Of Basketball Floors, Friendship, And An·o·nym·i·ty

NAMESAKE: Jim Sterkel played for USC for two seasons in the 1950s, but the impression he left as a player was nothing compared with the impression he left as a friend. Image Credit: University of Southern California

Of Basketball Floors, Friendship, And An·o·nym·i·ty

Today is the day before an anticipated "landslide" election where the airwaves are filled with vile, slander, and puffery.

Ads paint Republicans and Democrats alike in the absolute worst light and it all can become a bit disheartening as to the prospects of actually having human relations of lasting value.

With this as a backdrop, here is a story about a gift and the real value of why people bother to communicate and share some time together throughout this life we live.

This from the Sports Section of the Los Angeles Times -

FLOORED
By Bill Plaschke - LA Times - November 5, 2006

An anonymous donation will introduce generations of Trojans to Jim Sterkel, and comes as quite a surprise to Mrs. Sterkel

The name is in giant cardinal letters, stripped across two sides of the new basketball court in this city's new basketball treasure, the signature on USC's signature arena.

It will be stepped upon by generations of Trojans basketball players.

It will be seen by millions of Galen Center fans.

Yet it is cloaked in mystery.

Jim Sterkel Court.

"Are you sure?" asks his wife, Joanne Sterkel. "His name is on what?"

It's on the hardwood, scripted there forever, officially scuffed for the first time on Nov. 16, when the Trojans open the season against South Carolina.

It honors a former Trojan who played only two seasons in the mid-1950s. He never averaged more than 10 points a game. His teams never won more than 16 games. He never graduated.

Jim Sterkel Court.

"You're kidding me," asks his daughter Jill. "Are you sure you have the right man?"

He spent a lifetime working as a Johnson Wax salesman. He died of cancer in 1997. He left behind a wife of 38 years and three children and a modest Hacienda Heights home.

Outside that home today there hangs a college banner.

A UCLA banner.

He wasn't a Trojans donor, he never had Trojans season tickets, and if he had any Trojans memories, he kept them to himself.

Jim Sterkel Court.

"I have no idea who put his name on there," says his wife. "And I have no idea why."

A most amazing story in this city of stars, a sports centerpiece decorated in average, laced in ordinary, painted in a nobody.

Or was he?

THE GIFT: As a tribute to his former college roommate, a USC donor gave $5 million to have the court at the Galen Center bear his friend’s name. Image Credit: Mel Melcon / LAT

This tale, like many Hollywood tales, starts quietly, in the suburbs, in adolescence.

Two boys meet at Mark Keppel High in Alhambra.

One likes to play sports, the other likes to watch sports, and together they become as one, chasing fun and fear and dreams.

They attend separate junior colleges, but remain close. When they both enroll in USC in the fall of 1955, they become roommates.

One is a 6-foot-7, 230-pound center named Jim Sterkel.

The other, for reasons you will understand later, is Anonymous.

Anonymous was the businessman, Sterkel was the jock, and it was through sports that Anonymous best understood his friend.

"Jim came home from a game at USF one time with two black eyes," Anonymous said. "It took him a while to admit that he had taken just two shots, and that Bill Russell had blocked both of them right back in his face."

It was then that Anonymous realized Sterkel's honesty and lack of ego, something his teammates already knew.

"The thing everyone remembers most about Jim was, he was just a real good-natured guy," said former Trojans guard Ken Walker. "There was not a mean bone in his body."

After scoring all of nine baskets in his junior year, Sterkel was voted the team's most improved player in his senior year, averaging 9.6 points and 8.6 rebounds.

"He was never a great player, no," said Anonymous. "But he was the kind that kept showing up."

After their senior years, the roommates set upon vastly different courses of life, but never strayed too far.

Anonymous became a business tycoon, while Sterkel became a suburban salesman and church leader, yet they still met for family dinners, fishing trips and pep talks on the phone.

Sterkel was the kind of guy who didn't smoke, didn't swear, and would lead his church in services and on its basketball courts.

He was the kind of guy neighbors phoned if they needed a television fixed or pipe unclogged. Giant and bespectacled and always smiling, he was the kind of guy who hugged everyone.

Anonymous was the kind of guy who, while leading a faster-paced life, gained strength from Sterkel's daily consistency.

"It's hard to find friends who last a lifetime," Anonymous recalled. "For me, Jim was that guy."

When Sterkel retired from Johnson Wax, Anonymous hired him for a job at his company.

When Sterkel first noticed a lump in his testicles, he told Anonymous, who immediately drove him to the doctor for the beginning of his long and fatal relationship with cancer.

While Sterkel was dying, Anonymous' young son also contracted cancer. Sterkel wrote Anonymous a poem, sealed it, and ordered it only to be read if Anonymous' son died.

Less than two years after Sterkel's death, Anonymous' son died of leukemia. He unsealed and read the poem. He said he still feels its imprint today.

"I'll never forget that he took the time out of his own life during his final days to do this for me, to try to inspire my life even when he was losing his own life," Anonymous said.

It was this inspiration that Anonymous remembered when he was approached by USC with an offer to make a donation to put his name on the new court.

He could have given the school his son's name. Most people would have given their own name.

Instead, he wrote a check for about $5 million and gave the name of Jim Sterkel.

"Some people don't deserve to be forgotten," Anonymous said. "Maybe this will keep him around a little longer."

At first, USC officials were stunned. Then, they were moved.

"A great example of the Trojan family," said Mike Garrett, athletic director.

Anonymous had only one request, that the donation be forever nameless, so USC refused to provide me with his name.

Even once I figured it out, Anonymous did not answer repeated interview requests for this story until he was finally promised that it would not include his name.

"The joy I have in remembering Jim would be significantly reduced if people knew who I was,'' he said.

When he finally agreed to the interview, my first question had been rolling around in my gut for a week.

"So what exactly did Jim Sterkel do for you to warrant this incredible honor?" I asked. "Did he give you a kidney? Did he pull you out of a burning car?"

Anonymous sighed.

"He did much more than that," he said. "He was my friend."

Some might think that Jim Sterkel's name was placed on the court not only for his memory, but for his family.

Well, Anonymous still hasn't told the family.

When I contacted them about the court, they had no idea. They had not read about it in the newspapers, or seen it on the USC website, or heard the buzz on the blogs.

Jill, a former Olympic gold medal swimmer, began crying. She politely excused herself, hung up the phone, and we talked later.

"My dad was never famous, he never cared about that," she said. "He was just a good guy and a great parent."

Upon hearing the news, Joanne also wept in disbelief.

After her initial shock, she figured out that there could be only one possible donor, and she correctly identified him, but she remained puzzled.

"He was such a good husband, such a good man, but do people really notice those things anymore?" she said of Jim.

Anonymous knew the family well -- photos of him and Jim are on the several walls of the house -- but he said he just didn't want to call attention to the gift.

In fact, he hasn't even spoken to the family since Jim's death.

Noting that Joanne attended UCLA, he said, "I thought it might be neat if she first saw the name when she was watching the Bruins play at Galen Center on television."

Actually, the family has not yet made any plans to see the court.

And USC, honoring the donor's anonymity, has no plans to contact them in this regard.

