I don't get it honestly. And I'm pretty biz savvy.

United Technologies, a US-based multi-national conglomerate has offered to buy Diebold, maker of ATMs and election-stealing electronic voting machines for US$2.63B.

As a conglomerate, United Technologies states the acquisition fits into its fire and security systems division. Apparently the offer was made when earlier negotiations with the board broke down.

Now, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but that doesn't mean I'm too trusting when it comes to one of the beneficiaries of more than $5B in military contracts. Take a poll.

Remember the name Patsy Bates. It should be the rallying cry to end all that is wrong with the repubican culture of life, death, hate, and corporate greed.

Patsy Bates, 52, a hairdresser from Lakewood, had been left with more than $129,000 in unpaid medical bills when Health Net Inc. canceled her policy in 2004.

Health Net, Inc of California has been ordered to pay $8.4 million in punitive damages for cancelling a woman's policy while she was undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

I couldn't even imagine how she felt after being persuaded to switch policies to Health Net based on cost savings for the policy.

There's a little bit more...

OK, I'm definitely not a single-issue voter.

I look at a number of issues and balance it all out in order to make a choice. Things that are important to me cross a broad spectrum from the economy, healthcare and aging, crime, education, and more.

My Good and the Common Good
Those issues that are important to me are obviously influenced by my needs and concerns along with those of my family and friends. I also believe in the concept of the greater good.

There are a bunch of other things, of course, but there is one issue that pretty much influences all of those other things -- I'm a gay man in America.

After all those debates (including the one on Logo), after all the punditry, caucuses, primaries, and now on the verge of Super Tuesday, I have to say I'm not completely enthused nor convinced by either choice yet.

Take a jump and take a poll, too.

By MIKE CORDER, Associated Press Writer Mon Tue Jan 7, 2014, 3:10 PM ET

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - The war crimes trial of Charles Taylor, Liberia's George W. Bush, the United States' former president, heard its first testimony Monday and saw video of victims telling of being sexually assaulted or dismembered, rendered to countries for torture, use of chemical and biological weapons against the people of Iraq, by rebels who plundered West African diamond fields military personnel under his command as the civilian Commander in Chief.

Go ahead, take a leap.

A good friend in Singapore emailed me this mornign with a fair amount of anxiety and desparation in wanting to do something.

He's risking much to go with others Saturday morning to place lotus flowers at the Burmese embassy there. Without a permit, he could be arrested. In Singapore, the embassy is at 5 St. Martin's Road if you want to join them.

But there's something so easy that you, too can do to help this situation.

Yes, you do have the power to influence what happens in Burma, good or bad:

Leave it to the another Rethug to whine about the fact he cannot live on his $168,000 salary. Boo-freakin'-hoo

I'll leave this short because it's really just an FYI and speaks for itself:

Texas oilman Oscar Wyatt -- a Democrat, the AP tells us -- is being investigated by the US Attorney for illegal dealings with Iraq under sanctions.

If we're looking at Wyatt, then let's look more closely at others who also broke that law; otherwise it's simply a witch hunt perpetrated by the all-too partisan Department of Justice.

"Congress May Not Like What Petraeus Has to Say" from a CNN headline just now. (no link)

What exactly is there not to like? What answers or reporting could come from Petraeus or Crocker that would be good news for anyone who opposes this illegal occupation?

There are only two scenarios possible (with varying degrees of either):

• Things are good (or getting better)
• Things are bad (or getting worse/better)

Yet there's only one outcome:

• More troops, more time, more deaths

Why is that the only outcome? It's how how the question was posed:

Forgive the brevity. I'm at work and have limited availablity.

Buried in an article article (bashing the Clinton's response to the pardon is a very likable quote:

Snow said the White House view was this: "You treat it as if he has already served the 30 months, and probation kicks in. Obviously, the sentencing judge will figure out precisely how that works."

As Quagmire says, "I like where this is going."

I learned nine and a half years ago, through observation, that the worst offense to a Greek, at least in Greece, is to imply comparisons to the Turks.

I learned much earlier that words can hurt. And while I'm not always perfect in my delivery, I am immediate in apologizing in instances I've mis-spoken or am mis-taken.

