12/31/2006

OTBL 2007 Resolutions















Top Ten OTBL Resolutions

1. Create more enemies than last year.

2. Complain about taxes until they actually do go up not down.

3. Demand that all District school buildings be named after Ronald Reagan.

4. File requests for information demanding details of Steve Dzubay's contract.

5. Learn to say "I hate taxes" in 5 new languages

6. Use less internet ink.

7. Hold WI Blogger Alliance Summer Blog Bash at new Pukatorium.

8. Find way to claim OTBL got a billion hits.

9. Find uglier scrap wood for Vote No signs.

10. Move out of Hudson Tax Hell

The CANNED CHORUS sings AULD LANG SYNE (1 minute)

Best of everything to you in the New Year!

Borderline Gala Brings in the New Year


















Luke, Dr. Bill, & Carnac propose a duel to have the first gavotte
with ebaybabe.

CARNAC on New Year's Resolutions: Exercise More

A: ontheorderline.net blogger yoga



Q: What does Luke Car-Nac do for exercise in the morning, after his wife has gone off to win the bread, the children have left for another day of government-school indoctrination and Clifford The Big Red Dog is on the tv?











An odor of hypocrisy on the borderline

"There was nothing fair minded or balanced in his editorial...Just as some very narrow-minded people can only see what they want to see, or are told to see, so too has Dzubay attempted to characterize this blog...On the other hand, the incredibly predictable and biased approach of a weekly newspaper such as the Hudson Star Observer should and does create a high degree of suspicion by many in the Hudson community...The readership of this blog and its opinions is far wider than the narrow-minded, gullible, lowest common denominator to whom Dzubay was addressing...And that is Our View…"

--www.ontheborderline.net



OTBL Comment Policy

1)For any reason, at any time, and depending on my mood, your comment may be deleted or edited with or without an explanation or warning. Comment on this blog at your own risk. If you insist on an explanation, read this. If you still don’t like it, tell your story walking. The KING of this domain has spoken.

The rules below are still in effect, but number one gets to the bottom line in a hurry, don’t you think?

2) Do not call me names! Please don?��t offend or insult the blog host. If I get into specifics, this post would never end. Just use common sense. Don’t call myself or other commenters names, either. Attack the argument, not the person.

3) I am king of www.ontheborderline.net because this is my weblog. I pay for the hosting and I make the rules.

You have no First Amendment rights on this blog. My right to free speech is protected on this site, not yours.

-- www.ontheborderline.net

OTBL v. HSO: Are you sure that's peanut butter you're eating?

Admin's note: Occasionally we get requests from readers to post various things from the blogosphere. The following posting comes from the ontheborderline.net blog oozing out of Hudson. It deals with a debate raging in the minds of three or four bloggers at the site (which means it's probably one or two people debating and discussing among themselves). This will use up precious space on this blog and we usually don't publish such frivolous drivel. However, our editorial board has met and agreed to stoop to this level of belligerence just once, i.e., we are making an exception from our high journalistic standards.

I would like to preface this OTBL post with a parable that I think is appropriate. I hope you agree with me, after reading it. If you don't agree, too bad. -- cancel your subscription to this blog...

The efficiency expert stopped several mornings in a row on his commute into the city, pulling his car onto the shoulder of the road alongside the farm with the small apple orchard. He watched in amazement, even getting out his binoculars to be sure, as the farmer carefully lifted a full-grown pig out of the pig pen, carried him down the path to the orchard, and then climbed the small step-ladder, lifting the pig over his head and waiting patiently while the pig ate a few apples from the tree. The farmer then returned the pig to the pen, picked up another sow and schlepped her down to the orchard to feed. The spectacle continued for over an hour until all the pigs had been fed and the farmer was obviously exhausted.

Professional curiosity eventually won out, and the efficiency expert decided to confront the farmer about his process. One morning he put down his binoculars, climbed through the fence, and met the farmer as he finished his feeding ritual. “Don’t you see how much time you’re wasting, and how much faster it would be if you picked the apples and brought them to the pigs in the pen?” The farmer shrugged and stared at the stranger with slight suspicion. Finally, he responded with a question of his own: “What’s time to a pig?”



----
(The following is lifted from the ontheborderline.net blog and is used without permission. It is a rant by members of a St. Croix Valley blog against an editorial in the current edition of the Hudson Star Observer newspaper. Here's a link to the editorial. )

Dzubay and Irony
Filed under: Politics Local, About On The BorderLine --- Our View @ 10:00 am

__________________________________________________
Irony comes in three basic flavors: Socratic, sordonic and dramatic. Steve Dzubay, writing for the Hudson Star Observer in a recent editorial states: “I find it ironic that shortly after Kilber rested from penning us his call for accountability, he’d already abandoned the possibility his letter would be published as “they censor and will not print this…” and placed it on his Web site.”

(Admin's note: Of course, Kilber was wrong. The HSO printed his letter in full. The HSO didn't censor his letter. Those of us who send letters to the editor don't use conspiratorial terms like "censor," when we don't get our way. We use words like "edit." Kilber rides high on his hobbyhorse of hypocrisy, when he calls for "accountability" at the HSO. Viewers of the soagy diaper Kilber confuses for a blog know that "accountability" isn't required on his Internet slander fest.)

Dzubay is being too cute by half on this one; although there may have been some irony in this sordid matter it was not the type Dzubay implies. Nor was there anything in his editorial view resembling journalistic savoir faire…head scratcher comes readily to mind. Dzubay’s attempt to address Kilber makes note in its opening paragraph an admonition by a former county board member to be careful in making an enemy of one who has barrels of ink at their disposal. Well, Dzubay clearly learned from that experience as todays ink wells are filled not with a mixture of soot, turpentine, and walnut oil but rather with electrons -and the well of electrons is deep indeed.

