Article II, Sec. 1, cl. 5 of the US Constitution
“No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the
United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution,
shall be eligible to the Office of President. . .”

From the 20th Amendment to the US Constitution.
“or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify,
then the Vice President elect shall act as President until
a President shall have qualified;”

According to the US Constitution, the supreme law of the
land, Barack Obama is not President of the United States.
No Chief Justice administering the oath of office,
No  oath sworn by a “president elect” makes one president.
There are 3 mandatory requirements to achieve a legal inauguration.

• A qualified president elect.
• Sufficient votes by the Electoral College.
• Certification and count of Electoral College votes by
  Congress

I am sick and tired of good, hard working Americans being insulted, being ignored, being attacked for questioning the eligibility of Barack Obama. People that are supposed to look after our best interest and the best interest of this country, are taking their cues from political agendas, lazily accepting status quo or being bought. This includes the Mainstream Media, State Election officials, US Congressmen, judges of all ranks and certainly the Obama camp of left wing socialists. Even the best of those in the media, such as Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck have either stayed away from this constitutional crisis issue or joined in belittling “birthers.”

Many of us are guessing why those on Fox are not covering this issue. The consensus, I believe, is that Fox Management has said no to covering this issue. Even if the people doing research for Fox were restrained or bought off, O’Reilly, Hannity and Beck are not stupid enough to not get it.

So, therefore, The Citizen Wells blog is going to do two things.

1. Each day, a fact sheet, truths and facts that are self evident about Obama’s eligibility including interviews with Sarah Obama, Barack’s Kenyan grandmother, facts about Obama’s birth and reports from media in the US and Africa. This will serve as an Internet Billboard and will be posted everyday until either someone in the MSM accurately reports on this or action is taken by a judge or elected official.

2. I am issuing a challange to Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and others in the media to step up and do their jobs. I will answer any questions they may have, debate them and I challenge them to dispute the facts.

To my knowledge, the only person in the MSM who has covered Obama’s eligibilty issue to any extent is Lou Dobbs and he did this on CNN of all places. Mr. Dobbs consistently stated his no brainer question again recently on the O’Reilly show on Fox. Lou Dobbs on CNN earlier referred to the COLB presented by the Obama camp as a piece of paper referring to another piece of paper. He then simply stated why doesn’t Obama present an authentic birth certificate. We applaud you Mr. Dobbs. This is such a common sense basic question to ask yet few in the media have asked it.

The eligibilty issues surrounding Barack Obama have been extensively covered on this blog and many other sites. To not cover this on the mainstream media is certainly unprofessional, un American and I believe criminal.

I am challenging those in the media to do their jobs, to serve their customers, their fellow Americans and cover this crisis. You are being out scooped and many of you are going down the tubes fast. That is no surprise. I am also challenging those on Fox, the only TV network to seriously question Obama and his agenda. O’Reilly, Hannity and Beck, if you do not cover this story, it will eventually rise to the surface and you will be lumped together with the masses of biased, leftist, talking heads that pretend to do journalism and reporting.

I am personally challenging you. Anyone have the guts and integrity to take me and the American people on?

Wells

It’s Tuesday November 24^th and for breakfast I slam down a cup of coffee and head to Avs morning skate. The best breakfast ever.  I was glad to see twenty-five fans in the stands.  Play was lively and a lot of smiles.  The Colorado Avalanche have found their chemistry on the ice.

Defenseman Kyle Quincey and superstar rookie Matt Duchene chatted amongst themselves along the boards, while Adam Foote was supervising puck drills.  J-M Liles repeatedly plowed the puck toward the net, but frustration was apparent, as his shots didn’t fire head on.  With Liles on the IR twice this year, his spot on fantasy teams has caused frustration, me included.  Wojtek Wolski seemed tired, as I observed for my fantasy line-up and his potential against the upcoming Predators.  He was smiling and talking with Duchene between drills, so I hope he can hold my LW spot for Wednesday.

I was impressed with defenseman Ryan Wilson who had good shots and was extremely persistent in achieving an accurate shot.  His puck handling skills were tight and skilled.

The last players on the ice were Ryan O’Reilly and Chris Stewart having a blast challenging goaltender Peter Budaj.

After the morning skate, I went to hang with the group of Avalanche fans eagerly waiting for the team to sign autographs and get pictures.  As each car crept through the gate, fans swarmed politely.  These Avalanche fans were very bonded in their love for their team and courteous to the players. As Budaj drove out of the gate, fans wanted to know if he would be starting against Nashville. He said he wasn’t.

I had a chance to give my blog card to Paul Stastny and Ryan O’Reilly.  I approached Stastny as fellow DU alumni, while I approached O’Reilly with “you’re on my fantasy team.”  He liked that.  I asked them both to check out my blog.

Shout out to Cody McLeod who got out of his truck to take pictures with everyone.  We were all glad he didn’t fight with ex-Av Lappy on Monday against the Flyers.

I’m not the best photographer with my camera phone, but here’s a few photos of Cody McLeod, Darcy Tucker and Ryan O’Reilly.

Until next morning skate, don’t cross my blue line!

Screen name: Narayan
Title/Functional role: Developer
Company name: Sahi Software
Project title: Sahi
Time to complete : 4 years

Project details: Sahi is an automation tool to test web applications. Sahi injects javascript into web pages using a proxy and the javascript helps automate web applications. It is a tester friendly tool; it abstracts out most difficulties that testers face while automating web applications. Some salient features include multithreaded playback, platform and browser independence, no XPaths, no waits, excellent Java interaction and inbuilt reporting. It is an on-going project on SourceForge and I am the lead developer who designed and authored the product and still innovate and support it full time through my firm Sahi Software. Good expertise in Java network programming was needed to build a robust fast proxy and thorough knowledge of javascript and its quirks on different browsers was needed to develop the browser interaction code. With excellent support provided via forums and email, Sahi is fast picking up as a simple yet robust tool for web application testing. Links: http://sourceforge.net/projects/sahi http://sahi.co.in http://sahi.co.in/forums

What do you read?: Javascript – The Definitive Guide – David Flanagan Java Network Programming – O’Reilly – Elliotte Rusty Harold Headfirst Design Patterns – O’Reilly – Eric Freeman; Elisabeth Robson; Kathy Sierra; Bert Bates Hard Core Java – O’Reilly – Robert Simmons Jr. Python Cookbook – O’Reilly – Martelli, Ravenscroft and Ascher

Please use the star rating system available in “leave a comment” to vote for this submission.
Deadline is December 11, 2009.

I zoomed through this book in 2 days and it is a worthy read. A few of Scott’s pearls of wisdom… get the book for more insights:

1. There is apparently a lecture game called ‘ummmster’ where you drink every time a speaker says ‘ummm’ – not recommended when you’re cramming for exams (for those in school) but I do post-watch a lot of conference videos at home so… ha!

2. Take an improv class. I’ve been wanting to do that for years, to train myself as a better speaker. Great, great reminder. Even if you don’t want to be a public speaker, know that ‘we perform all the time’ and it’s good to be comfortable in your own skin in any scenario.  A great joke I’ve never heard before that Scott offers up as performance practice:

Q. How many Zen masters does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

A. None. The Zen master has overcome his desire for the bulb to be changed.

3. People never fall asleep if they are at the center of the experience.

#3 can apply in almost EVERY situation in life. In general, when working in community (social media) or communications (marketing, PR, speaking), etc… you’re goal is to focus on the experience of your audience.

