James Stabile Info Blog March 2008

Preview of the March 2008 Blog

What's going on with Big Brother 9?

Why was Jumper such a flop for this blogger?

CDC says children getting HIV/AIDS from regurgitated food from mother?

Age vs. happiness? Can one's age tell if he or she is happy?

The Florida Primary, I thought that it was over. Florida and Michigan voters disenfranchised?

Does Hilary have a chance to be the Democratic nominee? Why is Barack not qualified for the presidency? Will John McCain win the general election by default?

Must Jews call on the name of "Jesus" at town meetings? And what about Islamics, Agnostics and Hindus?

Analog vs. Digital TV transmission- what's the difference? And so what?

How can I complete online transactions more securely? When I clean out my desk how does that relate to cleaning out my work computer?

Spending gone mad?

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Entertainment

CBS's Big Brother 9 started in February. 'Til Death Do You Part, the theme this year, pairs houseguest as soul mates each pair must work together to win the ultimate prize, $500,000. I started watching it with high hopes, however, by the fourth episode I was tired of it. I didn't even watch it. Maybe that's the reason I don't really get into so-called reality shows. At least this cycle of Big Brother provides a break from the tons of repeats airing due to the now settled screen writers strike. By the way, you did know that the strike is over? New episodes will start airing in March for most series. However, the 2008 TV season will definitely be a dud. Back to Big Brother 9, while watching the first few episodes I got the feeling that something was missing. Oh yea, I remember, it's wintertime and not summertime. The series usually airs July - September as a summer replacement. In any case, I will still peak at it once in awhile and will watch the final episode.

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Jumper I don't understand what's up with some of the new movies. In this movie Hayden Christensen plays sort of a superhero. He is one of a small group of people who due to a genetic anomaly are able to teleport themselves anywhere in the world. Samuel L. Jackson and Diane Lane play characters who job it is to kill these so called Jumpers. That's the movie in it's entirety. Don't bother seeing this movie. Try a different one, maybe one of the light hearted comedies that are playing- 27 Dresses, Definitely, Maybe or Fool's Gold. Jumper was a major disappointment to me.

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Health, Fitness and Lifestyle

Center for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, in Atlanta Georgia has determined that HIV/AIDS can be spread to children by having their food chewed by their mothers first and then given to the children. For one thing that sounds disgusting. The article said that it is mainly a practice of members of the lower socio-economic population. It still is disgusting to me, especially in our contemporary germ infected environment. The HIV/AIDS threat is even more of a reason to stop this practice. And if a parent is aware of his or her HIV status, why in the name of common sense would he or she be doing anything with their children or anyone that could potentially spread the virus?. Let this be a lesson to all of us. In this day and age, we all must practice safe personal hygiene. We must not share any bodily fluids with anyone. The exception to this is of course is the sexual relationship between two consenting adults. Even then, it would be prudent to be thoroughly aware of the sexual, social and hygienic background of one's partner. By the way, the article states that the HIV/AIDS virus is not contained in the saliva of the parent, but in blood that may be contained in the chewed food. Three such cases have been reported to the CDC.

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Does age determine happiness? Psychologists suggest yes. Think about it in your own life situation, age vs. happiness. Now be honest and plot a graph relating age and happiness.

In my personal life, I was the happiest from around 22 years of age to about 42. During those years I was full of ambition, zest for life and a motivation to achieve great ends. Before the age of 22, I was happy, but not fulfilled, so to speak. During that time I was involved with the preparation part of my life. School, education and maturation were my prime objectives. School was always a positive, fulfilling and successful part of my life, however, I viewed it as a vehicle for bigger and better things. I viewed it as a route to success and happiness in the achievement of my life goals. After age 42 through around 50, I viewed my life as so-so. It was fulfilling but that excitement started waning. Around 46 or 47 I realized that I needed to re-examine my goals in life and re-prioritize my objectives for being happy, fulfilled and satisfied. During my mid-40's I began to accept the AA serenity motto, “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Let me be clear, I am not a recovering alcoholic. I have read a lot about Alcoholics Anonymous and have applied much of the reality based theory of one's existence to my personal life. Now with that clarification, let's get back to my age vs. happiness timeline. Summarizing, during my mid to late 40's I began to realize what was important in my personal life and what I needed to do to accomplish those important qualities in my life. By age 50 till the present, I re-established my agenda for my life based on my re-invented sense of personal important life goals. At present I am reaping some of the benefits of my realignment of goals and priorities and enjoying the person I have become. However, I am eternally mindful that life, life at any age, is still a work in progress. Each day is a new day full of inviting things to do, learn or give. From my journey thus far, I have learned some of the truth about life and happiness - life needs happiness, wonder, awe, motivation, thanksgiving and charity. I look forward to the rest of my story, my 60's, 70's and beyond, but I remain very thankful and basically satisfied and proud of my life.

Let's get back to the expert's opinion of age vs. happiness. Studies suggest that the most unhappiest years of life for most people are in their 40's, 45 being the apex of the graph. What about your life and happiness?

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Politics & World Affairs

The Florida Presidential Primary was held on January 29. As we know or as we don't know, the Democratic National Committee penalized the voters in Florida, by the way Michigan, too, for having their primaries earlier than the national party rules allowed. The punishment was the non-seating of the two states Democratic delegates at the Democratic Convention this summer. Now the DNC wants Florida to conduct state-wide caucuses so the Florida Democratic voters will be recognized at the convention. This would be very costly to the Florida Democratic Party. In my opinion, there should be no caucuses. The primary was already held and the results announced. As a Florida presidential primary voter, I would be offended if a caucus was held and the results of the primary were rejected. This would be compounding an unfortunate situation. What should be done?

What should be done about the Florida Presidential Primary - nothing. Florida had it's primary. The Democratic as well as Republican State leaders decided to abandon the DNC's rules and regulations, as well as the Republican's, therefore, they must take the consequences of their actions.

I do think that a compromise should and must be agreed upon and put into action. We the voters of Florida did not choose the date for the primary. Our votes should not be discounted. The state party machines, Democrat and Republican, made the decisions - they should be penalized. Quite frankly, I do not care what their reprimand should entail, but my vote as well as the vote of every other Floridian primary voter should be respected and remain on the books in determining the presidential nominee of each party.

If the Florida delegates remained unseated and do not participate in the presidential nominating process, this would disrupt not only the conventions, but would disrupt the democratic process in this republic we call the United States of America. It could drastically change the outcome of the delegate count for the selection of the nominee. The bottom line, the Florida voters will be disenfranchise again. A compromise must be agreed upon and the delegates must be seated at the conventions with no restrictions. Democracy and the integrity of the Florida voters must be maintained.

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The 2008 Presidential Primary season is finally winding down. Senator John McCain looks like the Republican nominee. As far as the Democrats - we still are not sure. Senator Barack Obama is in the delegate lead as well as the popular vote count. Senator Hilary Clinton is now the underdog. The nomination will be determined in the next few weeks. March 4 will be a major factor in this determination. To stay in the race Senator Clinton must win Ohio, Texas and then Pennsylvania in April. If she wins these three states, then Clinton will be the nominee. If she loses even one of these states, then Obama will be the nominee. That's the way it is, for now. By the way, the former President Clinton agrees with this senario.

This is not a news reporting blog. We all know about the primary situation. Let me give you my take on the subject. I believe that Hilary Clinton is the better choice for the Democratic nominee for president and equally the better choice to win the general election in November. She is a strong candidate and would be a strong, effective and compassionate president. I am sorry to say that I do not feel that she will be the Democratic nominee. I think she is sinking in a pool of misguided sentiment by a majority of Democrats for Barack Obama in this primary contest. In my opinion, Obama has one and only one presidential qualification - he has demonstrated his ability to connect with the American people. He talks a good talk, but lacks substance, credibility and readiness. He will win the Democratic nomination because of his engaging, motivational and emotional dialogue with the Democrats and others who have and will vote in the Democratic primaries. He is all talk with little or no plan for changing the future. That is a shame.

