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In this news blog you will find monthly updates and editorials concerning the issues of extreme importance and interest to the site's creator, owner and webmaster James Stabile. These issues include - Discussion of the Month; Entertainment; Health, Fitness & Lifestyle; Politics and the World; Religion & Spiritualism; Technology & Business; and Too Strange, Weird or Just Funny. Peruse the articles and if you desire, send comments, questions or join our mailing list. Feel absolutely free to email ideas and topics to be discussed in upcoming months. As always do not feel obligated to participate. For the legal issues: please read the disclaimer link at the top of this page. Also, please email the webmaster information concerning any programming errors that you may discover on this site. Thank you for this opportunity. Owner,
Webmaster: James Stabile |
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Thought for the Month "It was our time. I really believe that. It was our time." Pat
Riley
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Dates Important to the Webmaster 4. Gary
Birthday (This is not an all inclusive list of noteworthy dates for the month of July. However, the dates listed above are very important to this webmaster.) |
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Topics of Discussion
Discussion of The Month July 2006...We are halfway through the year 2006. Let's not be too quick to "click" through our lives too fast. See the Entertainment section below. We go through life but one time, let's make the most of it each and every day. Enjoy the summer, enjoy each other, enjoy life. The Miami Heat did it. The under dogs proved worthy of the national title that they won. Good for Miami, good for South Florida, good for basketball. Shaq wasn't the MVP, Dwyane Wade proved to be the MVP of the series. Although, Shaq did do his part to assure the victory, but he acted more as a decoy than anything else. Check out the web page: http://www.nba.com/heat/news/2006playoffs_index.html Entertainment Commander In Chief...It will not be returning to ABC in the fall. It has been canceled. I've been enjoying the last remaining episodes. I do wish that life imitates TV, at least in this context. Senator Clinton, are you listening? ABC's President Allen is a great role model for women in power. She has "the right stuff" to be the leader of the free world. Senator Clinton, you have "the right stuff" to be the real Commander In Chief, in reality, the leader of the free world. Now for the movies... Click...A very funny Adam Sandler movie. It started out very funny. I laughed out load a couple of times. I usually don't like Adam Sandler, but this movie was different. Or was it that I never watched an Adam Sandler movie because I thought that I wouldn't like it? In any case, this movie was good. The movie had a serious component throughout the plot development process. By the end of the movie, I think most of the people in the audience had a tear in their eye - I know I did for sure. It is a movie with a great, timely and critical message - don't fast forward through life. As an ancient but appropriate adage says, take time to smell the roses. Some things never change, including ageless advice. See No Evil...An extremely gory movie. Remember the three monkeys, see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil, well, this movie capitalizes on the seeing monkey. Instead of putting hands over the eyes, in this movie you see an ill, misguided mad man pluck out eyes of his victims with his own fingers. I saw no redeeming qualities for this movie. Oh but wait, if I stretched the point, I would find one such quality - the ill-fated misuse of God's idea of right and wrong by a mother in rearing her son. Isn't the misrepresentation of many of God's commandments by over zealous, psychologically depraved individuals usually result in a narrow minded, irrational and extremely judgmental representation of real life situations? The mental, physical and religious health of many innocent children has been irrevocably damaged for life due to illogical ideas concerning good and evil by otherwise religious parents. Skip this movie. The Break-Up... With Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Aniston, Ann-Margret among others, was a so-so movie. It was funny, but not rip-roaringly so. The movie took a turn to the serious about 15 to 30 minutes before the end. The main characters Vince Vaughan and Jennifer Aniston finally realized why the break-up occurred. each learned their respective roles in the break-up. The also learned that it was too late to make amends, change and reconcile their relationship. The movie ended on a happy note, each seemed to go his or her way with happiness and as a better person. While watching the movie I couldn't help thinking how people hurt each other in everyday life. Whether in a relationship or friend or work related context, people hurt each other all the time and most of the time they don't even realize it, much less do something about it. Also, during the movie I couldn't help thinking about Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, et ál and how they have moved on into new relationships or non-relationships whatever the case may be. Yes, they are celebrities, but they are people, too. People do change partners quickly these days and they spend no time getting accustomed to the change. I give credit to any couple in any kind of relationship who remain together amid trials and tribulations working out the relationship and remaining true to themselves and each other. The Lake House...Confusing, certainly beyond the scope or reality, at least the reality that exists today, but a good message. In my opinion, the message of the movie was that love transcends everything, including time. Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves both did outstanding jobs as the main characters. If the truth be known, they were the reason that I even saw the movie. Both are favorite actors of mine. Back to the time issue in the movie, it took some thinking for me to figure out the significance of the time portrayal in the movie. The advertisements indicated that the two characters existed in a two year time difference. There were clues throughout the movie explaining the time situation and the solution, but they were confusing. However, the time factor was not the important aspect of the movie, it was never actually explained, point blank, but an astute observer would be able to solve the dilemma. I won't go into the plot or it's development, I will let you do that if you choose to see the movie. However, I will say, the important thing (maybe even the only thing) in the movie as in the real world, is the existence of love and our acceptance of it. The Omen...Not bad, actually pretty good. I've tried to watch the original on TV, but never quite got through it. I don't know how the current version compares to the original. I didn't recognize any of the stars except for Mia Farrow, who did a fabulous job as the "Beast's son's" Nanny. Once again, I view this movie as a work of fiction, but with plenty of ideas to ponder. These types of movies either make you stronger in your faith or if you really aren't that convinced of your beliefs anyway, they can add fuel to the uncertainty. Some people fear these types of movies, which is absolutely OK. Fear comes from ignorance, we are certainly ignorant about such things. See the movie or if this type of movie bothers you, don't see it. The son of the Beast, Damien was scary. If I was his father, I would have killed him as soon as Damien started bothering the mother. The ending of the movie was also scary. Scary because if it could have happened and if it did happen, the Beast would be among us and in a position of political power just like predicted in the Book of Revelations in the Bible. Now that's scary, no matter how strong your religious beliefs. In any case, the movie was a good horror movie. Health, Fitness and Lifestyle AIDS was first discovered 25 years ago. At that time, the early 1980's AIDS was thought of as a peculiar "gay" disease. Today we know differently. AIDS is an everyman's disease. In other words, anyone can contract the AIDS disease. Over the past 25 years many accomplishments have been realize in the fight to cure AIDS, at least to contain the disease. People afflicted with the terminal disease have hope, now. They have a increased life expectancy due to the advancements in the fight against AIDS. Today an AIDS patient can fight the disease by taking one pill, replacing the "AIDS cocktail" of years past. Good news indeed, but not good enough. Not good enough until a cure is found. Maybe in the next 25 years? People are finding themselves more alone today than ever before. Research is telling us that Americans are becoming more of a "loner" people. Too many of us have fewer real friends. Interpersonal relationships still exist, but they are missing one important ingredient - friends. People are turning to family or relatives rather than to friends for help when they need it. This isn't bad, but the point is that we are not developing good, strong and positive personal relationships with friends, people other than family. I feel this practice may lead to feelings of isolation and non-interest when confronting community, national or worldly concerns. People will not have that "community" mindedness that we once shared. The sense of "for the good of the community" may not be the paramount consideration anymore. Yes, family is important and yes, the individual is important, but the community, the bigger sense of who we (people) are is also very important. Life in this the 21st century maybe the most important contributing factor in this development in human interaction. This impersonal world, the desire for "quickness" in society and the disregard for the feelings and needs of other people are definitely contributing factors to this human isolationism. One example, email. Email is a great thing. It is integral in the world of work. It definitely has positive factors making it not only useful, productive but necessary in our jobs. It definitely is important for those times when speed and time efficient communication is needed, but we are becoming less involved in the "person" who we are communicating with in that email practice. Think about it, emailing is definitely an easy way to communicate with someone and not become personally involved with them. We do not need to become personally involved with everyone, but I think that it is useful and a needed part of our human development and growth to be aware of the "personal" side of the activity that we are engaged. People are and will suffer long term affects by this lack of personalization. Sociology tells us that we are a gregarious society. We are supposed to interact, on