A handful of thought-provoking confessions that I really appreciate (Chapter 10) -

• I’m insanely grateful to make a living as a trafficker of ideas. [me too! an eloquent way to put it. thank you.]
• I’m an introvert. [Scott says he expends most of his social energy during his talks that he often prefers a window with a great view and a book. I've always come out as an 'E' in the Myers-Brigg tests but the last two years I've spent in the community limelight has evolved me to agree with his sentiment.]
• Sometimes I lecture commando. [oh, this one is good. You have to read page 140 to hear the rest...]

My review. Short and sweet.  Thanks for the read Scott.

Tenho visto muitas matérias sobre o Kindle, com opiniões sobre o aparelho e o futuro do livro, em especial sobre o futuro do negócio livro. Eu acredito que muita gente ainda não entendeu, ou não quer entender. Por outro lado, já tem gente se adaptando, se preparando para o futuro.

Um breve background sobre mim, que pode te ajudar a entender meu ponto de vista:

• sou aficionado por livros, em especial de negócios
• eu adoro ler, estudar, aprender – temas de meu interesse
• gosto muito de tecnologia, em especial de gadgets, como iPhone, laptop, máquina fotográfica digital, e claro, Kindle
• trabalho com informação (no agronegócio), usando internet
• acredito muito no potencial da internet, de levar informação ultra segmentada de forma instântanea

O que gosto no Kindle (e de outros leitores de ebooks):

• tem muitas das vantagens de um livro: fácil de carregar, leitura confortável para os olhos, confortável para ler na cama, no sofá
• tem muitas das vantagens da internet: acesso imediato a informação, sem custo de frete, sem risco do produto esgotar
• está tornando muito mais fácil, rápido e barato editar um livro
• está tornando mais fácil para novos autores difundir seu trabalho (e até ganhar dinheiro com isso)

O que ele pode mudar no negócio livro

• a agregação de valor das editoras vai mudar, pois toda a logística de impressão e distribuição deixa de existir
• a barreira de entrada para novas editoras diminui muito
• a possibilidade de autores editarem seus livros independentemente, sem uma editora
• maior facilidade para editoras ultra segmentadas surgirem (e darem certo)

O que se pode esperar de mudanças no Kindle (e outros leitores de ebook):

• a concorrência vai aumentar, com novos modelos, com novidades, com preços mais baixos
• hoje o Kindle é muito “travado”, com DRM nos livros, isso deve mudar rapidamente
• a possibilidade de se emprestar um livro eletrônico, como já acontece com o Nook, da Barnes&Noble, vai se tornar mais comum
• editoras vão lançar seus livros em vários formatos, como a O’Reilly Media já faz (na minha opinião a editora que melhor entendeu esse fenômeno), para Kindle, iPhone, PC e outros
• os livros vão baixar de preço, inclusive com versões gratuitas (por tempo limitado, em versões limitadas, etc) como o Chris Anderson fez com seu livro Free, com sucesso
• a rentabilidade das editoras tende a ser mais apertada, em especial das que se negarem a enxergar a situação atual
• lançar o ebook antes pode ser uma estratégia de muito sucesso, mais rápido e barato, dependendo do sucesso, se imprime com uma tiragem maior ou menor

Sobre pirataria, me lembro de uma frase do Tim O’Reilly que disse algo do gênero: há uma coisa pior que pirataria, é o desconhecimento. Ele defende que os autores e editores (ele é provavelmente o editor mais famoso de livros de tecnologia nos EUA) entendam a pirataria como uma taxa/imposto progressiva. Você vai ter pirataria proporcional ao seu sucesso. Em outros casos, a pirataria pode até ajudar a divulgar seu produto. Ele é o editor que abraçou a ideia do livro como produto digital, por exemplo, lançou a cerca de 10 anos um serviço de assinatura mensal que te dá acesso a todos os livros da editora dele. Se chama Safari books.

Concorrentes:

• Outras livrarias vão lançar, como a Barnes&Noble, com seu Nook
• Empresas de eletrônicos vão lançar, como a Sony que já tem o seu, sem grande sucesso
• Empresas de mídia vão lançar, nos EUA o Murdoch já falou sobre isso. Quem será o primeiro no Brasil?
• A Apple pode (deve) lançar um tablet, computador de colo, algo como um iPhone do tamanho de um laptop, que é previsto como um grande concorrente do Kindle
• Outras empresas, como o Techcrunh, um blog muito famoso que cobre startups nos EUA, que tem até um protótipo há meses, o Crunchpad.

Duas empresas brasileiras que estão lançando livros no formato eletrônico (Kindle inclusive):

• Loja Singular e Singular Digital (pelo que entendi, uma empresa do Grupo Ediouro)
• Bookess (uma startup, que promete)

Para ir além:

• Compre o Kindle
• Como melhorar o Kindle, por Seth Godin
• Kindle da Amazon: um recado para editoras e livrarias brasileiras
• Porque comprei um Kindle e minhas primeiras impressões, no Brasil – esse é o post inicial, que já me gerou aparições nas mais diversas mídias no Brasil

E você, qual sua opinião?

By Woody Vasulka & Brian O’Reilly

Download / Listen Here

Outside -To forgive but not to forget

I decided that I had enough anal statements to have a good feild for the nominees and for my readers to pick the winner……but I was mistaken…..I have been given an early Christmas gift that I could not pass over for the anal statements….I just could not…as a matter of fact this one is semi-orgasmic……..

In any recent interview Bill was talking with Judge Andrew Napolitano about the decision to try the 9/11 dudes in New York City:

NAPOLITANO: ‘There was no declaration of war.’ O’REILLY: ‘All right, so, because there is no declaration of war, you say that any terror – and it fits the bill, right? Surely 9/11 fits the bill of a terrorist act…’ NAPOLITANO: ‘But it i not I who is saying it. It is the Constitution that is saying it.’ O’REILLY: ‘I don’t care about the Constitution.’ NAPOLITANO: ‘I do.’ O’REILLY: ‘The Constitution isn’t here. You’re here. Don’t be a pinhead.’

I find it amusing that O’Reilly actually called someone a “pinhead”…..that in itself would be a good anal-ocity nominee…..but that is NOT my Christmas gift!

After a year of calling everything that Obama and the admin is trying to do as unconstitutional….and after years of standing on the Constitution in opposition to anything Democratic…..he said…..wait for it!…….”I DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION”!

God, I love this stuff!

Thank you Bill O’Reilly!  You have made my holiday season…..the BEST gift ever!

We’re in November, where everyone’s thoughts turn to…the Calder Trophy? If the season ended today, NHL.com’s Senior Editorial Director Phil Coffey would be handing the award to New York Islanders rookie John Tavares, while Tyler Myers of the Buffalo Sabres and Ryan O’Reilly of the Colorado Avalanche are forced to smile and applaud. (NHL)

The Washington Capitals have called up former first round selection John Carlson, who is in his first season of professional hockey. With one goal and nine assists this season, Carlson leads all Hershey Bears defensemen in points, and sits third among AHL blueliners. One has to wonder, though, where’s the Karl Alzner callup? (Washington Capitals)

Just an aside, but if it’s the first time Carlson has been called up, have they really recalled him?

