Republican stand against health care reform, abandons American people

On Christmas eve the US Senate voted along party lines 60-39 to support health care reform.  This represents a historic occasion, one which all patriotic Americans may take pride in and rejoice.  However, the failure of Republicans to support health care reform represents a slap in the face of millions of needy people by selfish, inconsiderate politicians who do not really care about the health and welfare of those who may be less fortunate than themselves.  The electorate should remember how these selfish politicians voted against health care reform and throw them out of office when they come up for re-elections.

It is time that the American people come together on the issue of health care reform.  Both the US Senate and the US House of Representatives have now passed health care reform legislation.  Yet the relatively rich, well-to-do republicans representing insurance company lobbyist and big business interest, failed miserably to listen to the people and support health care reform.  The majority of Americans have spoken and said that they want the same access to health care as the more fortunate, employed, and wealth portion of our population enjoys.  Republicans should therefore stop acting like stubborn pachyderms with a tuck up their butt and support reformation of the health care industry.

Unfortunately Mississippi is being hurt by the same right wing ultra conservative republican leadership which rejected health care reform.  Here we are fighting two wars, thousands of soldiers making the ultimate sacrifice for their country, many more returning from the front lines having lost arms, legs or suffered life-long brain injury as a result of IED explosions or other combat injuries, and republicans who support their walking into harms way will not even support health care reform.  This is insane!

Even though veterans may have health care, when a soldier comes home his injuries effect not only him, but his or her whole family.  When health care is not regulated and provided economically for any group, it runs up the cost of health care for everyone.  One of the results is that the states then have the burden of caring for those who do not have health care, especially the elderly, which leads to a corrupt process that can result in the loss of homes, the break up of families, and the virtual imprisonment of the elderly in institutions and privately owned care facilities which rape and rob them of everything they have.

I have experienced first hand seeing how a failed health care system works.  Even though my dear mother, La Faye S. Lynch, had a fantastic package of benefits provided by the VA, Medicare and Medicaid, when she grew old, became ill and, upon the recommendation of her doctor was placed in a nursing home, then began a process of exploitation, rape and robbery by those in power to take everything from our family.  The result was loss of our home, everything my parents had work and fought to secure for their family, and the destruction of my family.  This was enabled as the only way to fund the astronomical cost of health care was to take power and control of all income and property, to rape and rob my dear mother and destroy her family.  Such an atrocity, enabled by a corrupt state government and broken health care system, would never have happened given a national system which provided health care equally to all people.

Therefore when I see republicans lining up to vote, one and all, against health care reform, I cannot but wonder what stock they own in insurance companies, how much money they are getting paid by the lobbyist representing big business, and what lies they may be telling the American people to secure their own little nest egg for themselves.  These same republicans are often the ones who own the nursing homes or otherwise have their fingers in the cookie jar such that when people become ill or incapacitated they will reap the reward.  Hence it is not only a selfish act when such republicans fail to support health care reform, it is greedy, cruel and an utter unjust exploitation of the poor, helpless or incapacitated!

When a newspaper like The Clarke County Tribune then turns around and tries to brain wash its readers to stepping in line and following Newt tooting republicans, it is especially disturbing.  One must ask why this is being done?  Who benefits?  How much money is being gained?  What power and control mechanism is being put in place?  Who is benefiting by such attempts to control how people think and vote?  These are critical questions, especially given the fact that the people have now spoken and said they want health care reform, yet such Newt tooting newspapers continue to be led around, like a parade of reform each chained to the others, marching in line, leaving in their trail piles of pachyderm poop that we all step in every time we open up the newspaper.

It is quite disgusting, really, especially when you then realize that what is being gained is money!  Republicans and those media outlets which are tooting for Newt gain financially by denouncing health care reform.  They are part of the broken health care system and hence part of the ruin of America.  Thank God that we now have a president like Barack Obama, who is able to lead our great nation forward and muster majority support for health care reform!

