An Email.

There seems to be a question as to whether or not P.T. Barnum actually said, "There's a sucker born every minute" as the legend goes.
It really doesn't matter. Evidently, someone calling himself alternately Michael Price and Michael Lyndon does .
I've pasted a copy of an email I recently received from Michael.

Needless to say, I have deleted his email. I considered replying but will simply post his message here.


Michael Price
rawkshop@yahoo.com


Hi,
My name is Michael Lyndon and I'm a former blogger and
currently a social media/internet marketer working primarily with bloggers. I know how hard it is to start a blog from scratch and get it into the search engines and around the web. Through my experience marketing my blogs, I've developed a manifest that got my blog in search engines and around the web and my traffic soared.

I'm offering my services as a social media and internet marketer exclusively to bloggers. I can develop and implement your social media/internet marketing campaign for a one-time fee of $500 or I can provide you with the manifest I use for $100; in which case you could initiate your campaign yourself.

Here's a few details of the criteria I place an emphasis on in my social media campaigns:
- blog submission to directories
- social media account creation and interaction
- back link building
- much more...

I also offer a Digg submission service. For a fee of $500, I can get one blog post of yours to the frontpage of Digg.

I hope to be of service to you and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Also, If you know of any bloggers that could use my service let me know and I'll discount my services for you or give you a referral fee.

Kind regards,

-Michael-

Am I being Intolerant?

Although the party I'll be referring to in this post isn't likely to read this, I will not, for obvious reasons, put in enough information about her identity for anyone to know for certain who she is.

She attends church where my wife and I go. She is an occasional lector and Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion.There are times when we are invited to the same social function.

She isn't a cradle Catholic; she converted at the request of her Catholic husband. After a few conversations with her, I discovered that she doesn't accept the Church's teachings on abortion and birth control. She identifies with the cowardly and hypocritical position known as "pro-choice".

Although we haven't spoken on other social issues involving the Church, I would not be at all surprised to learn that she supports the idea of women in the priesthood as well.

She voted for Barack Obama....even going so far as to wear an Obama button while assisting in Holy Communion until I had the deacon in charge of EMHCs put a stop to that.

I find her entire attitude towards abortion and Catholic teaching absolutely appalling. She knows my thoughts on this. I am offended that she would insist on going against the Church yet still participate in distributing Holy Communion.
Personally, I feel that her beliefs concerning abortion and her vote for Obama should excommunicate her.......that isn't my decision to make, however.

When I see her at Mass, I will not speak to her; I will not confront her. Never the less,the look of disdain of my face is obvious.

My question to my readers is this:
Am I being intolerant towards this individual?

Nigerian Goat Held Over Robbery.

From SKYNEWS :

Nigerian police are holding a goat on suspicion of attempted armed robbery - amid claims it used black magic to morf from a human to escape justice.

Vigilantes took the animal to police, claiming it had been a person trying to steal a Mazda 323.

"The group of vigilante men came to report that while they were on patrol they saw some hoodlums attempting to rob a car," Kwara state police spokesman Tunde Mohammed said.

"They pursued them. However one of them escaped while the other turned into a goat.

"We cannot confirm the story, but the goat is in our custody."

He went on: "We cannot base our information on something mystical. It is something that has to be proved scientifically, that a human being turned into a goat."


I think I may have gotten an email from this goat...........

Obama Rescinds Mexico City Policy.

On Friday, President Obama rescinded the "Mexico City Policy", lifting the ban on U.S. government funding for international "health" groups that perform abortions, promote legalizing the procedure or provide counseling about terminating pregnancies.

Is there really any point to writing about this?
Obama supporters most likely don't understand the written word and as a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll let this picture do my talking for me.

Coincidentally, the dimensions of this jpg are 349 x 317 pixels.

Man Punished For Abandoning Rats.

From wpri.com:

A Providence, Rhode Island man is in trouble after he abandoned nearly 300 rats on the side of the road.

The man, Toby Duffany, pleaded no contest to animal abandonment and was ordered to pay $1000 restitution and perform 50 hours of community service.

Police say Duffany crammed 280 rats into aquariums and cages, and left them on the side of the road in Foster last month. The rats were discovered several days after they were abandoned. 72 rats had died and the rest had resorted to cannibalism.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals euthanized the living rats.

In court, Duffany said he got rid of the rats because they could not live in his apartment with his new baby.
The Rhode Island SPCA was disappointed with the punishment.

Update on the Van.

An update from my post of January 7, 2009 [Not the Most Fun - Filled Day I've Ever Had. ]:
As it turned out, water was sucked up into the engine via the exhaust.....destroying the engine.