"We're just happy that a good person like Jim Sterkel can be remembered on our campus in perpetuity," said Don Winston, the university's associate athletic director and fund-raising whiz. "We've heard a lot of folks saying, 'Who's Jim Sterkel?' Now they will know."

Some folks are asking that question angrily.

There is talk in some USC circles that the naming of the court should not have been sold, but rather given to a former Trojans basketball hero like Bill Sharman, Tex Winter or Paul Westphal.

After all, John Wooden's name is on the UCLA court, and Lute Olson's name is on the Arizona court.

To which Anonymous says, "If you have a friend for 50 years, isn't that big enough?"

And it is. Of course it is.

In a town where sidewalks are filled with the names of people famous for acting like someone else, what is wrong with celebrating the name of someone who was great at just being himself?

In a town where five percent of the people are stars and the rest of them are like us, what's wrong with celebrating us?

A most amazing story in this city of stars, a sports centerpiece decorated in average, laced in ordinary, painted in a nobody.

Gosh, it's beautiful.
Reference Here (free subscription)>>

To Repeat:

In a town where sidewalks are filled with the names of people famous for acting like someone else, what is wrong with celebrating the name of someone who was great at just being himself?

In a town where five percent of the people are stars and the rest of them are like us, what's wrong with celebrating us?

A most amazing story in this city of stars, a sports centerpiece decorated in average, laced in ordinary, painted in a nobody.

Gosh, it's beautiful...

...It certainly is!

And when tomorrow comes, go out and VOTE with a happy heart.

It's Official, The Long, Slow, Slide Of Tradition Is Complete!

Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori smiles while greeting congregants after her investiture as the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church at the National Cathedral in Washington, November 4, 2006. Schori is the first woman to head a national branch of the Worldwide Anglican Communion in its more than 450-year history. Image Credit: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES)

It's Official, The Long, Slow, Slide Of Tradition Is Complete!

Yesterday, the Episcopal Church, in its OWN wisdom, decided to throw all sacred tradition aside and complete a process it started back in 1974 when it first bucked original tradition with the ordination of its first woman priest.

This from The Washington Times -

The bishop presiding is a woman
By Julia Duin - THE WASHINGTON TIMES - November 5, 2006

The Right Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori was installed yesterday as the Episcopal Church's first female chief pastor, a job that will include shepherding a denomination on the verge of a historic split over homosexual clergy, same-sex blessings and biblical authority.
----
Bishop Jefferts Schori made one allusion to the potential split facing the church. About one-tenth of the 2.4-million-member denomination has been threatening to leave since the 2003 consecration of New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, an active homosexual.

"If some in this church feel wounded by recent decisions, then our salvation, our health as a body, is at some hazard, and it becomes the duty of all of us to seek healing and wholeness," Bishop Jefferts Schori said.

She also called on her listeners to find "the will to make peace with one who disdains our theological position -- for his has merit, too, as the fruit of faithfulness."
----
The two-hour investiture service yesterday made Bishop Jefferts Schori the highest-ranking woman in the 77-million-member worldwide Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is one part.

The service opened with chants by Paiute, Shoshone, Ute, Sioux and Chippewa drummers. They led a lengthy procession of about 180 bishops and priests into the cathedral at 11 a.m., carrying vessels that burned an incense "prayer offering" of sweetgrass, sage and cedar.

Liturgical dancers followed, waving green, red, gold and purple banners and streamers as they escorted a stream of interfaith visitors representing Christian, Buddhist, Jewish and Muslim traditions.
----
She then was presented with symbols of her office, including a book of the Gospels, water symbolizing baptism, bread and wine and oil. When Bishop Griswold presented her with an ornate silver primatial staff at 11:25 a.m., thereby transferring the power of his office over to her, the congregation erupted in cheers.

"Katharine Jefferts Schori is a marvelous successor," he said after the service. "I look forward to her leadership."

Newark, N.J., Assistant Bishop Carol Gallagher, hobbled by a sprained ankle, said she made a special effort to attend the ceremony for the first female presiding bishop.

"I could not miss this," she said. "I just had to be here today. It has meant the world to all of us."

None of the bishops at the gathering appeared to include those from seven Episcopal dioceses that have refused to accept Bishop Jefferts Schori's leadership as presiding bishop and have appealed to Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams for an alternate. The archbishop has said the matter will be addressed at a meeting of the world's Anglican archbishops in Tanzania in February.

Before her investiture, Bishop Jefferts Schori extended an invitation to four Anglican bishops -- who opposed her June 18 election as presiding bishop -- asking them to meet with her when they visit the United States in mid-November. There is no sign the Anglican prelates, who are meeting with conservatives from the seven dioceses in Northern Virginia, responded.
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What A Metaphor -- for the present day Episcopal Church, when Bishop Jefferts Schori's female counterpart, Newark, N.J., Assistant Bishop Carol Gallagher, hobbled to attend the ceremony -- "Of A Hobbled Church".

Well, there is always the Catholic Church ......... ?

I'll take my Christian faith worship evangelical style, thank-you. It is easier to take than to see Episcopal/Anglican tradition slammed to the floor as it has in the church that had introduced me to Christian worship in the first place.

It was very interesting to note the phrase in the story "escorted a stream of interfaith visitors representing Christian, Buddhist, Jewish and Muslim traditions" when this Church was busy dissin' TRADITIONS through this very ceremony.

House Organ For Dems Uncovers Evidence Of Nukes In Iraq

24th nuclear detonation of USSR. This was the first air delivered thermonuclear weapon test. The device codenamed RDS-37 was built upon Sakharov's Third idea, basically this is same as Teller-Ulam design. Image Credit: Nuclear Weapons Image Gallery - zvis.com

House Organ For Dems Uncovers Evidence Of Nukes In Iraq

After years of articles exclaiming "Bush Lied And People Died", a chant asserting that the president lied about the nuclear activity and ambitions of Saddam Hussein and the threat Iraq posed to the free world, The New York Times found evidence that the ability to make nukes did in fact exist in Iraq.

In a story designed to mock the federal government's effort to post information found in documents taken out of Iraq, The New York Times in its glee to show the Bush Administration in a poor light, proves that there was factual document evidence Iraq had the wherewithal to produce a nuclear weapon ... and that the posting of this information poses a threat to the United States.

Suddenly, The New York Times is worried about the security of the United States

Excerpts from The New York Times -

U.S. Web Archive Is Said to Reveal a Nuclear Primer
By WILLIAM J. BROAD - Published: November 3, 2006

Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The Bush administration did so under pressure from Congressional Republicans who had said they hoped to "leverage the Internet" to find new evidence of the prewar dangers posed by Saddam Hussein.

But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq's secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb.