(Admin's note: Wowzer! Imagine a phrase like "journalistic savior faire" coming from a blog site that kisses the ideological backside of laizze-faire and whines about everything not being fair. I believe the phrase Dzubay was implying is "C'est la vie." In this instance, Latin would be more apropos than French would. Of course, I'm thinking the phrase that Dzubay should have used was "minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum." I find it confusing that blog slugs like the OTBL'ers would waste their seemingly bottomless pit of punctuated pabulum on the local newspaper. Apparently, they are having trouble reaching their target market -- all six people.)

Was Dzubay making a Socratic reference? Or perhaps he was attempting a sardonic expression in his editorial by referring to something other than, and especially the opposite of, the literal meaning? Then again, he could have been attempting to illustrate an incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result… Frankly, the facts bely the rhetoric of Dzubay as the printing of Mr. Kilber’s letter occurred AFTER it was posted right here on this web log. Moreover, there were some comments, I believe, addressing the probability of the Star Observer (in this case, Dzubay himself) printing Mr. Kilber’s letter.

(Admin's note: I not sure the Lord Himself could figure out what the hell is being babbled about in the above paragraph. It seems to pass a spelling test, but I'd like to subject the author to a pee test.)

The mere fact then that after the letter was posted here the Star Observer went and printed it tells us much more about electrons, the speed of light, and Steve Dzubay’s full understanding of the popularity and reach of this blog than it does the implied fairness and journalistic equity preposterously proposed by Dzubay - as if he would have printed the letter had it not first appeared here. Once he read it here the challenge was thrown down and for him not to print it at that point would have once again, proven the case. Furthermore, by printing the letter and then drawing attention to it in an editorial, he was engaging in a self-serving scheme of rehabilitation by taking an unwarranted, inaccurate and incredibly oversimplistic pot shot at this blog.

(Admin's note: It appears Mr. Dzubay is damn if he does or doesn't print the said letter in question. This paragraph remains me of a conversation I overheard at McDonald's the other morning. A grandpa, who happens to be my neighbor, was in charge of his three grandkids -- between 2-4 -- and they were getting breakfast. The kids wanted a toy -- this is two days after Christmas -- and they were told they don't give toys away with breakfast. The kids started crying and saying they wanted a toy. When Grandpa told them, if they got a toy, they'd only lose them in the mess of toys they just got for Christmas. One kid gave his best tearful, last-gasp whine and said "But Grandpa, I want another toy..." We are setting up a fund to collect money to buy the OTBL'ers a Happy Meal and get them a toy.

On the charge of the HSO taking a "pot shot" at that blog, we wholly agree with the OTBL'ers on that point. Shame on the HSO for such cheap shots! Those OTBL idiots will never see that underhandedness coming from this journalistic institution.)

One can read Dzubay’s editorial and no where in it is there any reference to the name of Mr. Kilber’s website. Moreover, there is no reference in Dzubay’s writing to note the numerous, compelling, well-written and intellectually challenging posts that have been published on this blog over the last several years. There was nothing fair minded or balanced in his editorial, rather he was blogging (poorly, I might add) in his own paper. Just as some very narrow-minded people can only see what they want to see, or are told to see, so too has Dzubay attempted to characterize this blog. The omission by Dzubay of an acknowledgment of the many compelling postings out here is very telling indeed. Are there some odd postings out here that are, for lack of a better description, rough around the edges? Of course, this is a personal web log owned by an individual and trafficked by numerous independent-minded persons.

(Admin's note: If they OTBL'ers haven't noticed, the HSO sells advertising and you are free to take out a small ad with your website address on it. I think the writer meant "intellectually challenged posts," in the above paragraph. Once again, the writer climbs the peak of hypocrisy when he says "There was nothing fair minded or balanced in his editorial, rather he was blogging (poorly, I might add) in his own paper." Or are we to interpret that the newspaper gets held to a higher standard than an Internet blog site populated by a couple anonymous, disgruntled Tom Paine wannabees? Its one thing to kiss someone else's ass or to have someone kiss your ass. The OTBL'ers have taken their pretzel logic to a new convoluted twist and are kissing their own ass: "The omission by Dzubay of an acknowledgment of the many compelling postings out here is very telling indeed." Indeed, gag me with a spoon of peanut butter!)

The eclectic nature of this and many other blogs are what create interest. On the other hand, the incredibly predictable and biased approach of a weekly newspaper such as the Hudson Star Observer should and does create a high degree of suspicion by many in the Hudson community. The mere fact that Dzubay counted the number of “for” and “against” referendum letters and draws a conclusion that they engaged in a fair representation leaves one utterly clueless as regards the total number of letters submitted that were edited or not printed (for one reason or another). Then there was the accusation of copyright infringement with zero details to support the claim. Knowing that some letters did not get printed is self-evidence of Dzubay and company changing or suppressing speech or writing that is considered subversive of the common good.

(Admin's note: The OTBL blog has three chords in its "eclectic" arsenal: anti-education, anti-community and anti-union. If the OTBL'ers truly believed in "free speech," their blog would be open to comments from all readers -- like this blog. They are into controlling the message and signing their three-chord song. In their case, "free speech" doesn't apply, but "cheap talk" does.)

Irony? Not the Socratic type Dzubay implies and certainly not from his perspective. To be sure there is some tragedy here, as those who are most familiar with what is written out here, on balance, can attest. The fact is that there was incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events (the printing of Kilbers letter in the HSO) and the normal or expected result - the true irony was that Dzubay allowed the letter to be printed because the normal or expected result (from past experience) was clearly suppression of writing - Mr. Kilber’s, in this case. Dzubay, in a twist of editorial nonsense, admits as much in what can only be described as parapraxia.

