what reason. I simply received about 8 of these stupid communications in my E mail one day and somehow reacted to responding with what I figured is exposure to these illegal schemes. To all future requests for fake money laundering, agency offers, incredible world wide lotto winnings and related garbage:-(

I will henceforth respond as follows:

Name: Fritz Bixler
Address: 19 Division Street, Oshawa Ontario Canada, Postal Code is L1G 5L7
Telephone & Fax Numbers: The fax is switched on when needed and the phone rings far too much for my taste, so therefore if you insist you want to communicate with me, send a letter, give your phone number and I may call you back...or fax you.

Sex: Hard (pun) to believe I would be asked this question. The answer is about twice a week not that this is any of anybodies business. I suspect that the question should be
Salutation: like in Mr. Mrs. Miss it appears the originators of these questions are not too conversant in the english language.
Other items frequently asked for are: Bank and Bank account; Copy of Passport , a few other goodies I can't quite recall at the moment. So, forget all that.

This fraud nonsense is not new. The most common is the Nigeria thing. This used to be in letter/ chainletter form, then faxes and wouldn't you know, now e-mail.

There is in fact so much of this going on, and so many people are milked out of so much money that appropriate warnings are easily available from the web. Just Google fraud and you will see.

Oh Canada....The war...And hockey..

Today the USA has 8,000 Generals. Combined, retired and on active duty. That includes the Admirals, but for the purpose of this short note I lump them together. After the war in Vietnam ( that's the one the USA lost, to China really ) the Generals were severely criticized for not speaking out. To a large extend the war came to an end because of the ever increasing number of anti war protesters. The generals, then, remained largely silent. It is possibly for that reasons some of them, retired, are now speaking out. And good for them. The battle was won, the war is over, occupation does not work so well, get out now, because you will not make a working democracy out of this place called Iraq.

On to Canada now. The only good thing Cretien ( former prime minister who stayed on too long) ever did was to keep Canada out of this mis- adventure called Iraq war.

There is some argument about where hockey came from....Was it Nova Scotia? Or Quebec? The natives perhaps (Indians). Or was it somewhere else in Canada this sport was first played.

Relax, hockey is a Chinese thing. The picture is from 1375, featuring Chinese hockey players.
Marco Polo didn't tell us about this one. And how do you like the spiffy outfits?

The bomb

I have made a few flippant remarks on my posts about the American scene, the so called war, to be clear I mean Iraq and my opinion of the various administrations and along with that the occupants of the white house. My miniconclusion was that Nixon was a far greater man than he was given credit for, Carter should be a saint some day, Truman because of the second needless bomb was a criminal....And so on. My own opinion from what I've observed over the years.

This bomb thing. The US has over 2400, it costs every US Citizen about 10,000 bucks a year just to keep the mobile ones moving, that's the airborne and submarine version of these things.
Russia, former Sovietunion has 2200 or so. Even this joke of a country Israel owns about 200 A bombs I just learned. I can't imagine that the UK and France have any less. That leaves India, Pakistan and China I believe. Apparently North Korea and now Iran want to join this horror club. I'm stuck here....not sure what to say next...no conclusion to it.....

I learned a few years ago, student at Ryerson University (then Institute of Technology) that any story should have a beginning-a middle and an end. Or, a little better expressed: an introduction into the theme you want to cover, hitting on the main points. Then, the body of the story with supporting elements. And, finally the conclusion or summing up.

My point to write the above notes . Nottin, nada, nunca, nichts. In a short note a writer I respect recently touched on why I left Europe 50 years ago.I believe he mentioned the bomb as part of his comments, I'm frantically looking for this piece. I may want to translate it.
It is in German, the man is a prolific writer an intelligent man, he is my brother.

on the lighter side...impress her

Impress Her in Under 20 Minutes - For Less Than $20
By Katharine Leis
In the news, there’s always some love-crazed celebrity flying his sweetheart off to Paris or Aspen and plunking down millions of dollars on bobbles to adorn her fingers. Well, let’s say you are NOT one of those 50 rich-beyond-belief guys, but you’d still like to give your girlfriend the same amount of appreciation.