Last night, the government shut down the Web site after The New York Times asked about complaints from weapons experts and arms-control officials. A spokesman for the director of national intelligence said access to the site had been suspended "pending a review to ensure its content is appropriate for public viewing."
----
The documents, roughly a dozen in number, contain charts, diagrams, equations and lengthy narratives about bomb building that nuclear experts who have viewed them say go beyond what is available elsewhere on the Internet and in other public forums. For instance, the papers give detailed information on how to build nuclear firing circuits and triggering explosives, as well as the radioactive cores of atom bombs.
----
The government had received earlier warnings about the contents of the Web site. Last spring, after the site began posting old Iraqi documents about chemical weapons, United Nations arms-control officials in New York won the withdrawal of a report that gave information on how to make tabun and sarin, nerve agents that kill by causing respiratory failure.
The campaign for the online archive was mounted by conservative publications and politicians, who said that the nation's spy agencies had failed adequately to analyze the 48,000 boxes of documents seized since the March 2003 invasion. With the public increasingly skeptical about the rationale and conduct of the war, the chairmen of the House and Senate intelligence committees argued that wide analysis and translation of the documents - most of them in Arabic - would reinvigorate the search for clues that Mr. Hussein had resumed his unconventional arms programs in the years before the invasion.
----
The Web site, "Operation Iraqi Freedom Document Portal," was a constantly expanding portrait of prewar Iraq. Its many thousands of documents included everything from a collection of religious and nationalistic poetry to instructions for the repair of parachutes to handwritten notes from Mr. Hussein's intelligence service. It became a popular quarry for a legion of bloggers, translators and amateur historians.

Among the dozens of documents in English were Iraqi reports written in the 1990s and in 2002 for United Nations inspectors in charge of making sure Iraq had abandoned its unconventional arms programs after the Persian Gulf war. Experts say that at the time, Mr. Hussein's scientists were on the verge of building an atom bomb, as little as a year away.

European diplomats said this week that some of those nuclear documents on the Web site were identical to the ones presented to the United Nations Security Council in late 2002, as America got ready to invade Iraq. But unlike those on the Web site, the papers given to the Security Council had been extensively edited, to remove sensitive information on unconventional arms.

The deletions, the diplomats said, had been done in consultation with the United States and other nuclear-weapons nations. Mohamed ElBaradei, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which ran the nuclear part of the inspections, told the Security Council in late 2002 that the deletions were "consistent with the principle that proliferation-sensitive information should not be released."
----
In Europe, a senior diplomat said atomic experts there had studied the nuclear documents on the Web site and judged their public release as potentially dangerous. "It's a cookbook," said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of his agency's rules. "If you had this, it would short-circuit a lot of things."

The New York Times had examined dozens of the documents and asked a half dozen nuclear experts to evaluate some of them.

Peter D. Zimmerman, a physicist and former United States government arms scientist now at the war studies department of King's College, London, called the posted material "very sensitive, much of it undoubtedly secret restricted data."
----
Some of the first posted documents dealt with Iraq's program to make germ weapons, followed by a wave of papers on chemical arms.

At the United Nations in New York, the chemical papers raised alarms at the Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, which had been in charge of searching Iraq for all unconventional arms, save the nuclear ones.

In April, diplomats said, the commission’s acting chief weapons inspector, Demetrius Perricos, lodged an objection with the United States mission to the United Nations over the document that dealt with the nerve agents tabun and sarin.

Soon, the document vanished from the Web site. On June 8, diplomats said, Mr. Perricos told the Security Council of how risky arms information had shown up on a public Web site and how his agency appreciated the American cooperation in resolving the matter.

In September, the Web site began posting the nuclear documents, and some soon raised concerns. On Sept. 12, it posted a document it called "Progress of Iraqi nuclear program circa 1995." That description is potentially misleading since the research occurred years earlier.

The Iraqi document is marked "Draft FFCD Version 3 (20.12.95)," meaning it was preparatory for the "Full, Final, Complete Disclosure" that Iraq made to United Nations inspectors in March 1996. The document carries three diagrams showing cross sections of bomb cores, and their diameters.

On Sept. 20, the site posted a much larger document, "Summary of technical achievements of Iraq's former nuclear program."It runs to 51 pages, 18 focusing on the development of Iraq's bomb design. Topics included physical theory, the atomic core and high-explosive experiments. By early October, diplomats and officials said, United Nations arms inspectors in New York and their counterparts in Vienna were alarmed and discussing what to do.
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The New York Times, who had no problem in releasing current 2001-2006 information on our security efforts and interrogation efforts to protect the United States, now has a problem with the release of information on weapons programs out of Iraq - pre 1991 - stating that this poses a threat to the security of the United States.

Good work NY Times! Iraq had nukes. Thanks for the heads-up!

This editorial UPDATE from The New York Post -

ELECTIONEERING OF THE TIMES
Editorial From The New York Post

November 4, 2006 -- Yesterday's front-page story in The New York Times about the U.S. Web archive of captured documents detailing Saddam Hussein's quest for nuclear weapons raises a lot of serious questions - certainly more serious than the one the paper itself was trying to highlight.

The point of the Times story, coming just four days before the critical midterm congressional elections, was clear: The Bush administration messed up big-time by posting on the Web a collection of documents on Iraqi WMD programs that "could help states like Iran develop nuclear arms."

Just how helpful is open to debate; the paper's own experts don't seem to agree. And at least one of them seems to have a vested interest in embarrassing the White House: He's been a longtime repeat contributor to the Democratic National Committee and to John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign.

But the story confirms something else again: Saddam had an active program to build nuclear weapons - and, at one point, was "as little as a year away" from actually building one.

Indeed, the plans he'd assembled were so advanced that they constituted, in the words of one unnamed diplomat consulted by the Times, "a cookbook" that would be helpful to regimes like Iran that are actively seeking WMDs - though not to terrorist groups, or even less-developed states.

Or, as Jim Geraghty writes on National Review Online, "the anti-war crowd is going to have to argue that the information wasn't dangerous in the hands of Saddam Hussein, but was dangerous [when] posted on the Internet."

Indeed, some of the documents were said to be identical to ones submitted just months before the 2003 invasion to the U.N. Security Council by inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency. This certainly suggests that, even then, the IAEA was seriously concerned by Saddam's quest for WMDs.

In other words, George W. Bush didn't lie the country into war.

Which is precisely the kind of information that congressional Republicans suspected was in those documents - 48,000 boxes of which were seized after Saddam's ouster - when they pressured the administration to make them public in the first place.

And which makes us wonder why the White House has been so reluctant to do that on its own.

In fact, the Times story essentially confirms the credibility of other - even more incriminating - captured documents from the same cache that have been translated and posted to various blogs and Web sites, like Captain's Quarters (captainsquartersblog.com).

Documents that, among other things, detail Saddam's relationship with al Qaeda and his coordination with the suicide bombers of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Or his post-9/11 efforts to make ricin, a poisonous gas.

All of which sounds pretty much like a genuine threat to global stability and security.

But that's not the message the Times is pressing in its conveniently timed November Surprise.

The Times would have us believe that the Bush administration, through its own carelessness, has helped spread nuclear proliferation.

The documents themselves tell a different story.

The real threat was posed by Saddam Hussein, whose longtime quest for nuclear weapons was ended, once and for all, by his removal from power.

The world is safer for it.
Reference Here>>

A Balk For "Screwie" - The Meat Is Out Of The Grinder

Rob Reiner’s last project, released September 15th – 'Everyone’s Hero' – where 'Meathead' takes on the challanging voice-over role of a baseball ... 'Screwie' ... you can not make this stuff up ... haaa, haaa, haaa, hoooaa, oh man! - Image Credit: Apple Trailers

A Balk For 'Screwie' - The Meat Is Out Of The Grinder

As mentioned here last spring in the run-up to the primary elections in California, Rob Reiner was under investigation for the probable illegal use of state collected monies in his pursuit of an initiative that he had held dear to his political future.