(Admin's note: Obviously, the above writer was using his dictionary. "Parapraxia" refers to a "slip of the tongue or of the pen, momentary amnesia regarding names, and other errors which, according to Freud (1901), demonstrate the intrusion of -unconscious- mental processes into the -conscious- world of the normal individual. Freud suggested that -censorship- operates in some of these situations to repress material which is unacceptable to the ego and thus brings about the 'mistake.'" Obviously, communicating one's ideas is not the goal at OTBL. Impressing your reading clanship with big words is...)

The editorial by Dzubay was a malicious use of the Star Observer to attempt to discredit Mr. Kilber and this blog as well as two other concerned citizens who just happen to be vocal opponents of matters to which Dzubay is a supporter. His statement that “As expected, both Weese and Shaw took the absence of their letters as a personal affront and proceeded to rant and call us names from the safety of Kilber’s blog” was nothing more than a veiled assertion that writers out here lack intestinal fortitude, which, in this particular case, is laughable. Mr. Dzubay ought to get copies of school board meetings over the last 4 years for review to see just how lacking both of those individuals he mentioned are in intestinal fortitude. Dzubay simply sees this blog as a competitive threat to both his paper and his world view of the “common good.” He merely made a weak attempt at discrediting OTBL in the hopes that readers will sumarily reject anything posted here. If his core readership takes that position, it is to their detriment. The readership of this blog and its opinions is far wider than the narrow-minded, gullible, lowest common denominator to whom Dzubay was addressing.

(Admin's note: In the above concluding paragraph, OTBL rides its hobby horse of hypocrisy to the bottom of the valley and tells us Dzubay's editorial was "a malicious use of the Star Observer to attempt to discredit Mr. Kilber” and his blog. Do they mean Dzubay is learning a few tricks for the OTBL playbook? In the final sentence, the OTBL'ers tell us that their shit don't stink and, if you aren't on their band wagon, yours does. The last sentence verifies my "bullshit theory of life." My theory states that, if all you have to eat is bullshit, you’ll reach a point where you get use to the taste and smell of bullshit. The OTBL'ers have obviously reached that point and acquired the taste of their own bullshit.)

Luke Car-Nac On Taste

A: Hypocrisy, hypocrisy and hypocrisy



Q: What are the three flavors of irony available at www.ontheborderline.net?

Luke Carnac: More fraud than Freud

Hudson's Hot Air Affair Announces New Participant


After being silenced by all local media outlets and defeated in a recent school referendum, a local group of Internet bloggers has decided to take its message to the air. The www.ontheborderline.nutz blog site has officially submitted its application for a balloon spot in Hudson's 2007 Hot Air Affair. Although the OTBL bloggers have not completed construction of the balloon, Mickal Phoneyckov, blog administrator, has submitted a computerized rendition of the balloon (pictured above).

Luke Carnac, official manure manager at OTBL, said the OTBL'ers have ceased all letter writing campaigns, whine parties and slander fests until the balloon is complete. He said, as always, they will do most of their work anonymously under the cover of late night darkness. Carnac said the bloggers decided on the balloon project as a way to get the local community to look up to them.

When ask about their experience in hot air ballooning, Carnac snarled that nobody in the group has any experience in ballooning. "In case you haven't been paying attention for the past few years," Carnac pointed out in his Type-A authoritarian tone of voice, "we don't have any experience in any of the things we do. Our expertise has always been in generating hot air and being the sand in the community jar of Vaseline."

Carnac pointed out that the balloon will be constructed out of rotted particle board left over from their recent, failed attempt at defeating a school referendum. He said the particle board will be fastened together with $99,820 worth of duct tape purchased with money from the NO Group anti-community war chest. To save weight on the balloon and reduce costs, they will not use a propane burner to generate hot air. Instead, Luke Carnac will be the single source of hot air. When asked if he could generate that much hot air, Carnac asked, "Why do you think we at OTBL are so against those liberal fruitcakes trying to save the polar bears from global warming?"

"Because you are the major contributors to global warming with all the methane and hot air you generate?," replied this reporter.

"Exactly, you conspiratorially socialist panhandler living off the tax dollars of guys like me who don't actually work for a living."

"But I work for a privately owned newspaper," countered this reporter.

"As always," threatened Carnac, "don't confuse me with the facts!"

When this reporter mentioned that the balloon project sounded like something that PBS's Canadian handiman Red Green would be proud of, Carnac spit-showered back, "Only a socialist scum reporter would think of using the word 'red.'"

A: A Hot Air One Night Stand



Q: What do you call it when www.ontheborderline.nutz blogger Luke Carnac address local "bored" meetings?

12/30/2006

OTBL TV's Theater of the Absurd Presents:

Dr. Strangenut
"A classic that puts the 'idiot' in this idiom!"

Saddam Hussein Reaches The End Of His Rope

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Saddam Hussein struggled briefly after American military guards handed him over to Iraqi executioners. But as his final moments approached, he grew calm. He clutched a Quran as he was led to the gallows, and in one final moment of defiance, refused to have a hood pulled over his head before facing the same fate he was accused of inflicting on countless thousands during a quarter-century of ruthless power.

A man whose testimony helped lead to Saddam's conviction and execution before sunrise said he was shown the body because "everybody wanted to make sure that he was really executed."

"Now, he is in the garbage of history," said Jawad Abdul-Aziz, who lost his father, three brothers and 22 cousins in the reprisal killings that followed a botched 1982 assassination attempt against Saddam in the Shiite town of Dujail.

Iraqi television showed what it said was Saddam's body, his head uncovered and the neck twisted at a sharp angle.

Read more.

PlayStation 666

Footage of actual night-vsion assisted kills by Apache helicopter in Iraq. Once they lock on to you stay still or die.