The Pipeline Show’s Guy Flaming continues his idea to revamp the Subway Super Series by pitting the various league’s against their imports. With the series shifting to Ontario after Team QMJHL swept the opener, meet Team Non-Canada OHL, led by Cam Fowler, Future Considerations’ top ranked defenseman for the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. (Coming Down The Pipe)

Hockey’s Future has released the first of a new column highlighting hot prospects. Much love to the likes of Nicklas Bergfors, Ryan O’Reilly, Bobby Sanguinetti and Brandon Kozun, among others. (Hockey’s Future)

Wondering what’s going on with those wonderful prospects for the New York Rangers, like Ethan Werek or Scott Stacjer? Wonder no more! (Blueshirt Banter)

Arguing With Idiots

“Arguing @ Berkeley”

“Arguing with Idiots, Crazy Glenn Beck”

“Use Glenn Beck’s New Book When ARGUING WITH Liberal Progressive IDIOTS !!”

Glenn Beck Book Tour
 
November 19, 2009

Columbia, SC
6-7 pm
Books-A-Million
164 Forum Drive

Charleston, SC
9-10 pm
Barnes & Noble
1812 Rittenberg Boulevard  
 
November 20, 2009

Orlando, FL
11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Barnes & Noble
2418 East Colonial Drive

Melbourne, FL
2-3 pm
Books-A-Million
The Avenue Viera, 2251
Town Center Avenue

Jupiter, FL
5-6 pm
Books-A-Million
Chasewood Plaza, 6370
West Indiantown Road
Fort Lauderdale, FL
7:30 – 8:30 pm
Barnes & Noble
2051 N. Federal Highway    
 
November 21, 2009

Ft. Myers, FL
9-10 am
Borders
Gulf Coast Town Center

Tampa, FL
12-1:30 pm
Borders
909 Dale Mabry

The Villages, FL
3-7 pm Rally & Signing
Barnes & Noble
The Villages

http://www.glennbeck.com/bookczar/

Below are my notes and comments on Jeff Jarvis’s presentation on “What Happens Next – the ongoing beta world” given yesterday (11/18) at the Web 2.0 Conference in NYC.

Please forgive my typos, etc. in the process of cleaning it up

Jeff Jarvis left his footprint on this year’s Web 2.0 Expo even before his presentation started when his quote “Do what you do best and link to the rest” was used by Tim O’Railly in his keynote address. What was the quote’s interpretation? Companies (both small and large) need to concentrate on developing what they do best (their key solution set) and becoming consumers of products that others are good at developing rather than engaging in competitive wars that led to what we now refer to as “browser wars.” Nicely done!

Hierarchical vs. Linear presentations (aka take a look at PREZI)

Jeff used a cool presentation making tool called PREZI (prezi.com) with pretty dizzying yet cool visual effects. But Prezi is not useful because of its extensive animation. What Prezi does well (and Powerpoin doesn’t offer at all) is allowing you to look at the main concepts and hierarchy of thoughts in your presentation through the zoom in/out functionality. Very clever departure from linear hirerarchy-less way we are used to in MS Powerpoint. I sure intend to give Prezi a try!

Old book: done. New book: what about?

Jeff is an accomplished author of a successful book “What would Google do?”

Now he is working on a new book and used his presentation as a live launching pad & a brainstorming session encouraging the audience to brainstorm along with him and offer suggestion. Pretty powerful stuff considering the fact that everybody wants to be the proud owner of bragging rights of helping Jeff Jarvis brainstorm his latest book!

What struck me about Jeff as well as many other accomplished writers, successful developers or business people who presented at this year’s conference was the fact that for the most part they do embody what Chris Brogan would refer to as being “one of us.” They are very approachable, really interested in learning and dialog rather than just pushing their agendas. Very impressive and despite of often large audience in the presentation room there is a feeling of collaboration rather than being lectured to.

Book Topic

Jeff explained that the topic of his next book will be around the idea of living in the state of constant beta. Jeff wants to explore this notion not only from the software development perspective but also as applied to entire enterprises, government, even entertainment.

Main themes in the book would be around:

• Publicness (new level of transparency for all involved incl. your company)
• Rebuilding (The best is the enemy of good.)
• Process (aka what are the new rules of governing/controlling the constant beta process incl. doing more with less (BTW, the theme of this year’s Web 2.0 Conference), being agile aka the washing machine vs. the waterfall development concept).

A bit of History: from waterfall to washing machine

THE PAST: Think about the industrial age where companies were focused on mass production, distribution and end product that needed to be perfect, before introduced to the market.

THE PRESENT: We are witnessing the end of mass production, distribution & marketing (no longer one size fits all) and the emergence of the notion of process over product where openness leads to collaboration which leads to constantly improving the product, hence the constant beta.

Why is eternal beta approach valuable?

There is a great value in releasing a beta/unfinished product and asking product users to help improve it so that it best suits their needs.

Examples of failures in embracing this new reality:

• Detroit car makers who were deaf to customer feedback and were not able to innovate in time to tailor to their interest. The process of car development is not flexible enough to enable car companies to stay agile and responsive to quickly changing user needs.
• Journalism (the notion of perfection = objectivity)  Jeff added that he sees Google Wave becoming the future of (collaborative) new developing. Aka the notion of news in constant beta
• Marketing (selling perfection) – marketers need to get over the notion of the finished product because the product now might never be fully finished and the value will come from you engaging your customers as passionate brand ambassadors willing to work with you on improving that product.
• Hollywood (our way is the right way) – think the popularity of reality shows…
• Fashion (from on high) vs. threadless (fashion democratized)
• Government (no license to fail) vs. government 2.0 where it’s ok to stumble while you are transparent about it and learn from it.
• Education (only one right answer) This approach is very harmful to our kids as future innovators.
• Our bodies – constant work in progress

Million dollar question how done is done?

When can I go to market with this product? Will my users tolerate this unstable roduct? Will I damage my brand.

One would argue that Google Wave has been released too early, is still a mess. Was it released too soon?

If you trust the wisdom of the crowd great things happen.

Examples of platform for customer collaboration include “My starbucks idea” where the community suggests improvements rather than reporting on what does not work. People in turn discuss ideas and rate them making it easy for Starbucks to use crowdsourcing for product improvements. Brilliant.

What’s your tolerance for Failure?

Does your company celebrate failure and tries to learn from it or do you hide it and try to forget it as quickly as you can?

Blogger understand this very well. You don’t change your existing blog post but rather add to it. If there is an error, correct it by running a strike through over current words so that readers know what was changed. His is the type of transparency we are talking about which inherently increases your credibility among bloggers.

Agile means fast

Another advantage of the agile development process is the fact vastly abbreviated development process between releases only allows you to concentrate on critical features rather than developing all them before releasing the first version running the danger of featuratus (working on features that nobody really needs and which will only add to the complexity of the product)

How do you manage constant beta projects?

By treating them as processes and optimizing the agility with which they are approached.

We are becoming the beta nation. Whether we like it or not we are already becoming the nation of betas.

Greatest examples of beta

• In technology: Google
• In car development: small car factory in Arizona where the repair shop, showroom floor were all in one room and this immersive experience helped them make a better product.
• In fashon: Zara (when customer proposes a new garment design Zara will make it for that store and if that design sells locally they will produce enough for all stores)
• In entertainment: jazz, television without pith. The audience is in charge of the story.
• In service: Zappos
• In advertising: Zappos (customer service is new advertising)

What’s your strategy for ongoing beta in your company? Do you need one?