In posts here at MAXINE entitled "Hewitt's Pebble Now A Boulder", "Grinding Meathead", and "Grinding Meathead - Part Deux", it looked as though Rob Reiner might have some e'splainin' to do in his relationships and activities that surrounded his promotion of proposition 82 - Universal Pre-School for all children in California.

As a sitting Chairman of California Children and Families Commission, also known as the California First 5 Commission, Rob Reiner was entrusted with the management and use of approximately 300 million plus dollars of collected tax monies from cigarettes.

It now turns out, in the opinion of the audit commission set up to investigate the whole mess, the "California First 5 Commission" had lapses in the management of some of the contracts they had negotiated.

Excerpts from the Los Angeles Times –

Auditor reports contract lapses by Reiner panel
By Dan Morain, Times Staff Writer - 11:12 AM PST, October 31, 2006

SACRAMENTO -- A state commission chaired by Hollywood entertainer Rob Reiner [ed. TV's "Meathead" in "All In The Family" and most recently voice of "Screwie", a baseball, in the cartoon feature "Everyone's Hero"] suffered from lapses in its contracting, failed to properly award millions of dollars in contracts and did not adequately justify many of its payments, according to a state audit released today.

The nonpartisan California Bureau of State Audits found that the California Children and Families Commission, also known as the California First 5 Commission, used tax money to overpay for some services and failed to follow state rules when it awarded some contracts.

"We found a number of problems with the way it awards and manages these contracts," the report said, referring to the tens of millions in advertising and public relations contracts awarded since the commission was created after voters approved Proposition 10 in 1998.

"As a result, the state commission paid for services it had not contracted for, effectively preventing that money from being used to further the other activities allowed by the contract, namely purchasing printed ad space or broadcast media time," the audit said.
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"Our review determined that the state commission had clear legal authority to conduct its public advertising campaigns related to preschool," the auditors found.
----
The audit said the "content of these advertisements and their timing were consistent with applicable legal restrictions related to the use of public funds for political purposes and confirmed that the state commission did not contribute any of its public funds to campaign accounts used to support the various ballot measures."

The commission answered the auditors by saying it "is deeply committed to making itself a model for state contracting practices, and has already begun to implement new policies and practices and improve staff training."

They can say anything they want about me,” Reiner says of critics. “I’ll take the hits as long as I reach my goal.” Image Credit: Lori Shepler / LAT

Among its findings, the audit said the commission:

• Did not follow state policy when it used a competitive process to award three contracts valued at more than $47.7 million and failed to provide sufficient justification for awarding one $3 million contract and six amendments totaling $27.6 million using the noncompetitive process.

• Paid $1.2 million more than it should have for administrative overhead because it did not follow state policy that limits such payments.

• Paid invoices totaling $673,000 in 2002 and 2003 for fees and expenses of a contractor's employees. These payments violated the contract, "effectively preventing these funds from being used to further other activities that were allowable under the terms of the contract."

Such problems "caused the state commission to make some questionable payments to contractors for items such as laptop computers valued at $10,000, food catering costs and monthly parking fees," the audit said.
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And this from the San Francisco Chronicle -

Audit largely clears panel founded by Rob Reiner
But some evidence of mismanagement of funds discovered
By Lynda Gledhill, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau - Wednesday, November 1, 2006

The audit in large part clears the First 5 California Children and Families Commission, created by and formerly headed by Rob Reiner, of charges that it spent money on advertisements that were timed to help boost support for a Reiner-sponsored ballot measure that would have created universal preschool.

But the auditor found the commission improperly paid media consultants $673,000 and did not follow state law as to rewarding contracts.

"I'm definitely concerned about the $600,000, but in the bigger scheme of things, I'm relieved we didn't have mismanagement of funds for political purposes," said Assemblyman Dario Frommer, D-Los Feliz (Los Angeles County), who was one of the lawmakers who requested the audit.

Frommer expressed some relief, but the other lawmaker who had initiated the inquiry said that it showed a pattern of mismanagement.

"This is an agency that is unaccountable and has frankly run amok," said Sen. Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks (Sacramento County). "This may very well not have violated the law in regards to use of funds for political purposes, but it doesn't pass the smell test."

The First 5 California Children and Families Commission was created in 1998 by Proposition 10, a ballot measure Reiner helped create. The panel helps dole out money raised by a 50-cent tax on cigarettes to anti-smoking and early childhood education programs.

Reiner quit the commission in March after questions were raised about the appropriateness of his role, saying he did not want to detract from efforts to pass Proposition 82 in June. That measure would have taxed the state's highest wage earners to guarantee all California 4-year-olds a constitutional right to free preschool, but it was resoundingly defeated.

Under Prop. 10, the state commission is required to spend 6 percent of its funds on educational outreach. Between January 2000 and August 2005, the commission entered into seven contracts with four media and public relations firms.
Reference Here>>

I guess, now, it can be said that California only had the stomach for a "vegetarian meal". No meat here!

“Death of a President” Signals Death Of A Strategy

Movie Poster - “DEATH OF A PRESIDENT” - Directed by Gabriel Range - Rated R - Wide release CREDIT: Newmarket Films

“Death of a President” Signals Death Of A Strategy

We all remember the role President George W. Bush played in a “documentary” that was released before a major election here in the United States.

You know, the bumbling “so-called” leader of the free world, caught as if he were a “deer in the headlights” when he was informed of the attack on the World Trade Center buildings while reading to children as he promoted his administration’s education agenda.

Michael Moore made a lot of money and almost brought down a presidency (which was his agenda) with a largely untruthful (59 Deceits, Kopel), disputed (Unfairenheit 9/11, Hitchens), and widely seen film, “Fahrenheit 9/11”, that was made in an adapted documentary style in order to lend the film and its conclusions credibility.

The content and the timing in the run-up to the 2004 presidential election was all a stroke that almost achieved its desired effect.

Enter now, a film starring President George W. Bush that was assembled in the documentary style, entered in a prestigious film festival (Toronto) in order to garner distribution, and released just before an election … sound familiar?

This one, as opposed to mocking a sitting U.S. president, sets out to kill a sitting U.S. president – and release the movie just before an election to influence and make a boatload of money, by a Brit.

“DEATH OF A PRESIDENT” - Directed by Gabriel Range - Rated R - Wide release CREDIT: Newmarket Films

Excerpts from Sunday Paper -

‘President’ imagines frighteningly plausible future
Sunday Paper - SHORT TAKES – By Steve Warren – 10-29-06

"Death of a President" is bound to be the year's most polarizing movie, but not entirely for the right reasons. Although he's portrayed sympathetically, supporters of President George Walker Bush are so incensed by the film's premise they won't consider seeing it, but progressives who do are in for a surprise. The British telefilm reveals small details of American law enforcement and justice in a manner more insidious than incendiary.

Pres. Bush gives a speech in Chicago on Oct. 19, 2007. Throngs of protestors, mostly peaceful but infiltrated by a few hardcore militants, interrupt the presidential motorcade, leading to a quick, brutal police response. After the speech, the President is shot twice by a sniper's rifle.

