Scoop’s Views

While we aren’t yet using the thumbprint technology in transactions such as buying a home, grocery shopping, or, for that matter, shopping at most any store, it is used for government stuff, as well as used for computing security.

Did Simon Ramo have it all wrong back in November 1964, or was he a little too optimistic for his time? I think it’s the latter. Even in the late 1990s and early this decade, even as late as 2003 or so, I heard people I know dismiss the idea of using debit cards, as well as ATMs, even for cash advances from a credit card. Those same people, though, also were against online shopping.

Tags: 1964, ATMs, automatic money transfers, banking systems, Big Brother, business transactions, buying a home, cash, coinage, computer security, credit cards, currency, debit cards, dollars, electronic debit systems, futurists, Government, identification, identity theft, instant money transfers, monetary symbols, monetary systems, money, November 1964, November 27, online shopping, paper dollars, paper money, payment systems, shopping, Simon Ramo, thumb-prints, thumbprint technology, thumbprints, TIME, Time magazine

Congress has approved a $300 billion funding measure to help people who are at risk of losing their homes due to foreclosure, and now, it seems, almost every media outlet in the country is busy touting the ways to stake claim to your chunk of change from that bailout.

To be in foreclosure means you haven’t paid your mortgage. Wow! What a concept. Most of the people in the current mortgage crisis are people who managed to get mortgages from lenders who offered sub-prime loans. The loans were given to people with a variety of options, but many people who never would have managed to get a mortgage from traditional lenders managed to buy a home. Great. Until the taxpayer-funded bailout.

Tags: afford, approved, bills, Congress, crisis, dream homes, emergency bailout, financial woes, fiscally-responsible, foreclosure rates, foreclosure risk, foreclosures, home affordability, homeowners, in foreclosure, lenders, lending institutions, loans, mortgage bailout, mortgage crisis, mortgage lenders, political correctness, politically correct, politicians, sub-prime, sub-prime mortgages, subprime, subprime mortgages, taxpayer bailout, taxpayer money, taxpayers, traditional mortgages

After giving up on lifesaving efforts, the lifeguards covered each of the girls’ bodies with a beach towel out of respect for the dead. The feet and ankles of both girls poked from under the beach towels, a testament to two young lives snuffed out.

Within feet of the girls’ bodies, folks went about sunbathing and other beach antics as normal, ignoring the two dead bodies.

Tags: Archbishop of Naples, beach towels, Brooklyn, Cardinal Crecenzio Seppe, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, coffins, CPR, dead bodies, drugs, emergency room floor, emergency services, enforcement, Esmin Green, feet poking from under towel, girls, gun laws, Gypsy, killings, Kings County Hospital Center, La Repubblica, lifeguards, lifeless bodies, lifesaving efforts, mortuary, murders, Naples, ocean, Philadelphia, Photos, photos of dead girls and beachgoers, rising street crime, Roma emergency, safety, sea, Silvo Berlusconi, Society, swimming, teenagers, Torregaveta, waves

While you and I are sitting at home, enjoying all the creature comforts, American fighting men and women are in distant lands, including Afghanistan and Iraq, sweating their butts off, literally, while going on patrols, doing raids, and other duties, and their performance – or responses – could be the difference between life-and-death.

As for Sen. Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic presidential candidate who is doing a tour of specific areas in Afghanistan and Iraq, supposedly getting a first-hand look at the situation on the ground, things are much different. His environment will be hot, sandy, dirty, but secure, for the most part. Because Obama, like McCain and others during past trips, are members of Congress, the military will provide a shroud around the “dignitaries” – ensuring, to the best of their ability, the survival of the elected officials, even at the expense of service men and women.

Tags: 2008 presidential candidates, 82nd Airborne Division, airborne, armed conflict, Barack Hussein Obama, Barack Hussein Obama II, Barack Obama, barry o'bomber, body armor, desert fatigues, Ft. Bragg, G.I. Bill, Harvard University, heroes, infantry, infantry platoon leader, insurgents, John F. Kennedy School of Government, John McCain, LBE, load bearing equipment, McCain abortion, McCain for President, McCain issues, McCain potatoes, Obama for President, off-the-record, paratrooper, photo op, photo opportunities, publicity stunt, Purple Hearts, real heroes, rucksacks, security details, U.S. Army Rangers, United States Army, United States Military Academy at West Point, Vietnam, water, weapon and ammo, weapons qualification, West Point

MSNBC is reporting former Republican Sen. Phil Gramm is stepping down as co-chairman of Republican John McCain’s presidential campaign.

Tags: co-chairman, former Republican senator, John McCain, McCain for President, nation of whiners, Obama for President, Phil Gramm, Phil Gramm resignation, Phil Gramm resigns, presidential campaign, resignation

As I wrote on July 10, in the post, Rev. Jesse Jackson is irrelevant in today’s society, it seems he really needs to learn to shut hit mouth, stay out of the public spotlight, give up being a public figure, and not give any interviews — to local, nation, international, or even target-market publications — ever again.

Now, for the second time in a month, he is under fire badmouthing presidential candidate Barack Obama, running as a democrat.

Tags: apologies, Barack Obama, castrate, castration, Chicago, Chicago Illinois, Christian, civil rights, commercial break, Fox and Friends, Fox News, n-bomb, n-word, Obama, open microphone, Operation PUSH, presidential candidate, protests, Rainbow Coalition, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sen. Barack Obama, sit-ins, testicles

This past weekend, it seemed as though every news outlet in the nation was busy hammering on Philly yet again. This time it was over a recently released Census Bureau report, showing Philadelphia had the largest percentage population loss over the past seven (7) years than any other major city in the United States, including Detroit.

Looking at all major cities in the U.S., Philadelphia is estimated to have lost more residents since the last U.S. Census – from 2000 and 2007 – than any other city in the country, with the exception of New Orleans, which was devastated in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, according to estimates recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Tags: Arizona, Baltimore, Baltimore Maryland, Boston, Boston Massachusetts, brain drain, Chicago, Chicago Illinois, desert, Detroit, economic considerations, economy, Five Largest Cities in the U.S., gasoline costs, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, job losses, mortgage lending crisis, Motor City, Motown, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, Philly, population, population centers, population losses, recession, Top 10 U.S. Cities, Top 25 U.S. Cities, Top 5 U.S. Cities, U.S. Census Bureau, urban centers

Fox News had an open microphone near the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and during that time, the loud-mouth did what he had done ever-so-well in the past: shoved his foot in his mouth, all the way to his knee, and then, while trying to pull it back out, makes things even worse.

This time, though, it was different: it was a news crew that was recording conversations — without advising those in the area, or those who the crew knew would be recorded — and then aired those non-disclosed recordings. On one hand, you can argue it’s a violation of ethical behavior by journalists, but this is TV news, so that argument is out the window.

Tags: apologies, Barack Obama, black males, black people, blacks, castrate, castration, Chicago, Christian behavior, cut off Barack Obama's nuts, cut off his nuts, ethical principles, Fox News, journalistic ethics, measure of a man, news crews, open microphone, Operation PUSH, Operation Rainbow, out-of-wedlock, payoffs, public events, public forums, Rainbow PUSH Coalition, responsibility, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Roland Martin, Roland S. Martin

Senate is rewarding telecommunications providers for breaking the law
York Times is reporting that the United States Senate, by a vote of 69-28, approved a bill overhauling the rules covering secret government eavesdropping and granting immunity to telecommunications companies that aided in the wiretapping of Americans without warrants. Doing Chicago-style two-stepping, Barack Obama, who originally spoke harsh words against the illegal wiretaps, voted today in favor of granting immunity to the telecommunications companies. His former presidential contender, Hillary Clinton, stayed true to her original position and voted against the immunity.

Tags: Barack Obama, Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, David Stout, domestic spying, due process rights, eavesdropping, Eric Lichtblau, FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigations, federal courts, FISA, foreign, Hillary Clinton, Homeland Security, illegal wiretapping, immunity, intrusions, mismanagement, National Security Agency, No Such Agency, NSA, phone subscibers, re-election, Senate, senators, telecommunications companies, telecoms, terrorist attacks, terrorists

It seems that Aaron Ferguson, who served as an accountant for the Rachael Ray TV show, says in his filing in Manhattan’s state Supreme Court, that he’s suffered with anorexia for about six years. In the filing, Ferguson says he was fired for complaining about comments made by a supervisor, and because he was fired, as well as the harassment, he’s suing for a cool $1 million.

Ferguson says his supervisor repeatedly exhibited “hostile behavior” and made “vile,” discriminatory, and hurtful comments regarding his anorexia, including saying things such as, “Anorexics are sick in the head,” and, “Anorexics should not be able to work,” according to his filing.

Tags: Aaron Ferguson, alluring women, anorexia, CBS, childhood, complaining, discriminatory language, fat, Health, health issues, insults, models, New York Supreme Court, obese, obesity, overweight, Rachael Ray Show, sandbox, sex objects, sexy, sexy models, skinny models, supervisors, whining, William H. Kaiser, workplace