Bush Breaks Links Between Iraq And 9/11

August 21st, 2006: During a press conference, President Bush, while defending his decision to invade Iraq, is asked what Iraq had to do with 9/11. Bush answers.

Letter Home -- If Only Bush Could Read...

Music video dedicated to friends lost in Vietnam and to all the men and women fighting in Iraq today.

All the President's Words - Bush - Iraq War Unjustified

Step by step plans of the US government to invade Iraq. This interesting video, there was no need for a war in Iraq, and kill 100,000 men, women and children that had nothing to do with 911 attacks. If you like this video, search on video.google.com for '911 Plane Site', '911 Loose Change' and 'Stephen Colbert roasts Bush' to watch more detailed videos.

Jean Schmidt - 'Cowards cut and run, Marines never do.'

Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, takes the floor on November 18, 2005 to say 'cowards cut and run, Marines never do.'

Then Lt. Gen. William F. Odom Must Be A Coward (8 minutes)

On 09/26/06, Lt. Gen. William F. Odom, USA, Rtd, participated in the "Iraq Forum," in the U.S. Capitol, Room HC-6. Its purpose was to spotlight the costs of the conflict. A number of expert witnesses were heard from in the proceeding. Lt. Gen. Odom said: "The longer you stay in Iraq, the worse it will get."

From the files: Rumsfeld Meets Hussein -- WMD's For Sale

Donald Rumsfeld sells weapons of mass destruction to Saddam Hussein.

12/29/2006

Luke Carnac on www.ontheborderline.nutz hot tub party

A: One (Luke, Carnac, N. Ononimous, Max Fill, Lil Bill, Cantankerpus, Cub, Citizen Joe, Spiritofbullshitus, In The Know, Admin, etc.)



Q: How many OTBL bloggers does the www.ontheborderline.nutz hot tub hold when the OTBL blog site holds its regular monthly hot tub meeting?

A: The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind.



Q: Where's this week's copy of Luke Carnac's favorite newspaper?

HSO Collector's Edition On Sale Now !















This is something to tell your grandkids about. When Newspaper Man Steve Dzubay tells the borderliner crude crew how it really is. Pissant Luke is already organizing a boycott over on ontheborderline.nut. When all his friends unsubsribe to the Hudson Star Observer, the paper's
circulation will drop by 2. You can help make up the difference. Buy an extra copy today,(suitable for framing) Show your support for someone with guts to stand against Hudson's longstanding community menace . Tell the Borderliners to "Take their blog and shove it!

A: Because his head fit.

Q: Why did Luke Carnac, the St. Croix Valley's biggest clown, join the circus?

12/28/2006

Quotes Of The Day By Steve Dzubay!

"Isn’t freedom of expression a good thing? You need not rely on these pages for “biased” information, through the wonders of the Internet, you can publish it yourself."
-- Steve Dzubay



"Kilber refers to an 'obvious and malicious refusal to print four submissions.' We can only recall one submission - a letter by Marion Shaw - which was outright rejected. The only other letter we can conclude Kilber might be referring to was one supposedly sent by Curt Weese. We were unable to find it and since we'd published Weese letters each of the past four weeks, it was unlikely he had anything truly new to contribute."

"As expected, both Weese and Shaw took the absence of their letters as a personal affront and proceeded to rant and call us names from the safety of Kilber's blog."

"After viewing Kilber's site recently and seeing the wide-ranging ridicule, sarcasm, copyright violations and a general lack of civility, he might be surprised to learn that some of us have begun to navigate around such bullying."

SWEET SWEET SMACKDOWN!!

Read more @ The Hudson Star Observer.

Could this be why the OTBL bloggers are ignoring the death of President Ford?

Ford also took on right-wing extremists in his own party, denouncing the John Birch Society in 1965.

In a 1991 speech, Ford said, "Unfortunately, there are some on the right and some on the left for whom consensus is a dirty word. A few mistake the clash of ideas for a holy war. I never claimed to be a political philosopher. I never claimed to be anything more than a plain-spoken Midwesterner, conservative on money and liberal on human rights.

"While I never regarded government as an enemy, I was perfectly happy to have politicians of both parties stay out of the people's wallets, out of their classrooms, out of their boardrooms, and out of their bedrooms."

Read more Detoit Free Press

12/27/2006

Where the right wing nuts are coming from in 8 minutes and 31 seconds

Filled with powerful Presidents and other political leaders implying the secret governments existence and it's effects. I'd have to say this is my favorite and most telling of them all.

"It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning."

Henry Ford

Meet The Koch Family: You Say "democracy" and they say "plutocracy" and "corporatocracy"

Founding fathers of the John Birch Society, CATO Institute, Reason magazine, etc.



So long as the markets are free and the rich stay that way, human suffering and environmental devastation are irrelevant. Beneath the “feel good” facade of baseball, apple-pie, mom, and Chevrolet lurks this sinister reality of the American Way.

Much of humanity is shackled by poverty and besieged by the violence of war. Earth is experiencing a slow, agonizing death. Animal and plant species are disappearing at an alarming rate. Despite these tragic and inevitable consequences, the United States persists in spreading the cancers of Americanized Capitalism and Democracy.

Here's to Saint Charles

America’s wealthiest owe a significant debt of gratitude to their patron saint, Charles G. Koch. Mr. Koch’s Herculean efforts have virtually ensured that the United States’ plutocracy and its complimentary corporatocracy will continue their reign in America’s highly dysfunctional democracy. Blessed with a significant number of Americans still rendered somnambulant by a mass media machine, Koch and his fellow patricians are riding high.
Read more!

Calling Wal-Mart to Repentance: Didn't Sam Walton Have the "Buy Amercia" Campaign?

