Rights.com Individual rights and today’s issues.

Maria Shriver gets another ticket and runs a stop sign.

Maria Shriver gets another ticket and runs a stop sign.  Do as I say, not as I do is the operative phrase of the group of people who want to control the rest of us for their own benefit. Real illustrative. Thank you TMZ for publicizing the continuing illegal behavior of those who want to regulate our freedom away.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2009/12/18/maria-shriver-parking-ticket-arnold-schwarzenegger-california-suv-driving-meter/#comments#ixzz0a6HEQUNZ

There are two types of leaders in this world. Those who lead by incentive, and those who lead by force.

There are two types of leaders in this world. Those who lead by  incentive, and those who lead by force. Those who lead by incentive will offer you a salary to come and work for them, those who lead by force will throw you in jail if you do not pick up a gun and fight for them.
Stefan Molineux

And more from American Express with no way to notify them…

And more private financial information from American Express with no way to notify them - email doesn't work and calling Bahrain is not in my calling plan.

Dear Merchant Partner,

Please find attached your latest Settlement and Payment Advice Report for SE No: 9740108691.

Should you have any queries, please contact us in Bahrain on (+973) 17 557799.

Regards,

Establishment Services Operations
AMEX (Middle East) B.S.C. (c)
P. O. Box 5990
Manama, Bahrain

100 Reasons why climate change is natural

Interesting article on 100 reasons why climate change is natural.

If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place. Google CEO Eric Schmidt

"If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place." - Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, to CNBC's Maria Bartiromo, December 7, 2009.

Google's New Privacy Policy:

At Google, we are keenly aware of the trust you place in us and our responsibility to protect your privacy IF you have nothing to hide.  Otherwise, too bad, use Bing.

I guess Schmidt won't mind:

1. Cameras stationed outside his house.

2. Providing his credit card statements to the public.

3. Responding to ValleyWag and others who reported on his many girlfriends, despite being married.

4. Publishing his health records.

5. Publishing his tax returns.

If Google's Schmidt does not immediately publish those records, it is obvious he has something to hide.

It is the height of stupidity to say that everyone's private life should be open to the public view.  Just because you don't share your credit card statements doesn't mean you are doing something wrong.

Al Gore claimed he created the internet and Snopes tries to cover it up.

There are people out there (including one on the CBS News website today) that claim Al Gore never said "I took the initiative in creating the Internet."  The facts say otherwise and Snopes.com tries to massage the issue by saying it is false.  Snopes confuses the issue by saying "Claim: Vice-President Al Gore claimed he 'invented' the Internet."  They respond with it as "Status: False."  Now, we have never seen a claim that Al Gore says he "invented" the internet, but it is clear that Al Gore does say that he "took the initiative in creating the Internet."

Let's look at the facts:

1. CNN's own transcript of the discussion on March 9, 1999's "Late Edition" with Wolf Blitzer (see

http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/03/09/president.2000/transcript.gore/index.html) says  "I've traveled to every part of this country during the last six years. During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system."

Clearly he does not say he "invented" the internet, but he does claim he created it and Snopes.com is clearly being disingenuous when they change the claim to something it is not.  This is called a straw man, and while one should expect better from Snopes, it is not surprising.

2. ARPANET, the first packet switching network, first went active October 29, 1969 (recently there were articles about the 40th anniversary of the Internet, commemorating that event). But ideas for such a network had been circulating as early as August 1962.  In October 1963, ARPA began to believe that such a network was an important concept.  So, who "created" the internet?  Scientists in the 1960s.  If any politician can claim to have "taken the initiative in creating the internet" it would be the two Presidents were involved in funding it - President Kennedy and President Johnson with President Nixon continuing to fund it more in the early 1970s.  President Johnson's tenure coincides closest with the initial groundwork and initial operation.  The Congresses at the time should also deserve some credit if any politician could be said to have "created" the internet.  In reality though, it was the researches and the people at ARPA would took the initiative to create the internet.

Gore began serving in Congress in 1977 and the Internet was approximately 9 years old.

Fiction of Climate Science Article

Interesting article on climate science here.

ClimateGate source code more damning than emails

Check out this link to an article that shows that the ClimateGate computer source code (e.g. the program that processes the data) has more issues than the emails do.

Part of the summary:

For those who can’t follow what is being stated here is that data after 1960 will be “artificially adjusted” to “hide the decline”. In other words they were hardcoding in the program ways to manipulate the data to hide the decline in temperatures.

But then the scientific (???) journal, Nature finds nothing out of the ordinary in previous papers relying on the data.  At least we know Nature is on the global warming without scientific inquiry bandwagon.

Sprint continues to send private information, now with more detail.

It turns out that Renaissance Boca Raton, has a past due amount of $110.80 as of December 4, 2009.  Sprint just let us know by email, with the full account number.  One wonders if Sprint is as committed to privacy as they are to collecting their bill.  I'm guessing not since they give no information to notify them of the issue because 800 numbers that are only open Monday-Friday.  A web link or email address would be too easy for Sprint.

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Attention RENAISSANCE BOCA RATON:

As a valued Sprint customer, your business is important to us. In keeping with our commitment to you, we would like to help resolve any issue that may have caused your Sprint account to become past due.

Our records indicate an outstanding balance on your account. Please use one of our flexible options to submit your payment immediately:

· Access Sprint.com, log onto your account and apply your payment to your bank account or credit card.

· Call (800) 905-9876 to pay by phone using your bank account or credit card.

· Mail your check payment to the address on the lower portion of this letter. Be sure to detach and include the lower portion with your payment.

If you have an issue that is preventing payment, please call Sprint Customer Finance Services at

(800) 905-9876. Our business hours are Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Central Time.

If your payment has already been submitted, please accept our thanks. We appreciate your prompt attention to this important matter.

Sincerely,

Sprint Customer Finance Services

IMPORTANT: TO INSURE PROPER CREDIT, PLEASE RETURN THIS LOWER PORTION TOGETHER WITH YOUR REMITTANCE.