Impossible? Not in the least. It just requires a bit of thought and effort.

Women want to feel like they are their special. You’ve no doubt been subject to a dirty glare after pronouncing a stranger on TV as “hot” while in your girlfriend’s presence. It could be Pamela Anderson or Rebecca Romijn, but the most likely immediate response out of your girlfriend will be something negative about the woman. Believe it or not, it’s just as easy to make your girlfriend feel special as it is to make her feel, well, unspecial.

Here are three cheap and quick ways to let her know you care:

Flowers, please.

In every grocery store in this country, you’ll see bunches of mixed bouquets with price tags ranging from $2.99 to $9.99. On most every corner of every busy intersection, you’ll find one of these grocery stores. It will take you probably 10 minutes to run in and get a $7.99 bouquet to surprise your girlfriend with.

Roses are more expensive, but they also die more quickly (best bets are mixed bouquets with lots of color). A lot of guys wait until they do something bad before buying flowers, which is a huge mistake.

Think of it: If you buy her something as an apology, every time she looks at it she will think of what it was that got you into trouble in the first place. Flowers or cards -- for no reason -- require so little effort and have great reactions. If you don’t believe me, pick up a bouquet today and see what happens…

And Boy, My Arms Are Tired.

When your girl goes out of town, more than likely you’ll be dropping her off and picking her up at the airport. Airports, delays, connecting flights, and all the rest are exhausting. Then getting that huge bag off the flying carousel is no picnic either. Instead of circling round and round the airport starting from 10 minutes after she’s landed, arrive five minutes early.

Park your car (many airports offer the first 20 minutes free to encourage people to park and not keep circling) and go to the meeting area. If you’re feeling really creative, write yourself a sign with something goofy on it like “Princess Rachael.” Just make sure her name is Rachael before you do that…

When you see her, take her carry-on bag, give a hug and kiss and carry the bag to the baggage claim. Be the gentleman and get her bag when it comes off the carousel. The difference between making her do these things and you doing them is seriously around 20 minutes tops and $0, but it is a tiny bit of effort at a great time, and you’ll no doubt be hero of the day for doing it.

Soap It Up.

Say she cooks dinner, it is an unwritten rule that if you want to impress her, you’ll do the dishes. More than likely, if you just offer, she’ll say “No, it’s ok,” but that’s when you insist. You may even end up doing them together…which can be fun.

If, when dinner’s done, you go watch TV and leave her to clean up after cooking, you’re also going to subconsciously discourage her from cooking again. If you’re not a rich man, going out to dinner instead of cooking at home can add up quickly. It might be in your better interest to encourage her to cook.

Also, if she’s always cooking and buying the groceries to do so, you might want to occasionally drop by the grocery store that she shops at and get her a $20 gift card. While $20 more than covers the ingredients for a home-cooked dinner, it usually is barely enough to cover lunch at a restaurant that doesn’t have a drive-through. You’ll look like the considerate nice guy and save money, too.

You don’t like doing dishes? Well, guess what? Nobody actually likes doing dishes, but they only take a few minutes to do and aren’t exactly painful.

With a little bit of thought and for less than a couple hours’ wages, you can go from Mr. Average to Prince Charming. You don’t need to be rich, or suave or even do anything wild and outrageous. A tiny amount of consideration and well-placed effort can go a long way.
I tried to upload the picture a couple of times, finally...picture and article by i-katharine.com a busy writer,movie actor, movie producer, photographer,and, with her bodyguard keeper of my florida estate..etc

does anybody care

Care...? I guess not and why should they. It's been a few days since I commented on this blog, busy with my taxes. Turns out I have to pay back whatever I received this past year in the form of old age pension ( that's what the government gives you when you are over 65) and canada pension plan ( another old age thing but this one based on your past contributions). It's called clawback.