I hope and pray that health care reform will become a reality soon.  I also pray that then republicans will see the light and get behind health care reform, to improve upon that legislation already drafted to bring more economical and better health care to all Americans.  I also pray that the day will come when it will be illegal in our great nation to rape and rob the elderly and their families when a family member grows old, becomes incapacitated, or otherwise suffers accident or injury resulting in catastrophic health care costs.  We none are free when there is one who has done nothing but loved, yet is locked away behind electric doors and iron gates, made a nursing home prisoner that others might exploit, rape and rob them for their own private benefit.

A soldier's story or Newt Poop

I'm lucky.  As an Army brat I grew up living in a number of different places around the country and abroad.  Hence I had friends of many different races and national origins and did not turn out to be a racist or prejudice as were many of the kids in schools which I attended in the deep south.  Also my parents were Christians; my mother was raised as a Methodist, her father being a Methodist Minister, and my father was a Presbyterian.  Hence I learned from an early age that God was Love but you better do what your daddy says or ELSE, which meant a belt to the butt!

Yet despite this strict upbringing I was recently called a "racist" by Mr. Wade C. Bolen, editor of The Clarke County Tribune.  Such a statement could be no further from the truth.  It was a bald faced lie, pure and simple, based not on fact, but conjecture, a statement made perhaps in revenge to my defense of President Obama and his support as our Commander in Chief.

I recently met Mr. Bolen.  I had gone to the newspaper office to renew my subscription when he happened to walk through the door.  I promptly introduced myself and in the course of our brief conversation told him flat out that I was not a "racist!"  But I'm not sure if he got the message as Mr. Bolen seems a pretty stubborn gentleman to me.  Why it might take some more knocking to pound that fact into Mr. Bolen's thick skull.  I AM NOT A RACIST!  Do you get it now, Mr. Bolen?

What I am is a very patriotic American.  That's why when I open The Clarke County Tribune and see it filled with radical, anti-American, right-wing propaganda every week, I can't help but get the impression that someone has fallen into a vat of Newt poop!

As an Army brat I learned what Newt poop smelled and looked like at a very early age.  My Dad was posted in Orleans, France, and was charged with such critical missions as supplying allied forces with supplies, munitions, and designing evacuation plans for allied forces in the event of a nuclear war!  One day while out for a walk he showed me a pile of "road apples," a large mound of dung deposited by large draft horses which were used to pull wagon loads of wheat.  These were huge horses, like the Clydesdale Budweiser horses, and when they pooped, it left a mountain heap of dung which reeked and made quite a stench; not something you would want to step in.  Well, Newt poop looks much the same as 'em road apples, and leaves one's misplaced foot with much the same stink!

Opening up The Clarke County Tribune every week and seeing Newt poop makes me wonder what's going on?  Every week there is a new anti-Obama cartoon and another guest columnist tooting or pooping for Newt.  So knowing Newt poop when I see it, and being a patriotic American, I have to stand up and defend those who are bashing my president.  Hence I call the shots like I see them and feel it is quite accurate, correct and on target to say that such propaganda is anti-American, racist, and aids and abets our real enemies, which is al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Last time I heard we were at war on two fronts, one in Iraq and another in Afghanistan.  I happen to know what it is like to have to be the one going to ring the bell on homes and deliver the bad news that someone's husband or son will not be coming home from the war.  You see, I grew up hearing all my Dad's war stories.  And the worse ones of all were how terrible it was having to bring home that news to the wives, children and parents of a soldier killed in action.  That was my father's duty during the Vietnam War, and in the end it broke his heart and killed him.

Apparently Mr. Bolen doesn't get it.  We are all Americans here and like it or not President Obama is our President and Commander in Chief.  We need to rally around the President during these tough times, give him all the support we can, and focus our frustration and anger instead upon our common enemies, the Taliban, al-Qaida, and others around the world who seek to destroy our great nation.