The accident was covered under the insurance and the company subsequently "totaled" the van.
I took one last photo after we cleaned out our personal possessions before the insurance company picked it up from the auto repair place.

Foreign leaders thrill to Obama.

The headline to the Politico.com headline read: Foreign leaders thrill to Obama.

Although a few others were mentioned, the article pretty much pertained to French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his obvious love for Obama.

Oddly enough, there was no mention of how Fidel Castro had heaped praise upon the new U.S. President.
The article also failed to mention that Libya's Kadhafi says Obama means a 'new America'

You'd think that the writer would have included Kadhafi.......after all, Sarkozy & Kadhafi are buds; Sarkozy & Obama are buds; Kadhafi likes Obama.

Seems like the perfect fit.

Errors.

Oh well.

My friend Mickey forwarded an email to me this morning called "Why Husbands Die First."
I thought it was funny enough to post here.

I even sent out email links to the post so my other friends could watch it as well.

Unfortunately, something happened with the video and it hadn't uploaded properly to the blog after all. I tried more than once, until, finally giving up and deciding to post this explanation instead.

Obama Is Subject of Pro-life Ad.

A 30 second ad, produced by CatholicVote.org will air repeatedly on Black Entertainment Television (BET) in Chicago during Tuesday's coverage of Barack Obama's presidential inauguration.

Brian Burch, executive director of CatholicVote.org, commented on the ad in a press statement:

"Our message is simple: Abortion is the enemy of hope. The purpose of our new ad is to spread a message of hope about the potential of every human life, including the life of President-elect Obama."

Something Else to Worry Us.

Just when I thought we had enough to worry about, I learn of a new hazard facing us.

All enlightened and intelligent persons have long since given up smoking cigarettes. It doesn't take a genius to realize that drawing smoke (tobacco or otherwise) down into one's lungs is suicidal.

Later, we learned that breathing someone else's smoke (AKA 2nd hand smoke) was equally as bad. So bad, in fact, that places like Rome, Georgia, where I live, even ban tobacco smoke outdoors in wide-open spaces - such as public parks.

Reading a NY Times article, I discovered another danger lurking just below the surface......third hand smoke.

Third hand smoke is the chemical residue that's left behind when the smoker's 2nd hand smoke has (apparently) long since dissipated.
One study claimed that the residue left behind includes heavy metals, carcinogens and even radioactive materials.

The Times article goes on to say,
"Among the substances in third-hand smoke are hydrogen cyanide, used in chemical weapons; butane, which is used in lighter fluid; toluene, found in paint thinners; arsenic; lead; carbon monoxide; and even polonium-210, the highly radioactive carcinogen that was used to murder former Russian spy Alexander V. Litvinenko in 2006."

I wonder how long it will be before scientists prove that cigarette smoke (whether first, second, third or even fourth hand) is the ultimate cause of man-made global warming.

Guess we'll all be needing a HAZMAT suit before long.

Tired of Pretending to be Canadian?

American expatriate,Micha Wyatt is excited about Obama's upcoming inauguration. In fact, she is having a bash at The Chicago Rib Shack in Knightsbridge (London, England) so other expats can share in her excitement.
According to a Washington Post article , Ms. Wyatt no longer needs to hide her true identity while overseas,
"Finally! I'm tired of pretending I'm Canadian." Wyatt said.
The same article goes on to describe Wyatt as a "San Francisco native".
Any surprise, there?

Regardless of who the President of the United States may be, any American who hides their nationality, by claiming to be Canadian, should just go ahead and obtain Canadian citizenship.

Later, in the article,

"David St. Onge, 57, a John McCain supporter who works in the pharmaceutical industry and was in Moscow this week, said he has noticed a change in how his Russian clients treat him.

'They seemed to think better of Americans because we elected a black man as president,' he said as he walked through Red Square. 'They think we're more enlightened now.' "

So, when will they elect a black man president in Russia?

Now, instead of being scolded, we are being hugged and kissed by foreigners who, all of a sudden, approve of the United States.
Anyone who is going to judge me by their slanted view of my country's leader, can - ever so politely - kiss my arse.

Too Much Coffee Causes Hallucinations.

According to a bbc article,
"People who drink too much coffee could start seeing ghosts or hearing strange voices....."

The article goes on to say that a new study shows that people who drank more than seven cups of instant coffee a day were three times more likely to hallucinate than those who drank just one cup.

Balderdash !!!!

I've never heard of anything so preposterous.
Coffee is completely harmless.
I know because the flying Folgers can told me so.

Iranian Protesters Burn Obama Posters in Tehran.

One week ago, in my post entitled "Ring Out theOld - Ring In the New", regarding the problems in Gaza, I wrote,
"Contrary to what some Obamanics believe, Obama will not be able to solve the Israel/Gaza problem. No one will be persuaded to end the fighting simply because the Messiah is inaugurated."