all levels, with other people. This is needed and necessary in human growth and development. What can we do about it, take the first step. Taking the first step by becoming a person who cares about that human condition that exists in all of us is a good first step. Putting that care into words and actions is a good second step. Just doing it is very important. Instead of emailing, use the telephone. Instead of writing letters, visit the person. Make a sincere effort to meet, greet and coexist with people on a friendly, human and personal level. A word of caution, I use the word personal in a very specific way - by personal I mean human. It's probably not a good idea to be very personal with people we do not know. There are degrees of being personal and this degree depends on the level of our interaction and trust of the other person. By being personal, I mean being human - sincere, caring, eager to help. Politics and the World Abu Musab al-Zarquawi has been killed. Yes, this is great news in our fight against Al Quida, but it does nothing with the war in Iraq. Al-Zarquawi was a leader in Al Quida, but he was not instrumental in the war in Iraq. The war in Iraq must be over for the United States. The USA must begin to deploy troops home. We must develop a plan for the total deployment of US troops back to the mainland of the United States. The war in Iraq has evolved into a civil war. We must not be involved in a civil war, in any foreign country. The military must return to the US. The war in Iraq is over, at least for the American people. The war on terrorism remains. Al Quida must be conquered when found. Osama Bin Laden must be captured and brought to justice for his part in 9.11.2001. End of story. Broward County, Florida Sheriff Ken Jenne is in trouble. The hard line and successful sheriff is allegedly involved in some shady personal financial dealings. He has accumulated a hefty amount of personal debt in recent years. It appears that he has turned to the wrong sources for relief. And it appears that he has conveniently forgotten to mention such dealings in his financial statements. The sheriff was in the local political news quite a bit during June. His story has quieted down a bit, but investigations are ongoing. Governor Bush has been quoted as saying that the Sheriff's job is safe, at least for now. U. S. House Democratic Representative William Jefferson has been ousted from his position on the Ways and Means Committee by the United States House of Representatives. House Democrats led the fight to reprimand one of their own amid allegations of his financial misbehavior. A large sum of money (can't remember the exact amount) was found in the freezer of Rep Jefferson. Hard to explain? He isn't even trying. He seems to be suggesting that the allegations are the result of racial bias. Come on now. Money was found in your freezer of your refrigerator and you say that you are being punished because your are African-American? How dare you insult the memory of those who have been involved over the years in the Civil Rights battle in America. Don't play that race card in this hand. All people, regardless of race, religion, etc., in short ALL people have responsibilities and must take the consequences of their actions. ALL PEOPLE MUST FOLLOW THE LAW, MR. JEFFERSON. The House Democrats are taking a no tolerance stand on corruption among House members. I applaud their stand. All political players should and must be held by the same standard. And by the way, if any kind of discrimination is uncovered at any time in any situation across the United States, the perpetrators should be dealt with severely and to the fullest extent of the law. Selfish, unscrupulous and illegal acts of any politicians (or any Americans) must not be tolerated. In all fairness to Rep Jefferson it must be noted that the procedure that has taken place concerning the Representative runs contrary to the usual practice in the House. Usually such procedures are not voted on or even discussed until a member is charged with any allegations or indicted. Rep Jefferson has not be charged with any crimes. This censure may be a little premature on the House's part, however, the evidence looks very compelling. We must be vigilant and observe the House in other similar situations. If another member finds himself or herself in a similar situation, the procedural steps of the House must be monitored for equal treatment and policy. It is worth noting that a grand jury has declined to indict Rep. Cynthia McKinney (an African-American) in connection with a past confrontation in which she admitted hitting a police officer who tried to stop her from entering a House office building. One difference in the two representatives, McKinney did not hold a leadership position, Jefferson did. In any case, strict adherence to equitable rules and procedures must be maintained by the House of Representatives for all of it's members. Perhaps, detailed, exact procedural rules should be developed and entered into record. I would think this has been done year's ago. Perhaps the house is veering off it's procedure roadmap. In any case, all people must follow the law and all people must be treated in a fair and equal manner. Religion and Spiritualism The United States was created in a Judea-Christian context. Our founding fathers believed in God, the God of the Old Testament, who was revealed in the New Testament in the person of Jesus Christ. Jews and