Reflections of a Texan

Next step in pirating: Faking a company - Technology - International Herald Tribune

2006-04-28T09:38:00.000-07:00

If you can't beat them, be them.

Well, China has moved beyond bootlegging and copyright violations, into full blown company fraud. What's next, copying our military secrets? Oh wait, Clinton already sent those over on a fast boat to China.

-- JB

Via Michelle Malkin - Many Hosting Matters - hosted sites are down

2006-04-28T09:32:00.000-07:00

Link to Michelle's site

I remember when DOS was just an operating system. Now, it is the m.o. of those who want to intimidate, silence or harm others. Gone are the days of open debate and differing opinions, technological thuggery is here to stay.

Instead of persuading others to your side, just insult and try to destroy those you dislike. Elementary behavior at its worst.

-- JB

FOX Sports - MLB - Selig: No celebration planned for Barry's 715th

2006-04-27T18:47:00.000-07:00

Here's the article.

"Baseball's investigation, Selig said, is "not affected at all by the grand jury" looking into whether Bonds committed perjury."

Rght.

-- JB

Top 25 Towns for Clean Air, Dirty Air

2006-04-27T18:45:00.000-07:00

L.A. is still number one or is it last, depends on your point of view.

-- JB

Hot Air Blog Archive The Tinfoil and the Damage Done

2006-04-27T18:43:00.000-07:00

For some reason, Lynyrd Skynyrd comes to mind....I wonder why?

Not sure what I am talking about. Go here and read the lyrics.

-- JB

Your tax dollars insulting one Christian at a time. UPDATED: Not tax dollars, student fees

2006-04-27T18:32:00.000-07:00

Warning! Some of the images and language contained in this document is offensive. - Sorry, it's a PDF.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, along comes the Insurgent, a student run newspaper at the University of Oregon. If you prefer not to click the link above to see the proof for yourself, go here and here for a synopsis of the whole situation.

UPDATE:
Tim posted in the comments that the Insurgent does not receive tax dollars, but rather funds from the incidental fees paid by students. Here are his exact words:

"Actually, The Insurgent is funded by the Student Incidental Fee, which is paid entirely by students at the University to fund all sorts of student groups. The Insurgent gets roughtly $18,000 anually to cover their expenses, this is all Incidental Fee money, none of it is from taxes. Let alone federal taxes. The Oregon Commentator also receives incidental fees to pay for their printing & duplication, although the website is paid for by a private party. Me. "

Thank you Tim for making sure that all information relevant to this issue is being heard.

-- JB

"Big Oil" versus Congress

2006-04-27T18:16:00.000-07:00

I have a solution for global warming, stop the hot air coming out of Congress. Gas prices are the latest "golden ticket" for politicians. There have been 30+ investigations by Congress, since the mid-70s, on price gouging and inflated oil prices. Every investigation turned up nothing. Instead of wasting their time and our money looking for the source of the problem, why don't they just look in the mirror. For the last three decades, Congress has failed the American people by not passing valuable energy legislation. As a nation, we are like the Israelites wandering in the desert for forty years, when it comes to an energy policy. Even Brazil took a stand and is now free of its dependence on foreign oil. How? In the 1970s they made the decision to move to an alternative fuel source based on, get this, sugar cane. Why sugar cane, because Brazil is the world's largest producer of sugar cane. If they can do it, why can't we.

Now, before you start blaming "Big Oil" and their lobbyist, at one time, for nearly a decade, oil was less than $25.00 a barrel. So, Congress took the easy way out and said, oil's cheap, we don't need to spend the money to change. Oil was cheap, because demand was low. But guess what, China and India were both growing at exponential rates. As China and India continued growing, so did demand. However, no one wanted to rock the boat, because oil was still $30.00 - $35.00 a barrel and gas was still cheap. So, what did we do, we created tougher laws and increased cost, so that oil exploration and refining in the United States became stagnant. I cannot tell you how many oil wells in West Texas quit pumping, not because they were dry, but because it cost more to get it out of the ground than it was worth.

As the demand for oil continued to rise and the refining capacity stayed the same, prices naturally began going up. No one in Washington did anything to begin the process of finding an alternative. The first Black and Green President, Bill Clinton, did nothing, Congress did nothing, "Big Oil" did nothing. Why, when compared to other goods adjusted for the cost of inflation, oil was still cheap. So, here we are today. A barrel of oil at $70.00+, gasoline hovering around $3.00 a gallon and Congress looking for someone to blame.

Had Congress taken a stand in the 1970s, like Brazil, we would be oil independent today. American farmers can grow enough corn and grain to feed the entire world many times over every year. And that does not include the farmers the government pays not to grow products. If alternative fuels based on corn, soy bean or other grains are the wave of the future, why didn't we start 30+ years ago. I realize that it takes quite a bit more corn to produce the same amount of gasoline as one barrel of oil, but corn doesn't require millions of dollars to pump out of the ground and it grows back every year. I am not claiming to have the solution to end all solutions, I don't even know if ethanol is a truly viable fuel source, but I do know, that if we had started 30+ years ago, we would know by now.

I just thought of another alternative fuel source, that is overly abundant and manufactured constantly. Instead of stopping the hot air in Washington, let's figure out how to make it into fuel.

-- JB

Kennedy faces fight on Cape Wind - The Boston Globe

2006-04-27T14:24:00.000-07:00

Read the article here.

Just goes to show that "do as I say, not as I do" has always been Kennedy's m.o. Most Democrats are all about environmental issues, unless the issues cramp their style. We have quite a few wind farms here in West Texas and I think they're pretty cool. Plus, Texas is getting ready to build one in the Gulf of Mexico. There are two things in Texas, especially West Texas, that are in huge abundance: wind and sun. So hopefully Texas will start leading the way in these two types of renewable energy and will experience a "Green Energy Boom" and the northeast can buy it from us. We will be more than happy to sell electricity to Kennedy and his cohorts, just as long as they promise to stay up there.

-- JB

Fake Model Photography

2006-04-25T09:59:00.000-07:00

This is pretty neat.

Here is a link to some of his other work.

-- JB

Design View : Andy Rutledge - White House Redux

2006-04-25T09:11:00.000-07:00

He makes some good points.

Current Site

Suggested New Site:

No bad....

-- JB

New Tech Spy: Boeing 797 to take on Airbus with (1000 seat) giant Blended Wing plane

2006-04-25T09:04:00.000-07:00

If these rumors turn out to be true, can you imagine the lines at the boarding gate?

-- JB

LiveScience.com - Why Rice Krispies Go Snap, Crackle, Pop!

2006-04-25T08:35:00.000-07:00

Another of life's mysteries solved!

-- JB

FOX Sports - USA - MISL coach suspended for two years

2006-04-25T08:30:00.000-07:00

Click here for the story.

Sounds like the coach needs his butt busted. It is sad when a grown man acts like a child. When things aren't going your way, choke someone, it makes the problem go away. Some people need to grow up.

-- JB

The Triple Helix - Explaining the BIg Bang.

2006-04-24T13:02:00.000-07:00

Click here for the proof.

If the Big Bang theory is true, I just have one question.

Where did the subatmoic particle that started the whole thing come from?

-- JB

FOXNews.com - Did Justice or Politics Drive Arrests in Duke Lacrosse Case?

2006-04-19T10:32:00.001-07:00

FOXNews.com - Did Justice or Politics Drive Arrests in Duke Lacrosse Case?

Watch this case closely. I smell a political opportunity. The fact that the D.A. did over 70 press interviews or press conferences in the two weeks after the alleged crime, but is now keeping mum, smells fishy.

I am not saying who is guilty or who isn't, all I am saying is this case has been fumbled or manipulated from the beginning, you be the judge.

-- Jason

FOXNews.com - Oil Eases to Just Below $71 After Record High Day - Energy

2006-04-19T10:32:00.000-07:00

FOXNews.com - Oil Eases to Just Below $71 After Record High Day - Energy

All I know, is I am a pretty reasonable person, but oil and gas prices are getting out of hand. Not so much as far as hurting the economy, but for the sheer fact that many people trade oil futures to simply make money quickly. According to the U.S. government there is plenty of gasoline in the system and there are fewer gallons being used this year than the same time last year. (I'll post a link to the report in a future update.)

So what's the deal. I'll tell you. in the words of Bill O'Reilly, oil speculators are making a killing at the expense of the American people. These people drive up oil and gas prices by claiming a a shortage, while all of the data says otherwise. The fact that Iran is run by a madman plays directly into their hands. Need more cash, simply claim that the world's oil supply is in jeopardy because of Iran and drive the price up.

A relatively mild winter, fewer gallons being purchased and supply above demand, does not a gas shortage make, in the immortal words of Yoda.

UPDATE:

From Businessweek .com

Bolstering that sanguine view, the Energy Department this week released a report predicting gasoline prices would be 25-cents-per-gallon higher from April through September compared with last year, and average demand during the period would climb by 1.5 percent to 9.4 million barrels per day.