I predicted that it would not be long before demonstrators directed their anti- American protests towards Barack Obama. I also wrote,
"It's only a matter of time before we see the Obama as Nazi posters in these demonstrations."

Now, my prediction has come to pass......more or less.

Rather than "Obama as Nazi posters" Reuters is reporting that "Dozens of Iranians burnt posters of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama in Tehran on Tuesday and waved Palestinian flags in support of Gaza....."

There are also pictures of protesters laying Obama posters in the street so cars could run over them.

It appears that the world doesn't love the Messiah as much as we were lead to believe.

Pravda says, Earth on the Brink of an Ice Age.

In an article from Pravda.ru we learn that the Earth on the Brink of an Ice Age and we have little to fear from Al Gore's pet theory known as Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW).

Rather than go over the whole thing here, I will paste the final paragraph of the three page article:

"The AGW theory is based on data that is drawn from a ridiculously narrow span of time and it demonstrates a wanton disregard for the ‘big picture’ of long-term climate change. The data from paleoclimatology, including ice cores, sea sediments, geology, paleobotany and zoology, indicate that we are on the verge of entering another Ice Age, and the data also shows that severe and lasting climate change can occur within only a few years. While concern over the dubious threat of Anthropogenic Global Warming continues to distract the attention of people throughout the world, the very real threat of the approaching and inevitable Ice Age, which will render large parts of the Northern Hemisphere uninhabitable, is being foolishly ignored."

Far be it from me to say with 100% surety which theory is more plausible. I've often felt that AGW was based more on politics and less on science. This Pravda article certainly doesn't settle the matter, by any means. It does, however, give a bit more weight to the argument that Global Warming is a hoax.

Beer and Pizza Invitation.

Can we survive four years of Obamania ?

This idea of using BHO in an upcoming issue of Spiderman is too much. I don't think I can't take much more of this constant sucking-up to the Messiah by everyone and his brother.

But, I suppose, it makes my D'offus of the Big-Doofus blog easier to write. The ideas just fall into place.

Surely, the day has to come when the great unwashed see Obama for what he truly is.

He's a joke.

When the economy sinks even lower than it is now, I believe his unpopularity will rival that of GW Bush. One of the great tragedies of this nation is how we've fallen into this cult of personality. Obama,like so many U.S. Presidents before him, was voted into office because of the "image" he portrays. Every four years, the American people pick as POTUS, the candidate they'd much rather have over to the house for beer and pizza.

We're going to hell in a handbasket and most of us aren't even blinking.

Conservative Website Attacked.

I receive daily emails from humanevents.com , a conservative site that features the likes of Ann Coulter and Pat Buchanan.
Last night I opened an email from them with a with a link to Ann Coulter's latest article
"This Is the Downer We've Been Waiting For!"
It's her story of her being banned from NBC.
I went to the humanevents website and read part of the article........I was a bit sleepy, so I saved the link and decided to return to the article today.
When I tried, I received this instead:



I could not access the site.
Here is Google's explanation;

What is the current listing status for www.humanevents.com?
Site is listed as suspicious - visiting this web site may harm your computer.

What happened when Google visited this site?
Of the 37 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 0 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 2009-01-07, and suspicious content was never found on this site within the past 90 days.

Has this site acted as an intermediary resulting in further distribution of malware?
Over the past 90 days, www.humanevents.com did not appear to function as an intermediary for the infection of any sites.

Has this site hosted malware?
No, this site has not hosted malicious software over the past 90 days.

How did this happen?
In some cases, third parties can add malicious code to legitimate sites, which would cause us to show the warning message.

I believe it's a case of a third party adding something to keep folks off of the conservative website.
Aren't Liberals wonderful? Can't fight within the arena of ideas, so they use malware.

Not the Most Fun - Filled Day I've Ever Had.

This particular section of the road has been open to thru traffic for just about two years. When it was connected to the road I live on, it became a short cut for me.

We've been under drought conditions for a few years and this was the first time I had ever driven down that section of the road during rain as heavy as it was coming down today.

To make a long story short, there was poor visibility because of the heavy rain.....pick up trucks were driving OK up ahead of me..... I didn't realize the water was as deep as it was.
The van stalled. It wouldn't start and I was stuck in knee-deep water.

The rain eventually stopped and city workers were there unclogging the sewer line to let the water drain off the street. The photo of the city worker below was taken by someone from Rome Newswire.com and I snatched it from their website.

I took the two photos of the van with my cellphone. The resolution is pretty good. Click on those photos for a better look.

