Halloween

Halloween celebrated on our block with a pot luck that we skipped. Our kids returned with pillow cases of candy. B. dressed up as an aging ghoul and Z. as an umpire. We handed out candy from out porch with some of our neighbors. One brave lad came by dressed as George Bush.

Test Messaging Rip-off

http://redtape.msnbc.com/2007/10/sean-clark-pays.html#posts

"It's hard to imagine one teenager running up $10,000 in text charges in a month -- until you consider the services she used. Amanda had signed up for text-chatting services, lured by ads promising romantic dialogs with "cool guys." With each message costing $1-$2 a pop, such chats can easily cost hundreds of dollars a day."

More 419s

Will the madness never end? I keep adding 419s to my blog as they drop into my e-mail, hoping that seach engines will pick them up with other folks get them. I must admit that some are quite creative. Cheating people is hard work. So, as a public service, here are some 419 frauds. I'm also hoping that by publishing them, my Nigerians friends will get the hint that they should stop sending me these e-mails, but I doubt that they will.

XXXX

From: compesationofficer_terrystewart@yahoo.dk

Friend.

Due to your effort, sincerity, courage and trustworthiness you showed at thecourse of the Uk Online Lotto winning cheque shipment to your location, Iwant to compensate you and show my gratitude to you with the sum of$500,000USD (Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) I have authorizedthe finance house where I deposited the money to issue you internationalcertified bank draft cashable at your bank.My dear winner, I will like you to contact the CEO in charge of the financehouse for the collection of this international certified bank draft. Thename of the Person with your Cheque is Mr. Terry Mark Stewart.COMPENSATION AND FINANCE HOUSE HEAD OFFICECONTACT AGENT MR.TERRY MARK STEWART.EMAIL: compesationofficer_terrystewart@yahoo.dkAt the moment, I am very busy in Sydney because of the investment projectswhich myself and my new partner Mr. Peter Hills. Finally, remember that Ihave forwarded instruction to Mr. Terry Mark at the finance house on yourbehalf to send the bank draft to you as soon as you contact him withoutdelay. Please I will like you to accept this token with good faith as thisis from the bottom of my heart. Thanks and God bless you and your family.Hope to hear from you soon.

My sincere advice to you as a Christian is that you should endeavor to Payyour tithe to a bible believing church when you get the money because Inoticed it as a fiduciary agent that you were skeptical about your winningswhen you were been ask by the Uk lotto Agency Inc to file out a claim foryour prize.

And now the current policy of the Lotto organizers is that if an emergedWinner fails to claim up his/her winning cheque of $500,000 it's nowmandatory that this fund can be remitted or forfeited to the fiduciary agentin charge of this winners file.However, I want you to contact him immediately as soon as you receive Thisemail.

Yours Sincerely,

Mrs. Sherry Cole.

XXXX

From: web036@zipmail.com.br

Hello my Dear,

You might find it so difficult to remember me. Though, it is indeed, a verylong time.On my singular, I am much delighted and privileged to contactyou again, after couple of years now. It takes fate, courage and God's fearingto remember you and at the sametime,to show gratification to you despitecircumstances that made things, not worked out as we projected then.I take this liberty to inform you that, the transaction we were pursingtogether, finally worked out by God's infinite mercy and I decided to contactyou, just to let you know. You are advised to stop any further communicationwith your local representative(s) any officials (s) department whom maycall you or email concerning the drafted cheque what sum of $950,000,00,accept Mr.Peter Jakie, You are advise not to accept any fax or telephonecalls that does not come from him.Because he is the only person I left the instructions on how to deliverthe drafted cheque to you,and you may call him immediately you receivedthis important message for more information through the instruction I left,I have conscience as a human being,due to your tremendious efforts and contributionsto make things work out.Meanwhile, I must inform you that, I am presently in Taiwan now for numerousbusiness negotiations and establishment. I just arrived two days now. Now,with my sincere heart, I have raised and signed an International Cashier'sBank Cheque,to the tune of USD$950,000.00 in your name as COMPENSATION foryour dedication,humanity and contributions.Please, contact him now, my confidential secretary,his name is Mr. PeterJakie on his E-mail:(peterjakie2000@yahoo.fr ) to discuss on the best wayfor you to recieve it. Feel free to reach him as i have left instructionson your behalf.Sincerely Yours,Mr.johnson micheal.

