Vice President Cheney voiced his opinion that the Iraqi insurgency was in its “last throes” – the media, always eager to provide the worst possible view of the world in bite-sized chunks to a nation of “reality TV” and Jerry Springer junkies, has done its best to make that statement out to be foolhardy.
Read more »

Chrenkoff: Good news from Iraq, part 30

If you listen to the evening news to get your Iraq updates, you surely have a grim view of the situation. Chrenkoff takes the time to find those stories that don’t sell commercials during prime time – the stories that *gasp* actually speak to the success of the US lead international effort to make Iraq a better place.

Self-Employed in a Non-Profit Capacity

It sounds somewhat professional, until you realize it means I’ve just been not working and doing whatever I wanted. I suppose I could reference this website as the fruits of my labor – it certainly doesn’t make me any money, and it has at times seemed like work.

Anyway, I actually used that phrase in an email to a potential employer today. I certainly hope it’s taken in the manner in which I intend (mildly humorous), but hey, with the sheer number of cover letters, introductions, and resume variations I have written in the past couple of months, it feels good to drop something in that makes me chuckle.

Approaching Mars

Ok, so was someone in Hollyweird http://www.waroftheworlds.com/ thinking about this (War of the Worlds movie in theatres 29 June 2005, in case you can’t see the connection), or is it merely coincidence?

Mark October 31st as the best day of all: Mars will rise at sunset, hang overhead at midnight, and “blaze forth against the dark background of space with a splendor that outshines Sirius and rivals the giant Jupiter himself.” That’s how astronomer Percival Lowell described a similar close encounter in the 19th century.

Can’t wait? Don’t. You can see Mars any clear morning this summer. We recommend Wednesday morning, June 29th. Mars and the fat crescent Moon are going to have a pleasing close encounter in the dawn sky. Look for them rising in the east around 4:30 AM; the sight will absolutely wake you up.

Sadly, Tom Cruise’s ties to L. Ron Hubbard’s http://www.xenu.net/ cult of scientology have reduced my desire to donate even a penny to his efforts, so I won’t be running to the theater to see this one. Fortunately I can always fall back on Orson Welles’ http://sounds.mercurytheatre.info/mercury/381030.mp3 original broadcast for some good old fashioned, hysteria and panic invoking entertainment.

Being on the East Coast, I guess Wednesday morning I should be out on the beach waiting for our martian conquerors to come and take me away, huh?

Defaced Koran angers Nashville Muslims – Thursday, 06/23/05

“It’s in the heart of every Muslim. We respect and we love (the Koran) more than our families,” said Ab-dishakur Ibrahim, imam of the Al-Farooq mosque. “I don’t know why anyone would do this. I can’t comprehend it.”

If you good church-going folks were told one Sunday that you were expected to love the Bible (the book) more than your parents, your sister, your brother, your children… how would you react?

Respect for the icons of your religion is one thing. Blind faith that your religious texts are the word of “god” is fine, if that’s your thing. But to openly state that the textual representation of your beliefs is more important, more loved than even your family? That’s sick.

And people wonder why I have such disdain for “religion”.

Commemorative Coins – The United States Mint

Read more »

Not wasting a lot of space on the front page, click below to read more – I think it’s funny!

Read more »

Oliver North: Death Wish
Read more »

Father went over cliff to help girl

Read more »

http://www.moveamericaforward.org/index.php/MAF/FullNewsItem/i_love_gitmo_campaign_launched/

Click the image to visit the http://www.moveamericaforward.org/ “Move America Forward” website where you can purchase bumper stickers, tee-shirts, and read all about the effort defend the Guantanamo Bay detention center.

Why do so many of my posts end up with the “foul” tag (denoted by the ‘raised middle finger’ graphic)? Maybe it’s because things like this just make me want to say something… anything… to help people (you) see some of the screwed up things going on in the world.