Pastor Bill Shanks delivers God's message to employees at Wal-Mart headquarters.

Pearl E. Gates v. Gates of Hell

Archeologists Find Historic Educational Artifact At New School Site

























Archeologists verified today that the item unearthed at the site of the future St. Croix Meadows Elementary Government Indoctrination Center and Teacher Spouse/Thug Union Hall was indeed an ancient tribal concoction used by early 20th Century Socialists to brainwash citizens and children into thinking that everyone has a right to a quality education. Unbelievably, an even earlier group of Socialists who convened to write Wisconsin's Constitution included this unimaginable concept in their document.
Partakers of this "Pablum" concoction claimed it had medicinal properties, like enabling street urchins and other members of the unwashed masses to attain respectability and economic advantage.
The early Socialists achieved this goal through an archaic concept known as democracy, an ancient system in which not only the enlightened citizenry could make their opinion known through something called a "vote" but everyone living within defined boundaries could also "vote" to confiscate wealth from the Wealth Creators and peanut salesmen within those boundaries to fund this evil scheme.
There are rumors that even today, some living within our boundaries still partake of this evil potion. The item found at the site will be destroyed by authorities promptly.

12/26/2006

AVERAGE JOES


There they go again. As part of its continuing effort to make it seem as if American workers are actually prospering in an era in which median income is still below what it was in 2000, the Wall Street Journal editorial page trots out some misleading averages. If Goldman, Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein gets a $54 million bonus, and 53,999,999 other workers get nothing, then on average, 54 million people have received a $1 bonus. In reality, however, only one person has more money in his pocket. Crudely speaking, that's what has been happening in the U.S. economy. The Journal's editorial page would like us to think otherwise. Some key snippets:

Over the past year, the real average wage for non-supervisory employees has risen 2.8%. That equates to about a $1,200 increase in purchasing power for the typical household this year. Last year, real median household income was also up 1.1% after inflation. This rise in take-home pay helps to explain how Americans have had the disposable income this Christmas shopping season to pay $600 for Play Station 3 computer games and $150 for the Kid-Tough Digital Camera for three-year-olds.
Got that? Average real wages rose 2.8 percent over the past year, while real median household income, which more accurately captures the experience of typical Americans, rose 1.1 percent.

Later, the editorial argues that the best way to boost the stagnant income of workers is to. . . . .cut taxes.

We certainly agree with those who'd like to do more to lift worker paychecks, so here are two ideas. First, make the Bush tax cuts permanent. If Congress lets them expire in 2010, as many Democrats are urging, the average family will suffer the equivalent of a $2,000 a year pay cut.
Again, not the use of the average. It may be true that letting the Bush tax cuts expire in 2010, as they were designed to do, might result in families, on average, paying $2,000 a year more in taxes. But for the median family, the sum would surely be less. Again, if Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman, Sachs pays an extra $1.62 million in taxes as a result of top marginal rates rising, and 1,619,999 other workers continue to pay taxes at the same rate, then on average, their taxes have risen by $1. But only one person is paying more taxes. Sigh.

Source: Daniel Gross.

Racism Recedes: Classism Grows

It is no longer publicly acceptable to be racist. Just ask Senator Allen who lost his election bid for a racist remark. As racism recedes from public acts, another deeply entrenched discrimination of very long standing is rising to the fore for attack, belittlement, and reform. Classism, or discrimination based on economic class, is becoming the new politically incorrect behavior to overcome.

From medical care, to education, to housing, to job opportunities, those of the wealthy class get better treatment and favor than others of less affluence. Harvard, one of the costliest universities, has tuition assistance for the non-wealthy. But, the average income of families receiving tuition assistance for Harvard is over $100,000 per year.

The wealthy gated communities in which the better off reside, no longer exclude residents on the basis of race. But, they discriminate intensely on the basis of financial status, which mirrors racist selectivity in some areas of the country, but, race is not the operative selective criteria. No ethnic family would be denied access to a wealthy gated community if they have the resources to outbid others for the residence. (Though they may find the estate has already been sold, in Alabama or Mississippi, for example.)

As many as 96,000 people die in American hospitals each year as a direct result of medical malpractice. Many times that number receive the wrong procedure, medication, or diagnosis resulting in a worsening of their malady or, the creation of a new one they didn't walk in with. There are many factors involved in why this occurs. But, chief among them is the hours medical practitioners put in. Some residents routinely put in 36 hours at a time. That last 12 hours results in their working on patients with the same attention and judgment skills as a .10 % blood alcohol content. They aren't permitted to operate a vehicle in that state, but, they are permitted to operate on a patient in that state.

Read more @ Watch Blog.

Mr. Peanut & Himself

Here is a cartoon of what the ontheborderline blogger was doing when he learned that the federal government approved free mental health care...

Literacy targeted for middle schoolers

Kenturcky schools try new approach to boost student literacy

Program targets older, overlooked age groups

Teacher Malisa Russell faced her class of Bernheim Middle School seventh-graders and began calling out short phrases.

"Paint a picture," the Bullitt County teacher said. Several students raised their hands, and one offered the correct answer: "Explain."

Russell moved on to another clue: "Read between the lines."

"Infer," a student called out.

It's not unusual to use word games to build students' vocabulary and literacy skills. Except Russell is a math teacher, instructing her students on concepts such as percent of change, equivalent ratio and proportion.

Starting this year at Bernheim though, improving student literacy is every one's job.

"I felt like I always left the reading and writing to the reading and writing teachers," said Matt Murphy, who teaches computer applications. "But now all of us have that responsibility."

Bernheim is not alone.

Read more @ Louisville Courier-Journal.

LA school district focuses on middle school students

LOS ANGELES - Aiming to curb high drop out rates in Los Angeles public high schools, district officials are beginning to focus more on middle school students.