XXXX

From: the_lottery_dept@yahoo.com.hk

GUINNESS STOUT IS GREAT PROMOTIONS 2007. We are pleased to inform you of the result of the just concluded Monthly draws held on the 28th of OCTOBER 2007 GUINNESS IS GREAT
Worldwide Promotion, your email was among the 30 lucky winners who won GBP (Great British Pounds) £120,000.00 each on the GUINNESS STOUT Company. However, the results were released on 16th of NOVEMBER 2007 and your email was attached to ticket number (GUI29578NN845) and ballot number (BN: 923645194756/JTF-W). The online draws was conducted by a random selection of email addresses from an exclusive list of 250,031 E-mail addresses of individuals and corporate bodies, picked by an advanced automated random computer search from the internet. However, no tickets were sold but all email addresses were assigned to different ticket numbers for representation and privacy. The selection process was carried out through random selection in our computerized email selection machine (CELMA) from a database of over 2,250,000 email addresses drawn from all the continents of the world. This Lottery is approved by the British Gaming Board and also Licensed by the International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR).This lottery is the 2nd of its kind and we intend to sensitize the public. In other to claim your GBP £120,000.00 prize winning, this has been deposited in a designated bank. However, you will have to fill the form below and send it to the Promotion manager of The Guinness Lottery Company for verification and then you will be directed to the bank where a cheque of GBP £120,000.00 has already been deposited in your favor. NAMES: AGE: SEX: MARITAL STATUSADDRESS:
STATE:
ZIP CODE:
COUNTRY: PHONE: MOBILE PHONE: OCCUPATION: POSITIONCOMPANY: Please you are advised to complete the form and send it immediately to our Promotion manager through email for prompt collection of your fund from the designated bank. (CONTACT PROMOTION MANAGER)Name: Mr. Dionn Hunter Phone # : +44 7031922296 OR +44 7031949345EMAIL: lottery_payment_center@yahoo.com.hk

Please keep all lotto information away from the general public especially your ticket number and ballot number. (This is important as a case of double claims will not be entertained). *Staff of GUINNESS STOUT Company is prohibited from partaking in this Lottery PLEASE BE WARNED* Accept my hearty congratulations once again!Yours faithfully,Prof. Mrs. Alma Hyman



XXXX

From: ">duan_morris200@yahoo.com>

BARRISTER DUAN MORRIS,
Clapham(INVEST)Consultants292,
Upper Richmond Rd West ,
East Sheen, London , SW14 7JG
United Kingdom

Atten:

My Dear Friend,

The inspiration to contact you is simply divine providence, I am makingthis proposition because I have to seek the partnership of a resourceperson to help me realize this project. I am Barrister Duane Morris,A solicitor and investment consultant based in London, united kingdom.Iwas attended a business lunch in Berlin, Germany and I got introducedto the renowned German businessman and property mogul, Mr.AndreasSchranner (of the blessed memory).He engaged my services as an attorney and investment consultant and myprimary assignment was to spearhead his investment for rays in the UnitedKingdom. Three months later I invited him to London and under myprofessional guidance and based on my advice he made a fixed deposit of9,800,000.00 Million Pounds Sterling at a financial institution [NINE MILLIONEIGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS STERLING ] .This deposit was for 5years and upon maturity I made effort to contact myclient, I could not reach him or any member of his family. I was forced totravel to Germany and there I got the tragic news that on July 25 2000, myclient Mr. Andreas schranner, his wife Maria, their daughter Eich andson Christian perished in the air FranceConcorde new York bound flight;Please Click here and find out what happened to the familyhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stmI have made efforts to locate any member of his family since then withstrong biological links to my late client without success. The search tofind a close relation is one that has consumed time and resources.The institution is asking me to either present a next of kin to late Mr.Andreas Schranner or forfeit the deposit.My proposal is to package, present you as next of kin to late Mr. AndreasSchranner and process the fixed deposit and transfer custody to you forour mutual benefit. My capacity as solicitor/investment consultant to mylate client gives me the discretion to package and transfer the deposit toyou.I will give you 40% for your effort, 60% for me it will amount toinjustice if I do not take this decisive step to secure this deposit, andinvest it. The late schranner was also a friend in addition to ourbusiness relationship.I will wait for your response with the following information?s.

Your Full name ....................................
Your Telephone numbers..... ........................
Your Country.........................................
Your Mailing Address.... ...........................

I await your response.

BARRISTER DUAN MORRIS

Email:morris_200@yahoo.co.uk


XXXX

From:

AFRIBANK NIGERIA PLC
Afribank Plaza,51/55 Broad Street,Lagos-Nigeria

Reminder Notice

We received instruction from the Debt Management office, ThePresidency, to have your USD $3.1m currently approved by the contractReview and Payment Committee released to you through our Smart CardDepartmentIn a motion filed at the High Court of Justice in respectof your outstanding US$3.1M Contract PaymentvideCONTRACTNO.:MME/32789XDHGH/2007 currently in an Escrow account of ourBank , be informed that this office have been advised via a Court rulingto revalidate yourpayment transfer since its validity of 8th May,2007You will receive your payment immediately through ourSwift card payment centres in Europe, America,Africa and AsiaPacific,This is part of an instruction/mandate passed by the SenatePresident,at the Federal House of Senate,Abuja in respect to oversea Debtcontract payment and debt re-scheduling plan of the Federal Republic ofNigeria and Fifteen other Economic Communities of West African States.This card centre will send you an ATM CARD which you will use towithdraw your money through an ATM MACHINE in any part of the world,but the maximum is($10,000.00) Ten Thousand US Dollars per transaction ofyour sum amounting to Three Million, One Hundred Thousand United StatesDollars only.(USD$3.1Million ).If you wish to receive your fund this way,Kindly reconfirm your(1) Your Full Name(2) Address where the Card shall be sent to.(3) Your Phone Number(4)OccupationFailure to adhere strictly to this directives as instructed by thePresidency and the Contract Review and Payment Committee will lead tosummary seizure of all your funds in Nigeria as interpreted in section89 article 201 of Central Bank of Nigeria and Ministry of Finance Act1979.We shall be expecting to receive your information as you have to stopany further communication with any other officials except the Undersigned.

Thanks for your co-operation.
Best Regards,
Mr.Isa ZailaniExecutive Director
OPerations & Information TechnologyAfribank Nigeria Plc

XXXX

From:

OFFICE OF THE SENATE HOUSE
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN PAYMENT (RESOLUTIONPANEL ON CONTRACT PAYMENT) IKOYI-LAGOS NIGERIA

Our Ref: FGN /SNT/STB Your ref:

ATTN: Beneficiary,

We, the entire members of the Federal House of Senate, on behalf of the Federal Republic of Nigerian Government, Under the auspices of the civil i am Head of State, President Umaru Musa Yar Adua (GCFR) and the Governor of Central Bank Of Nigeria , Prof Charles Soludo held a meeting last week concerning payment , both foreign and local contractors and some inheritance funds. On going through files yesterday, we discovered that your file was dumped untreated , so at this juncture, we apologize for the delay of your payment and please stop communicating with any office now and attention to the appointed office below for you to receive your payment accordingly . Now your new Payment Reference No.-35460021, Allocation No: 674632 Password No : 339331 , Pin Code No: 55674 and your Certificate of Merit Payment No : 103 , Released Code No: 0763; Immediate Telex confirmation No: -1114433 ; Secret Code No: XXTN013 ,Having received these vital payment number , therefore You are qualified now to received and confirm Your payment with the Federal Government of Nigeria immediately within 24hrs. Now you are directed to contact the Office of the Paymaster General Federal Republic of Nigeria Dr. Mallam Haruna Musa Mimmediately so that he will pay you and fax you the payment Copy Slip and also you should reconfirm your banking Details , this is to avoid mistake while transferring your overdue payment to you.

Contact Person: Dr. Mallam Haruna Musa Em ail:officepayment_g_g@yahoo.co.uk Contact him now and inform him that you received an email from The Federal House of Senate Federal Republic of Nigeria , Instructing you to write him for immediate release of your fund and forward your Details to his office to avoid transfer mistake.

NOTE: We have mounted our security network to monitor every in-coming call , if we still find out that you are still dealing with all those fraudsters that have been frustrating our efforts and defrauding beneficiaries, We shall stop and cancel your payment immediately .

Best Regards

DR. DAVID B.MARK. SENATE PRESIDENT(Federal Republic of Nigeria)

XXXX

From: ">microsoftpromotions@microsoft.com>

MICROSOFT EMAIL PROMO:OFFICIAL PRIZE NOTIFICATION

After a successful completion of the draws of the MICROSOFTEMAIL PROMO held on the 17th November 2007, yourcompany or your personal e-mail address,attached to winningnumbers:(23) (77) (04) (57) (33) (170) won in the Tenthlottery category.You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of£150,000,00 (One Hundred and Fifty Thousand British PoundsSterling) in cash credited to file REF NO:MSW-L/007-28793,BATCH NO:2007MJL-05, this is from a total prize money of£3,750,000 (Three Million,Seven hundred and Fifty ThousandBritish Pounds Sterling),shared among the Twenty five (25)international winners in this category.All participants were selected through our Microsoftcomputer ballot system drawn form 142,000 Names,as part ofour International \"E-MAIL"\ Promotion Program for ourprominent MS-WORD users all over the world and for thecontinuous use of the internet.You are therefore requested to contact the claims processorvia the e-mail address provided with the informationrequired in the form below.

The claims processor is:NAME: GREGORY ALLEYEMAIL:grego_alley2007@yahoo.gr

TEL: +44 703 5902789In order to avoid unnecessary delay and complications,pleaseremember to quote your reference and winning ticket numberin all correspondence with your claims officer.Your secretpin code is ML0757985.

PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU ARE TO SEND THE FOLLOWING INFORMATIONTO CLAIM YOUR WINNINGS:

1. Full Name: ........................................

2. Address:..........................................

3. Phone:............... Fax:.........................

4. Country:...........................................

5. Sex................................................

You are to keep all lottery information(your winning numbersand MOST ESPECIALLY your secret pin code) away from thegeneral public.This is important as a case of double claimsand unwarranted abuse of this program will not beentertained and will be legally pursued.

Congratulations once again.

YOURS FAITHFULLY,

MRS. ENDA STEELE

XXXX

From: 'JOHN MORGAN'

JOHN MORGAN
60 Seven Sisters Road,
London NW2 3PZ.
From: Barr John Morgan (Esq.)

I am Barrister John Morgan, personal Attorney to Ronald Lake, on the31st Of January 2000, my client and his wife Joyce Lake were involvedin a Plane Crash (Alaska Airlines Flight 261) all passengers unfortunatelylost their lives, since then I have made several enquiries to locate anyof my clientsextended relatives but this proved unsuccessful. See the website belowwww.archives.cnn.com/2000/US/02/01/alaska.airlines.list/Since it is not compulsory that the Next-of-Kin must be a bloodRelation to the deceased, hence I contacted you, be informed that aNext-of-Kin can be anybody, friends or organization etc.Presently, the Bank where the deceased (my client) had a Deposit valuedAt US$10, 500, 000.00 Million issued me a notice to provide theNext-of-Kin to my client to receive its benefit or have the accountConfiscated, so I have contacted you to assist me in repatriating thisbenefit left behind by my client before they get confiscated ordeclared unserviceable by the Bank.To this effect, I now seek your consent to present you to the Bank asThe Next-of-Kin of the deceased (my Client) so that the proceeds ofThis Benefit valued at US$10, 500, 000.00 Million can be paid to you andthen you and I can share it; 50% to me, 40% to you, while 10% should begiven toany Orphanage Home. I guarantee that this will be executed under alegitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.

Please get in touch with me with the below details immediately youacknowledge thegood receipt of this Message.

Full Name:
Full Address:
Tel Number:
Fax Number:
Mobile Number:
Private Email:
Occupation:
Marital Status:
Age:
Sex:

Your prompt response is highly imperative.

Yours sincerely,

Bar. John Morgan (Esq.)Morgan Chambers.

johnmorgan512@yahoo.co.uk

N:B PLEASE GET BACK TO ME ON MY PRIVATE EMAIL ADDRESS WHICH.......................... FOR THE SAKE OF CONFIDENTIALITY.

XXXX

On Sat Nov 17 6:22 , "office file" sent:

YOUR ATM PAYMENT WAS SUCCESSFULL

Good day,

I have been waiting for you since to come down here and pick your bank draft but we did not hear from you since that time then i went and deposited the $1.200,000.00 usd draft/cheque in the bank.We have arranged your payment through swift card payment center Asia pacific, this card center will send you an atm card which you will use to withdraw your money in any atm machine in any part of the world, but the maximum is One Thousand, Five Hundred United States Dollars Per-Day.Kindly contact the below person who is in possition to release your ATM Payment Card.Send your information which they will use to send the card to you.

1. Your full name::
2. Your home address were you them to send the atmcard::
3. Current occupation::
4. Age::
5. Your current home telephone number/mobile phone number:: ::
6 . A Copy of your identification::However, kindly contact the below person who is in position to release your atm card. MR FRANK WILLIAMS( DIRECTOR)ATM Payment Department apex banktel: +229-97 65 87 48 Email: frank1_williams@myway.comI have paid for the processing and delivery charges.the only money that your are going to pay to them is only $165 dollars which they will use to obtain the affidevid of onwership from the federal high court of Benin Republic. Try to contact them as soon as possible to quicken the processing of your card before your draft gets expired . Let me know as soon as you receive your card.

Waiting for your respond. and your Urgent Call.

Thanks

Mrs LILIAN BENSON

XXXX

On Sat Nov 17 15:25 , eguatu10@earthlink.net sent:

Attention Friend

Its my pleasure to inform you that i have verified from the bank director regarding the transfer of your fund and it was good news because the requested fee was less expessive for you to afford. your consignment containing your fund($1.200.000.00) have been deposited with the BANK OF AFRICA(BOA)so that your fund will be wired to your account immediately.You are to contact the bank director with your banking details. However i went to BANK OF AFRICA(BOA) to discuss this with the bank director as its has not been delivered to you. However he told me that your fund can be transfered to you via a direct wire transfer(KTT) into your account.He told me to instruct you to contact the bank to apply for a direct wire transfer into your account to avoid loosing your fund due to delay. Therefore you can contact the bank with below information, send to them your banking information.

BANK OF AFRICA(BOA)20/22
HOSPITAL ROUTE COTONOU
BENIN REPUBLIC
MAIL=mailto:MAIL=bankofafrica_bfb_190@myway.com,
Telephone=== /+229 93 48 17 71
BANK OF AFRICA(BOA)FOREIGN OPERATION DIRECTOR.
REV.CYPRAIN MARK

Send an email to the bank with the above bank email address and apply for your wire transfer as i have informed the bank about you already.On receipt of your fund into your account endeavour to inform me immediately you receive your fund in your account. the director told me that the only fee you are to pay is $95,00 usd for the opening of new international account there in there bank that will be used to transfer the fund to your destinated account in your country and it will alsoserve as the bank transfer charges.

Thanks

Remain Blessed

Barr.Ewele Eguatu

XXXX

On Mon Nov 19 3:30 , "charles Soludo" sent:

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENCY,
THE HONORABLE, GOVERNOR OF CBN.
TINUBU SQUARE,
LAGOS- NIGERIA.
PRIVATE EMAIL : charlesmailbox206@yahoo.com

Our Ref: CBN/OHG/OXD1/2006
You're Ref: TELEX: CENBANK.PAYMENT FILE: CBN/BEN/06.Attn:

Dear Valuable Beneficiary,

Definitely I know that this letter will be a surprising one to you.Firstly, I will like to introduce myself formally as Prof.Charles Soludo, The Governor of the Central Bank Of Nigeria (CBN). You are been officially contacted by me today because your funds were re-deposited intothe "Federal Suspense Account" of C.B.N last week, because you did not forward your claim as the right beneficiary within due time.Well known to all, the Central Bank Of Nigeria is the apex bank of all commercial banks here in Nigeria. My reason for contacting you is that we had two strange visitors who came to the Bank for the claim of your fund, one who introduced himself as an attorney and a foreigner who claimed to be authorized by you as the beneficiary of your fund.I had toask them why they came to see me in person and they said that they were here to put up claims on your behalf for your fund valued at some millions in United States Dollars, which rightfully belongs to you in our records. I asked them who authorized them to come down to Nigeria for the Collection of this Payment and they told me that you asked them to come and collect this Funds on your behalf. In fact this was the biggest surprise of it kind that this bank had ever witnessed, because your fund is still in the "Federal Suspense account" of C.B.N, and yet you sent these men to come and collect the fund on your behalf without notifying the bank.The bank do not understand why you sent these men to come and collect your fund on your behalf, as it appears to be suspicious. If actually you want them to help you collect your fund, at least you should have notified us through our customer care department or even myself, the Governor of this bank. They actually tendered some vital documents whichproves that you actually sent them for the collection of your Fund. Honestly, it really baffles me that you took such decision without the consent of the bank.

Below is a list of document which they tendered to this bank today:

1. HIGH COURT INJUCTION.
2. ORDER TO RELEASE.
3. TRANSFER PAYMENT SLIP

Actually, these documents which they tendered to this bank is a clear proof that you sent them to collect this Fund on your behalf. Finally, I had to ask that they give me time to verify their claims before releasing the money to the account, which they have provided already. As the governor of this bank, i'm in a position to authorize the release of your fund to them, but it is necessary that we have a confirmation from you before i do so. Due to the nature of my job, I will not want to make any mistake in releasing these Fund to anyone except you whom is the recognized beneficiary of this Fund in our record.

Kindly clarify us on this issue before we make this payment to these foreigners whom you sent on your behalf.

OFFICIALLY SIGNED.

PROF. CHARLES SOLUDO.
GOVERNOR, CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIAN

Discussing this issue or message with a third party will only complicate matters regarding recieving your fund, so i advise that you clarify this matter directly on your own. Please do not respond to this box,the email box is not equipped to receive response.

Kindly respond to the direct email address:charlesmailbox206@yahoo.com

XXXX

From: "henksmith4"
Subject: Award Notice
Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2007 22:20:01 +0200

Award Notice,

Following official publication of results of the Email electronic online
Sweepstakes organized by the(KRASLOTEN LOTTERY AGENCY) corporation,the
Slide circuit award

Contact Mr. James Peterson by phone or email
Tel:+31-623-494-970,
Email:krasloten5050@yahoo.de
For Claim and Clarification of 1000.000.00(One Million Dollars)From
KRASLOTEN LOTTERY AGENCY database internet email users.Your email address
was randomly balloted which came out attached to(Ref.No 99868)

Regards,

Mrs.Henk Smith.

XXXXXXXX

On Wed Oct 24 5:36 , 'Fidelix Woodgate' sent:

FGN/OHG/00X09/2007ATTN: BENEFICIARY,STOP ORDER FROM THE PRESIDENCYThis is to bring to your notice about the due process of your outstanding contractual payment which was suspended by the Central Bank of Nigeria there by stopping the telex unit to pause the transfer of your contract fund to your nominated bank account. As aresult of this development verification conducted by the Finance Ministry in conjunction with the Debt Verification Panel on your contract case file has been endorsed for payment awaiting your confirmations.In view of several efforts already made by us to contact you for the following reasons based on the new account submitted to this office on your behalf:

(1) My Office desks have just received a sworn affidavit from Mr. RAINER HESSE of Germany to re-route your payment into a new bank account number as stated VACAP Federal Credit Union, 1700 Robin Hood Road, Richmond, VA 23220. Account number 32501.of Mr. RAINER HESSE. The sum of 10 Million US Dollars ( Ten Million US Dollars)

(2) Please, confirm to our department if you have instructed Mr. RAINER HESSE to appoint an attorney/agent on your behalf thereby asking that he receive cash call remittance on your behalf.