However, the nation's appetite for gasoline is not growing that fast right now, and the possibility of even higher prices in the months ahead has led some analysts to warn of a likely further cooling of demand.

For the first three months of the year, with gasoline futures averaging $1.70 a gallon, gasoline demand rose 0.9 percent compared with the year before, according to Energy Department data. In the first quarter of 2005, with gasoline futures averaging $1.37 a gallon, demand climbed by 1.4 percent compared with the prior year.

Demand for all refined products, which includes gasoline but also jet fuel, residual fuel and distillates such as diesel and heating oil, fell 0.8 percent during the first quarter, compared with a rise of 1.2 percent a year earlier. And globally, demand for oil grew by less than 1 percent in the first quarter, compared with a 2.3 percent jump the year before, the International Energy Agency said this week.

-- Jason

FOX Sports - MLB - Bonds' perjury investigation not a surprise

2006-04-14T09:18:00.000-07:00

Click here for the article

If you think that Barry Bonds did not take performance enhancing drugs, aka steroids, then I have some ocean front property in Arizona I would like to sell you. The problem we have today, is the inability for someone to admit that they screwed up. We see it time and time again, whenever someone breaks the rules or the law, they always have an excuse. What happened to personal responsibility?

Bonds knowingly took a performance enhancing drug, end of story (although at the time, BALCO drugs were not banned). He lied about taking said drugs to preserve his legacy, end of story. Now he is playing the victim. Bonds reminds me of another athlete who can't admit he is wrong; Terrell "Time Out" Owens, but that is another post all together.

Bonds and his fans are right about one thing, Major League Baseball is trying to act as though they are squeaky clean and have been harmed by Bonds. On the contrary, he has generated millions of dollars for the league and their owners. Also, for MLB to say that they are shocked, is nothing but a lie to save face. As long as he was hitting home runs, tickets were selling and no one was asking questions, they were happy to make their money and champion Bonds as the face of baseball. But once everything came to light, they've run like cockroaches to the shadows.

-- JB

NKY.Com - Display on abortion destroyed

2006-04-14T09:02:00.000-07:00

Click here for the article and photos

A continuation of my previous post.

The fact that an university professor is encouraging this type of behavior is appalling, but what do we expect. Colleges and universities across the country have become breeding grounds for extremist views, on both sides of the coin. Taxpayer dollars and naive parents' money is being spent year in and year out educating young people in the art of "civil disobedience". BTW - breaking the law is not "civil disobedience", it is breaking the law.

Right to Life group to press charges against protestors

2006-04-14T08:57:00.000-07:00

Click here for the article and photos

This just demonstrates the hypocrisy of most activist. This professor feels that her opinions are protected by free speech, but not the opinions of others. As long as the views being displayed match their personal beliefs, all is fine, but if they do not, then they feel that they have the right to obstruct those views.

This is a problem on both sides of every issue. The zealots on each side are too busy yelling each other down or trying to obstruct the other side, that the actual issue gets lost. Their fighting and bickering overtake the actual issue they are supposedly fighting for or against.

Once you remove civility and respect from a discussion, you have lost the ability to seek a mature solution.

-- JB

I guess I'm in the wrong profession

2006-04-11T13:56:00.000-07:00

Click here for the MLB Top 100 Salaries list.

Despite the fact that I haven't played baseball in over 10 years, I have decided that I need to become a baseball player. According to the list above, the lowest paid player in the MLB Top 100 will make $7,666,667.00 this year. I figure I'm a steal at $1.5 million.

--JB

FOX News Poll: Illegal Immigration is not a partisan issue

2006-04-07T15:05:00.000-07:00

The latest FOX News poll is being used to show a declining approval rating for the President. While this is true, there are a couple of other interesting trends as well. On the question concerning the approval rating of Congress, we find that both major parties (Democrats and Republicans) fair worse than the President. While the President's approval rating sits at 36%, Congress' sits at 29%. Not much to write home about if you are in the Congress.

Another interesting trend concerns illegal immigration. Illegal immigration seems to be the one topic that both Republicans and Democrats agree on. The poll numbers are very interesting to me. On nearly every question concerning illegal immigration, Republicans and Democrats seemed to be on the same wavelength. On the question concerning making English the official national language, by law, 78% of those questioned favored a law.

Congress needs to wake up and realize that the vast majority of Americans feel that illegal immigration is a serious issue. However, don't hold your breath. This is an election year and we all know what happens in an election year. Absolutely nothing. The easiest way to keep your opponent from using your record against you, is to not do anything in the run up to an election. What if the rest of us practiced the same working patterns as Congress, we would all be fired. Maybe it's time we cleaned house in Washington.

Click here to read the poll results for yourself. Very interesting. (BTW - it's a PDF, sorry)

--JB

The Big Country Chapter of the American Red Cross needs some help!

2006-04-07T11:11:00.000-07:00

Click here to see mailing address for donations

Our local office of the American Red Cross has been run ragged for the last year. They have been called upon to respond to a severe flood in the northern part of the Big Country, they provided around the clock support for Katrina and Rita victims, they responded to the wildfires that nearly destroyed the town and surrounding area of Cross Plains (this fire occurred right after Christmas, many people lost everything, over 200 houses lost) and they have been called upon to support the firefighting efforts in the Texas panhandle (over 1 million acres burned, so far). Even though they receive little recognition or publicity for what they do, they do it anyway.

All of these disasters have left them strapped for money and supplies. So, I am asking anyone who can help to do so. The best thing we can provide at this time is money. This way, they can buy the supplies that they absolutely need. So, if you have some spare change, click the link above for their mailing address and drop them a donation in the mail. They will greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

--JB

FOXNews.com - Economy Adds 211,000 Jobs in March; Unemployment Rate at 4 1/2 Year Low - Economy

2006-04-07T10:58:00.000-07:00

FOXNews.com - Economy Adds 211,000 Jobs in March; Unemployment Rate at 4 1/2 Year Low - Economy

Another example of a growing economy. However, listening to the nightly news would lead one to believe that the economy is in the toilet. I realize that it is not "coming up roses" for everyone, but the overall outlook is pretty good.

Think about what has happened the last six years: The dotcom bubble finally busted, 9/11, the war in Afghanistan, the war and continued conflict in Iraq, hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the price of oil, etc. All of these things individually are enough to crater any country or its economy. However, the U.S. has dealt with everyone of these back to back to back and still keeps a ticking.

I have seen firsthand the results of this strong economy. Everywhere I go in my home town, there are help wanted signs. The jobs range from entry level sales positions all the way to supervisor are manager positions. The vast majority of them are paying more than minimum wage, even jobs at the drive-thru chains. Our little city (pop. 120,000+) in West Texas is growing and growing. We didn't see anything from the dotcom boom; however, we are seeing it now.

Instead of focusing on everything that is wrong with this country, let's look at the things that are great. I am tired of being told by my fellow self-righteous citizens how horrible I am and how ashamed I should be as an American. Regardless of our faults, I would much rather live in America (Texas specifically), than anywhere else.

Michelle Malkin: PORKBUSTERS: SAY IT LOUD!

2006-04-07T08:54:00.000-07:00

Michelle Malkin: PORKBUSTERS: SAY IT LOUD!

It appears that some in Washington do not like their spending habits questioned. It must be nice to write checks and know that someone else will foot the bill.

There are a few in Congress (both Democrat and Republican) who are trying to get Congress' spending under control, but they are having a hard time chasing the pigs away from the trough.

Handing out pork is the one area that all politicians are bi-partisan, aside from Congressional pay raises. Democrats and Republicans may disagree on nearly every other issue, but they stand united when it comes to "our" money.

I will continue to contact my representatives in both the House and Senate and let them know what I think about their spending. I will also make a point to contact the men and women who are working to bring "pork" under control. They need all the support they can get.

-- JB

Who are you?

2006-04-06T19:02:00.000-07:00

Good question.

I am one of the creators of the The View From Texas blog, found at www.viewfromtexas.com. Currently that site is undergoing some major renovations and is currently offline. Therefore, I am posting on my own blog until we are through with the changes and updates. Once everything is ready, I will begin posting at The View From Texas again, as well as keep this blog going and up to date.

For those of you who followed our daily musings at The View From Texas, we apologize for the site being offline. We thank you for your patience and we look forward to getting the new site up and running.

--JB

Welcome.

2006-04-06T17:49:00.000-07:00

This is the inaugural post for the Reflections of a Texan blog. From this point forward, you will be treated to my witty musings, pithy comments and weird sense of humor. I am dedicating this site to the discussion of all things that I feel are relevant or interesting. Even though I will interject humor and sarcasm from time to time, I will treat any issue or topic I post with respect.

All I ask is that anyone contributing to the site do so in a dignified and respectful manner. If you can't say it in front of your grandmother, don't say it here. Also, no one is forcing you to be here, so please respect the opinions of others and surf on by if you don't like the site. I encourage all opinions and views to participate, but I will remove those views that I deem vulgar or out of line. That's enough disclaiming, let's get going.

Let the musings begin,
JB