Posted by Audiegrl

The American Family Association attacked Gap for not using the word ‘Christmas‘ in its advertising — but in fact it does, and in a big way too

Los Angeles Times/Dan Neil—The Mississippi-based American Family Assn. last week issued a fatwa against Gap Inc. — the retailing giant whose brands include Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic — calling for a “two-month boycott over the company’s failure to use the word ‘Christmas’ in its advertising to Christmas shoppers.”

The War on Christmas season has officially begun.

Gap “does not use the word ‘Christmas’ to avoid offending those who don’t embrace its meaning,” writes Buddy Smith, executive assistant to the president of the AFA, on the organization’s website. “Christmas has historically been very good for commerce. But now Gap wants the commerce but no Christmas.”

“I interpret Gap’s decision as a warning sign to Christians to get out there and tell people about Jesus Christ,” writes Smith.

And they say nobody likes fruitcake.

It would be easy to get sidetracked into debating the merits of the War on Christmas. Why, for example, is the phrase “Happy holidays” so insufferable to Christian fundamentalists, but not the vulgar, surfeiting exploitation of Christ’s name to sell smokeless ashtrays, dessert toppings, Droid phones and trampolines? I’m not a theologian but I think the Gospels are pretty clear that Jesus was no fan of merchants.

And since China is in the news this week: Why not go after Gap and other retailers for trading in Chinese-made goods, since the Chinese government actively oppresses the Christian faith? Seems like building a case on religious tolerance would have more resonance. Oh, wait. Never mind.

But here’s the real question: Why attack Gap for not using the word “Christmas” in its advertising when in fact it does, and in a big way too?

Surf on over to YouTube and watch Gap’s latest 30-second spot, titled “Go Ho Ho” (Crispin Porter + Bogusky). The spot — which is in heavy rotation on network and cable TV — features a group of insanely athletic dancers leaping and twirling and stomp-cheering around a white log-cabin set. They chant, “Go Christmas, go Hanukkah, go Kwanzaa, go Solstice. . . . Do whatever you wannukkah and to all a cheery night.”

There it is, right up front, enjoying pride of place: the C-word.

More @

In one of the first lines of Gap’s new holiday ad, the dancers yell, “Go Christmas! Go Hanukkah! Go Kwanzaa! Go Solstice!” Check it out, its got great dancing too!

Get Ready For Holiday Cheer – visit cheerfactory.com to send some personalized digi-cheer to your friends.

IMHO, this entire drama could be avoided by simply educating people on the origins of what we know today as “Christmas“.

Several years ago a family member gave me the DVD “Christmas unWrapped- The History of Christmas“. It examines each of our holiday traditions and explains where they came from. Many people who believe we should “keep Christ in Christmas“, will be surprised to learn the historical facts. Its a very interesting documentary, that I highly recommend.

Click here to purchase

People all over the world celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25th. But why is the Nativity marked by gift giving, and was He really born on that day? And just where did the Christmas tree come from? Take an enchanting tour through the history of this beloved holiday and trace the origins of its enduring traditions. Journey back to the earliest celebrations when the infant religion embraced pagan solstice festivals like the Roman Saturnalia and turned them into a commemoration of Jesus’ birth. Learn how Prince Albert introduced the Christmas tree to the English-speaking world in 1841, and discover how British settlers in the New World transformed the patron saint of children into jolly old St. Nick.

This documentary explores the origin of Christmas and how it came to be the way we know it today. The documentary also incites the thought as to how Christmas is on one hand a result of social, cultural, and political influences (hence somewhat obscuring the apparent purpose of the festival: Christ’s Mass), and on the other hand a influence over people’s lives (particularly consumerism). Youtube links to the first three parts of the show are below.

I highly recommend purchasing this DVD.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three

I worked 20 hours straight to prepare an old Gateway tower with 280 gig drive for an Ubuntu 9.10 install. The Gateway was hopelessly unbootable in Windows because of some operating system problem (not hardware problem). I realized that I should drop down to C: and type format, to just reformat the entire drive which took about 30 minutes. I forgot that I should have typed FDISK first, to set up the necessary partitions, but it was too late.

I downloaded an ISO image for GNOME partition and burned it to a bootable CD.

I booted the GNOME partition utility. It took me literally hours to guess at what I should do.

Finally I realized that Ubuntu expects THREE partitions. The first is referred to as ROOT but the actual name you give it in the partition process is simpl “/” (forward slash omitting the double quotes).

The second partition will have NO name, but you will designate its format TYPE as swapfile, and that will become the system swap file.
The third partition is called /home.

I had no idea how much space to allocate, so I gave 512 for root and 512 for swap, and the huge remainder for /home.

The software warned me that root and swap were too small. Just for the heck of it, I changed root and swap to 5000, and it worked.

Then it took me dozens of tries installing Ubuntu. I had a 2008 Ubuntu disc and a 9.10 disc I had created last week. Time after time, I would boot from each one, say INSTALL UBUNTU, and it would chug away for a long time, and then die with no messages. FINALLY, but why or how I dont know, the 9.10 unstall brought up an Ubuntu desktop with what looked like all kinds of error messages. There were TWO icons on the desktop which I had never seen before. One said EXAMPLES which I never looked at. I was about to give up in dispair when I decided to click on the icon marked Ubuntu. AS IT TURNS OUT, that is the icon which COMPLETES the install process, and it first brings you into its OWN partition software. I cant exactly remember what I did next. I do remember that GNOME partition utility offered me literally 20 DIFFERENT format types to choose from for each partition (one of which is swap-file). I had no clue what to choose. I did some google searching on my other machine (and you NEED a windows machine attached to the internet to look these things up). I discovered that format type ext3 is good for Debian Linux (and Ubuntu is a flavor of Debian) so I went with ext3.

Finally, I had a working bootable pure Ubuntu 9.10 machine.

My next Sisyphean agony task was to connect it to the Internet. The tower already had an Ethernet card. I was informed that IF I connected a cable from the ethernet to the router, then Ubuntu would automatically sense the ethernet connection and configure it. The ethernet board DID light up and pulse when I connected the cable to my Westell router. But Ubuntu never recognized it. Later I read that only certain ethernet cards will be automatically recognized, so I guess the one in my tower was not a compatible one. My next choice was to try and get my Belkin USB WiFi adapter working. I went to ADMINISTRATION -> SYNAPTIC PACKAGE MANAGER and keyed ndiswrapper into the search. I was prompted to place the Ubuntu install cd into my drive. It kept giving me errors. I placed my Belkin adapter install cd in the drive and looked around for the ini driver file, but could not see it. Finally, out of despair, I plugged the Belkin wifi adapter into the USB and LIKE MAGIC Ubuntu recognized it, asked me to choose a connection and enter the WEP key, which I have now done many times with other machines and during the Wubi Ubuntu install on Windows. So now I had a working Ubuntu machine connected to the Internet.

I went to J&R computer store up the street and found a $10 USB 4 gig memory stick by http://www.dane-elec.com which is REALLY cheap. I recently discovered that the Sancor memory sticks that I love actually have a lot of SOFTWARE on them, which only works under windows, AND if you have a password set on the device, then Ubuntu wont even read it.

I had to go into synaptic manager and search on usb for some installs. Again, it was trial and error, and I dont know what finally made it work, but finally, Ubuntu recognized the memory stick.

TODAY, I had to meet my step-son near at Borders Book Store next to Penn Station. This was lucky for me, because while I waited for him, I browsed the computer book section on the second floor. I found a $9 small Linux handbook reference of commands by Daniel J. Barrett (O Reilly publishers) so I got that to practice all the hundreds of Linux commands that I dont know but need to know.

I browse various books on Ubuntu and Mysql.

I found the key thing I needed to know for my next project, to install LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL PhP) on my new Ubuntu desktop.

All one needs to do is enter TERMINAL, and key in

sudo tasksel

(you will be prompted for your system password next)

A task selection window will pop up with many packages available for install, one of which is LAMP. Now here is a mystery that took me an hour to solve. You can arrow down to highlight LAMP, but you dont have a clue in the world as to how to CHECK it for install. Google revealed the secret: YOU SIMPLY PRESS THE SPACE BAR AND IT IS MARKED CHECKED FOR INSTALL. Then you press ENTER and the install proceeds, Apache, MySQL and PhP. You will be prompted for the MySQL admin password.

Next I wanted to install phpmyadmin to administrate mysql, creating databases, tables, etc. I went to SYSTEM-> Synaptic Manager and searched on phpmyadmin. I think there is only one. BUT HERE IS A SECRET. Once your LAMP install finishes, then power down and boot back up; otherwise, certain files will remain locked by processes and the phpmyadmin install will fail.

Once phpmyadmin installs (and you will again be prompted for that pesky password), then you can open firefox and key in http://localhost/phpmyadmin

You will be PROMPTED FOR A USER NAME AND PASSWORD. This is tricky and confusing. You have to key in the user name “root” without quotes, and then give the password that you have been using all along throughout this. Now you are in phpmyadmin, and you can go to Privileges, and create a new user and give him all possible privileges.

Then, I found a $50 book, also by O’Reilly, entitled
“Head First – PHP & MySQL”. THIS book looks like the perfect way to teach myself how to develop php mysql applications which will have proper security (which is a very complex topic).

I didnt purchase that book tonight, because I wanted to come home and see first if I could successfully install LAMP and phpmyadmin, which I just now finished.

The Head First book gave me links to try the book on line free for 45 days. Money is kind of tight, so I decided to see how far I can go without any additional purchases, but if I get things working, I will buy the book one day. It is interesting that O’Reilly also offers a link to an on line university which can grant degrees in computer science.

I signed up at Oreilly for a trial access of the electronic version of the above-mentioned book.

Here is something I tried which crashed my Ubuntu. I wanted to copy the introduction to the book, from the OReilly site, and PASTE it into an Open Office Document. The first time Open Office died, and the file was shown as requiring recovery. I did the recovery, opened it again with Open Office Document, and then the whole Ubuntu system crashed. I rebooted, and had to go through a long complicated reconstruct procedure. I thought perhaps I would have to install everything from scratch, but fortunately, Ubuntu repaired itself. Moral to story is paste into GEDIT and save, which I guess eliminates whatever hidden characters are in the webpage which cause Open Office to crash the system.

There, I found a link to download all the source code from the book.

I downloaded the zipped file of all the source code.

Next, I went to the source code for chapter 1. They have a beginning version (which I guess you make changes to, and then a final version).

I tried to copy and paste report.html to var/www which is where Apache wants to find pages loaded from local host. I was not allowed to paste because I do not have superuser privileges. So, I went to terminal and typed SUDO GEDIT, which gets me into gedit with super powers, so I can now navigate to the unzipped code in my DOCUMENTS in a special folder I created, open report.html, then do a save as to var/www.

THIS WORKED, because now, when I open Firefox and key in localhost/report , it runs the Chapter 1 example webpage.

FOR MY NEXT TRICK, I must figure out how to copy a chapter 1 tutorial image of a dog (fang.jpg) from the location where it unzipped (in a folder in my Documents) and copy it into var/www where I do not have Admin privileges. SO, I open my OReilly handbook of Linux commands and find the CP command. I open a TERMINAL session and key in SUDO CP which I know will executed it with super admin privileges, but NOW I do not have a clue as to what the PATH names are for the file source and destination.

I am permitted to copy fang.jpg from the unzipped file into DOCUMENTS, just to simplify things.

Using PLACES -> COMPUTER, which brings up the FILE BROWSER, I first navigate to home/Documents and I RIGHT CLICK on the fang.jpg image, and click on PROPERTIES which will SHOW ME that the path is
/home/bryan/Documents/fang.jpg (I use bryan as my user name, but that is my step-son’s name). Next I do the same right click trick on any file which is already in var/www such as report.html, and I discover THAT path, which tells me that the command I should issue in TERMINAL is

sudo cp /home/bryan/Documents/fang.jpg var/www/fang.jpg

BUT IT HANGS… NOTHING HAPPENS.

Then I realize that I should close my other applications, because they are somehow LOCKING UP something that the CP command needs. Sure enough, once I close a bunch of applications, the SUDO CP command asks me for the PASSWORD and then copies fang.jpg to var/www

I can now bring up the image by opening Firefox and typing

localhost/fang.jpg

into the browser address field.

NOW that fang.jpg is in var/www, if I once again open Firefox and type
localhost/report.html

the exercise 1 page loads and also shows the picture of the little dog fang.jpg

I still need to copy report.php and style.css from the place where they unzipped to var/www. Since I can launch gedit with sudo and have superadmin powers, I may open them in that fashion and do a save as.

I ran the finished example, hoping that it would actually send me an email.

I realized that I must examine my php.ini and somehow reconfigure it. I went to some pains to locate that file, but did not post notes as I went, and now I must reconstruct what I did. I still have not succeeded in getting the app to actually send an email through php. But I feel it is more essential for me to move on to other lessons in the HEAD FIRST book.

Sarah Palin, author of the new book, “Going Rogue”, will be interviewed by Sean Hannity on Fox tonight, Wednesday, November 18, 2009. Yesterday, November 17, 2009, Governor Palin was interviewed by Rush Limbaugh. The Limbaugh interview can be heard here.
Rush Limbaugh Sarah Palin interview

A message from Sarah Palin November 17, 2009
“Dear Friends,
There are so many fundamental decisions that must be made in America to move us forward as a free, safe, and patriotic nation! I’m thankful tonight for what feels like a new beginning as we seize opportunities to help put America on the right path.
It’s November 17th, and I’ve finished my book. I’ve told my story of how I got to where I am, and now I’m eager to move forward. And I want you to join me on the road ahead!
Our nation is at a critical crossroads, but the way forward is clear. Ronald Reagan showed us the way. He entered office during an economic recession even worse than our current one, but he left office after overseeing the largest peacetime economic expansion in American history. His policies worked! He charted the course for us.
C. S. Lewis once wrote: “We all want progress, but if you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road.” We need to get back on the right road. In order to progress, we must return to our founding principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility, and strong national defense.
SarahPAC is dedicated to this!
We’re going to work as Commonsense Conservatives for everyday, hardworking Americans by tackling issues that you care about and by helping candidates who will stand up for our nation. We’ll help candidates (regardless of party) who have the courage to go to Washington or serve statewide and make the tough decisions needed to get our country back on track.
We can’t do this alone – this effort needs good, commonsense Americans now more than ever. Please click here if you can assist with SarahPAC today.
SarahPAC supporters make it possible to get out there and fight for what we believe in. Please stand with us today. We won’t let anyone tell us to sit down and shut up. We’re going to stand up, stand together, and fight for what’s right!
Thank you so much for your support and for your love of our country. My book, Going Rogue, is dedicated to you – to Patriots – who fight for freedom!
With an Alaska Heart,

Sarah Palin
P.S. We are going to be all across the country in the next few weeks. If you’re able to contribute, click the button to go back to the SarahPAC homepage to see the schedule.
P.P.S. Any level of support is welcome! Our Commonsense Conservative cause needs you. As a special offer, on behalf of SarahPAC, we will send you a signed copy of Going Rogue for any donation of $100 or more.
Please know how grateful I am for your support.
 
 
 
Paid for by SarahPAC
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee www.SarahPAC.com

P.O. Box 7711
Arlington, VA 22207″

Book tour announcement and schedule from Sarah Palin

“”Going Rogue” Book Tour Dates Through Thanksgiving
Share
 Monday, November 9, 2009 at 5:59pm
Here are some details of the upcoming book tour. I’m starting in Michigan, and you’ll understand why when you read the book. Last year, I made a promise to the good people of Michigan that I would be back, and now I’m keeping that promise. (Michigan is near and dear to my family’s heart! Our eldest son, Track, lived with a great host family there during his hockey days.)

From Michigan, the “Going Rogue” tour will cover as much of the country as possible. I’ve decided to stop in cities that are not usually included in a typical book tour. For instance, I’m looking forward to meeting our honorable men and women in uniform and their families at a Fort Bragg book signing, and to reconnecting with friends my family made last year on the campaign trail in different book signing venues.

We have a tight schedule, but I’m working with the publisher to allow possibilities of stopping at a few unannounced places, too.

I’ll Twitter information when the tour starts, so I’ll post our progress from the road. You can follow on Twitter at SarahPalinUSA.

Below are dates, times, and locations for the first part of the tour – this schedule brings us up to Thanksgiving, where I’ll get to connect with family in Washington state for the holiday. Stay tuned for our post-Thanksgiving schedule coming soon.

Please contact each venue for more information. Can’t wait to see you soon!

- Sarah Palin

PS: Included below is a flyer for the tour. Feel free to pass it around!
November 18th

GRAND RAPIDS, MI
Barnes & Noble
3195 28th Street SE
Space B116
Grand Rapids, MI 49512
6:00 – 9:00 PM

November 19th

FORT WAYNE, IN
Meijer’s
10301 Maysville Road
Fort Wayne, IN 46835
12:00 – 3:00 PM

NOBLESVILLE, IN
Borders Books and Music
13145 Levinson Lane
Noblesville, IN 46060
6:00 – 9:00 PM

November 20th

CINCINNATI, OH
Joseph-Beth Booksellers
2692 Madison Road
Cincinnati OH 45208
12:00 – 3:00 PM

COLUMBUS, OH
Borders Books and Music
6670 Sawmill Road
Columbus, OH 43235
6:00 – 9:00 PM

November 21st

WASHINGTON, PA
Sam’s Club
80 Trinity Point Drive
Washington, PA 15301
11:00 AM – 2:00 PM

ROCHESTER, NY
Borders Books and Music
1000 Hylan Drive
Rochester, NY 14623
6:00 – 9:00 PM

November 22nd

ROANOKE, VA
Barnes & Noble
4802 Valley View Boulevard NW
Roanoke, VA 24012
11:00 AM – 2:00 PM

November 23rd

FORT BRAGG, NC
AAFES Bragg N Main Shop
Bldg 8-5050, 2nd & Butner Road
Ft. Bragg, NC 28307
11:00 AM – 2:00 PM

BIRMINGHAM, AL
Books-A-Million
757 Brookwood Village
Birmingham, AL 32509
4:30 – 7:30 PM

November 24th

JACKSONVILLE, FL AREA
Books-A-Million
Orange Park Mall
1910 Wells Road
Orange Park, FL 32073
9:00 – 11:00 AM

THE VILLAGES, FL
Barnes & Noble
1055 Old Camp Road
The Villages, FL 32162
2:30 – 5:00 PM

ORLANDO, FL
Barnes & Noble
Colonial Plaza Market Center
2418 East Colonial Drive
Orlando, FL 32803
7:30 – 10:00 PM”

Pastor James Manning has stated that he was visited by the CIA, Homeland Security and NY city detectives  because he has spoken out against Barack Obama and called Obama an illegal alien.

Obama may indeed be an illegal alien. In the absence of proof from Obama, he is not a natural born citizen and is ineligible to be president and therefore a usurper.

I can find no reason why Obama should not be immediately arrested for treason.

Barack Obama’s father was a citizen of Kenya and a British subject.

From a Citizen Wells article originally written January 19, 2009 and revisited October 29.

According to the US Constitution, the supreme law of the
land, Barack Obama will not be President of the United
States at 12:00 noon on January 20, 2009. No Chief
Justice administering the oath of office, no oath sworn
by a “president elect” makes one president. There are 3
mandatory requirements to achieve a legal inauguration.

• A qualified president elect.
• Sufficient votes by the Electoral College.
• Certification and count of Electoral College votes by
  Congress.

At noon on January 20, 2009, Joe Biden will be president
until a president shall be deemed qualified. This comes
direct from the 20th Amendment to the US Constitution.
“or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify,
then the Vice President elect shall act as President until
a President shall have qualified;”

Further reading of the 20th Amendment reveals that Congress
may also determine if the vice-president is qualified. This
is part of the scenario of a constitutional crisis that
Philip J Berg and others have warned of. The language of
the 25th amendment includes options that may further heighten
the crisis level.

Read more

To: The Obama Administration, the Obama camp, any law enforcement agency getting their marching orders from the Obama camp/thugs.

From: Citizen Wells and millions of American citizens.

We will not allow you to take this country to the next step of control that resembles Nazi Germany.

We will not let you trample on our First Amendment rights.

We will stand beside Pastor Manning and others that speak out against Obama and his socialist thugs.

If you arrest Pastor Manning, we will not stand back as those who did so in Nazi Germany.

We will take action that more closely resembles the action of the French storming the Bastille.

We will seek to demand justice through available legal channels, relying on the US Constitution as our guide.

God help us all if we are denied our rights.

While it hasn’t been the biggest debate of the last half-decade in the hockey world, it certainly has been the one I’m most interested in.

And perhaps the toughest to answer.

Is a prospect better served in the NHL, playing minimal minutes a night and practicing daily in the best league in the world, or is he best developed playing upwards of 30 minutes a night in a developmental league?

Certainly the likes of Rick Nash in 2002-03, Sidney Crosby in 2004-05, Patrick Kane in 2007-08 and even John Tavares this season are strong arguments for players making the jump to the NHL following their draft year.

Even lesser established prospects like the Buffalo Sabres Tyler Myers and Evander Kane of the Atlanta Thrashers are finding success in limited, but important roles seeing different situations.

But more importantly, they’re seeing time.

That wasn’t the case for Columbus Blue Jackets rookie Nikita Filatov who at his own request was loaned to CSKA Moscow to – as Filatov put it – better develop.

There’s no doubting Filatov will see more than his eight minutes per game he was seeing under head coach Ken Hitchcock. There are few that will argue the Blue Jackets and Filatov made a misstep by sending him back overseas, on loan for the remainder of the season.

Filatov is an obvious example. How about someone like Matt Duchene?

Duchene, the third overall pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft had a strong start to his pro career, making the Colorado Avalanche out of camp and recording six points in his first 10 games. Since, the former Brampton Battalion standout has just one in his last 10 and none in the month of December.

Is it a case of struggling to keep up with the rigorous pace of the National Hockey League, or the case of a struggling rookie grasping his stick just a little too tight?

Duchene is certainly getting enough icetime with over 17 minutes per game. Only John Tavares, who has nine goals and 19 points in 21 games, has played more as a rookie forward this season.

Would Duchene be better served back in the OHL? He’d see more minutes, play a bigger role, but more importantly, produce. And production equates to confidence.

But, how much of a hit would his confidence take if he were returned to Brampton. He’s already got a place of residency in Denver, living with veteran Darcy Tucker. He’s settled in, and hockey players are a creature of habit.

Or take Dmitry Kulikov of the Florida Panthers.

He’s averaging 17 minutes per game, fifth among defensemen under head coach Peter DeBoer. He’s also minus-9. Should he be logging 30 minutes per outing with the Drummondville Voltigeurs? Would he accept such a demotion, or would he request a loan ala countryman Filatov? Is it NHL or bust for the young Russian?

The Ottawa Senators thought former first round pick Erik Karlsson was better served playing bigger minutes with the AHL’s Binghamton Senators.

Karlsson was playing similar minutes to that of Kulikov, but it was decided the Swede would be better served in the minors by general manager Bryan Murray and head coach Cory Clouston.

Karlsson seemed frustrated by the demotion at the time, but has six points in eight games.

Will his demotion ultimately make him a better NHL player? Will staying with the Avalanche make Duchene a better NHL talent? Will Filatov’s return to Russia better prepare him for a return to NHL?

Which course is better for the development of a prospect?

Only time will tell.

“People in hell want icewater.”…Unknown

To the readers and commenters of the Citizen Wells blog and Citizens of the United States.

The Ship of State is Sinking.

We must fix the leak.

Many of you will understand what I am about to write. To the rest, if this sounds like a lecture, it is.

 
We must stop the Ship of State from sinking.

What do I mean by this?

 
We are confronted with the following emergencies:

•  Out of control spending and deficit interest payment service.
• Weakened national security.
• High unemployment.
• The spectre of government run health care.
• Leftist, socialist agendas forced on our families.
• Threat of War in the Middle East.
• China controlling our decision making because of our debt to them.
• Our military being compromised in Afghanistan.
• Lack of confidence in our government.

I have been surrounded by many personality types in my life. Some of the people around me have a more difficult time of prioritizing activities or jobs. They want to stop the ship from sinking and at the same time have it cleaned up, painted and ready for guests at the dock.
Those people are destined to go down with the ship.
The regulars on this blog are familiar with my reference to most choices in life being between the lesser of evils. This is a reality. It is not a perfect world. Once again I refer to the sinking ship. We have an illegal president with a far left socialist agenda and a out of control Congress. We have an emergency. We must stop the leak.
I am not referring to choosing the lesser of evils in the congressional races next year as an ongoing strategy. It is simply a strategy to keep the ship of state afloat.

Where is the most power concentrated in the Federal Government? Congress.

Do you want to remove the illegal POTUS, Obama? Change Congress.

Do you want fiscal responsibility? Change Congress.

Do you want to improve national security? Change Congress.

Do you want real health care reform? Change Congress.

No one in Congress, Dick Cheney or anyone in the US Supreme Court, stood up to demand that Barack Obama prove his eligibility to be president. Many people were fooled by the smooth talking devils of the Obama Camp. However, some of those in Congress do support the US Constitution and care about this country. We must salvage them. At the same time we must insist going forward that the US Constitution is followed as the rule of law and that congressmen do their job to protect America and the American public.
So, to all of you who think along the lines of all or nothing, plan to have Obama stay in office until 2012, hunker down in your bunkers and get out your life rafts. The ship will sink.

Footnote:

I want to thank Lou Dobbs for his statement on the Bill O’Reilly show on Fox last night. O’Reilly still refers to “birthers” in a condescending tone. When O’Reilly asked Dobbs about his so called defense of birthers, Lou Dobbs stated the question all real journalists should ask. Dobbs said he does not understand why Obama does not produce a real birth certificate.

O’Reilly, you can learn a thing or two from Lou Dobbs.

Bill O’Reilly, you can also stop making condescending comments about concerned, hard working, informed Americans. You are begininng to sound like Nancy Pelosi.

Creative Coding soll einen Einstieg in die Gestaltung und den kreativen Umgang mit Code mit Hilfe der Programmierumgebung Processing vermitteln.

Local Guru – Blog zu Themen wie Processing uvm., u.a. mit nettem Processing-Tutorial

Neues (In)Secure PDF

Der Ardubot

O’Reilly schreibt fleißig über den Geek Atlas

R/C Lawnmower – cooool!

“Oh, that God the gift would give us
To see ourselves as others see us”… Robert Burns

Mike Huckabee is on a 60 city tour to promote his new book, “  A Simple Christmas.”  Friday, November 13, 2009, Governor Huckabee was at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Charlotte, NC to sign copies of his book. I shook hands with Mr. Huckabee and shared a few brief comments with him about this blog.

To Governor Mike Huckabee from the Citizen Wells blog, concerned Americans across the nation.

Mr. Huckabee, you do seem to be a very nice man, there is a consenus of agreement on that, but you have offended many concerned Americans with your uninformed opinion on Obama’s eligibility issues and your stance on illegal aliens and other issues. Upholding the US Constitution and rule of law is the highest priority of the good people reading this blog as well as millions of other Americans. These are hard working, sincere Americans that do not fit neetly into compartments of birthers and right wing conservatives. This blog, like the tea party movement, represents Americans of all political parties, economic strata and religious persuasions. Your Pelosi like insults of those questioning Obama and his natural born citizen status were not taken lightly. I suggest you do some homework and listen. Even Lou Dobbs of CNN, the Communist News Network, acknowledged that the suspicious COLB presented by the Obama camp was just a piece of paper that referred to another piece of paper.

Last year Fox was the only network presenting any realistic coverage of issues surrounding Barack Obama. Sean Hannity and then Glenn Beck asked probing questions that the MSM ignored or glossed over. However, I critized Fox then for not covering controversial issues surrounding Obama. Some of those issues have now been addressed and still Fox has been hands off on the eligibility issue. Bill O’Reilly has bragged about grilling Obama in an interview last year, and perhaps, compared to the MSM, he did. However, many well informed Americans, including myself, believe O’Reilly gave Obama a free ride.

So Governor Huckabee, it is somewhat understandable why you were ill informed regarding Obama’s eligibility. However, ultimately, you should not have insulted well informed, concerned Americans who rightfully believe that Obama is not a natural born citizen. It is not too late. Below are comments from the good Americans of this blog. Some retired military, some with legal educations, but all genuinely care about this country.

Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 3:08pm   Pixel Patriot

“Huckabee might be a nice man but he is still a hypocrite. You can’t condone ILLEGAL immigration and open borders during a time of war while there are laws on the books going unfunded and unenforced. I would have more respect for him if he advocated compassionately deporting the ILLEGAL immigrants ASAP and hitting the employers with hefty fines while simultaneously changing the immigration laws so that more are allowed to enter every year but from the back of the line. If the families don’t want to be separated, the families go too until they get back in. No more anchor babies. Also, the radical Islamic jihadists are the first to go and it is just fine if the door hits them in the butt on the way out!

Oh, don’t forget that Huckabee is on record saying Obama is a citizen and born in Hawaii. Huckabee is either complicit in covering for Obama’s crimes via silence or too incomprehensibly negligent to be a candidate for the office of the POTUS and not have a legal research team to definitively determine his opponents’ eligibility when in question as obvious as it was. Remember, the BC is not the issue; it is the dual nationalities which Obama publicly admitted to before the election.”

Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 3:30pm   Maddie

“Great points, Pixel Patriot. Although there are
plusses with Huckabee, I did hear him go down
the complacent trail of citizen and Hawaii. I’m not hitching my wagon to anyone who does that.
Ba-bye Huck.”

Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 3:45pm   citizenwells

“Huckabee was not my candidate in 2008 and I do not know if I could ever
vote for him.
However, he is intelligent and articulate and is not going away.
He appears to have opened his eyes on the Obama Camp and
he may be trainable.
Does he have the scruples he appears to have?
We will find out.”
Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 4:06pm   c.n.d.e. ville II

“At the moment, my litmus test for the salvageableness of any office holder is the eligibility issue. If Huckabee today starts asking questions about o’s background and eligibility for office, I MIGHT move him from my “I want you our of our government immediately” list to my “okay, maybe not immediately, but you had REALLY better mean this” list.

Realistically, since, at the moment, no potential candidates seem to pass my test, I may have to revise my standards. Sigh. lol Story of my life.

I dunno, if we keep settling for the lesser of evils, will we ever get the good (with warts and all, of course)?”
Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 4:53pm   Don

“Huckabee isn’t my first choice. I would vote for him as the lesser of two evils, like I did McCain.

I did NOT like his stance on illegal aliens.”
Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 5:06pm   Maddie
“ARMY DAV—That’s exactly when I took him off the list—we are not right wing loonies.

Mr. Huckabee has now joined the ostriches
with their heads stuck in the sand—
hear no evil, see no evil little “cozy clan!””

Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 5:08pm   Magna Carta

“I do not trust Huckabee.There was a rape case or something in his home state and he let the guy out or something that really got some people worked up…THEY DID NOT WANT HIM TO ADVANCE.
Then,he did the Wal-Mart thing with illegals..pushing for DREAM ACT…etc…
Snake-oil salesman in my book.”
Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 5:10pm   Linda from NY

“Huckabee is a likable guy; soft-spoken and not apt to “go off the deep end,” but not POTUS material IMHO.

If he is complicit in the eligibility issue as many of you have said, then I cannot trust him to lead.

The “lesser of two evils” vote never appealed to me…that expression just irks me.

I am looking for the man/woman who is a proponent of the “greater good.”

They have to be more than willing to “talk the talk;” they will have to demonstrate to me they can “walk the walk.”

We need to vote in those who are willing to “fight” for the Constitution to be upheld, and the Declaration of Independence to be respected.
I am certain that will be easy to determine from what we already know.”
Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 5:13pm   Buraq ‘08

“I’m not interested in Mike Huckabee in any way, shape, or form.

Firstly, he is much too soft spoken. He sounds like a therapist. A person either has leadership qualities, or he doesn’t. Mike doesn’t.

Secondly, he is a typical republican.

Thirdly, he looks like Gomer Pyle.

Fourthly, I support Sarah Palin.”
Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 6:27pm   Buraq ‘08

“@ Citizenwells:

Heh, sorry. Sometimes I can get carried away.

Since the 2008 elections. I find that my patience is very thin for certain republicans. What really bugs me the most is that the GOP seems incapable of producing conservative leaders. I am very bothered by what seems to be the GOP’s intention to run the exact same failed candidates from 2008 as if they have learned nothing at all.

If they try to nominate McCain, Romney, or Huckabee again, I think my head may explode.

From my standpoint, Sarah Palin was the only bright spot from 2008.

Ideally, what I would like to see in a candidate is a true conservative fighter, and I really mean a fighter. Mike just comes across as too passive to me. Perhaps I am wrong.”
Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 6:47pm   ARMY D.A.V.

“Romney vs Huckabee or RINO vs RINO”

Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 7:00pm   Prairie

“My take on Huckabee. When the country is being taken over by marxists, his show has not tackled one controversial topic outside of abortion. He is the really nice boy in school- that no girl would date. He doesn’t have what it takes to lead.”
Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 8:04pm   live oak

“Never Huckabee!!!”

Submitted on 2009/11/14 at 4:04am   usapatriots-shout.blogspot.com

“Huckabee is likable but disingenous to me. What specifically turned me against him was his denial about Obama’s ineligibility to be president.

The man or woman who would be our next president will do so if He/she runs on the platform of restoring America to the republic under the Constitution, promising to challenge Obama’s sealed documents, tightening the borders, repealing the health care plan –if Senate passes it and redefining America as a Christian/Judeo country. In my observations I think Palin has the guts to do this. It also may well depend upon who runs with her and if she stays with the Republicans or creates a third party.”

Submitted on 2009/11/14 at 8:46am   Portuguese Revolutionary War Hero – Peter Francisco

“COUNT me as a NOOOOOOOOOOO.
We will Not settle for an appeaser and softy. We will not settle for a coneiver and one that conspired with McAmensty during teh election to SCREW Romeny and teh Republicans therefore getting us STUCK with a RINO who hushed, handcuffed and sabotaged his VP candidate and his own candidacy by sticking up MORE for BO than Palin. After the disaster of an INSURGENCY PRESIDENCY we need a STRONG CANDIDATE that we all can support and unite behind someone fromthe Reagan Wing of the Repuke Party otherwise lets start a new party.
Palin and DeMint or Bachmann are my Top Choices and we shoudl start organizing for them strating NOW.
Forget the DISRUPTERS which is what The Huckster is right along with his running mate McCain.

We need someone with Strong Conservative Principles that clearly has the character and the guts to Stand Firm, communicate clearly and take decisive actions. Someone that we will follow without doubts or REGRETS.

Palin, DeMint, Bachmann NO BODY ELSE right now. Even Romney is too weak as a Conservative even though I like him economically, but he has disappeared and that isn’t good.
Romney should run for Kennedy’s Senate seat and maybe in 2020 run for President”

Mike Huckabee, are you going to be a Statesman or a Politician?

 
We want our representatives to be nice and exercise protocol to the extent that it protects the American public.

 
John McCain was polite last year but he did not look after the interests of the public. We fault him for that.

 
Governor Huckabee, are you listening?

 
Governor Huckabee, will you do the right thing?

O’Reilly: “We Can’t Kill All the Muslims”

GnuVince just showed me the new Perl 6 logo. The butterfly Camelia:

Clearly, it looks more like a logo for some kind of association for preschoolers or for a day-care center than a logo for a programming language. It’s repulsively cute. Seeying that, I joked with GnuVince that’d I rather have a logo that felt more like the hybrid, duct-taped, patchwork Perl actually is, so I drew the hippocamptopus:

My friend systemfault took the drawing of the cussing hippocamptopus and made a O’REILLY parody of it:

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Yes, yes, I know, it’s been done before: