April Fool, 2001
From "Sunbeams" in the April 2001 issue of The Sun.
I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls, and they say, "Because it's such a beautiful animal." There you go. Well, I think my mother's attractive, but I have photographs of her. -- Ellen DeGeneres
From kaba:
Americans who value freedom had better be more concerned about the gun control crowd than the criminals. The criminals want your money. The Neo-Totalitarians want your freedom. -- Charlie Reese
KeepAndBearArms.Com - NYC -- Gun Gestapo Tactics in Broad Daylight - The NYC nazis are posting a notice offerring a $500 reward for anyone who rats out "illegal handgun" possession. They ask you to call 1-866-GUN-STOP (486-7867). Poster images, in English and Spanish, in the article. [kaba]
Wouldn't it be funny if 5,000,000 gun owners called that number from pay phones a couple of times a day?
Here's a strange one that I got two copies of yesterday. Anybody want to help Ms. Banya smuggle diamonds and $20 million in cash out of Sierra-Leone? Hmm... April fool's spam?
From: "Ndaye Banya" <banya@messagez.com>
To: <bitcraft@taconic.net>
Subject: Investment Pact
Date: Sun, 1 Apr 2001 02:06:53
It is with strict confidence and trust that I wish to contact you seeking for your assistance to help as regards an investment opportunity. I sincerely hope that this letter will not come as a surprise to you, or cause you any embarrassment since we neither knew each other before, nor have had any previous contact or correspondence. I would appreciate your benevolence in giving this matter the much-needed attention as I am presently in a difficult situation and need your assistance and guidance urgently. I am Mrs. Ndaye Banya, wife of Maj. Timothy Banya, the former commander and head of the Secret Unit in charge of Diamond dealing for the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) of Sierra-Leone. My husband was formerly working directly with the former Rebel Leader Mr. Foday Sankoh who is presently in government custody. The government intends trying Mr. Foday for illegal diamond dealing and especially for the killing of 21 people during a public demonstration outside his home in May last year which subsequently lead to this arrest. As the situation is, my husband is very much likely to be prosecuted alongside for activities in the diamond mining. The RUF is now headed by Gen. Issa Sessey who is determined in bringing peace to Sierra Leone, he signed cease-fire agreement with the government on Friday 10th Nov., 2000 and instructed us that peace must returned to our fatherland after nine-years conflict, pledging to allow U.N. troops unhindered access throughout Sierra-Leone. My fear is that the government will try Mr. Foday and that my husband may also be prosecuted alongside and all our assets may be confiscated why all traceable accounts abroad and locally to our name and families may also be frozen given the circumstances. In view of this development, I am trapped with large quantity of diamond and about US$20,000,000.00 (Twenty Million United States Dollars) that is in cash. As the situation is I do not have the know-how to move this money without any trace to our name and how to dispose of these unpolished diamonds accordingly. My situation is very desperate, as I cannot leave Sierra Leone because of the house arrest I am under. In the light of above, I am soliciting your assistance and partnership to move this money and unpolished diamonds out of Sierra Leone as both of us can make a lot of profit. I would require your assistance in terms of logistics and materials to enhance the safe movement of the items from Sierra Leone. Therefore, contact me immediately, only, if you are able and interested in assisting me. Kindly contact me preferably using my alternative email address at nbanya@usa.com, as soon as possible. Thanks for your anticipated understanding and assistance. Yours faithfully, MRS. N. BANYA Email: nbanya@usa.com
Patrick J. Michaels at the Cato Institute - Kyoto: Do the Math - Even if you believe the climate models, the earth is going to warm up by all of 1.4 degress centigrade in the next hundred years. If we all follow the Kyoto protocol, we'll make a 0.14 degrees difference, 6.4 percent. It'll cost us 3% of our GDP each year. Let us keep our money and you can bet we won't be driving fossil fuel cars by the year 2100. A very level-headed analysis. [market]
It's worse than this. Kyoto would probably wreak great harm on the environment. It is well known that the more affluent a society is, the more it protects the environment. Among other things, people have more capital to invest in the development of efficient technology. Taking this capital away in the form of the onerous energy taxes required to promulgate Kyoto has the additional pernicious effect of giving our government a virtually limitless fund to squander, when the investing should be left up to individuals. I have personally lost thousands of dollars on Ballard Power Systems, a fuel-cell company, and I drive a gas-electric Honda Insight (a great car that really does get 70 mpg). But it is not your responsibility to buy stock or cars for me or anyone else.
Paul Georgia at National Review - Ding Dong, Kyoto's Dead, Let cooler heads prevail - Our economies, especially in Kalifornia, are already in plenty of trouble due to energy prices and crazy environmentalists. We don't need no steenking Kyoto treaty to make it even worse. A less balanced analysis than Mr. Michael's offerring. [market]
Global warming is not an urgent matter. The current energy crisis is, however. President Bush would do well to refrain from further negotiations that would only harm this country's economic future and that of the rest of the world.
Gary Kamiya at Salon - The unspeakable Bush: GW has apparently ended the long running practice of presidential press conferences. This article shoots some good satirical bullets in his direction. [Jake]
You can't really blame Bush for fleeing from the press with his larynx between his legs. You see, reporters have this annoying habit of asking questions. And when you don't know the answers and don't want to know the answers and there's no way when you're standing up in front of all these people for Dick or Colin to give you the answers, it's just like that horrible day in sixth grade when you had to give a report on the Mayans and you hadn't done any of the reading and didn't even know who the Mayans were and Jimmy Burton was going to slip you a crib sheet but he was sick that day and Mr. Snider made you get up in front of everybody and you couldn't get out of it and you had to say something so you said the Mayans were the people who invented Mayannaise.
AP via CNN - Spokesman says Bush won't conduct formal news conferences - mainstream news coverage of this story.
Dow Jones via Excite - Be Inc. Raises Going Concern Doubt, Cites Loss From Operations - Jean-Louis Gassée's baby will be out of cash by the second quarter of 2001 if they don't find more investors. Very sad. Lots of Slashdot comments, including this quote from Kiro: [/.]
Under Capitalism, man exploits man. Under Communism, it's the other way around
Tony Smith at The Register - Be getting ready to open source BeOS? Back in September, Be registered the domains openbeos.com (& .net & .org). Will their bankruptcy move them to open source? Or, as one of the Slashdot commenteers said, will the OS become one of the assets they must sell in order to partially satisfy their creditors?
Michael Liedtke of AP via the San Jose Mercury News - California regulators order bankrupt NorthPoint to continue service - Northpoint, a nationwide DSL service provider, suddenly cut off their service on Thursday. Kalifornia's Public Utilities Commission has ordered them to restore service for the government mandated 30-day notice period. Problem is, according to Slashdot comments, only 5 employees remain at Northpoint. Guess their principles will be fined and forbidden to work at any other Kalifornia utilities. I liked this comment from Xerithane:
More reasons to go with Pac Bell.. After my first DSL bankruptcy fiasco I'm just sticking with the company that made a pact with the devil to stay in business. It's no coincidence their address is 666 Howard St, San Francisco..
Clandestine Radio Watch - Standoff with KSMR Underway - The FCC may soon attempt to shut down Kentucky State Militia Radio. [grabbe]
Although the Internet can be a useful and expedient communications tool, Puckett explained, the government "can bring it down. Shortwave is the only reliable communication medium... Everyone in the patriot community has got a shortwave radio."
...
KSMR, however, is unmoved by the thought of a confrontation with the government. "This is not one guy," Anderson announced during a recent program. "There's about 13,000 of us down here... We're not worried."
Jim Burns at CNS News - Cuban Exile Community Says Castro Is Using Elian As A Trophy - !@#$%^&*. [mind]
"This is the one victory for Castro against the United States. He was able to take this poor little boy back to join the other 11 million prisoners, and he's going to use him [Elian] as a trophy every chance he gets," CANF Executive Vice President Dennis Hayes told CNSNews.com.
Gary Marbut at KeepAndBearArms.Com - School Shootings Solution Number Two - KABA apparently recommended pulling your kids out of the government schools until they rescind the victim disarmament laws that make schools a turkey shoot. Mr Marbut says they forgot something. When you take your kids out of the school make sure you tell the administrators why and that you won't return them until these laws are no more. Now why would you want you kids in state-mandated indoctrination centers in the first place?
In this discussion, one thing that has always amazed me is the tacit admission of the education establishment that the education profession is populated with people who are not bright, competent or emotionally stable enough to be trusted with guns. If we can't trust them with guns, why on Earth should we trust them with our children?