"Middle schools have been overlooked," said Robert Collins, Los Angeles Unified School District' chief instructional officer for secondary education. "We can't win the high school issues unless we do a better job in middle schools."

In coming months, district officials are expected to ask the Board of Education for approval on aggressive reforms for middle schools.

If approved, however, such reforms, which could include a longer school day, would take years to fully implement.

Meanwhile, earlier this year district officials announced a set of initiatives aimed at tackling the drop out rates. "Diploma project advisors" were placed in low-performing and troubled middle schools.

Read more @San Jose Mercury News.

12/25/2006

Outsourcing exec to U.S.: Do the math

Azim Premji has little patience for those who argue outsourcing is stealing high-paying American tech jobs.

The chairman of Wipro Technologies, one of the Indian companies that have rewritten the rules of the global software services market, says the United States should be more worried about what is taught in its classrooms -- or, rather, what isn't.

``You need more emphasis on mathematics in school,'' the 61-year-old billionaire said during a recent visit to Silicon Valley. ``It's a building block.''

In fact, there is a shortage of information technology engineers in the United States, said Premji, who in four decades has led Wipro from a $2 million cooking-oil processing company to a $2.4 billion global technology player. In its most recent quarter, the Bangalore-based company reported $765 million in revenue, a 41 percent increase from a year earlier, with profits of $152 million, a 48 percent jump.

Read more @ San Jose Mercury News

This free market, holiday season...

There's Profit in Alleging a 'War on Christmas'



NEW YORK Fox News host/Creators Syndicate columnist Bill O'Reilly is prominent among the conservatives known for complaining about the "War on Christmas" allegedly waged by retailers and others who prefer to say "Happy Holidays."

Now, People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch (RWW) is wondering if this conservative campaign is at least partly motivated by profit.In a Wednesday post, RWW wrote: "Basic math says the Liberty Counsel has pulled in an estimated $300,000-plus, the Alliance Defense Fund an estimated $500,000-plus, and the American Family Association an estimated $600,000-plus from selling their 'War on Christmas' wares."RWW said, for instance, that the AFA "has sold more than 500,000 buttons and 125,000 bumper stickers bearing the slogan 'Merry Christmas: It's Worth Saying.'" Liberty Counsel "has sold 12,500 legal memos on celebrating Christmas and 8,000 of its own buttons and bumper stickers," RWW added.

"While the Right claims that they are merely seeking to thwart an 'accelerating effort by secularists in America to annihilate expressions of Christmas and Christianity,' its effort to generate a controversy where none exists has been a rousing success -- in more ways than one," the post noted wryly.The Carpetbagger Report added that "we can draw two conclusions from this. One, even these religious right groups probably realize Christmas is not 'under attack,' but cynically exploit the fears of their members in order to pad their budgets. And two, if retailers acceded to right-wing demands and dropped 'Happy Holidays' and 'Season's Greetings' from their commercial vocabulary altogether, the religious right would probably experience a deep sense of panic."

Source: Editor & Publisher


...A lull in the war on Christmas

In the early 20th century, New York City's Committee on Elementary Schools urged that Christmas carols be banned in classrooms after 20,000 Jewish students boycotted classes in protest. Some movies in the 1940s, including "Miracle on 34th Street" and "It's a Wonderful Life," introduced a nonreligious iconography that secular and religious Americans could unite behind. In the late 1950s, the John Birch Society issued tracts accusing godless communists of waging war on Christmas.

Read more @ LA Times.

Man asks school board to investigate allegations on blog

Gwinnett County, Georgia

SUWANEE - The ex-husband of a former Gwinnett County Public Schools employee asked the Gwinnett County Board of Education on Thursday night to ask Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks to stop making what he called personal attacks against former employees.
The request stems from the school system's response to allegations posted on a Web journal, or blog, of wrongdoing by the school system and some of its employees. Wilbanks sent an e-mail to the school's principals contending that the blog is published by or on behalf of disgruntled former employees. The e-mail stated the employees "resigned from the school system rather than face termination due to their inappropriate and unacceptable behavior."

Zack Mills also asked the board to thoroughly investigate the allegations found online at gcps.blogspot.com. He also suggested the board members interview all of the employees who have left the school system recently, saying there are two sides to every story.

"It is your responsibility to make sure that everything that occurs in the school system is above reproach," Mills said. Board Chairman Robert McClure told Mills the information on the blog has been brought to the board's attention.

McClure said the anonymous blog makes "significant accusations" that have been "thoroughly explored by the superintendent and the board."

"We don't find (the accusations) to have any merit," McClure said. "We have to assume (the blog's contributors) had motivations that are less than pure."
McClure said the blog's content is an attempt to harm the school system with "information that is, at best, misleading."

12/24/2006

Food For The Thoughtless

Carnac Dreams of a Green Christmas

A: Because every buck is dear to me.



Q: Why do I love Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?

Where Does Baby Jesus Go In the "Off Season"?

The Baby Jesus Chronicles














Last weekend in Bellingham, Wash., a Jesus statue was stolen for the third time this year. In Plaistow, N.H., one was plucked from its cradle and replaced with a beer can. Basically, where there's a nativity scene, there's a good chance there'll be a manger kidnapping, and rarely does the baby Jesus get returned. But in Buffalo, N.Y., an 18-inch plastic figurine was stolen 2 days before Christmas, last year, and returned to its owners' doorstep 8 months later, along with a photo album chronicling where he'd been. We investigate.

The letter that was left on the Leising's doorstep with the returned doll:
Dear Residents of Depew Ave and keepers of the Baby Jesus,

Please read this letter in its entirety before passing judgment on the actions and events which have taken place. We are simply a group of young adults who wish to show the baby Jesus a better life than he would have seen cooped up in an attic crawl space. He has traveled over counties and states, seen landmarks and milestones, met people and animals alike. We have done our best to show the baby Jesus the many glorious aspects of our world.