Christian must live in a sense of mutual existence. This mutual existence should be one of respect, concern and communion. People of both religions should be knowledgeable in the basic tenets of each other's religion. Thinking about it, Christians do read the Old Testament. The Old Testament is the preamble to the New Testament, so to speak. The Old Testament is completed by the New Testament by the birth and life of Jesus Christ. This is basic to Christianity. However, do Jews read the New Testament? According to an article, written by a Jewish Rabbi that I read not long ago, the answer is usually no. The New Testament is not part of the reading material of the ordinary Jew. The Rabbi maintains that Jews would be better served if they would become familiar with the New Testament. To me this would serve as an act of good faith, making it easier for the religions to share in dialogue. We will never justify the two religions and make them one, but we can provide the opportunity for members of both religions to peacefully, respectfully enter in a communion with each other. I think this mutual communion should be extended to all religions. All reputable religions of the world should be knowledgeable and respectful of the religious beliefs of all people. Is this possible? Yes, it's possible, but not probable. The lack of probability, to me, rests in the extremes in many of the religions. At this point I am not going to mention those extremes, it's better to proceed in the abstract in this discussion. Let it be said that a open minded sense of discovery and respect is paramount in this process. Remember, in the end, I mean the real end - each person's individual rapture, there will be one communion for each follower of God. Whoever or whatever God is, that entity will be the same for each person or being. There are a lot of unanswered questions concerning the next life, but there is one unifying force that must be key in our mutual coexistence in this human existence. The one unifying force is a Supreme Being, God or whatever we call that entity, who is Love and Respect and Mutual Coexistence. If this is true, shouldn't we mere mortals, try to enter into this way of life here on Earth? By this time many of you have seen the movie, The De Vinci Code. As I mentioned in last months News Blog, the movie is a work of fiction, but there are many lessons to be learned from the movie. I believe that knowledge learned from sincere exploration of the unknown is valuable. Whether we accept the knowledge as truth or not, the journey will prove valuable in our individual perception of that knowledge. In the movie, the group, Opus Dei was integral in the plot of the movie. The Opus Dei does exist. In the early days of the church, after the Canon of the Church was determined, the group's purpose was to defend the teaching of the Church. It's mission, so to speak, was to seek out and destroy any heresy of the Church's teaching and the people promoting this heresy. Opus Dei is Latin for "Work of God". It's early members used any means necessary to promote the work of God, but they usually did it by destroying those who had opposing beliefs of their own. I don't know what really happened in the early Church. I do know that misguided religious zealots do exist. These misguided zealots are so strong in their own beliefs that they tend to cast aside any belief and many times any people who oppose their beliefs. Once again, their idea is commendable, but the means may not be. The Church of Jesus Christ was and is based on love. If one is a true, real follower of Jesus Christ, then love and respect must be central in his or her life and in dealings with all people. The Opus Dei of the 21st century appear to be different than it was in the earlier centuries of the Church. I've researched the group and have viewed TV programs about the group, I do not pretend to be an expert on the subject, but I believe that the current group is different than the earlier groups. Sacrifice which included pain was paramount in the early groups ordeal, today I think the extreme members may be into sacrifice and self-inflicted pain, but most of the members are about spreading God's love and His message. Current members seize every and all opportunities to present a spiritual message throughout their daily lives. What about this pain and suffering thing? In the best sense, sacrifice helps use to realize the sacrifices that Christ undertook for us, We sacrifice to become closer to God. Sacrifice is not the same as pain and suffering. I think the Church was wrong in promoting sacrifice as pain and suffering. I don't think the Catholic Church is the church of pain and suffering, however, it is the church of sacrifice - there is a difference. I believe that in the1960's Vatican II changed our idea of sacrifice as related to pain and suffering. There is nothing wrong with experiencing pain and suffering in this life, but it should not be self induced. If we endure pain and suffering because of human, live bearing conditions, then we may offer our suffering to God. We may even offer this suffering up to God as a consequence and forgiveness of sin. The suffering should not be self induced or self initiated. God does not want us to suffer and feel pain. Our human condition precludes both of these, but they should not be self induced. God wants us to live life, to experience every aspect of life. He wants us to appreciate life, every thing in life - the good and the bad. He doesn't want us to wallow in our life situations. Rather, he wants up to accept our plot in life and do the best that we are able to do. Above all, He wants us to love Him and each other in all we do. What about the relationship between Jesus, Mary Magdalene and The Holy Grail? This will be discussed in the August News Blog. Technology and Business If you are the kind of