No further comment on this for now. Oh...the pictures, Diana and I, Barney,Barney and Chicita..

Canada......At war...

Sad. Four Canadian Soldiers killed in Afghanistan.
Since our soldiers are killed I suppose we must be at war. Otherwise I suppose you would call it murder rather than killed in action.

I watched a short CBC interview last night, Newsanchor Mansbridge of the CBC talking with David Gergen a former adviser of several US Presidents.
Mr George Walker Bush should listen to this man, he may not have the right answers but he is certainly aware of the incredible world problems and US specific challenges which need to be faced. It was interesting to see that he expresses a similar opinion to mine on Richard Nixon.

The Canadian flag picture was taken at Lake Ontario looking south from a place I owned for a couple of years. A Typical Florida type gated community. Controlled by the owner-keepers one leased the land but owned the house sort of. The flagpole was not allowed. In my case it was a hamradio transmitter antenna. That was ok. On a clear winter night one can see the Rochester NY city lights.

america at war...

American Revolution (1775–1783) Great Britain forced its 13 American colonies to pay taxes but did not give them representation in the British Parliament. This and other injustices led the colonies to declare independence on July 4, 1776. Independence was achieved in 1783, when the Treaty of Paris was signed with Britain.

War of 1812 (1812–1815) British interference with American trade, impressment of American seamen, and “war hawks” in Congress calling for western expansion into British territory led to war. At the war's conclusion, trade issues remained unresolved, but Britain gave up some of its territorial claims on the continent.Ontario, now Canada was involved.

Mexican War (1846–1848) The U.S. annexation of Texas, and its stated desire to acquire California and other Mexican territory, precipitated this war. Mexico was forced to give up two-fifths of its territory. This land eventually became the states of California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.

Civil War (1861–1865) Economic and political rivalry between an agrarian South and an industrial North grew into a civil war fought over slavery and states' rights. Eleven states seceded from the Union to form the Confederate States of America. The Union victory led to the reunification of the country and ended slavery.

Indian Wars (colonial era to 1890) U.S. expansionism led to numerous military conflicts with the indigenous inhabitants of North America, forcing them to give up their land. The massacre at Wounded Knee, S.D., in 1890 is generally considered the last of these conflicts.

Spanish American War (1898) The U.S. supported Cuba's desire for independence from Spanish rule, and seized the opportunity to expand U.S. powers in other parts of the world. At the end of the brief conflict, Cuba gained its independence, and the U.S. gained several former Spanish territories: Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.USA built extensive road network in Cuba 1912.

World War I (1914–1918) Rivalries over power, territory, and wealth led to the “Great War.” In 1917, the U.S. joined the Allies (Britain, France, Russia, Italy, and Japan), who were at war with the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey), after German submarines began sinking unarmed ships.Outbreak of the influenca probably stopped this mad war.

World War II (1939–1945) The Axis powers—Germany, Italy, and Japan—attempted to dominate the world. The Allies (U.S., Britain, France, USSR, and others) fought to stop them. The United States entered the war in 1941, after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. Germany surrendered in 1945, and Japan surrendered later that same year, after the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Korean War (1950–1953) Communist North Korea, supported by China, invaded non-communist South Korea. UN forces, principally made up of U.S. troops, fought successfully to protect South Korea. The Korean War was the first armed conflict in the global struggle between democracy and communism, called the cold war.

Bay of Pigs (1961) The U.S. orchestrated the invasion, an unsuccessful attempt by Cuban exiles to overthrow Fidel Castro's communist regime in Cuba.President Kennedy took full responsibility for this.Miniature conflict not a war. But here it is as a point of interest.

Vietnam (1961–1973) In 1955, communist North Vietnam invaded non-communist South Vietnam in an attempt to unify the country and impose communist rule. The United States joined the war on the side of South Vietnam in 1961, but withdrew combat troops in 1973. In 1975 North Vietnam succeeded in taking control of South Vietnam.The USA inherited this mess from France; Indochina.