You may enjoy pooping upon our President, Mr. Bolen, and you may be doing just what the owner of The Clarke County Tribune wants, but it ain't pretty and it ain't nice to be Newt pooping on the President during a time of war!  You just don't seem to get it.  I guess you never had to go knocking on doors and tell someone their son or daughter was never coming home.  Supporting our troops, Mr. Bolen, means also supporting the Commander in Chief, and not trying to make him look a fool to everyone who reads your rag.

Quite frankly the reason I decided to renew my subscription to The Clarke County Tribune was so I could monitor the Newt poop you are publishing and dispose of it with my Newt poop scooper.  One thing I learned growing up as the son of a much decorated soldier was how to scoop poop!  In the Army they have another term for it, *@#$! runs down the leash, such that the lower downs in the chain of command end up kicking the dog.  You are the dog, Mr. Bolen, and although I respect your rights to express your opinion, I don't like the Newt poop you are using to trash our President  with every week.  Thus I'm telling everyone that 'em road apples you've been plopping about President Obama are just so much Newt poop, and since *@#$! runs down the leash, here's kicking your butt!

Shame on The Clarke County Tribune for not supporting our President and Commander in Chief during this time of war.  Yes, it will take more than 30,000 additional troops to win the war on terrorism, and in my opinion the fighting of this war and every war should be left to the generals.  Politicians simply do not know how to win a war.  If its about winning then there should be no holds barred and we should get serious with al-Qaida, the Taliban and any and all who aid and abed our enemies.  That's why I say The Clarke County Tribune is acting like a traitor.  You can't go around pooping Newt poop on the President when someone is ringing door bells telling a wife their husband won't be coming home or bringing that tragic news to parents that their son or daughter was killed in action.

How then do you express your disagreement with the President?  You do it directly.  You encourage people to address letters to the President.  If you want you may publish such letters as open letters to President Obama.  Also, you make a point to express both sides of an issue and give equal time or space to columnists who support the President.  Otherwise you come out looking lopsided, anti-American, racist, and like so much Newt poop!

Also notice that this ain't personal, Mr. Bolen.  Like I told you to your face, I am NOT a racist.  But The Clarke County Tribune is looking racist and coming across as being racist because of what it is doing and what it is publishing.  Also by not supporting our Commander in Chief, even if you disagree with some things he does, the newspaper comes across looking anti-American, and aids and abets our enemies in spirit, which helps the enemy in its efforts to divide and conquer these great United States of America.

I'd like to see The Clarke County Tribune say that it supports our President as Commander in Chief, even if it doesn't agree with everything President Obama does.  God only knows that I do not agree with everything President Obama does.  Like I said, I think we should leave fighting wars over to the generals, and Obama was never a soldier and certainly isn't a general.  Hence we all need to support our President and pray that with our support we may all come out as victors in the war on terrorism.

Terrorist sympathizers manipulate war photos

As a master graphic artist, designer and photographer who has many years experience taking photographs of the natural environment, people and the world around me, my attention was recently drawn to a photograph taken by Kevin Frayer showing the damage in Lebanon caused by an Israel air strike. What made a light go off inside my head was that this picture alleged to show a banner strung across rubble saying "Made in USA" and cast a dark shadow upon my country.

I felt insulted by this photograph and then gave it a closer look noticing that the type fonts upon the banner were clearly generated by a computer and even covered the folds in the banner. This photo had clearly been doctored and manipulated and released for propaganda purposes by Hezbollah sympathizers. To prove this to myself I made an analysis of the photograph which confirms that it was indeed a doctored photograph that had been manipulated using a computer. So much for truth in advertising!



Figure 1 shows the original photograph with the caption "Lebanese youth stand on a banner in protest against the United States in the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli bombardment in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2006. On the second day of a United Nations ceasefire between Israel and the Hezbollah, Lebanon's Defense Minister said that 15,000 Lebanese soldiers will be deployed in south Lebanon by the end of the week." (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer) AP - Tue Aug 15, 10:25 AM ET



Figure 2 shows an enhancement of this banner. Note that the text is not hand painted or done using spray paint as is the case with most such banners or graffiti one sees as a result of people expressing themselves after a natural disaster or man made destruction. Rather, the type fonts upon the banner are commercial fonts of a style one would easily have access to using a graphics art and photo manipulation program upon a computer, something I know given I have produced thousands of graphic images and photographs and regularly use such programs to create art and designs.



Figure 3 shows an enlargement of the "USA." Note that the type fonts fall over the fold in the banner and do not follow the curves of the banner. This is exactly how the type fonts would appear if dropped onto the banner using a computer graphics program. Also the "U" seems to have been flipped horizontally as it is thinner on the left than upon the right, indicating that each letter was dropped in separately and then fitted into space.



Figure 4 shows "Made in" which has been enhanced to reveal a halo effect around the lettering which is very typical of computer generated graphics. Apparently the area beneath these letters was doctored to remove markings and then the letters were dropped in using a computer graphics program.

After making this discovery for myself I wondered who is this person Kevin Frayer and what other photographs has he taken? Also I was curious why a major media provider like the Associated Press would distribute such photographs internationally and take them as genuine when they were so obviously faked?

A search on the Internet immediately revealed that Kevin Frayer had published other photographs which were suspected as having been manipulated. In A Reprise: Media Photo Manipulation by Ricki Hollander there is a photograph by Kevin Frayer of a picture of a Lebanese woman among bombed out ruins. This same or very similar type photograph was also shown among ruins in a different setting suggesting such photographs have been planted or other wise manipulated. (See photo below).



Figure 5 shows a photograph submitted by AP photographer Kevin Frayer on July 31, 2006. The caption reads:

A photograph of a Lebanese girl is seen in the rubble of a mosque that was hit in an Israeli missile strike in the village of Qana, southern Lebanon, Monday, July 31, 2006. At least 56 residents of the village were killed when Israeli warplanes attacked the village early Sunday morning.

(Note: The number of 56 victims has since been "corrected" to half that.)

Figure 6. In yet another staged photograph by AP photographer Kevin Frayer a dead baby is paraded about for the camera with the caption:

Lebanese Red Cross and Civil Defense workers carry the body of a small child covered in dust from the rubble of his home that was hit in an Israeli missile strike in the village of Qana, east of the port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Sunday. Lebanese Red Cross officials said 56 people died in the Israeli assault on the village, including 34 children. Rescuers dug through the debris to remove dozens of bodies.

A critical review of this sequence of photographs reveals that a number of photojournalist photographed the same dead baby at different times, that the scenes of what some have termed the Qana Massacure which sparked riots by Hezbollah supporters at the United Nations building in Beirut were staged and reinacted by Salam Daker, 39, Head of Operations for the Lebanese Civil Defense in Tyre, to project Israel as baby killers and do not reflect truth in reporting.

Clearly this indicates that Kevin Frayer is submitting manipulated photographs to the Associated Press and that these are being used as propaganda to sway public opinion and perhaps effect political decisions. In fact, according to Ricki Hollander, Kevin Frayer's photographs are not the only ones out of the war torn Lebanon that are being questions. Apparently their is a cottage industry of fraudulent photojournalist taking picture and then using computers to manipulate them, submitting them to news services, probably getting paid handsomely for their forgeries and building a reputation for themselves.

Ricki Hollander states that, "Reuters was forced to withdraw over 900 pictures taken by Adnan Hajj after Charles Johnson of the Little Green Footballs blog exposed the fact that the news agency’s photographer doctored images he had taken of the Israeli/Hezbollah war, darkening and enhancing smoke spirals in the photographs."