Ok, if you don’t lift your head and look around once in awhile, you likely know nothing about Susan Paynter, SSgt Marquez, and Axel Cobb. Here’s the brief:

- Axel Cobb, as a high school senior and then college freshman, spoke to Marine Recruiter SSgt Marquez over the course of two years; Axel demonstrated interested in becoming a US Marine, and SSgt Marquez did his job… he worked to enlist Axel.
- Axel Cobb’s mother is an anti-military, overly protective mother hen.
- Axel is a cowardly little punk with lips still firmly attached to mom’s tit.
- Susan Paynter is a leftwing communist (err, columnist) for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Read more »

FOXNews.com – U.S. & World – Pa. Man Arrested on Terror Charges
Read more »

The results of Terri Schiavo’s autopsy were released today.

The report says she wasn’t abused, so everyone say “Sorry, Michael”.

The report says her brain had been reduced to about 1/2 the size of a normal brain. There was no chance of her ever being a living, thinking being. Everyone say “Sorry, Michael”.

The report also says there was no chance of her mindless shell living without a feeding tube. Once again, “Sorry, Michael”.

And most importantly of all… I think a whole lot of people need to say, “Sorry, Terri”.

This is the 4th time I have received a message like this. I diligently forward them to the fraud investigation departments of the various career sites, although I doubt it’s doing much good. The only real way to fight these vermin is to educate the masses… so here, get educated.

The message I received today is quoted in full below http://jonathanmurray.com/greymatter/archives/00000679.htm (click the link).

The thing that makes these particular bastards worse than your average mass-mail phishing scammer? They’re preying on people who are actively looking for jobs – potentially people who are in dire need of gainful employment, and willing to take a chance on something that sounds too good to be true. Folks, if it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is. Spam is spam, regardless of the source.

The FBI http://www.fbi.gov/cyber/cysweep/cysweep1.htm has a few things to say about this sort of scam, as do the http://www.spokane.bbb.org/alerts/alerts.html?newsid=644&newstype=1 Better Business Bereau and a http://www.google.com/custom?domains=jonathanmurray.com&q=payment+forwarding+scam&sa=Search&sitesearch=&client=pub-6616424773924529&forid=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&cof=GALT%3A%23CC0000%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23808080%3BVLC%3AFFFFFF%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3A111111%3BLBGC%3A000000%3BALC%3ACC0000%3BLC%3ACC0000%3BT%3AEEEEEE%3BGFNT%3AAAAAAA%3BGIMP%3AAAAAAA%3BLH%3A50%3BLW%3A500%3BL%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fjonathanmurray.com%2Flogos%2Fbglogo-black.jpg%3BS%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fjonathanmurray.com%3BFORID%3A1%3B&hl=en number of http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,119941,00.asp good, http://msnbc.msn.com/Default.aspx?id=3730401&p1=0 informational sites.

For those too lazy to click through the links, here’s the brief version: An “International Company” offers you a job to forward payments and merchandise for them to avoid the “excessive delays” that banks and online payment services incur. (Note: Those delays are required to prevent fraud – that in itself is a key indicator of this scam.) The scam works like this: Merchandise is purchased with fake or stolen credit cards and sent to you – you’ve been given the “job” to repackage the merchandise and ship it overseas. When the seller or credit-card company discovers the fraud, they come looking for the person who received the items. You. Another component of this is money forwarding – an item is sold via the internet and you’re used as the intermediary. A large sum of money is wired to you, and you receive instructions to forward that money on to some third party. When the “sold” item is never received, you are now liable to return the money. The best one of all goes something like this: You’re sent a payment check for the fraudulent activity you’ve been unwittingly involved in above. The payment happens to be substantially more than you expected, so you’re told to wire back the difference. When the check bounces, the amount is deducted from your account, and the amount you “wired back” is now money stolen from you.

Sounds like fun, huh?

Good… now read the letter below, recognize it as a scam, and don’t fall for it, should you ever get a similar offer from one of these scumbags.

Update: Check out the http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2005-07-10-cyber-mules-cover_x.htm USATODAY article describing this activity.
Read more »