However, now we feel it's time to safely return the baby Jesus back into the arms of his owners. We have done the best possible job we could to keep the baby Jesus safe and in loving arms. Over the course of the last eight months, the baby Jesus has become more to us than simply a plastic religious figure. He has come with us to parties, on camping trips, on college visits, and on multiple summer adventures. The baby Jesus has been with us through thick and thin, happy and sad, good times and bad. Having to say goodbye to the baby Jesus made today a sad day for all of us.

On a more serious note, we meant for this adventure to be in no way either blasphemous or disrespectful. We hope you can view this as an interesting and funny story, to tell at your dinner parties. The baby Jesus has made us happy in numerous times in the past eight months. We hope the chronicles of his life with us can pass some of that happiness on to you.

-Creators of the baby Jesus Chronicles

A Christmas Carole

“If I could work my will, said Scrooge indignantly, "every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!"”



“Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it.”



“External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty.”.



“Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.”

A Blessed Reminder to Us of the Revolutionizing Christ

"African-Americans read their own collective experience into the agony and exaltation of Jesus. The story of the Christ child, blessed by God yet born in the shadow of poverty and violence, was their story. Jesus' humble birth in antiquity signified the humble origins of African peoples in modernity. In his impoverished entry into the world, Jesus turned the tables on earthly valuations. Fulfilling the promise of the oracle that celebrates his advent in a stable, the hills of the privileged and the valleys of the humble are inverted, marking the beginning of a new era.''

-- Allen Dwight Callahan in "The Talking Book: African-Americans and the Bible.''

By E. J. Dionne

WASHINGTON -- Great traditions are subversive. They constantly call the imperfections of the present to account in the name of a more exalted standard.

Abraham Lincoln marshaled the power of the Declaration of Independence to challenge slavery, and every year, the Christmas story overturns our daily understandings of power and privilege. A newborn king and savior appears among us, born to a most unlikely family, in a most unlikely venue, in the least promising of circumstances.

Callahan's remarkable book, published this year by Yale University Press, describes the rich and intense relationship between the Bible and the African-American imagination. But even more powerfully, it suggests -- without making the case directly -- that the reading of the Christian tradition offered by African-Americans is as close as any to the authentic meaning of Christianity.
Read more!

12/23/2006

Close Call for Santa

















Early this morning , during a preliminary walk through for his Midnight Dash, Santa narrowly escaped injury from Coneal and Carry Advocates celebrating their annual,"Protect Our Property Days" at the Stone Pine headquarters of ontheborderline.nut. Borderliners's were target practicing in pre-dawn conditions to similate real life intrusions by Communists. Stray shots inadvertantly grazed Santa's holiday attire, but thankfully he was uninjured. When questioned Santa said.
"Borderline headquarters is on the naughty list for years to come."

Funding the V.A. another "Immoral" redistribution of our Wealth


According to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, nearly 200,000 American veterans are homeless on any given night, and over 400 of those homeless veterans served in Iraq.

Without a comprehensive support system for returning vets, it's no wonder so many troops are failing to successfully transition from military to civilian life. Our troops are in Baghdad one week and Brooklyn the next. The shift from soldier to civilian in a matter of days is not an easy one to make. According to the Army's latest figures, approximately one-in-three Iraq veterans will have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or other mental health issues. Throughout the war, that percentage has risen, and experts predict that trend will continue for decades, just like in Vietnam.

These veterans aren't getting the support they need because the Department of Veterans' Affairs is dangerously under funded. Despite outcry from every major veterans' organization in America, funding for the VA is still not mandatory. This means that every year, veterans' groups have to battle with politicians to get the funding they need. For 2007 alone, veterans' groups from Disabled American Veterans to the Veterans of Foreign Wars are urging Congress to increase the Administration's budget by more than $2 billion.

Faced with this budget shortfall, VA hospitals across the country are reducing their services -- even as 18,000 wounded Iraq vets are returning seeking care, and hundreds of thousands are seeking mental health treatment. One IAVA member veteran from Virginia Beach seeking treatment at his local VA was told recently that he would have to wait three months for an appointment with a counselor because, “all of you guys are coming home.”

Yellow Bumper Magnets Fall Short on Supporting Our Troops



















When the frenzy of "Supporting Ouf Troops" was at it's peak you saw these on most every car in sight. I never got one because it seemed to me it really did nothing for the troops. I considered purchasing one at a local service station but first asked " Where does the money for this go"? The station manager informed me that he did not know. My guess is someone made a quick buck on the backs of our trooops.
As the troops return from Iraq and the opportunity for real support presents itself, the yellow ribbons are disappearing. Yesterday, I learned of one disabled amputee veteran who was homeless on the the street in his wheelchair. Until a new agency publicized his plight he was receiving $200/mo. to support himself from the V.A. When the story broke, his compensation immediately increased, no doubt out of fear for bad publicity than "Support for Our Troops".
Stories like the following from the Christian Science Monitor are playing out across America.

Back from Iraq - and suddenly out on the streets

| Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor


Social service agencies say the number of homeless vets is rising, in part because of high housing costs and gaps in pay.

Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts are now showing up in the nation's homeless shelters.

While the numbers are still small, they're steadily rising, and raising alarms in both the homeless and veterans' communities. The concern is that these returning veterans - some of whom can't find jobs after leaving the military, others of whom are still struggling psychologically with the war - may be just the beginning of an influx of new veterans in need. Currently, there are 150,000 troops in Iraq and 16,000 in Afghanistan. More than 130,000 have already served and returned home.