Figure 7 shows a photograph doctored by Adnan Hajj which was removed by Reuters along with over 900 other photographs by Adnan Hajj. On August 9, the New York Times published an article about Adnan Hajj's doctored images, entitled "Bloggers Drive Inquiry on How Altered Images Saw Print"

Given the fact these manipulated photographs and their captions tend to slant public opinion and view Israel and the United States as villains, I would seriously question the ethics of the Associated Press and other news services in distributing such doctored photographs. This is akin to creating a great fraud upon the America public and the international audience! How many people around the world will look at these doctored and manipulated fraudulent images and get the impression that America is the great Satan that Islamic fundamentalists would like them to believe it is?

News services need to begin questioning the authenticity of photographs they publish and at least have them scrutinized by experts to determine if they have been manipulated. Apparently many photographs are submitted by free lancers who are bias in their reporting to the extreme that they doctor and manipulate their images for political or propaganda purposes. The fact that these photographs are then being distributed around the world by agencies like the Associated Press and Reuters makes them puppets on a string, being exploited by photo terrorists!

The real story here may not be the photographs we are seeing so much as the lies we are being told by the photographers submitting manipulated photographs to the world press. It is certainly realized that when terrorists take a hostage and make a video of their heads being cut off or them being shot, that this is done for propaganda and to terrorize the world. It may not be so obvious that when free lancers from a war zone submit photographs with cut lines that are anti-American or anti-Israel, that these are manipulated photographs; that they are lies told and propagated by those who are hostile to the United States and our allies.

The war on terrorism involves not only a war of weapons, but a war for the heart of humanity. Such terrorist organizations as al-Qaida and Hezbollah know that they can use propaganda to sway world opinion as well as to raise money to support their terrorism. When faked and manipulated photographs are given the stamp of approval by major press agencies which beam them around the world , then are shown to people in a position to contribute money, these images help collect donations and fund future acts of terrorism. Therefore the distribution of fraudulent and manipulated photographs by the major press agencies is contributing to the coffers of terrorists organizations.

This practice by major press agencies of permitting terrorist or terrorist sympathizers to use the media to distribute manipulated and/or fraudulent photographs and/or video around the world needs to be stopped. By letting our enemies, the enemies of democracy, use the media to distribute their lies around the world is contributing to our own destructions.

Such corruption of photojournalism is scandalous! At least one other professor of journalism agrees with me. David D. Perlmutter, Professor and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies & Research at the University of Kansas School of Journalism & Mass Communications, has an outstanding piece on the "Fauxtography Scandal" entitled, Photojournalism in Crisis.

I am a strong advocate of a free press and as such I understand that to remain free the press needs to remain credible, honest and true to its subscribers, and not act as a puppet for terrorist or enemies of our state and nation. Certainly the old adage, "Do not believe everything you read in the newspaper," is true when it comes to journalism in the 21st Century. In fact, I plan on giving every photograph I see by Kevin Frayer and others in Hezbollah controlled areas a very close look and doing the same with any image that is associated with an anti-American or anti-Israel caption. You might be wise to do the same, least you want to be brainwashed by al-Quida, Hezbollah and other terrorist organization supporters and sympathizers!

How to create your own electronic newspaper

Many people who enjoy reading begin their day by reading the newspaper, viewing the morning news on television or listening to the radio while driving to work. More and more I find myself turning to the Internet for my daily dose of news, given that it is now possible to read newspapers from all over the nation and the world on line. Plus one may customize the type of new they receive. For the computer literate and Internet sauve, reading the newspaper is not what it use to be.

Certainly when there is a breaking story of significance, like the murder of six-year-old beauty pageant queen JonBenet Ramsey, by the alleged child pedophile John Mark Karr, reading such local newspapers as the Rocky Mountain News gives one a perspective upon events which are often not covered by local media which rely upon the wire services. This is especially true in the case of such big stories as 9/11, as local media is able to give an in-depth slant to just about any story and show how it effects people who may be thousands of miles away from the event. A prime example of this is how the war in Iraq or international terrorism effects millions of Americans half way around the world from the bombs and bloodshed. If one wants to know what people in across America think, they can just log on the Internet and go to any on-line newspaper to read articles full of local color and lore as well as the opinions expressed by local contributors.

Also there are many bizarre news reports featured on the Internet which make for a quite amusing, if not incredible read. For example, Darmin Garcia of Milwaukee fell into a vat of hot chocolate, became stuck and was rescued by police after a two hour ordeal using cocoa butter to thin the viscous goo. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Aug. 19, 2006).

Another sweet tooth tale comes from Fountain Valley, California, where Martucci Angiano discovered a vision of the Virgin Mary in solidified chocolate droppings! I wonder, will this soon end up on eBay where in 2004 a piece of grilled cheese from the Golden Palace.com sold for $28,000 and in 2005 a honey-mustard pretzel believed to be shaped like the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus sold for $10,600? (The Grand Island Independent)

When one has access to the entire world press, there is never a lack for unusual, mind boggling and fascinating tales. In Turner, Maine a "hybrid mutant" was found dead by the roadside, sparking a rash of speculation that it was everything from a feral dog or hybrid crossbreed to an extraterrestrial. Photos of this strange animal taken by Michelle O'Donnell were featured in The Sun Journal, Aug. 18, 2006, and distributed across the country by the wire services.

The world's media is full of bizarre tales of animal hybrids. A tigon, the cross between a male tiger and a lioness, which has tiger stripes and the physique of a lion was reported from Australia, photo by Toresten Blackwook of the AFP being circulated world-wide by Getty Images. A wholphin, the cross between a whale and a dolphin, was born at Sealife Park in Honolulu, Hawaii, in April, 2005, photos taken by Lucy Pemoni, beamed around the world by Reuters. On a plantation in Barbadose a zonkey, the hybrid of a donkey and a zebra, was born in April, 2005, it picture by Chris Brandis widely circulated by the Associated Press. April hunters in Canada killed a huge bear; DNA tests showed that the bear's mother was a polar bear and its father a grizzly bear.

Perhaps one of the most unusual stories that I've recently read is that of a woman who was attacked by a mannequin and sustained injuries sufficient to file a claim against J.C. Penneys Co. According to reports Diana Newton, 51, was shopping for a blouse and when a sales clerk was attempting to remove a garment from the mannequin an arm flew up into the air striking Newton in the head as it fell causing injury. So much for Sir Issac Newton's proof of gravity, that everything which goes up must come down! (Los Angeles, AP, Aug. 18, 2006)

Many Internet provider services and news agencies are now providing RSS news feeds which subscribers can sign up to receive. America OnLine(AOL)at www.aol.com provides Top News, Political News and Strange but True news all of which were consulted in writing this article. In addition to these favorites of mine, there are news feeds for sports, stocks, parenting and virtually every other topic imaginable. This makes it possible for everyone who loves a good dose of morning news to put together their own electronic newspaper!

For those who love to interact with the press by sending letters to the editor or participating in on-line forums, the Internet offers a wide range of opportunities. You can find links to all newspapers through the MAP (Media Awareness Project), at Boycott Made In China www.byteland.org/boycottchina, a political activist site which protest the brutal killing of tens of thousands of dogs in China, which will enable you to search for the URL or Internet address of any existing on-line newspaper, as well as to locate the email address of editors.

Getting up-to-date news is no longer dependent upon flipping through pages of inky newsprint; now you can relax, enjoy a cup of coffee or juice and surf the Internet, without getting a smudge of ink upon your fingers. Plus, being able to personalize the news you receive makes it faster and easier to find exactly the news you are looking for, an advantage for everyone who has only a limited amount of time and must be off in a rush to get children to school, arrive at work on time, catch a flight or attend to other daily chores.

Boycott products made in China protest killing 50,000+ dogs

Special Alert! Boycott Made In China

Special alert! Everyone is being asked to boycott made in China products to protest the killing of over 50,000 dogs in Red China by order of communist government officials! Please join the international movement to boycott everything made in China!

Boycott Made In China Products to protest killing of over 50,000 dogs in Red China in July, 2006

Sources say that Red China may have plans to kill over 500,000 dogs in the near future as they have done such culling in the past (in 2003 over 170,000 dogs were killed). The World Health Organization and ASPCA have both issued position papers against usage of such culling methods as ineffective in control of rabies which can only be effectively controlled through a vaccination program. But unless everyone takes action to boycott made in China products this may never stop! Take a stand today! Join the movement to boycott products made in China! All dog lovers please read Dog Is God Spelled Backwards and take a stand against the senseless and cruel killing of dogs in China!

Scammers/spammers now posing as political activists and attorneys

I've seen a lot of variation of African scams, but now their is a version going around from persons claiming to be a political activist and attorney, proposing to want to secure campaign funds. I received a copy of one of these which is shown below entitled:

"Subj: Highly confidential information"
Posted Date: 7/29/06 7:20:54 PM Central Daylight Time
From: ***censored by CyberPatrol***
which reads as follows:

Dear friend

My name is Mr. Fui Tsikata, a political activist and an attorney. I am a member of my party’s executive committee.

My aim of contacting you is to crave your indulgence to assist us in securing some funds, abroad for safe keeping which incidentally was kept to help us finance the forth coming elections in 2008. Fortunately with my immediate assistance, and contact, we were able to deposit the money in a security vault abroad pending when the fund would be needed.

The need to contact you arose from the fact that the present government is cracking down on the opposition and trying to trace all the funds that belong to it, if they succeed in tracing this fund to us, they will seize it and thereby incapacitating our campaign abilities. We wish to relocate this fund in a foreigner's name to avoid any trace. All I need from you is an assurance that you can handle the amount involved (US$52,000,000) comfortably and that I can also trust you with this arrangement.

Be rest assured that there is no risk involved since I have taken care of everything. I want you to immediately inform me of your willingness in assisting and co-operating with us, so that I can send you full details of this transaction and let us make arrangement for a meeting and discuss at length on how to transfer this funds. I am able to give you my name without fear because I got your email address contact from a very reliable and dependable friend whose judgment I trust completely, so it would be appreciated if you can maintain the confidential nature of this letter and the whole transaction.

Please if you are not interested in this business, let me know in time, so that I can contact someone else. You can send your reply through my alternative email address for security measures : ***censored by CyberPatrol***

Yours sincerely,
Mr. Fui Tsikata

***END***

I have received numerous such scam letters in the past, perhaps owning to the fact that I have authored many articles and my work is widely published on the Internet along with my email address. Thus I guess once on a scammers shit list, always on a scammers shit list!

These type of scam letters are a real nusance. I'm not sure how to stop them. Anyone who honestly posts their email address on the Internet is obviously going to become a target of scammers, phisher and other low life. Given these people use free service providers and are often located off shore, there is really no way to stop them except, perhaps, by having unlisted email addresses.

My reason for reposting this particular scam email is simply to alert others to the fact such emails are a scam. If you get such an email probably the best thing to do is ignore it and/or block email from the address of the sender and/or any other reply email addresses. You may also report these type of scam emails to your ISP (Internet Service Provider) that they may block them from everyone's email.

I have seen so many variations of these scam emails that I wonder who has the time to write thest things? Obviously there is a cottage industry of scam artists that has grown up in Nigeria and other third world countries. What is so pitiful about these scam artists is that if they spent half as much time working to create real business opportunities on the Internet they could probably grow quite rich.

I guess there are just people who like to try to rip off other people or get some sick pleasure out of creating and shoveling piles of dung in the form of scam emails. People who seek to hurt and harm others, who seek to scam others out of their money with get rich quick scheme offers and ploys, really are a degenerate sort. It makes me wish there were some sort of electronic rat trap people could install on their email boxes that would automatically fire back a reply in the form of a killer virus that would wipe out all the data on the hard drives of these scammers and phishers!

Should anyone have some other ideas for how to deal with these scammers and phishers I would love to hear your suggestions. Please post your comments. Thanks.

The Pyrotechnic Pen

The Pyrotechnic Pen

Oprah Advocates Raising Minimum Wage/Universal Health Insurance

Yesterday (July 28, 2006) I watched Oprah's show on ABC focusing on raising the minimum wage and advocacy for universal health insurance/care. Oprah made her point by featuring the lives of women who were employed and earned minimum wage, demonstrating how this was not sufficient to provide all the necessities of life, concluding that action was necessary NOW to provide a LIVING WAGE, enough that people could provide adequately for themselves and their families; that also it was necessary to provide health insurance/care for everyone in America.

I was so touched by Oprah's program that I made a series of designs to promote raising the minimum wage and support of universal health insurance/care. I urge that everyone in America help in raising awareness and promoting these vital causes by purchasing these design items and displaying them pomanently in your home, school and/or place of work!

Pay Living Wage	Raise Minimum Wage	Get It Up! Raise Minimum Wage
Write Congress Raise Minimum Wage	Support Universal Health Insurance	Write Congress! Universal Health Insurance
Wipe Out Poverty

It is vital that all Americans stand up and help promote a raise in minimum wage and support on universal health insurance/care. As Oprah pointed out in her program, there are over 30 million American who earn only minimum wage. This is not enough to support an individual, much less a family! It is a disgrace that employers are paying such low wages and have to be compelled by law to provide a decent living for workers!

This is one of the great injustices which exists in America. We are spending billions and billions of dollars to fight a war on terrorism and help rebuild Iraq, yet we are not helping our own citizens taking action to wipe out poverty in America! It is critical to the quality of life, indeed, to the survival of our nation, that both states and the federal government act to immediately rectify this situation.

I join with Oprah is asking that everyone write their state representatives and members of Congress. Urge that states raise the minimum wage to a reasonable living wage, that all working Americans may earn enough to provide a good quality life for themselves and their families. Both the states need to do this as well as the federal government.

What is a reasonable living wage? Quite frankly this varies over time, especially with inflation. And do you know what, most state legislations and the US Congress regularly grant themselves pay raises but neglect doing the same with respect to the minimum wage!

The fact is no state is paying a minimum wage sufficient to enable working Americans to get out of poverty. And no state is providing universal health insurance/care for its citizens! We are one of the riches countries in the world, yet we are failing to provide over 30 million citizens with an income that will enable them to get out of poverty!

This is why I have joined with Oprah to advocate support of legislation to provide a living wage and universal health insurance/care. I have created a series of Money Ware Designs which feature $10,000.00 bills to attract attention superimposes upon a network symbolic of people coming together to support raising the minimum wage and providing all citizens with universal health insurance/care that poverty in America may be wiped out!

Wipe Out

Poverty

Please help wipe out poverty in America and insure that no child or adult goes without food, clothing or shelter. Support a living wage and universal health insurance/care!

Please share this information with everyone you know. Urge that others join in a grassroots movement to wipe out poverty in America! No child should be hungry! No child should be without health care! No child should be homeless! No child should be without clothing to keep warm! No child should be cast out of their home with their parents because employers are not providing a living wage! And this should apply equally to the parents and care providers of all children!

Raising the minimum wage and providing universal health insurance/care to every American should not be a political issue! This is not a matter of rich vs. poor. This is common sense, common human decency! Therefore I ask all Americans of common sense to support and promote a reasonable living wage and universal health insurance/care for all citizens!

Comments from all are welcome. Let's get a debate going. If you have some good ideas to share related to this issue, please speak up. If we don't take action NOW to rectify this situation, then tomorrow there will be 40, 50, 60 ... perhaps 100 million Americans in poverty!