home | archives

Opinari.net

Opinari - Latin term for Opinion. Opinari.net is just what it seems: a cornucopia of rants, raves and poignant soliloquy.


Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Absolutely Infuriating:

The lead paragraph says it all:

Earlier this month, a German teen-ager was forcibly taken from her parents and imprisoned in a psychiatric ward. Her crime? She is being home-schooled.

Germany apparently has not learned a great deal from the great Nazi debacle, where Hitler espoused that the state was omniscient, omnipotent, and downright infallible. In fact, the illegality of homeschooling there is so because of a law that Hitler passes almost 70 years ago.

According to the Washington Times article, Europe is very much in agreement that it is the state’s responsibility and not the parents of the child to educate them. Here in America, thankfully, we still have the right to assume responsibility for our children’s education, albeit with several restrictions depending upon the state in which we live.

Forebodingly, the article goes on to ask about the future status of homeschooling in America:

While it is disquieting that Europeans have not learned the lessons from their dictatorial past — upholding Nazi laws and sending dissidents, including children, to psychiatric wards, as the Soviets used to do — there is reason for Americans to worry, too. The United Nations is also restricting the rights of parents. Article 29 of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child stipulates that it is the goal of the state to direct the education of children. In Belgium, the U.N. Convention is currently being used to limit the constitutional right to home-school. In 1995 Britain was told that it violated the U.N. Convention by allowing parents to remove their children from public school sex-education classes.

Last year, the American Home School Legal Defense Association warned that the U.N. Convention could make home-schooling illegal in America, even though the Senate has never ratified it. Some lawyers and liberal politicians in the states claim that U.N. conventions are "customary international law" and should be considered part of American jurisprudence.


So should Americans worry about such intrusions? It all depends on whether or not our government accepts international law as precedent. If America becomes a signatory on such U.N. “legislation”, homeschoolers, like my family, will have plenty about which to worry.

.: posted by Dave 10:47 AM



Friday, February 23, 2007

Google has announced officially that it is going into the office desktop applications business. Although I have sworn off Google in general, I think this is a good idea for the desktop world.



Of course, if applications like Websense decide they are going to block Google’s foray into the applications world, it won’t do much good for anyone except the home user.

.: posted by Dave 10:06 AM



Wednesday, February 21, 2007

So where are all the WMDs that were supposedly in Iraq? According to the Old Grey Lady, they’re apparently… er, in Iraq.

For the third time in a month, insurgents deployed a new and deadly tactic against Iraqi civilians today: A chemical bomb combining explosives with poisonous chlorine gas.

A pickup truck carrying canisters of the gas, which burns the skin and can be fatal after only a few concentrated breaths, exploded near a diesel-fuel station in southwestern Baghdad, killing at least 5 people and sending another 75 to hospitals, wheezing and coughing, for treatment, Interior Ministry and medical officials said.

On Tuesday, a tanker truck filled with chlorine exploded north of Baghdad, killing 9 people and wounding 148, including 42 women and 52 children.

At least one other attack with chlorine occurred on Jan. 28 in the Sunni-dominated province of Anbar, according to American military statements. Sixteen people died after a dump truck with explosives and a chlorine tank blew up in Ramadi.

The attacks had the potential to be much deadlier, but seem to have been poorly executed, burning much of the chemical agent rather than spreading it. Still, Iraqi and American officials condemned the attacks as an effort to bring a new level of fear and havoc to Iraq as a new security plan for Baghdad takes shape.

.: posted by Dave 4:05 PM



Tuesday, February 20, 2007

In defense of toll roads:

Rodger Jones from the Dallas Morning News says:

Fact is, the (Trans-Texas Corridor) concept is nearly as old as the country. Believe it or not, I researched this. The Philadelphia-to-Lancaster Turnpike was the nation's first. And it was, in fact, a privately run road that was given the franchise by the government of Pennsylvania sometime in the 1790s. The state, you see, didn't have the money.

Sound familiar? You probably heard that Texas doesn't have the money, either. The state is way behind in road-building and is falling farther behind every year. Not enough money is coming in from fuel taxes.

Think that's a lie and part of some conspiracy? Hire a CPA, go to Austin and look through the books. Call me when you got something.

You want to raise gas taxes to build roads instead of using tolls?

I don't know about you, but I like the price of gasoline just fine where it is. I'm fine with people in Collin County paying tolls if they want to get from McKinney to Frisco on SH 121 freeway lanes. They want the convenience, they can pay for it. They moved there. No reason to involve me and the price of my gas.

Keep in mind that 121 has already been widened and improved to six lanes in stretches, and the rest of the work is proceeding. It's free. Take a look. On me. My gas taxes helped pay for it. Won't cost anyone a nickel to drive it.

But if you want the whole enchilada -- the addition of freeway lanes from Frisco to McKinney -- the money has to come from somewhere else. I can't think of a better source than the drivers who use the road.

I have to agree with Rog on this. User fees make so much more sense when applied to interstate and intrastate thoroughfares. God knows Texas needs some better roads too.

.: posted by Dave 3:49 PM


Modern Economics:

If you don’t like the economic data from your country, just fudge it.

.: posted by Dave 3:08 PM


“And then they came for me…”

Read this, and then read this.

My wife asks me the following: “These articles are an example of a setup of private citizens by the police on their own property, and because of police action, one was killed, and the other is being prosecuted. How is this right? How is this tolerated? How is this buried and there is no outcry? Blogs don’t count. This needs mainstream coverage.”

My reply: “They (the media) are too busy pinning the Iraqi tail on the Bush donkey.”

Really, people. Injustices like the ones perpetrated against Mr. Singletary and Mr. Ruttenberg will never be rectified until we start caring more about the rights of our own citizens than we do the rights of illegal immigrants or Guantanamo detainees.

.: posted by Dave 2:58 PM


Home Depot is trying to improve its image with its customers, according to today’s Wall Street Journal.*

Home Depot is trying to reverse a reputation for shoddy service. Under former Chief Executive Robert Nardelli, who resigned Jan. 2, Home Depot management focused on measuring all aspects of the stores' productivity and too often ignored shoppers. "We were busy writing reports instead of taking care of the customer," says Shane Moore, manager of a Home Depot store in Mesquite, Texas.

Honestly, I can’t remember when Home Depot wasn’t full of shoddy servicepeople. I can’t relay a single positive experience with Home Depot. My most recent flap resulted in an email from the office of the CEO.

It seems that I tried to place an order for a grill that was shown in their catalog (complete with SKU and in-store catalog number), and I was told by sales staff that 1) grills were no longer in season, 2) I needed to try another Home Depot, 3) that item was not available through their catalog, and 4) I needed to order it online (this despite the fact that it had an in-store catalog number prominently displayed).

After weeks of going round and round, I waited for an alternative to Home Depot. Ironically, I ended up ordering the grill online from Amazon.com for cheaper than if I had bought it in the store.

Now this seems like an epidemic to me that Home Depot may not soon be able to overcome. I’m encouraged that articles like the one to which I linked above are appearing and are showing a renewed commitment by Home Depot to the customer. However, that may be too little, too late.

* Although it might seem so, I am not a paid endorser of the WSJ. I just read it quite a bit.

.: posted by Dave 12:27 PM


Want a good case against government intervention in the marketplace? Here’s a part of a story from Iran (via the Wall Street Journal) regarding the consumption of gasoline and oil in the Middle Eastern country:

(S)ubsidies make energy practically free in Iran, discouraging any serious energy conservation. Gasoline, for example, costs about 40 cents a gallon at the pump. That's encouraged an explosion of use, as Iranians add new cars while continuing to use fuel-guzzling old models. It has also encouraged a brisk smuggling trade as Iranians buy millions of gallons of fuel at the subsidized price and truck them into neighboring Pakistan, Turkey, Afghanistan and Iraq for sale at market rates.

When politicians start talking about windfall profits taxes, price controls, subsidies, etc., this is the type of outcome that often happens, but politicians won’t discuss publicly.

.: posted by Dave 12:11 PM


Stupid Policy Exceptions 101:

Long time readers of my (intermittently updated) blog will recall that I work in a large enterprise environment supporting, implementing, and supervising large enterprise information technology applications. Those same readers will recall my disgust with certain managers and their insane policies. Today, I will enlighten you with yet another insane policy.

We have a tightly knit 802.11g network which allows our business to function wirelessly, mainly for receiving and shipping products and raw materials. However, we occasionally develop bright ideas that piggyback on that wireless infrastructure. As such, we have checks and balances in place to keep our network secure and safe from intrusion. When new ideas are implemented, we have to go through a bureaucratic chain of command which seeks to ensure that all safeguards are in place and effective mitigation plans have been realized.

This week’s proposal, however, isn’t one of those ideas. This week’s proposal uses singularly paired Bluetooth scanners with an effective range of 100 feet. The scanners run through RS-232 control devices which are tethered to our wired (let me repeat that: WIRED) network. This project has a capital cost of over $150,000 and has been in the works for quite some time.

However, just today, Mr. Bureaucratic MIS Manager from Afar has decided that this project requires an exception to IS policy. An exception to our wireless standards. Let me state for Mr. Afar’s edification. Bluetooth serial devices are NOT 802.11g devices. They do not even begin to approach the same standards. This is akin to asking for an exception to install Word on your PDA by requiring the exception to apply to your desktop PC. They aren’t the same thing!

As of yet, Mr. Afar has not seen things the same way as we have. So our response has been to request a serial Bluetooth device exception to our 802.11g standard. We await his approval so the capital project can go forward.

Only in corporate America can such stupidity manifest itself with such pervasiveness.

.: posted by Dave 11:20 AM


Politics is disturbing.

That sentence might explain why I do so little blogging anymore. But seriously, the climate in which we live has reached such epic proportions of insanity, I just find the whole thing distasteful.

Look, I can appreciate pols like Tennessee Congressman John Duncan, who voted his conscience against the Iraq War. Senator Duncan always seems to vote as he sees fit, not using some political barometer. I don’t agree with some of his stances, but I respect him for taking them.

That is more than I can say for most politicians today. That includes both sides of the aisle. Hillary changes her stripes based on her audience. Murtha plays politics with the war funding effort. Romney was for abortion before he was against it. Edwards has wavered more than the sine wave on your average oscilloscope. Kerry isn’t even worth mentioning but I will anyway. And Gore… typically endorsed covert actions against terrorists when it wasn’t a political beanbag, but now swears them off entirely.

Why can’t more politicians stop being politicians for a time, and just be leaders? Has this always been an endemic problem, or am I just now noticing it through my seemingly perpetual cynicism about the process? This whole mockery of representative republicanism makes me sick. (And no, Virginia, this isn’t a democracy in which we live. At least it isn’t supposed to be.)

Once upon a time, I aspired to be in politics at some level, be it local, state, or even federal. But this cesspool we see every week in Washington… I wouldn’t send my worst enemy there.

What we have is a political class that cares more about living on the public dole than leading our country. And as long as that condition persists, we will have empty leadership that subscribes to the whim of the public. Tyranny of the majority.

Welcome to politics. Enjoy the ride. And take some Pepto Bismol along the way. You’ll need it.

.: posted by Dave 10:51 AM


Today’s business news is led by the discussion of a merger between XM and Sirius satellite radio. Now, I know most of the media-consuming universe couldn’t care less about this possibility, but I’m highly interested in this because I am an original subscriber to satellite radio, and I would sorely miss it if it ended up kaput. While I am usually skeptical of “monopoly” situations, I am also aware of the issues that are hampering the growth of both XM and Sirius.

I hear the usual arguments amongst business types: higher pricing, less choice, etc. And these are generally valid arguments. However, the primary reason I have satellite radio in the first place is sports programming, and I actually am faced each year with the possibility that [fill in the blank sport] will defect from one provider to the other. A consolidation of services would eliminate that possibility. This means, for example, that I would not be forced to carry an XM subscription for Major League baseball, and a Sirius subscription for the NFL. Right now, I have to do that if I want both. This merger means I wouldn’t. And in that sense, the merger is good news for the consumer.

So is it going to happen? Who knows? There are always exceptions to the rules of monopolies. XM and Sirius are competing with myriad media choices, many of which are available at little or no cost to the consumer. In such a climate, it is obvious that XM and Sirius will struggle going forward to make any profit at all. I think those conditions make it imperative that a merger be allowed to move forward. Or else, sports fans like me can begin to kiss our broadcast options good bye.

.: posted by Dave 10:19 AM





Need ASP.NET, VB, VB.NET, or Access development?

Contact me through Guru.com.




Opinari Archives


Recommended Reading


Blogroll Me!












Proudly blogging on a Treo 650 using Vagablog 1.9.

This page powered by Blogger, and yours should be, too!