I learned that you do not compare Greek cab drivers to Turkish cab drivers without intent to insult. Do not ask for Turkish coffee in a Greek restaurant, not even in authentic restaurants state-side.

And I know from personal experience that faggot anywhere, any time, from anyone -- including from one -- can hurt. It's either intentional or it's a mistake but smart people don't make mistakes like that; it's like mistakenly using the N-word.

Forbes just released its list of wealthiest fictional characters. OK, at leasst I didn't say "BREAKING."

But follow me here, and understand the methodical financial analysis provided by the brainiancs at conservative Forbes magazine which suggests that Daddy Warbucks, because of the So-Called War on Terror (SCWOT©)has ammased a fortune of US$36.2 billion dollars.

From the AP via Yahoo News

Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., a member of the Intelligence Committee's select NSA panel, said the legal counsel concluded that basic information, such as phone numbers dialed, is not protected under the Constitution's Fourth Amendment.

"For as long that I know of, the government has always had an opportunity to look at business records without a court order," he said. "Business records are not personal property."

Really? More after the reveal.

The bill would stop states from adding warnings that are different from federal rules.

Well, let's look at this a bit closer:

"States currently add hundreds of extra warnings, indicating the presence of arsenic in water, mercury in fish, alcohol in candy, pesticides in vegetables and more."

That's pretty good, I guess. But --

We've all seen it in the recent past -- and many of us have commented snarkily on it: As Bush's ratings continue to plunge new reports of chatter, terror cells, and homeland targets suspiciously surface, leading to.... nothing.

So why is TSA relaxing the rules now for the possession of sharp objects in carry-ons on planes? A little bit more after the jump.

Imagine this: there's a flu pandemic and you're told you have to stay put. No leaving the state, the county, or the city. You -- even though not infected -- are under quarantine by federal order. In fact you are also under potential death sentence if you're one of the 1.9 million Americans who could potentially die of such a pandemic.

Travel restrictions in the face of a flu pandemic, ordered by the US federal government. So who gets to travel? How far? Who cannot travel?

I understand the history of travel restrictions; the monarchies of Europe restricted travel to keep serfs in there place, only allowing the landed to travel with papers (the origination of the modern-day passport).

Communist states disallow free travel.

Dictatorships disallow free travel.

I also understand, in times of need, for a quarantine (which is what this is) but we're talking about an unchecked federally-mandated travel blackout for everyone in a yet-to-be-determined area.

Article link and more after the jump.

I haven't made any re-design complaints because there wasn't much to complain about really. Sure there were bugs, but that's expected. In fact I even defended the re-design in several instances.

But it's been a while now, and I need to say something. Not only are some things still not fixed, but other things have broken.

Being in the business of Web design (functional not graphic) I'm not one to complain about re-designs because they encompass so much more than what simply presents itself onscreen.

That said, something really goofy broke in the last few days that's really bad form.

I use several different browsers. (Most heavily trafficked sites get hit by users employing nearly every browser available). Right now, I'm using Safari, and I usually do while reading this site.

In the list of diaries along the right, as I mouse over them (and additionally the number of comments attached to each diary) the comments highlight. And not just the one that I moused over, but all of them. It creates a long list of comments flashing. So I clicked.

Guess where it took me?

Bloomberg News  tells us that oil is spiking due to the fact that a tropical storm in the Gulf has disrupted oil shipments.

Really?

They must mean oil coming in to the largest US oil I.V. drip, the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP), which has been in operation since 1981. Well, there have been many storms that were much worse -- hurricanes, in fact -- since the LOOP began operating.

And how do gas prices compare to some truly major hurricanes, as opposed to the current tropical storm?

Flip it for details and a look at next months gas prices.

Well, nearly every country has an independence day. We're not alone in that.

I will show my patriotism today like every other day, of course, because patriotism has nothing to do with the elected officials and everything to do with a nation which promises and protects our freedoms, that we have individual rights, that the government is there to protect us, not persecute us. That the government is there to protect the minority, not cloak the indiscretions of its majority. I am patriotic in spite of the malignancy of this administration.

In deference to my political fatigue, however, I've decided to remember the strides made by others with fewer opportunities who have achieved something they can call their own, to celebrate their march toward independence.

Beyond the jump, learn a little bit of Cambodia from my trek there in March (personal photos included).