Dominican Republic (1965) President Lyndon Johnson sent marines and troops to quash a leftist uprising in the Dominican Republic, fearing the island nation would follow in the footsteps of Cuba and turn communist.

Lebanon (1982–1984) U.S. troops formed part of a multinational peacekeeping force to help the fragile Lebanese government maintain power.

Grenada (1983) President Reagan invaded the Caribbean nation of Grenada to overthrow its socialist government, which had close ties with Cuba.

Panama (1989) President George H.W. Bush invaded Panama and overthrew Panamanian dictator and drug-smuggler Manuel Noriega.

Gulf (1991) Iraq invaded Kuwait, and a U.S.-led multinational force came to Kuwait's aid and expelled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's forces.

Somalia (1993) A U.S.-led multinational force attempted to restore order to war-torn Somalia so that food could be delivered and distributed within the famine-stricken country.

Bosnia (1994–1995) During the Bosnian civil war, which began shortly after the country declared independence in 1992, the U.S. launched air strikes on Bosnia to prevent “ethnic cleansing,” primarily by Serbs against Bosnians. The U.S. became a part of NATO's peacekeeping force in the region.

Kosovo (1999) Yugoslavia's province of Kosovo erupted into violence in the spring of 1999. A U.S.-led NATO force intervened with air strikes after Slobodan Milosevic's Serbian forces uprooted the population and embarked on the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian population.

Afghanistan (2001) The Taliban government harbored Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda terrorist group, responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. After Afghanistan refused to turn over Bin Laden, the U.S. and UN coalition forces invaded. The Taliban government was ousted and many terrorist camps in Afghanistan were destroyed. U.S. and NATO troops remain in Afghanistan to support its fragile new government.

Iraq (2003– ) The U.S. and Great Britain invaded and toppled the government of dictator Saddam Hussein. Troops remain in Iraq to combat the insurgency that formed after Hussein's defeat.

¡ Hola Amigos! ..

Illegal Immigration Crackdown Just a ploy, or a sign of real enforcement to come?

The Department of Homeland Security (D.H.S.) completed sweeping raids at multiple U.S. plants run by a Netherlands owned company that manufactures shipping pallets and crates. The raids snared over a thousand illegal aliens as well as nine corporate managers who had conspired to employ the illegals, flaunting Social Security Administration (S.S.A.) rules and other federal, state and local employment laws.

Over half of the company's 5,300 employees were using fake Social Security numbers and the company had received numerous warning letters from the S.S.A. in the months leading up to the raid. Nationwide, the S.S.A. has sent out over one hundred thousand letters to employers, but such information regarding ficticious Social Security accounts is considered by the agency to be "confidential" and - therefore, not shared with immigration (or other law enforcement) authorities.

Given the current level of rhetoric throughout the nation - on all sides of the illegal immigration issue - amid growing anger and frustration of Americans over lack of any meaningful border security measures coming out of Congress (or the Bush Administration) some political analysts are questioning whether these raids are merely "window-dressing" designed to ameliorate the more vocal factions among us. I certainly hope such is not the case.

Whether or not there is a consensus in America for the construction of a physical wall along our porous southern border, there does seem to be an overwhelming sentiment - even among many "legal" immigrant American constituencies - that something meaningful must be done. Perhaps strict application of our laws against illegal hiring and Social Security (as well as other social, economic and political benefits) fraud perpetrated in the name of cheap, undocumented labor is one cost-effective answer.

If so, however, it must be brought about through rigorous monitoring and enforcement. Not just the occasional "photo-op" raid and press release designed to placate the public and give the illusion that our government is really doing something to strengthen our domestic security against terrorism; as well as finally stemming the tide of illegals streaming into our nation that burdens our social service systems and depresses the wages of our middle class.

If the Bush Administration seriously wants to regain any of its domestic credibility, then this move toward real enforcement must begin with substantial additional hiring and training of agents dedicated to investigation and enforcement; as well as promoting necessary changes to promote information sharing of relevant employment information between the various agencies and much more severe financial disincentives to employers (e.g., stiff corporate fines and forfeitures of assets).

Increased border surveillance and security measures must also be undertaken. But reducing the ease of undocumented employment opportunities for the flood of illegals is indeed a step in the right direction.

Bush, China so what?

Dear Mr. Bush:
The heckler Chinese looking lady at the reception. So what? Democracy at work.
And the screw up of referring to china as the republic of....Instead as the Peoples republic of.
Big deal. If I've ever given a more recent US President any credit, it is Nixon who started this whole detant thing with china. In the meantime let us not forget, in Vietnam we lost the war to the Chinese, not the Vietnamese.
Without the USA, China today would be part of the hinterlands of Japan, providing cheap labor and comfortwomen for their army. Without the USA I firmly believe that most of the oriental component of Asia would be under Japanese rule. They went and invaded to obtain Lebensraum as the Germans called it.
So, Mr. Bush, not to worry about a couple of screwed up diplomatic niceties.

Inside, outside..And among us..

• 
  Beware....
  With the recent threats from Bin Laden and Al Queda to attack Oil Fields, Pipelines, Facilities, Refiners and Assets of Oil Companies which supply the United States with it’s fuel, such operations will have to upgrade and defend themselves.
  
  There are many options from robotics to land mines.
  Landmines are a serious problem in the world kill and maim tens of thousands each year and are extremely difficult to remove and remain long after the original planters of the mines are gone.

¡ Hola Amigos! Los Presidentes Americanses..

I've bee told....Several times..That I have a lot of nerve voicing my opinion on the American scene, or heaven forbid I should have some commentary on present or past occupants of the Casa Blanca ( White House).

So, unless I hear a few serious and well founded opinions I will from time to time comment on this subject. Don't expect any substantiating utterances, just my opinion and if you like you may respond or help me to understand And there you are:

Clinton: Intelligent,somehow he missed his opportunity, two terms, the quintessential American, lacking something somehow.

Bush, one term, goofy sidekick Dan. I liked Bush the elder, did his thing with Iraq and I'm not sure what more he could have done. Read my lips, no new taxes did him in I think.

Reagan: I can't figure this man out he settled the air traffic controllers strike, did some house cleaning,not sure I can give him much more credit than that. About a month before the Sovietunion fell apart he referred to them as the evil empire, looks to me like he did not have a clue as to what was happening. Poor intelligence CIA etc., not unusual.

Carter: Wonderful good hearted man, he still is. Probably too soft and for whatever reason indecisive. I think Iran was his downfall. Should have given the Iatola 10 days to release the hostages or rain hell on them. Clearly a situation where force would have been justified.

Ford: Never mind.

Nixon: Great man. He will go into the history books as one of the great American presidents. This man started to communicate with China. Finished the mess in Vietnam which Johnson started.

Johnson: The mess in Vietnam. A lost war. Nothing to be proud of. Poor Hanoi Jane. I still can not figure out why the USA ended up in this French created mess.

Kennedy: Everybody loved this war hero. Strange scene. Conspiracy theories galore. Minute man they called him...occasional movie star exloits. I remember the day he was shot. Sad scene.

I was going th add a few more comments, some other time.

America at war...Still LINCOLN

I guess by far the biggest mess the US ever got itself into was the civil war. No true purpose really. Pointless. Forget the slave thing, it had nothing to do with the beginning of that idiotic war. Civil war. Bruderkrieg as the Germans call it; (war among brothers)
The underground railway for escaping slaves existed long before the war. The two capital cities, north and south were no more than 100 miles apart from one another.
A superb orator and speech writer. Without that senseless war he could have been a great president.

Hollywood...and all that

a few holiday pictures from down south....