computer user who updates his or her computer regularly, you may
have discovered the beta version of Internet Explorer 7. It is the
update for IE 6. You may download the beta version of IE 7 at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/default.mspx
. As with any beta version, this is a "work in progress" so to
speak. It's a preview or a version of IE that "Web Site Connectivity Issues
The link was too much for me to read and deal with, I don't have the inclination or the time to deal with this gobbledygook. So, I uninstalled the beta version IE 7 and reinstalled IE 6. I will download IE 7 when the formal release of the completed updated software is released by Microsoft. Download any beta version of any software at you own risk. In the above discussion of the beta version of IE
7, why was the Security Certificates of the HTTPS such a security
concern for me? HTTPS sites are secure sites. They are the type of sites
that secure the transfer of information to and from one's computer to
the site. Banks, Credit card Companies, in short most financial sites,
and most sites that one submits and receives personal, sensitive
information to and from are denoted secured and encrypted by the HTTPS
in the Address Bar of your browser or the little lock icon Governmental Agencies are putting the personal, confidential information of unsuspecting Americans at risk. Everyday we read in the paper or watch on TV news reports of governmental offices loosing employee (and sometimes customer) confidential, personal information. The Veterans Administration is one such governmental agency. (However, it has been reported quite recently that the laptop with the confidential information has been recovered and purportedly the confidential information remains secure.) Private enterprises have been exposing the confidentiality of customers for a while, but now the United States governmental offices are becoming vulnerable. Most of this vulnerability is a function of human error. First, all confidential files must be secured and encrypted. Second, access to these confidential files must be secure and handled by secured, intelligent and conscientious personnel. The individual, private citizen,
customer, employee, etc. has an important role in ensuring and
maintaining the security of his or her own personal, sensitive and
confidential information. This has been discussed in this News Blog many
times. The individual must check his or her credit report regularly. A
more immediate check is to become a member of an alerting program
available at the three major credit reporting agencies - Equifax,
866-238-8067; www.equifax.com, Experian,
888-397-3742; www.experian.com, TransUnion,
800-916-8800; www.transunion.com. Too Strange, Weird or Just Funny A Pompano Beach, Florida 19 year old woman was preparing to take the driving portion of the Florida driver's license exam. A neighbor, who owned a taxi cab, drove her to the Pompano Beach driver's license office. After arriving at the facility, the taxi cab owner allowed the woman to take a few practice spins around the parking lot, alone. Of course this is a violation of the restricted license agreement, the alone part, of course. During her solo practice, she found herself and the taxi cab headed though bushes and ending up in a canal where she had to be rescued. She had put the car in drive instead of reverse and drove right into a canal. Needless to say, she did not pass he driver's test. Actually, the women did not take the test that day. A note to the wise, restricted or permit drivers, have a licensed driver in the car with you when driving. Also, on the day of your driver's test, don't practice anymore, just take the test. A friend sent me this discussion of "Pennsylvanians": I recognize most of these PA "isms", but some are unfamiliar to me and some do not affect people who live or have lived in Northwestern PA. I am proud to be one of those guys! "Once a Pennsylvanian, ALWAYS a Pennsylvanian! About Pennsylvanians: You've never referred to Philadelphia as anything but
"Philly" and New Jersey has always been "Jersey." "You guys" is a perfectly acceptable reference to a group of men & women You know how to respond to the question "Djeetyet?" Didyoueatyet? You learned to pronounce Bryn Mawr, Wilkes-Barre,
Schuylkill, the Pocono's, Tamaqua, Tunkannock, Bala Cynwyd, Duquesne
& Monongahela. The first day of buck & the first day of doe season
are school holidays. You know what a "State Store" is, and your
out-of-state friends find it incredulous that you can't purchase liquor
at the mini-mart. You can eat cold pizza (even for breakfast) and know
others who do the same. (Those from NY find this "barbaric.") YEH ! ! THAT'S "PA" AND WE LOVE IT ."
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at the bottom of the window of the secured web page.
I don't want to deal with security issues. I want to use a browser that
has the security issues resolved. I'll use IE 6 until the beta version
of IE 7 losses the beta. More information concerning Security
Certificates can be found at: