I did!

HT The New Liberty

National, Ron Paul for President | 1 Comment »

If you enjoy good wines and love to taste different varieties, I have a website for you. The site is wine.woot.com. I have no financial stake in this recommendation other than sharing a site that will have you sipping some fine wines at bargain prices.

Each week a new wine deal is put up for sale. Woot’s wine experts search out deals, many of which come from small boutique wineries that you would never run across in stores locally. The prices are great and the shipping charges are ridiculously low. Here’s a photo of this week’s deal, selling for only $39.95 & $7 shipping.

You will find great descriptions of the wine as well as a spirited discussion, joined in by the winemakers, on each week’s offering. I am eagerly awaiting my shipment of the above wines. This will be my 3rd wine.woot deal since I stumbled upon this site in August.

This is a great way to build up a supply of very drinkable wines at an affordable price. Now, when I throw out that last minute dinner invitation, or lunch, I do not have to worry about running out and finding a wine to serve. I just peruse the variety I have been building up.

If you are like me, you will soon find that your biggest problem is keeping a nice selection on hand, the temptation to drink this stuff is very strong!

Technorati tags: wine.woot, woot, wine, oenophile, enophile, varietals, blends

Uncategorized | No Comments »

Leaked e-mails revealing the New York attorney general’s plan to outsource evidence gathering for child-porn prosecutions are raising eyebrows among bloggers and causing defense lawyers to cringe, according to a report published yesterday in Wired. Some 700MB of internal e-mails from the controversial anti-piracy company MediaDefender were leaked two weeks ago via the file-sharing network BitTorrent.

This is one area where we do not need a profit incentive.  Politicians, of which Andrew Cuomo is one, already have enough incentive to abuse the system for personal gain without outsourcing evidence gathering to private companies.

MediaDefender is a company used by the music and film industries to sniff out PC users downloading movies and music. 

Ars Technica says that the e-mails are not sufficient to describe the full scope of the project. But, as Wired makes clear, whatever its scope, defense lawyers don’t like it. As one lawyer told Wired:

“Generally it is not looked upon favorably when a prosecutor engages a private company to collect evidence in a case or to … partner with in a criminal case. This raises grave ethical concerns regarding the propriety of that relationship between the prosecuting authority and the private company, and it also could potentially show favoritism toward that company in the future.”

Law.com - Inside Opinions: Legal Blogs

New York State | No Comments »

Normally the phrase government efficiency would be considered an oxymoron.   However, the politicos have become quite adept at spending our money and approving measures to do so very quickly.

Congress passes many bills without reading them. Some are prepared so close to the vote that not even their sponsors really know what’s in them.

That’s nothing. Now Congress can push through legislation no one reads even faster, lickety-split.

It’s called “hotlining,” and it was designed to get nitpicky business-y kinds of things done quickly. But recently the business has turned serious.

Read it all:  The Sam Adams Alliance - Unanimous Non-Consent

Government Waste, National | No Comments »

National | 7 Comments »

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday attempted a goodwill tour of the nation’s media capitals, speaking by videoconference at the National Press Club in Washington and in person at Columbia University in New York City.

But his comments ended in ill will at Columbia, where the Iranian leader found himself booed and harangued by the audience and insulted by the university’s president, Lee C. Bollinger.

“Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator,” Bollinger said to loud applause.

President Ahmadinejad was subjected to a hailstorm of criticism following his appearance at Columbia University.  His vociferous critics will only ensure that tensions in the Middle East remain high and that needless deaths result from warfare.

The Iranian President was reaching out and providing a chance for some meaningful dialogue to occur.  That is what is needed, not more interventionism.

Of course, some statements that have been made by Ahmadinejad are repulsive to many Americans, an example would be his position on gays.  What needs to be remembered is that Iran’s culture is quite different than ours.  It is unrealistic to try to impose our cultural values on another country.

If the invitation for a meaningful dialogue is pursued, we will benefit and so will Iran.  One of the first steps that must be taken is the elimination of economic sanctions that we, and the U.N., have imposed on Iran.  The resultant free-trade would be uniformly beneficial and sow the seeds for cultural change from within.

Our current big stick policy toward Iran isn’t working and only prolongs the wait for a real solution.

The Buffalo News: National: Iran leader contentious in U.S. visit

Government, National, World | No Comments »

This is exactly what I wrote about here. 

The Buffalo News: Home: Area economy ripe for environment-friendly development

Shibley said in time, with proper government planning, the pendulum could swing back to favor cities in the Great Lakes basin.

What a crock of (fill in the blank)!

A bunch of bureaucrats will sit around deciding who is worthy enough to receive cheap electrical power.

Instead, just dismantle the New York State Power Authority and evenly distribute the real cost of power to all businesses and residents in the area.  Individuals will spur an economic upturn by having more discretionary funds.  Businesses will all benefit and the competition will result in stronger, financially sound companies.

I am already fedup with paying more money for beef and other food because the government wants to subsidize ethanol.  That is a waste of good money.

We do not need a bunch of suits trying to second guess the market while handing out benefits to their cronies.  For once, take the politics out of this whole issue and the result is a no-brainer.

Buffalo, Erie County, Government Waste, National, New York State | No Comments »

YouTube - Ron Paul for the Long Haul : Music by King Solomon

Government, National, Ron Paul for President | No Comments »

Since I recently moved, I have more space that needs some decorating.  I’ve been using prints of my photos whenever possible.  I needed a fairly large picture for my living room wall and did some digital processing to come up with the picture below.  The print is 20″ x 30″ and matted into a 24″ x 36″ frame.  Click the photo for a larger version. 

Following is the original photo without any extra digital effects.  The photo is the South Grand Island Bridge shot shortly before sunset from a marina on River Road.

Art & Photography | No Comments »

The U.S. government is collecting electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly, drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys, and even the books that travelers have carried, according to documents obtained by a group of civil liberties advocates and statements by government officials.

The personal travel records are meant to be stored for as long as 15 years, as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s effort to assess the security threat posed by all travelers entering the country. Officials say the records, which are analyzed by the department’s Automated Targeting System, help border officials distinguish potential terrorists from innocent people entering the country.

But new details about the information being retained suggest that the government is monitoring the personal habits of travelers more closely than it has previously acknowledged. The details were learned when a group of activists requested copies of official records on their own travel. Those records included a description of a book on marijuana that one of them carried and small flashlights bearing the symbol of a marijuana leaf.

You can expect more of the same for years to come, or you can vote for Ron Paul in 2008!

Collecting of Details on Travelers Documented - washingtonpost.com

Government, National, Ron Paul for President | No Comments »

Check out the fun details. 

Buffalo, Events, Food & Dining, Music | No Comments »

[Some people] have a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to lower the powerful to their own level, and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality with freedom. I believe that it is easier to establish an absolute and despotic government amongst a people in which the conditions of society are equal, than amongst any other; and I think that, if such a government were once established amongst such a people, it would not only oppress men, but would eventually strip each of them of several of the highest qualities of humanity. Despotism, therefore, appears to me peculiarly to be dreaded in democratic times.

— Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America [1835]

That quote fits virtually every presidential candidate, except Ron Paul.

Government, National, Politics & Policy, Quote of the Day, Ron Paul for President | No Comments »

And here is a younger, slightly more amazing juggling performance.

Music, Raves | No Comments »

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Kevin Everett’s doctor plans to have him stand on his own soon, and believes the Bills tight end will be walking within weeks - or sooner.

Dr. barth Green tells WBEN’s Barbara Burns; “I’d say in the next few days or weeks he’ll be standing and walking, not normally.  It might take weeks or months for him to walk more normally.”  Green spoke with WBEN after discussing Everett’s condition with Bills orthopedic surgeon Dr. Andrew Cappuccino.

The prognosis is remarkable after Everett arrived at Millard Fillmore Gates Hospital paralyzed from the neck down after being hurt while making a tackle in Buffalo’s season opener against Denver on Sept. 9. Doctors initially expressed fears Everett would never walk again.

You can hear Dr. Green on “Buffalo’s Early News” with John Zach and Susan Rose tomorrow morning and hear Kevin Evertt’s mom by going to wben.com.

The miraculous medical treatment Keven Everett received is the result of market forces at work.  Less government involvement with health care would lead to more stories like this.

Musings, Raves | No Comments »

Don’t be fooled by Hillary’s doublespeak on health care.  She is trying to portray her plan as being based on ”private” insurance, yet virtually every facet of the program is government mandated.  The only things private in Hillary’s plan are her real thoughts. 

One basic problem with nationalized health care is that it makes medical services seem free. That pushes demand beyond supply. Governments deal with that by limiting what’s available.

There is only one Presidential candidate who would work to lower the cost of health care, while at the same time improving the delivery of services.  That person is Ron Paul.

Read it all:  Townhall.com::Socialized Medicine Is Broken and Can’t Be Fixed::By John Stossel

Government, National, Politics & Policy, Ron Paul for President | 1 Comment »