I hope this scenario does not come to pass. If it does, then I feel that the Democrats have missed a great opportunity to not only win the Presidency in November, but to give America one of her greatest presidents - Hilary Clinton. The old adage, don't judge a book by its cover, may apply here. Senator Clinton has the answers to America's problems. She has the qualities to be a great leader. She has the skill to be a great president. She has the compassion to be a great inspiration to all Americans. But the American people will not stop and read her book, so to speak. They see the glamour, glitz and false security of one Barack Obama and fails to read his book, too. What they don't realize - Obama's book is empty.

As far as the general election in November, if it's Obama vs. McCain, McCain will obviously be the victor. The Republicans will attack and totally demolish Senator Obama. One just needs to listen to Senator McCain and the Republican attack machine as they are already attacking Obama even before he is crowned the Democratic nominee. It will be a devastating election in November. To tell you the truth, this Democrat blog writer just may have to support Senator McCain for the presidency. This is just a thought, but this blogger will vote for the person that he thinks will be the best president for all Americans.

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Religion & Spiritualism

Should governmental or public meetings be started with prayer? I don't think so. A small Florida municipal leader wants to not only open city meetings with a prayer to God, but he wants to call upon the name of Jesus to intercede for them. Praying should not be part of any public, governmental operation. The use of the name God should not be part of a prayer in any public meeting in any domain. And the notion of invoking the name of Jesus in such a public meeting is unprecedented, un-American and unconstitutional.

Let me be clear, I am a devoted Christian Catholic. My life is governed by my religious beliefs, but I do not allow my personal religious beliefs to interfere in the strict separation of church and state that I affirm. My religious beliefs are mine alone. If other people share those beliefs then fine, but I will not allow those beliefs to be a part of any public, nonsectarian gathering. I believe we must respect the beliefs of other people in our public discourse with them. In such settings we must tackle the agenda at hand in a mutually respectful manner embracing those things that unite us and reject those things that divide us. There is a forum for religious practice and worship - a public meeting is not one of those forums.

Let's look at this problem more thoroughly and comprehensively. Let's abstractly accept the premise that God, Jesus and anything religious should be a part of a public meeting or discourse. Okay and who decides which religious beliefs are incorporated into our opening prayer? Christian, Jewish, Islam? Who decides which format will be used? A Protestant, Catholic, liberal Jewish, orthodox Jewish, fanatic Islam, traditional Islam, etc. format? Who determines all of this and how it will be implemented? Will it be determined by majority vote, taking turns, random drawing or will the people who are in attendance determine the religious genre? This is absurd. We are all different with different religious beliefs, different life and death beliefs, different beliefs concerning the start or end of life, etc., etc. the differences go on and on. The answer to this absurd impracticality, abide by the wisdom of the ages and keep public matters public and objective - in short, keep church and state matters separate. Public situations must be kept objective in style. American rights as prescribed by the Bill of Rights must be upheld and applied universally in a consistent and non-discriminatory matter. This is America, land of the free. Individual differences must be safeguarded, respected and protected in a free and democratic society.

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Technology and Business

February 2009, I believe on the 17th, that is the date that the U.S. government has ordered television transmissions to change from an analog format to digital. Yes, this seems to be big news, but don't get your dander up, yet. New TV's are already programmed for digital. Older television sets are not. If you have cable or direct TV, the change will be accommodated for you via the cable or Direct TV companies. So what's the big deal? Older TVs that get their signal from antennas are at risk. They will have no reception, just snow, on February 17, 2009. There is a fix. The government is issuing coupons toward digital-to-analog converter boxes for those older TVs with antennae reception. These coupons are worth $40.00. I believe the cost of the boxes are the same price. Don't take my word for it, shop for the cheapest price. Each household is eligible for 2 coupons. Wait a minute, even though you may have cable or satellite service you still may want to take advantage of the coupons and purchase the converter boxes. Why? Think about it. If you lose you cable or satellite service for a period of time for whatever reason - storm, tornado, hurricane, any outage, but you still have your electricity you may not be able to receive TV reception if your TV is one of those older TVs with an analog format. In this case you would have to make use of the antennae option if possible with your television. If your television does not have digital reception, just analogue, then guess what - no TV reception. Let me give you an example. During Hurricane Wilma in my immediate neighborhood most people lost their electricity for 4 days, cable for 4 weeks. Being a major metropolitan region, many TV stations were close enough for TVs to pick up their signals antenna or not. As part on my personal hurricane preparedness I had purchased a $15.00 top-of-the-TV type antenna. I just configured my TV from cable to antenna. Then inserted the end of the antenna into the cable connection on the back of the TV and enjoyed TV viewing. I was fortunate to enjoy the three network channels, Fox, WB or what ever they call it now, 2 or 3 independent stations and 2 public TV stations. I managed. If that kind of situation happened now and your TV or TVs had only analog reception, you would not be able to watch TV unless you had a converter box. I did request 2 coupons for the converter box. Go to https://www.dtv2009.gov/ for more information. Don't tarry, the mailing of the requested coupons will commence at the beginning of March and many requests have been already made. Just a thought. As far as the technological reasons for the change, who cares. Look it up if you are interested. As for me, I just want to be ready for any eventuality.

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Safer online banking? Is that statement an oxymoron? I don't think so. Online banking as well as online shopping, bill paying, etc., is here to stay. Security issues are usually of concern with these online activities. They can be improved by the cooperative efforts of the companies involved and the individual computer users who access their websites.

There is little the individual computer user can do to improve the security status of the site - financial, banking, shopping or the thousand of other online ventures. It is the responsibility of these site owners to provide responsible, secure, safe and reliable sites to conduct their online business with the public. It is the duty of a responsible online customer to investigate the security issues of a business web site.

There are steps one can take to make their online experience more secure and safe. As I already stated, check the security and reliability of the online company or business. The company should be a reliable company regardless if it conducts it's business online or at a physical location. If the company is not familiar to you, Goggle it and look for any questionable comments. Look for any reasons that may suggest the company is not a reliable and honest business. Next check the security and safeness of the actual site. Look for warranty information, a physical address, a phone number and exchange policies. Explore the site and look for recommendations and professional memberships. A crucial determiner of computer security and safeness is the manner in which your business is conducted. Once you are ready to commence your online transaction or business look at the security rating of the page for the transaction. Look for "locks", https address and a small padlock icon on the lower-right corner of your browser. These items show that the site's transactions should be secure. Once you are comfortable with the site proceed with caution and alertness.

There are some measures that the computer user should take before he or she even ventures online, down that information highway. First install a firewall, antispyware and antivirus programs. Update these programs daily or at least weekly or even better - automatically have the software update,. There should be an automatic update configuration in the settings section of the software. Most DSL or cable users have some firewall protection as part of their provider coverage, however, you can and maybe should install a personal firewall program on you computer. If you need any information about the importance or more information about this security software, do a Goggle and investigate. Click on the following link for a Goggle search on security software: Search Results

Avoid accessing financial or personal information on public computers. Public means anyone can use that computer. You must be very careful about using any computer that is not explicitly and exclusively your personal property. If you use a public computer, even your work computer, never click the option for the computer to remember your logon/password information. If you do, when anyone accesses the page that you have requested your information be remembered, your logon and password will appear and the person would be able to access your account. Asterisks, *********. may appear, but to access your account one only has to click the "Enter" key on the keyboard. This is particularly true with browsers usually found on MAC computers. On a personal note, a colleague had changed jobs and her work computer was given to the new hire. I was helping the new person access her computer. When we pulled up a particular work related, but containing personal information protected by password, web site the logon and password of the previous worker came up. We could have logged on this site and accessed much of the former colleagues retirement, financial, health benefit, etc. information. I immediately took control and told the new employee that I must reconfigure the site and the "remembering" option for the computer. When I accessed the password management setting, I noticed that personal information for the former employee was being stored and remembered at a variety of sites I change the setting and deleted the personal information, but you know what delete means in computer talk - deleting doesn't always mean gone or destroyed. Therefore, I would never have anything personal remembered or stored on a work computer.

Another step to insure secure transactions on your personal computer or laptop, update your browser and update it on a regular basis. These updates will plug security breaches, holes and flaws in your operating system. There are settings to do this for you automatically. Check your computer documentation for this information.

As far as email, attachments, images go - there are security risks for downloading these items. Never open an email from a mysterious source. Along with this, never click on an hyperlink in an email unless you are sure it comes from a reliable source. Always enter web addresses of you personal businesses or accounts directly and then seek the information the email is telling you. No reputable company or business would ever ask you to verify secure information by email. As for attachments, opener beware. Only open attachments from trusted email senders. You can configure your email settings to delete attachments or images, but the problem is that most attachments and images come from thruster senders and you may wish to view these images or attachments. Just be prudent.

After that discussion, are you ever going to access the Internet again, much less conduct online business? Yes, you should. Just be smart about it.

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Retail sales are down dramatically for January 2008. In most cases the more expensive or higher level stores, the higher the drop in sales. Wal-Mart the largest discount store in America is noticing a lot of gift cards being cashed in, but they are being used to buy necessities like diapers, groceries, etc., instead of big ticket merchandise. That's fine for the consumer, but this practice is hurting the store's sales receipts. I think that this is a sign that times are hard for the middle and lower classes, the common Americans, the people who "built" the United States of America. Maybe these people are finally getting it - be proactive and responsible when finances are concerned. I think this is great. Maybe these people will start saving their money for the future. Perhaps Americans will become financially conservative when handling their own money and the family budgets. I applaud the shift to responsible spending.

This shift to responsible spending is a by-product of our economy. That is a given. However, it is directly related to the financial irresponsibility of the Bush administration and the surprising reluctance on the part of congress to reign in spending. A third tier in this collapse of the American economic condition is the irresponsibility of the financial lending institutions and the middle class itself. We all have a part in this situation. It going to take each segment to fix the problem.

The first step in the solution of the problem - no tax rebates. The practice is an emotional approach and it does nothing to solve the problem. It's a ploy by the politicians to make the people think that they, the politicians are helping the middle class. The $300, $600 or $1200 or more tax rebates will do very little to help the economy. It will help the Chinese economy more than the United States economy because the U.S. government will borrow the money for the tax rebates from the Chinese. America will go further in debt, further in debt to a foreign power. This is absurd and in reality deplorable. The first step in the solution to our financial situation is responsible spending. Whether the spending comes from the federal or local governments or the individual American or the American families is irrelevant. We must control spending and become responsible when it comes to our financial situation.

Americans must first recognize that there is a problem with our financial situation. Second, we must put a freeze on all spending except for those items necessary to sustain life and living - food, clothing, shelter, health, etc. This must apply to each of us including the federal and local governments. There should be no reduction of taxes, no rebates, no lowering of property tax - until further notice. We must decrease money going out and increase money coming in. We must be sensible and responsible. We can no longer live beyond our, collectively speaking, means. No more credit. It must be pay as you go for the foreseeable future.

Will this work? Probably not. Government will never be responsible in spending. Government which is made up of politicians will never level with the American people. They will never take the chance of losing votes by presenting a responsible financial budget - the president as well as the congress. This will be the same for state and local leaders. but what about the average Americans and the American families? This is will the hope lies. We, the middle class, the people who are America must become committed to financial security in our own personal financial concerns. Each of us can do it, one by one. Of course people are people - greed, over-indulgence and irresponsibility will tempt many of us. However, this must be personal - an individual or family matter. You take the first step for you and your household. You be responsible and financially proactive. You will be the financial and personal winner. In the end, you must be happy, satisfied and content with your situation in life. It is personal and dependent on you.

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