I like to say that all's well that ends well....but the tow truck cost me $75 and I was 1 1/2 hours late getting to work. The van is home, but it won't start. I'm hoping it's a simple electrical problem and that it will start when it dries out.

Ring Out theOld - Ring In the New.

You don't have to search the Internet very long to find photos of Bush protesters carrying signs depicting George Bush as a Nazi, complete with a Hitlerian mustache and swastika plastered on his head.

It's a common enough tactic among American Liberal and Muslim protesters (both foreign and domestic).

It's only a matter of days before George Bush leaves office, making those protest signs completely useless.

The problems in the Middle East aren't going to go away come Jan. 20th. Contrary to what some Obamanics believe, Obama will not be able to solve the Israel/Gaza problem. No one will be persuaded to end the fighting simply because the Messiah is inaugurated.

No one seems to really know for certain what approach Obama will take in his attempt to handle the situation, but we can be sure of one thing......someone, somewhere is going to be unhappy.

There will be anti-American protests, but this time, Obama -not Bush - will be the recipient of the protesters' wrath.
It's only a matter of time before we see the Obama as Nazi posters in these demonstrations.
Will the fawning Press be ready for that?

Minnesota deserves whatever it gets.

It's not like the folks in Minnesota don't have enough problems.

Now, it looks as if Al Franken just might manage to steal the election.

Even if Franken didn't really get the number of votes needed to legally win the election the fact that the race was as close as it was shows that something approaching a majority of folks there are stupid enough to vote for the likes of this buffoon.

They deserve whatever they get.

Religion is good for you.

Science, finally, has something positve to say about religion and those who take their faith seriously.
A new study by University of Miami professor of Psychology Michael McCullough finds that religious people have more self-control, are better at pursuing and achieving long-term goals and are less likely to suffer from depression and substance abuse than non religious folks.

In his report, McCullough says prayer and meditation affect the parts of the human brain that are most important for self-regulation and self-control.
He writes:
" More recently, neuroscientists have established the importance of the prefrontal cortex (namely, the dorsolateral and ventromedial prefrontal cortex) and the anterior cingulate cortex for various elements of executive functioning, attention, conflict monitoring, and cognitive control. Thus, these should be precisely the cortical areas that are differentially influenced by prayer and meditation if such religious or spiritual behaviors promote self-regulation."

There have been a number of other studies that show meditation and prayer have a positive affect on the physical structure of the brain. Studies using MRI scans have found that brain regions associated with attention and sensory processing were thicker in meditators than in the non-meditators.

"Our data suggest that meditation practice can promote cortical plasticity in adults in areas important for cognitive and emotional processing and well-being," says Sara Lazar, leader of one particular study and a psychologist at Harvard Medical School.

Thoughts on Google AdSense.

I've been using Google AdSense for a little over two years. Honestly, I don't spend enough time on the AdSense site. If I did, I might learn how to use AdSense more effectively.
A few days ago, I started making use Url Channels to keep track of how each of my domains is generating income.
I have one website [http://www.dumaguetecity.net/] and four blogs with Google ads on them. (I decided not to include ads on my meditation blog)

As of today, January 2nd, two of the urls have generated earnings ( albeit modest earnings ). The two blogs [sorryalltheclevernamesaretaken.blogspot.com and penpalwebsiteoftheweek.blogspot.com] use very different approaches to attract visitors who might make use of the Google ads.

The penpalwebsiteoftheweek.blogspot.com is set up to attract hits from people interested in one particular subject. Everyone going to that blog is interested in meeting someone via the Internet. All the Google ads on that blog reflect that and the sites advertised, obviously, appeal to the folks coming to the blog.

This blog uses the opposite approach. Here, I write about a wide variety of subjects in an attempt to attract as many visitors as I can. Looking at the Label list, one can see that I'm subject to write about anything that piques my interest on any given day.

Because of it's limited subject matter, the pen pal blog only manages to get 1/10th the number of visitors a month that this blog receives, but so far this month, they've generated similar amounts. After two days of monitoring the blogs individually, it's too early to tell which approach is better. At least now, with the url channels, I'll be able to look at each blog's performance over time.

Hamas approves Crucifixion.

Former President Jimmy Carter's dear friends - Hamas members of the Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza - have approved a new bill "to implement Koranic punishments," including hand amputation, crucifixion, corporal punishment and execution.

According to the new law, crucifixion will be reserved for those found guilty of treason.

An article on strategypage.com reports;
"When word of its new laws reached the Western media, Hamas denied it. But in Gaza, the Arabic media made it clear that the new laws were very real, even if embarrassing when trying to explain it to the infidels."

Links to the story:
Hamas Promises Crucifixion For Traitors
Happy Holidays from Hamas: Crucifixion OK'd as Punishment in Gaza
The "realist" fantasy