-- by Ed Naile
The Story of Middle Earth and the Coming of EZ Pass
The Lord of the Tokens is the epic journey to destroy the Final Token, which symbolizes individual freedom and power - and this is very clear when you understand that the Final Token not only confers this individual power but also imposes serfdom on the possessor. The one who wields The Final Token becomes a slave of Sauron, Creator of the Transponder.
In the words of the Lord of Drivendell, Ayotte,
"We cannot use any of the Tokens especially the Final Token. That we now know too well. It belongs to Sauron, “Creator of the Transponder” and was made by him alone, and is altogether evil. Its strength is too great for anyone to wield at will, save only those who have already a great power and small change of their own. But for them it holds an even deadlier peril. The very desire of it's discount corrupts all who attempt to use it. If any of the Wise of The Chamber should with this Transponder overthrow the Lord of Mordor Vehicles, using his own arts, he would then set himself on Sauron's throne, and yet another Dark Lord would appear. And that is another reason why all the Tokens should be destroyed: as long as they are in the world it will be a danger even to the Wise of The Chamber. For nothing is evil in the beginning. Even Sauron was not so. I fear to take the Final Token to hide it. I will not take the Final Token to wield it."
Responded Govdalf, weak Underlord of the Shire,
"No! With that power I should have power too great and terrible. And over me the Final Token would gain a power still greater and more deadly! Do not tempt me! For I do not wish to become like the Dark Lord himself. Yet the way of the Tokens to my heart is by pity, pity for weakness and the desire of strength to do good and right. Do not tempt me! I dare not take responsibility, not even to keep them safe, unused. Please leave me in peace, undisturbed. I would sooner let them go into the hands of the Orcs and be done with this."
And the Hobbits of the Shire were left with their Tokens and shouted,
For many long years we have pondered what we might do, should the Final Token come into our hands, and behold! The time has now arrived. The evil transponder that was devised long ago and has invaded so many lands beyond The Shire works on in many ways, whether Sauron himself stands or falls. Would not have been a noble deed to set to the credit of our Tokens in the Chamber of The Wise? Our cowardly Underlord hides beneath his table as much as the ancient media who protect him. Alas The Shire lives under the shadow of the transponder in confusion and despair.”
1.29.2006
Ruminations
By Ron Dupuis
We taught them how to hold free democratic elections as we do in this country. Sadly, as in the Presidential election of 2000, we taught them how to react when unhappy with the results. Unfortunately instead of using litigation and lawyers in order to resolve their differences as we do, they use bombs and bullets. Both are “scorched earth” solutions, one more deadly than the other. Hopefully, in the future, they will ascend to our type of protocol rather than us descending to theirs.
___
“terrorism (n), The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons.”
The Palestinian people have made a clear choice. In a democratic election they chose the terrorist group Hamas to run their government. They even elected a woman who proudly sent three of her sons on suicide missions and stated she will send her other children if asked.
Blowing up innocent women and children in order to gain political influence has not been a problem with any sort of fringe elements of Hamas. It is clearly written in their charter of 1988. They all believe in “jihad”, or, war on nonbelievers. If we were to extrapolate the number of Islamist in Palestine who believe in jihad and apply that percentage to the number of Islamist around the world (one billion 12), it’s easy to understand why many of us feel that the world is in a dangerous place.
___
On a lighter note; I never cared for AARP. Under the guise of helping our elderly, they try to sell us everything from insurance policies at inflated cost/ benefit rates, to vacation packages for the senile. What clear thinking seasoned citizen wants to travel 1500 miles in a stainless steel “Airstream” toaster in order to view the LaBrea tar pits for any length of time.
This week my wife and I had planned to spend all day Saturday doing those silly romantic things that we haven’t done since our courtship over twenty five years ago. A hand in hand walk along the beach that we always enjoyed in another time; a romantic candle light dinner at our favorite restaurant ; hot brandy beside a cozy fire at home and perhaps a little romance later; all was possible. That is “all was possible” until the mail was opened. My wife was reminded that she is now eligible to join AARP. Ten month before her actual 50th birthday, I might add.
“I’m too tired to go out” she declared.
“What about our “Day”’ I cried?
“You expect me to walk along the beach in this weather at my age?”
“Get my bathrobe, turn up the thermostat, and clear the snow off the driveway like you where going to do yesterday.” “After your finished that, go pick up some Chinese food for me.” she continued.
“Are we going to at least have hot brandy by the fire” I asked.
“No” she said emphatically!
“But that reminds me.” “Get me a six pack of Budweiser while you’re out.”
Thanks AARP!
We taught them how to hold free democratic elections as we do in this country. Sadly, as in the Presidential election of 2000, we taught them how to react when unhappy with the results. Unfortunately instead of using litigation and lawyers in order to resolve their differences as we do, they use bombs and bullets. Both are “scorched earth” solutions, one more deadly than the other. Hopefully, in the future, they will ascend to our type of protocol rather than us descending to theirs.
___
“terrorism (n), The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons.”
The Palestinian people have made a clear choice. In a democratic election they chose the terrorist group Hamas to run their government. They even elected a woman who proudly sent three of her sons on suicide missions and stated she will send her other children if asked.
Blowing up innocent women and children in order to gain political influence has not been a problem with any sort of fringe elements of Hamas. It is clearly written in their charter of 1988. They all believe in “jihad”, or, war on nonbelievers. If we were to extrapolate the number of Islamist in Palestine who believe in jihad and apply that percentage to the number of Islamist around the world (one billion 12), it’s easy to understand why many of us feel that the world is in a dangerous place.
___
On a lighter note; I never cared for AARP. Under the guise of helping our elderly, they try to sell us everything from insurance policies at inflated cost/ benefit rates, to vacation packages for the senile. What clear thinking seasoned citizen wants to travel 1500 miles in a stainless steel “Airstream” toaster in order to view the LaBrea tar pits for any length of time.
This week my wife and I had planned to spend all day Saturday doing those silly romantic things that we haven’t done since our courtship over twenty five years ago. A hand in hand walk along the beach that we always enjoyed in another time; a romantic candle light dinner at our favorite restaurant ; hot brandy beside a cozy fire at home and perhaps a little romance later; all was possible. That is “all was possible” until the mail was opened. My wife was reminded that she is now eligible to join AARP. Ten month before her actual 50th birthday, I might add.
“I’m too tired to go out” she declared.
“What about our “Day”’ I cried?
“You expect me to walk along the beach in this weather at my age?”
“Get my bathrobe, turn up the thermostat, and clear the snow off the driveway like you where going to do yesterday.” “After your finished that, go pick up some Chinese food for me.” she continued.
“Are we going to at least have hot brandy by the fire” I asked.
“No” she said emphatically!
“But that reminds me.” “Get me a six pack of Budweiser while you’re out.”
Thanks AARP!
1.28.2006
$2,000 Robot Dog Sent To "The Farm"
---by Micheal
Sony just announced that they will stop production of their $2,000 robot dog, "Aibo." You may recall that back before Christmas I was railing about our culture's apparent excess disposable income with Sony's Aibo as the posterchild for pointless expensive consumer goods.
Sony sold over 150,000 of the yappy-dog sized little robots. At $2,000 a pop, that's over $300,000,000. Three hundred million dollars spent by consumers on a product which no one needs, and which does very little beyond making your friends say, "Gawww-leee". You could wad up and swallow a hundred dollar bill in front of them and get pretty much the same wide-eyed reaction. BUT, you'd have $1,900 left with which to do something practical.
So, was Sony's decision to send Aibo to "the farm," a resurgence of common sense? Sadly, no. New management decided to cancel some of its product lines in order to concentrate on their core business. They want to concentrate on different expensive consumer products.
And, as if to prove that common sense is still locked in the basement, Aibo fan clubs (there really are such things) are up in arms that Sony dared cancel their product. How dare Sony take away their outlet for absurd extravagant spending! Now where are these thousands of people (with waaay too much money) going to squander all that extra cash? Will they get a real dog?
Of course, two thousand dollars would buy a very nice computer for a local public library. Two grand would buy a ton of groceries for a local food pantry our soup kitchen. That much money would buy some financially-struggling college kids a lot of books.
Why is it, that when we have excess disposable income, our first impulse is to waste it on self-indulgent foolishness? If not Aibo, we'll just find something else. Maybe microchipped climate-controlled butter dishes.
Someone needs to let common sense out of basement. There's waaay too much stupid going on up here.
Sony just announced that they will stop production of their $2,000 robot dog, "Aibo." You may recall that back before Christmas I was railing about our culture's apparent excess disposable income with Sony's Aibo as the posterchild for pointless expensive consumer goods.
Sony sold over 150,000 of the yappy-dog sized little robots. At $2,000 a pop, that's over $300,000,000. Three hundred million dollars spent by consumers on a product which no one needs, and which does very little beyond making your friends say, "Gawww-leee". You could wad up and swallow a hundred dollar bill in front of them and get pretty much the same wide-eyed reaction. BUT, you'd have $1,900 left with which to do something practical.
So, was Sony's decision to send Aibo to "the farm," a resurgence of common sense? Sadly, no. New management decided to cancel some of its product lines in order to concentrate on their core business. They want to concentrate on different expensive consumer products.
And, as if to prove that common sense is still locked in the basement, Aibo fan clubs (there really are such things) are up in arms that Sony dared cancel their product. How dare Sony take away their outlet for absurd extravagant spending! Now where are these thousands of people (with waaay too much money) going to squander all that extra cash? Will they get a real dog?
Of course, two thousand dollars would buy a very nice computer for a local public library. Two grand would buy a ton of groceries for a local food pantry our soup kitchen. That much money would buy some financially-struggling college kids a lot of books.
Why is it, that when we have excess disposable income, our first impulse is to waste it on self-indulgent foolishness? If not Aibo, we'll just find something else. Maybe microchipped climate-controlled butter dishes.
Someone needs to let common sense out of basement. There's waaay too much stupid going on up here.
1.23.2006
School Choice News
By Rep. Lee Slocum
There have been some significant developments on the School choice front in recent weeks. There is a new voucher bill, of course, but there is always a new voucher bill! However, this one is different. HB 1707 is different from other voucher bills submitted in New Hampshire in two respects. First, it is immune from the outcome of the Londonderry lawsuit. The value of a voucher is defined as the money available from the state for a student in a local district, including the money raised locally by the statewide property tax. If Londonderry wins its lawsuit, the amount available for vouchers would be the same throughout the state. If Londonderry loses, the value would be different for each district.
Second, the HB 1707 voucher program would only apply to growing districts. This restriction answers the concerns expressed by some that a voucher program would take away money from a district. Under HB 1707, districts would not shrink because of vouchers. Conceivably, districts would not have to grow either. Growth would be handled in the private sector for a fraction of the cost to taxpayers, that is, approximately $3,500 versus the average cost of a public school education of $11,000.
Another significant development involves SB 131, a voucher bill that was submitted during 2005 and was retained by the Senate. The Senate Finance Committee changed the bill into a tax credit bill. The bill was recently passed by the Senate, 14-9, and comes into the House with considerable momentum. Under SB 131 the state would set up a non-profit corporation similar to Healthy Kids or LCHIP that would have the authority to issue vouchers. The state would initially fund the corporation with up to $2 million, but most money would come from companies or individuals giving contributions. Credits on Business Enterprise Taxes would be given to corporations in exchange for company contributions. Credits on Interest and Dividends taxes would be given to individuals.
With both HB 1707 and SB 131, vouchers are given to the parents of a student and mailed to the school. The parent goes to the school and endorses the check over to the school. This is the Supreme Court tested method for ensuring that government is not providing support directly to religious schools. However, the SB 131 tax credit approach seems to provide a little more isolation in this regard. SB 131 also appeals to some because it does not involve use of Education Trust Fund money. It does use other state money, of course, but at substantial savings overall to the public.
A great article which deals with the pros and cons of tax credits versus a more direct approach can be found at http://www.hillsdale.edu/imprimis/2001/july/default.htm.
The governor has indicated that he will not look with favor towards a normal voucher bill. But, there is reason to believe he may be more sympathetic towards a tax credit bill. Stay tuned, we may have more choice available for New Hampshire students this year!
There have been some significant developments on the School choice front in recent weeks. There is a new voucher bill, of course, but there is always a new voucher bill! However, this one is different. HB 1707 is different from other voucher bills submitted in New Hampshire in two respects. First, it is immune from the outcome of the Londonderry lawsuit. The value of a voucher is defined as the money available from the state for a student in a local district, including the money raised locally by the statewide property tax. If Londonderry wins its lawsuit, the amount available for vouchers would be the same throughout the state. If Londonderry loses, the value would be different for each district.
Second, the HB 1707 voucher program would only apply to growing districts. This restriction answers the concerns expressed by some that a voucher program would take away money from a district. Under HB 1707, districts would not shrink because of vouchers. Conceivably, districts would not have to grow either. Growth would be handled in the private sector for a fraction of the cost to taxpayers, that is, approximately $3,500 versus the average cost of a public school education of $11,000.
Another significant development involves SB 131, a voucher bill that was submitted during 2005 and was retained by the Senate. The Senate Finance Committee changed the bill into a tax credit bill. The bill was recently passed by the Senate, 14-9, and comes into the House with considerable momentum. Under SB 131 the state would set up a non-profit corporation similar to Healthy Kids or LCHIP that would have the authority to issue vouchers. The state would initially fund the corporation with up to $2 million, but most money would come from companies or individuals giving contributions. Credits on Business Enterprise Taxes would be given to corporations in exchange for company contributions. Credits on Interest and Dividends taxes would be given to individuals.
With both HB 1707 and SB 131, vouchers are given to the parents of a student and mailed to the school. The parent goes to the school and endorses the check over to the school. This is the Supreme Court tested method for ensuring that government is not providing support directly to religious schools. However, the SB 131 tax credit approach seems to provide a little more isolation in this regard. SB 131 also appeals to some because it does not involve use of Education Trust Fund money. It does use other state money, of course, but at substantial savings overall to the public.
A great article which deals with the pros and cons of tax credits versus a more direct approach can be found at http://www.hillsdale.edu/imprimis/2001/july/default.htm.
The governor has indicated that he will not look with favor towards a normal voucher bill. But, there is reason to believe he may be more sympathetic towards a tax credit bill. Stay tuned, we may have more choice available for New Hampshire students this year!
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