A new Patriot Act is pushed through Congress, further restricting the liberties of all Americans. "CSI" fans should appreciate the insights of a forensics expert pressured to make very slight evidence fit the desired conclusion.

"Death of a President" is a subtle mystery-thriller that doesn't play by the rules. Director Gabriel Range brilliantly combines archival material with newly filmed talking heads and reenactments and occasional computer trickery for a credible documentary look. There are no big action scenes, no suspenseful climax, and Richard Harvey's minimalist score uses no obvious tricks to play on your emotions. Without endorsing assassination as a solution to America's problems or anyone's problems with America, it shows why some people might consider it, and creates a believable scenario of what might happen if they did. 3 STARS—Steve Warren
Reference Here>>


Gabriel Range, director and writer of "Death of a President” Image Credit: FNC

Interview of “Death of a President” director and writer by John Gibson, Fox News -

GIBSON: Here now is the director and writer of the film, Gabriel Range.
So Mr. Range, do you understand why that picture of George W. Bush getting shot makes Americans so angry?

GABRIEL RANGE, DIRECTOR AND WRITER OF "DEATH OF A PRESIDENT": Well, I can understand that it's a provocative image, it's a very striking image and I can understand, of course, that this is a sensitive subject. But I think that sometimes it is right for a film to be provocative. The film doesn't take the assassination of President Bush as a starting point for entertainment. It is a serious film that I hope is thought provoking.

GIBSON: Yeah, but it takes the assassination of President Bush as a perfectly logical thing. You have this riot going on at the arrival of President Bush that has never happened in America, ever. And it has happened in Britain. It looks like a British riot dropped into Chicago on which you then graft this assassination.

And here's the point: Look at this double image. This double image shows President Bush being assassinated in your film and in the real life image that every American knows, Lee Harvey Oswald is being shot by Jack Ruby. You took that iconic image of Oswald being shot by Ruby and made it Bush. Oswald, the guy who assassinated President Kennedy, some would argue deserved to be shot. President Bush, the argument seems to be in this movie, deserves to be shot.

RANGE: Absolutely not. First of all, I take issue with what you say that President Bush has never been met with a riot. As it happens, the events in that first part of the film are absolutely a reflection of what happened when President Bush visited Portland in 2003. He absolutely has been met with that kind of response in a city.

GIBSON: Nobody has gotten to the motorcade.

RANGE: They have forced the motorcade to stop on one occasion in Portland.

GIBSON: But you understand, you are a Brit, everybody making this film is a Brit. This is a European sensibility of Bush, of a Bush riot, of the whole buildup of the trouble that would cause. This is not how Americans see Bush.

RANGE: Well, you know, you are entitled to your opinion. I, of course, respect your opinion that it's a European sensibility. But I personally don't think it is.
I think the film describes some of the responses to 9/11, which of course was an attack on American soil, but you don't have to be American to feel the consequences of that event. We are aware of the War on Terror back in Britain as well. And obviously London last July was also the scene of a terrible act of terrorism. So I think it is valid for me as a Brit to make a film that touches on these issues.

GIBSON: You take an incident in American history to justify the way the suspect in this assassination is handled. Of course America made a mistake about the Japanese internment in World War II. The Supreme Court has spoken about it and there have been apologies issued. You make the treatment of that suspect correlate to the treatment of the Japanese after World War II. Of course America looks bad in that situation. And what one is left with watching your film is that here's a guy who thinks President Bush - some people think President Bush deserves to be assassinated and that it is an inevitable consequence of what he has done and now we're going to show America then screwing up the investigation into who did it.

RANGE: The film in no way suggests that the assassination of President Bush is inevitable. It certainly doesn't suggest that it would be a good idea. I don't think that anyone could leave the cinema thinking that the world would be better in the aftermath of a horrific event like this. It portrays the assassination as something which is a horrific event with truly terrible consequences.

GIBSON: Doesn't take a sensibility - I mean, I read the British press and I have been chastised by the British government for my statements about the BBC. I see how much President Bush is disliked. I see how much he is hated. You are talking about this riot on his arrival, a real sense of hate in the protest, the worst scene I have ever seen, a reporter says. This is completely transferred whole cloth from a European or British sensibility to America and made to seem as if it is American when Americans don't recognize that it is true.

RANGE: That is not the response that it has got from many quarters. But I respect your - you are free to make your own judgment. What I would say to people is this film is not what you think and no way a personal attack on President Bush. It is a big criticism of some of the things that the administration has done in the last five years, but I would urge people to go and see the film themselves and make a judgment.

GIBSON: Gabriel Range, the director and writer of "Death of a President." Mr. Range, thanks very much. Appreciate it.

RANGE: Thank you for having me on.
Reference Here>>

FOXlight With Bill McCuddy - Image Credit: Bill McCuddy

And this from Bill McCuddy about the Toronto Film Festival debut of “Death of a President” -

At the same time, the international critics gave their award to "Death of a President." This may reflect certain feelings around the world about George Bush, but I'm sticking to my guns here. It's inappropriate to make a film about killing a sitting U.S. president, no matter what your politics. There's nothing smart or cool about that.

"Death of a President" may be a big hit overseas, but I doubt it. And its sale to Newmarket Films in the U.S. - the same company that released "The Passion of the Christ" - speaks volumes. Newmarket paid $1 million for "DoaP," about a quarter of what it cost. In the U.S., though, I think it will be ignored not only for its tastelessness, but because it's a bad, boring film, a long, tedious "CSI" that goes nowhere to prove a stupid point ...
Reference Here>>

The movie opened in 91 theaters throughout the US. Most openings average over $1,000 per screen, per showing according to McCuddy. Today, on Fox News Morning, Bill McCuddy stated after an interview with the director and writer of the movie, Gabriel Range, the opening this weekend is averaging about $670 per screen or 30% below a normal average.

This “VOTE” seems conclusive and appropriate. We can only hope.

The fact that this movie was made to be released at this time by a non-citizen Brit is a little like the Dixie Chicks speaking openly at a concert in England about their displeasure about the President during a time of war. Decorum is lost on both for, what it seems to be here at MAXINE, political leftist-hatred of the right and profit-motive. At the time each of these incidents happened, these motives were at play. Over time, obviously, it is hard to keep beating this drum once the audience has gone home.

Democrat Positions Once Secret, Now Revealed

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. - Image Credit: Chuck Kennedy, MCT

Democrat Positions Once Secret, Now Revealed

Damn!

I must have missed it ... where is Total World Peace and the Elimination of All Greenhouse Gasses.

Excerpts from NACSonline (National Association of Convenience Stores) -

Memo From Washington
By John Eichberger, Vice President - Government Relations, NACS - October 27, 2006

The midterm elections are now only 11 days away and the polling in the field is fierce.

Depending upon which poll you review and on which days that poll was conducted, you may reach radically different conclusions about what might happen on November 7. I think it is safe to say that this election will be a nail-biter, especially for those watching the House of Representatives. Republican members and their staff are wondering if they will have jobs in January, while Democratic members and their staff are trying not to think too much about assuming committee chairs and establishing the agenda for the next Congress.

That said, of course the leaders in the parties have to think ahead and lay out their plans for the future. This week, the aspiring majority party issued a document, "New Direction for America: Six for '06." This represents the legislative agenda of the Democratic party as it prepares for what it hopes will be its 110th Congress.

I note the release of this document primarily to give readers a snap shot of what the priorities will be next year should control of the House of Representatives switch parties. For years, we have been watching the Republicans call the shots and, should the Democrats win the majority, it will be very helpful to know where they will set their priorities.

"Six for '06" lays out the six priorities Below, I have provided a short, unbiased synopsis of their proposals (full details are available from the actual document). Obviously, their descriptions of the priorities are more politically angled and punchy than those which follow, and you may agree or disagree with their agenda. Either way, it's important to understand what the agenda of the Congress could be in the coming months:

1. Real Security at Home and Overseas: Articulates the party's vision for the future of the U.S. military and the nation’s campaigns overseas, specifically in Iraq and against the forces of al Qaeda.

2. Better American Jobs-Better Pay: Specifies that Members of Congress shall not receive another pay raise until the minimum wage is increased.

3. College Access for All: Cut rates for student loans, expand Pell Grants and make tuition permanently tax deductible.

4. Energy Independence - Lower Gas Prices: Promote initiatives for energy-efficient technology and domestic alternative fuels like biofuels and enact tough laws to stop price gouging.

5. Affordable Health Care - Life-Saving Science: Change the Medicare prescription drug program and promote stem cell research.

6. Retirement Security and Dignity: Stop any plans to privatize all or any part of Social Security, enact pension reforms and expand personal savings incentives.
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The drive towards [ed. fuel] alternatives is not unique to the Democratic party. In fact, President Bush has said that a goal for the nation should be to replace 30 percent of our gasoline use with biofuels by the year 2030.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who would likely be the Speaker of the House if the Democrats assume control, referenced legislation offered by the Democratic Rural Caucus as one of the foundations for energy policy under her leadership. That bill would increase the use of renewable fuels to 20 percent of the motor fuel supply by 2015 and require the Secretary of Energy to establish a schedule for mandatory installation of E-85 dispensers at retail.
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Despite what the national polls broadcast on the news every night, the only polls that truly count are those in your polling district. Remember, "All politics is local" and the only ones who can influence the outcome are the ones who vote.
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Didn't anybody tell this guy who is writing this memo and Nancy Pelosi - the Underwriters Labratories (UL) have not approved and certified the nozzel delivery systems for E85, YET?

Speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)- OUCH!

700 Miles Of Fence To Go Up - Finally!

President Bush signs the Secure Fence Act of 2006 in the Roosevelt Room at the White House yesterday. Image Credit: Associated Press

700 Miles Of Fence To Go Up - Finally!

His heart really isn't in it.

He signed the bill in the "Rose Garden" and not along the border in Arizona, or California.

I guess the administration didn't want the back of the photoshot with the President signing the bill to be filled with people making their way toward Tucson, or Anaheim!

Excerpts from AP via Yahoo! News -

Bush signs U.S.-Mexico border fence bill
By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer (Associated Press Writer Suzanne Gamboa contributed)

WASHINGTON - President Bush signed a bill Thursday authorizing 700 miles of new fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border, hoping to give Republican candidates a pre-election platform for asserting they're tough on illegal immigration.

"Unfortunately the United States has not been in complete control of its borders for decades and therefore illegal immigration has been on the rise," Bush said at a signing ceremony.

"We have a responsibility to enforce our laws," he said. "We have a responsibility to secure our borders. We take this responsibility serious."

He called the fence bill "an important step in our nation's efforts to secure our borders."

The centerpiece of Bush's immigration policy, a guest worker program, remains stalled in Congress.

GOOD!

Still, Bush argues that it would be easier to get his guest worker program passed if Republicans keep their majorities in the House and Senate after the Nov. 7 elections. His proposal would allow legal employment for foreigners and give some of the estimated 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States a shot at becoming American citizens.
----
Mexican officials have criticized the fence. Outgoing Mexican President
Vicente Fox, who has spent much of his six years in office lobbying for a new guest worker program and a chance at citizenship for the millions of Mexicans working illegally in the U.S., calls the fence "shameful" and compares it to the Berlin Wall.

Others have doubts about its effectiveness.

"A fence will slow people down by a minute or two, but if you don't have the agents to stop them it does no good. We're not talking about some impenetrable barrier," T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union representing Border Patrol agents, said Wednesday.
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Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison, both Texas Republicans, had wanted to amend the fence bill to give local governments more say about where fencing is erected. They lost that battle, but Republican leaders assured them the Homeland Security Department would have flexibility to choose other options instead of fencing, if needed.

President Bush speaks during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2006. Image Credit: AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

Cornyn said he voted for the fence because he wanted to help demonstrate that Congress was serious about border security.

"The choice we were presented was: Are we going to vote to enhance border security, or against it?" Cornyn said. "I think that's how the vote was viewed."
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"DEMFEST" All Day On MSNBC

MSNBC page banner for today, October 24, 2006. "Just two weeks from the most important election of our time" --- the overriding theme of the day. Image Credit: Copyright 2006 MSNBC

"DEMFEST" All Day On MSNBC

So I wake this morning, as I am accustomed to do. Start the coffee, catch a little breakfast, flip on the computer, and watch a little Don Imus In The Morning on MSNBC. The day starts out pretty much normal.

Imus ends and up pops an all day broadcast anchored by David Gregory. This just isn't any MSNBC broadcast ... but a special broadcast production day entitled "Decision 2006 Battleground America".

David begins the day by reviewing what one will be watching, that an interview with Senator Jack Murtha will be coming up shortly but first let's go to Richard Engle in Baghdad, Iraq.

After ten minutes of how ugly things are in Iraq and parsing the words of the commander after a news conference … David Gregory interviews Jack Murtha for a full fifteen minutes, without any counterpoint, unless one wants to count David Gregory as a counterpoint.

All of the time this is going on, the scroll at the bottom of the screen reads -

NOW ON MSNBC: DECISION 2006 BATTLEGROUND AMERICA ON MSNBC *** IN THE SENATE, DEMOCRATS NEED ONLY TO WIN 6 SEATS TO TAKE CONTROL OF THE CHAMBER *** WATCH CHRIS MATTHEWS ON HARDBALL ON MSNBC’S “POLITICS DAY” DECISION 2006 AT 3 PM; CHRIS WILL INTERVIEW NED LAMONT FOR THE HOUR *** POLLS SHOW DEMOCRATS POISED TO TAKE CONTROL OF THE CONGRESS – ONLY 15 SEATS NEEDED TO TAKE CONTROL OF THE CHAMBER ***

Strewn all throughout the broadcast, graphics of the United States highlighting each state that is in play pops-up just like on election day coverage tracking the polls as if the election was happening right now … and then the talking heads that include Howard Dean, Tim Russert, some pollster, photos of the contested candidates with their respective poll percentage numbers (ahead/behind).

MSNBC’S Decision 2006 Battleground America is really one big “DEMFEST” – check it out, it’s fun, it’s lopsided, and it’s politics here and now in 2006. If you leave the room, don’t forget to turn off the TV.

Oh, by the way, it took over an hour and a half since the beginning of the program, the first person in politics, who is not a democrat or a journalist (democrat), is Elizabeth Dole. She is being interviewed by the second hour anchor, Campbell Brown.

Sample question to Dole: “Why are people like Dewine (R) in trouble of losing his seat?”

Graphics pop-up on the screen showing the layout of the Senate Chamber floor with the caption “Democrats Need Only To Win 6 Seats To Take Control”

It’s a “DEMFEST”! What an orgy!

Okay, now Campbell Brown announces that “After the break, we will go to New Jersey where Republicans have a chance to take back a seat” … this offering after only one hour and forty-five minutes of broadcast time – incredible!

The Corrosive Nature Of E85 And Standards Clash

The E-85 sticker on the inside of the gas tank flap shows that it's compatible with the fuel. Image Credit: Robert Becker

The Corrosive Nature Of E85 And Standards Clash

We are told over and over that we are in a war ... and that one of the reasons Islamo-Faschist hate our way of life is due to the amount of influence we exert to get our hands on the oil Islamic countries control in order to fuel our way of life.

One strategy put forth to aid in reducing our dependence on foreign sources of oil is to blend the fuel with greater amounts of renewable sources of fuel known as Ethanol (fuel made from cellulose laden vegetation).

The blend, known as E85 - 85% Ethanol and 15% Gasoline - is more corrosive on things that it comes in contact with than straight Gasoline. This potential corrosiveness has held up the approval and certification of pumping mechanisms that deliver fuel to our cars from the Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL).

This from "About UL" on the UL website -

Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) is an independent, not-for-profit product-safety testing and certification organization. We have tested products for public safety for more than a century.

Since our founding in 1894, we have held the undisputed reputation as a leader in product-safety testing and certification within the United States. Building on our household name in the United States, UL is becoming one of the most recognized, reputable conformity assessment providers in the world. Today, our services extend to helping companies achieve global acceptance, whether for an electrical device, a programmable system, or an organization's quality process.

Basically, without the UL certification for safety, insurance companies and fire response entities will not allow E85 fuel stations to be built. Worse, without certification, E85 stations may be shut down.

Excerpts from the Lincoln Journal Star -

Underwriters Laboratories monkey-wrenches E85 stations
By Lincoln Journal Star staff and wire reports - The Detroit Free Press and Journal Star reporter Art Hovey contributed to this report - Saturday Oct 21, 2006

The legal operating status of some filling stations selling E85, the blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, is under question since Underwriters Laboratories, the product safety testing group, said it has no timetable for approving E85 systems.

That’s created confusion around the country and could slow the spread of E85 stations, to the dismay of state and local governments, farmers, ethanol promoters and environmental groups.

The lack of the UL seal for filling station pumps carrying E85 means at least some of the roughly 1,000 stations that carry ethanol fuel may be violating fire codes, and new stations that want to install E85 systems in some states would need waivers from local or state fire marshals.
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Ethanol advocates said they hope to clear the air soon. In Nebraska at least 10 new E85 stations are on the drawing board, according to Todd Sneller, administrator of the Nebraska Ethanol Board.

State fire marshal inspections have sufficed so far for the 29 existing E85 stations in Nebraska, Sneller said, regardless of the absence of a UL listing.

“We expect certainly this will have some impact on newly installed equipment,” Sneller said Friday. “We are not certain if it will have any effect on already installed equipment.
----
UL seals show up on thousands of products from toasters to turbines, and a UL listing is a requirement for filling stations under most fire codes. But on Oct. 5, UL announced it was suspending its listings for any fuel system that handled E85.

John Drengenberg, UL’s manager of consumer affairs, said the group had certified some parts of a fueling system as acceptable for alternative fuels but had not taken a close look at E85 until May, when a supplier applied for a UL listing for an entire dispenser — the pump and nozzle.

Drengenberg said as UL began to examine the system, it realized it needed more information about how ethanol reacted over long periods of time with parts made from certain metals.

“We looked at it very carefully and we found this issue of the corrosiveness of ethanol,” Drengenberg said. “We’re going to hold back until we get all the questions that came into our minds answered.”
----
Sneller said he was not aware of city codes in Nebraska that may demand a UL listing.

“It may be more of an issue with insurance policies,” Sneller said.

The issue has certainly caused confusion, Sneller acknowledged.
----
On Thursday, there was supposed to be a new E85 initiative announced by the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Governors Ethanol Coalition and private sector partners, Sneller said, but now that’s in doubt.

“The National Ethanol VehicleCoalition has worked very closely with UL for more than a year on this very matter,” Sneller said. “That process was considered to be nearly complete and approval to be imminent, so there’s a great deal of confusion about what prompted this adjustment and a number of efforts under way to get more preicise answers from the UL about why this occurred at this time.”
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Here, in California, this becomes a none issue, issue - of the four stations statewide that carry E85 ... only one is open to to the general public (the other three are on US Government/Military facilities).

At MAXINE, we STILL believe we are at war! Appearently, this war has to be fought not just in Iraq and Afghanistan, but here at home as well.

Digital "Flu" Hits The MP3 World

Hyundai HY-6611 MP3 Player - When it comes to an all-in-one MP3 player, the Hyundai HY-6611 MP3 Player definitely fits the bill. It comes at a decent price too. It plays both WMA and MP3 files and also works as a 1GB USB flash memory drive. It can also be used as a voice recorder and receive FM radio transmissions. It comes in a standard package that includes a good pair of ear buds, USB extension cable, neck strap, user manual, installation CD and an alkaline battery. Image Credit: Adrian's Rojak Pot - Hyundai

Digital "Flu" Hits The MP3 World

Just last month, I was at Fry's and choose to purchase one of these USB "stick" MP3 players. The form factor and size impressed me as well as the price.

I got home, opened the package, excited to get started with the experience of digital music, I placed the software CD-ROM disc in the drive - Good To Go!

BAM! - up pops a Trojan Horse Virus alert from my security software.

Man, what a bummer.

I took everything back for a full credit and purchased a known brand in the hopes of getting into the digital music game.

Box of Kleenex - Image Credit: binghamton.edu

It turns out that this just isn't a problem with lesser known or off brand products that are entering the marketplace.

This from CNET News -

Windows virus worms onto some Apple iPods
A small number of the video media players have been shipped with the RavMonE virus, the company warns.
By Ina Fried - Staff Writer, CNET News.com (CNET News.com's Joris Evers contributed to this report.) - Published: October 17, 2006, 2:05 PM PDT - Last modified: October 17, 2006, 2:28 PM PDT

Apple Computer warned on Tuesday that some of its latest iPods have shipped with a Windows virus.

The company said that a small number of video iPods made after Sept. 12 included the RavMonE virus. It said it has seen fewer than 25 reports of the problem, which it said does not affect other models of the media player, nor does it affect Macs.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company apologized on its Web site for the problem, but also used the opportunity to jab at Microsoft, its operating system rival.

"As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it," Apple said on its site.

The iPod Photo - Comes in two versions, a 40GB model which sells for $499 and a 60GB version that sells for $599. Both weigh 6.4 ounces, are 2.4 x 4.1 x 0.75 inches in size (slightly thicker and heavier than the regular 40GB iPod), and have a battery life of 15 hours (which is 25% better than the 4G iPod). Also comes with an AV cable for hooking up to a TV for slideshows. Image Credit: engadget.com

Apple Vice President Greg Joswiak told CNET News.com that the virus was discovered last week and said the company has been working around the clock since then to discover the root cause of the problem. Joswiak said it was traced to a particular Windows machine in the manufacturing lines of a contract manufacturer that builds the iPods for Apple. The company declined to name the maker.

"It's more important to say we now have processes in place to make sure this won't happen again," Joswiak said. "Very few units actually went through that particular station, fortunately."

The company said that computers using a current antivirus software and with default settings should detect and remove RavMonE, as it is an identified virus. It is urging iPod users without such protection to install antivirus software.

Apple said that the video iPods now being made are virus-free. It introduced the latest generation of iPods last month.

Antivirus company McAfee listed the iPod threat as a low risk, but gave it the rating of "low/profiled," which the company said applies to viruses that "appear to be low risk, but warrant additional monitoring because they have attracted media interest."

Joswiak said the virus does not affect Macs or the iPod itself. As for Windows machines, Joswiak said the virus "does not cause data damage but can lower the security of the computer" and said it should be removed. Apple points to various antivirus firms' Web sites, including McAfee, Microsoft and Symantec, as places consumers can get antivirus software if they don't already have it.

Apple said that there was no intentional placement of the virus on the iPods. "You can rest assured of that," he said.
Reference Here>>

I purchased a SanDisk Sensa 140 c from COSTCO and it is a gem ... Oh!, and no viruses.

The World Speaks To North Korea Unanimously

North Korean soldiers walk on the waterfront at the North Korean town of Sinuiju, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong, northeastern China, Saturday, Oct. 14, 2006. The U.S. and Japan said they want a vote Saturday by the U.N. Security Council on a resolution imposing punishing sanctions on North Korea for its claimed nuclear test and demanding the elimination of all its nuclear weapons. Last-minute changes sought by Russia and China were accepted and the vote on resolution #1718 passed unanimously. Image Credit: AP Photo/Ng Han Guan

The World Speaks To North Korea Unanimously

Today, the world, through the UN Security Council, voted unanimously (15-0) to hit North Korea with further sanctions following the nuclear test that North Korea conducted earlier this week.

Among other sanctions, luxury items are banned to be sold to any North Korean entity trying to purchase them in the world markets.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il downs a drink during a toast with a South Korean media representitive Kum Chang-Tae in Pyongyang, North Korea Saturday August 12, 2000. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il loves his fancy food. But will he have to start eating more kimichi and less caviar if a U.N. resolution passes banning the sale of luxury goods to North Korea? Image Credit: AP Photo/Yonhap

Kim Jong Il as depicted in the movie - "Team America World Police" Image Credit: Paramount Pictures

John Bolton, the US Secretary to the UN, was able to successfully show a united front by the world body against nuclear proliferation.

This from AP via Yahoo! News -

U.N. adopts resolution against N. Korea
Associated Press - 4 minutes ago

UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to impose punishing sanctions on North Korea for its claimed nuclear test, declaring that its action posed "a clear threat to international peace and security."

The vote came after the United States, Britain and France overcame last-minute differences with Russia and China.

A former South Korean intelligence agent wearing North Korean military uniform stands next to a picture of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il as he says he wants to go to North Korea to destroy the North's nuclear weapon during an anti-North Korean rally in front of Defense Ministry in Seoul, Friday, Oct. 13, 2006. As key Security Council members neared agreement on a resolution on North Korea, a new U.S. draft resolution was proposed that would authorize non-military sanctions against the country for its claimed nuclear test. Image Credit: AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man

The resolution demands North Korea eliminate all its nuclear weapons but expressly rules out military action against the country - a demand by the Russians and Chinese. The Americans also eliminated a complete ban on the sale of conventional weapons; instead, the resolution limits the embargo to major hardware such as tanks, warships, combat aircraft and missiles.
Reference Here>>

UPDATE - additional information from Associated Press -

Security Council OKs N. Korea sanctions
By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer

North Korea immediately rejected the resolution, and its U.N. ambassador walked out of the council chamber after accusing its members of a "gangster-like" action which neglects the nuclear threat posed by the United States.

The U.S.-sponsored resolution demands that the reclusive communist nation abandon its nuclear weapons program, and orders all countries to prevent North Korea from importing or exporting any material for weapons of mass destruction or ballistic missiles. It orders nations to freeze assets of people or businesses connected to these programs, and ban the individuals from traveling.

The resolution also calls on all countries to inspect cargo leaving and arriving in North Korea to prevent any illegal trafficking in unconventional weapons or ballistic missiles. The final draft was softened from language authorizing searches, but was still unacceptable to China — the North's closest ally and largest trading partner - which said it would not carry out any searches.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said North Korea's proclaimed test "poses one of the gravest threats to international peace and security that this council has ever had to confront."

"Today, we are sending a strong and clear message to North Korea and other would be proliferators that there will be serious repercussions in continuing to pursue weapons of mass destruction," he said, in what appeared to be a clear warning to Iran whose nuclear ambitions come before the Security Council again next week.

North Korea's U.N. Ambassador Pak Gil Yon countered by blaming the United States for forcing the country to conduct a test because of its "nuclear threat, sanctions and pressure."

"The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is ready for talks, dialogue and confrontation," Pak said. "If the United States increases pressure upon the Democratic People's Republic of Korea persistently, the DPRK will continue to take physical countermeasures considering it as a declaration of war."

South Korean ambassador to the U.N. Choi Young-Jin, right, speaks during a security council meeting Saturday, Oct. 14, 2006 at the United Nations. The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to impose punishing sanctions on North Korea for its claimed nuclear test, declaring that its action posed 'a clear threat to international peace and security.' Image Credit: AP Photo/Julie Jacobson

North Korea has made similar threats in the past, and has also said it might conduct a second nuclear test in response to U.N. sanctions.

The vote came after the United States, Britain and France overcame last-minute differences with Russia and China during what the Russian ambassador called "tense negotiations."

The resolution demands North Korea eliminate all its nuclear weapons but expressly rules out military action against the country, a demand by the Russians and Chinese. Bolton warned Pyongyang, however, that if it continues pursuing nuclear weapons, the U.S. would seek further measures.

The Security Council condemned the nuclear test that North Korea said it conducted on Oct. 9. It demanded that North Korea immediately return to six-nation talks aimed at persuading Pyongyang to dismantle its weapons program without precondition.

It also imposed sanctions for the North's "flagrant disregard" of the council's appeal not to detonate a nuclear device and demanded that North Korea "not conduct any further nuclear test or launch of a ballistic missile."

"This action by the United Nations, which was swift and tough, says that we are united in our determination to see to it that the Korean peninsula is nuclear-weapons free," President Bush said.

South Korea's Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, who was chosen on Friday to become the next U.N. secretary-general, said in an interview with The Associated Press that the council's resolution "sends a very strong, clear and unified message to North Korea."
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John Bolton, for his part, appropriately compared the North Korean U.N. ambassador to Nikita Krushchev and his action of defiance in the UN chamber - the taking off his shoe and pounding it on the desk to draw attention (October 1960) - after he (the North Korean) walked out of the UN council chamber after reading his prepared statement and accusing its members of a "gangster-like" action.