Beyond the yellow ribbons

Both the Veterans Administration and private veterans service organizations are already stretched, providing services for veterans of previous conflicts. For instance, while an estimated 500,000 veterans were homeless at some time during 2004, the VA had the resources to tend to only 100,000 of them.

"You can have all of the yellow ribbons on cars that say 'Support Our Troops' that you want, but it's when they take off the uniform and transition back to civilian life that they need support the most," says Linda Boone, executive director of The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.

So far, dozens of them, like Herold Noel, a married father of three, have found themselves sleeping on the streets, on friends' couches, or in their cars within weeks of returning home. Two years ago, Black Veterans for Social Justice (BVSJ) in the borough of Brooklyn, saw only a handful of recent returnees. Now the group is aiding more than 100 Iraq veterans, 30 of whom are homeless.

"It's horrible to put your life on the line and then come back home to nothing, that's what I came home to: nothing. I didn't know where to go or where to turn," says Mr. Noel. "I thought I was alone, but I found out there are a whole lot of other soldiers in the same situation. Now I want people to know what's really going on."

12/22/2006

Ask Ayn Randers
























Dear Ayn Randers,
How do I, as a Rugged Individual Objectivist Libertarian resist caving in to the
temptation of participating the the immoral collectivist group think practice of
gift giving and sharing at this time of year? I'll hang up a listen to your answer!

Dear Rugged Individualist Objectivist Libertarian,

Many of us Objectivists experience a greater sense of individualism by standing alone against the archaic and immoral practice of gift giving. My advise is, go to the most decadent and oppulent merchant you can find and empty you wallet on something you've desired all your life. With no money left, your altruistic temptation to spend it on others will vanish.

Ayn Randers Advice
(Terms of Usage)

The Advice column "Ask Ayn Randers" is provided for the entertainment and enjoyment of our readers. Ayn Randers is a fictious and deceased Objectivist Philosopher who gives advise to those asking, not out of any immoral altruistic impulse, on
the contrary, it comes from a deep seated genetically induced sadistic streak that some may consider a serious character flaw. For those of you actually foolish enough to follow "Ayn Rander's" ludicrous suggestions, you are adviced to seek psychological counciling immediately.
The views expressed by "Ayn Randers"
are her own and are not necessarily those of ATBL1 or it associates.
ATBL1 and it's management accept no responsibility for those requesting and following the advice of Ayn Randers nor from any damages incurred by said idiots.

Toss These Glaciers in Your Bubble Bath Archimedes

IT TAKES A DIFFERENT KIND OF IDIOT TO IGNORE ICE COVERING A LANDMASS THE SIZE OF GREENLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
























Greenland Melt May Swamp LA, Other Cities, Study Says:

Stefan Lovgren
for National Geographic News
April 8, 2004


Greenland's massive ice sheet could begin to melt this century and may disappear completely within the next thousand years if global warming continues at its present rate. According to a new climate change study, the melting of Greenland's ice sheet would raise the oceans by seven meters (23 feet), threatening to submerge cities located at sea level, from London to Los Angeles.

"A one-meter [three-foot] sea level rise would submerge a substantial amount of Bangladesh," Jonathan Gregory, the study's lead author and a climate scientist at the University of Reading in England, said in a telephone interview.

Scientists have previously calculated that if the annual average temperature in Greenland increases by almost 3° Celsius (5.4° Fahrenheit), its ice sheet will begin to melt.

Many experts believe the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will have reached levels around the year 2100 that would cause the temperature to rise that much.

OTBL: "Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Whatever! We Ain't Got No Beef!"

Just in time -- Ontheborderline bloggers celebrate capitalist pigs.

This wouldn't happen, if conceal and carry was allowed in the NBA

Free market free-for-all:

Watch as free market millionaires from the New York Knicks fight free market millionaires from the Denver Nuggets from one end of the court to the other. Thank God my children were busy blasting Islamic enemies on their Left Behind video game and didn't have to see this violence.

Marvin windows workers receive year-end bonuses

Friday really was payday for workers at Marvin Windows, as annual bonus checks are handed out.

Santa came early for the workers at Marvin Windows and Doors. They are heading into Christmas weekend with a combined $15.7 million in profit sharing checks.
Split among the company's 3,489 employees, that works out to a cool $4,500 average payout.

The news was announced Friday morning at the company's annual meeting in Warroad.

Source: Minneapolis Star-Tribune -- read more.

How The White House Decides Who's Naughty Or Nice

Pssst...Hey Gilligan it's time we replaced the Minnow

With Christmas rapidly approaching, you may need a few quick suggestions for the capitalist in your house...or should I say villas scattered across the globe. Check out this little fish boat. If you'r familiar with the playing field at Newton Field, that is it's approximate size. If you are familiar with the operating budget of the Hudson school district, you will need to saveup many years of that to purchase this.

Asking price: $104,098,000 -- batteries not included...




This yacht is steaming towards the pukatorium in Hudson, Wisconsin.

Trickle Down Economics Ain't Trickling


The Ri$e of Plutocracy and Corporate Rule

“We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both.”
- Supreme Court Justice Louis B. Brandeis

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The richest 1 percent of Americans now have more income that the bottom 96 million. The richest 1 percent owns nearly half the country's wealth. The top 10 percent owns 80 percent of the wealth. The Census Bureau reports the gap between rich and poor is the largest in 75 years, just before the Great Depression.

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This ideal has degraded to a “greed is good” philosophy and the Ronald Reagan drivel that “government is the problem.” Add the many politicians that are bought by corporate America through campaign donations and the result is legislation that is transforming the U.S. from a democracy to a plutocracy where the rich rule.

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“Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime?”
- Aristotle

Read more

Ho! Ho! Ho! - He! He! He!