(3) It have come to our notice that you are being contacted by unauthorized individuals with respect to your contract payment but unfortunately this office is not aware of your unofficial dealings and warned that itis at your own risk.

(4) Please, also confirm if you have authorized Mr. RAINER HESSE to change your banking particulars to the following particulars stated below:

VACAP Federal Credit Union,

1700 Robin Hood Road, Richmond, VA 23220.

Account number 3250163

Also re-confirm your Contract Number, Contract Amount, Private Telephone and Fax number, your e-mail address, Office or home address so that we can cross-check it with our file records.

We have decided to contact you for re-verification because we suspected that Mr. RAINER HESSE is trying to divert your money through the sworn affidavit into a new different bankaccount. You are advised to call the Chairman Debt Verification Panel upon the receipt of this mail.

Please call me as soon as you recieve the mail for more concrete discussion regards to this issue of your payment.

Direct telephone number : +234-70-3512-3010

Treat as urgent

Yours faithfully,

Fidelix Woodgate

Warning:

This communiqu is from the PRESIDENTIAL BOARD OF TRUSTEE ON CONTRACT PAYMENT upon the advice of the Presidential adviser on Contract are advised to adhere strictly to directive. Any fund beneficiary who ignores instruction will be doing so at his own risk and should not blame the Federal Government Of Nigeria for non-payment of their contract funds.

FRONT DESK OF THE PRESIDENT FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA

Website:http://www.nigeria.gov.

XXXXXXXX

On Sat Oct 27 9:14 , vittoriofondazio_1@hot.rr.com sent

:
VITTORIO FONDAZIONE.

Corso Ercole I d'Este 44, Ferrara 44100 - Italy.

IMPORTANT NOTICE Foundation's Officer, Fondazion Di Vittorio, ITALY http://www.fondazionedivittorio.it Concern.

The Foundazion di Vittorio, would like to notify you that you have been chosen by the board of trustees as one of the final recipients of a cash Grant/Donation for your own personal, educational, and business development. The Fondazione Di Vittorio, established 1977 by the Multi-Million groups and now supported by the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS),United Nations Organization (UNO) and the European Union (EU) was conceived with the objective of human growth, educational, and community development. To celebrate the 28th anniversary program, The Vittorio Foundation in conjunction with the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS), United Nations Organization (UNO) and the European Union (EU) is giving out a yearly donation of US$850,000.00 (Eight Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States Dollars) to 100 lucky recipients. These specific Donations/Grants will be awarded to 100 lucky international recipients worldwide; in different categories for their personal business development and enhancement of their educational plans. At least 15% of the awarded funds should be used by you to develop a part of your environment. This is a yearly program, which is a measure of universal development strategy. The objective is to make a notable change in the standard of living of people all around the Universe (From America to Europe, Asia to Africa and all around). The Vittorio Foundation has been assured of highest organization standard courtesy of the United Nations. It is our belief that we can achieve a great positive change in the general welfare of the universe through this program. That is why the foundation is doing everything possible to get all recipients notified of their donation. Note that your country is not the only country that is benefiting from this donation. Beneficiaries have been chosen from countries from all continents. The idea of this donation is that within ten years from now, there will be notable richness among many unusual people around the world. This will give many people the opportunity to get their lives to a stage where they had always wanted. Kindly note that you will only be chosen to receive the donation once, which means that subsequent yearly donation will not get to you again. Take time and thought in spending the donation wisely on something that will last you a long time. Recipients are only eligible to be awarded this donation once. Based on the random selection exercise of internet websites and millions of supermarket cash invoices worldwide, you were selected among the lucky recipients to receive the award sum of US$850,000.00 (Eight Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States Dollars) as charity donations/aid from the Vittorio Foundation, ECOWAS, EU and the UNO in accordance with the enabling act of Parliament. (Note that all beneficiaries email addresses were selected randomly from over 100,000 internet websites or a shop's cash invoice around your area in which you might have purchased something from). You are required to fill the form below and email it to our Executive Secretary below for qualification documentation and processing of your claims. After contacting our office with the requested data, you will be given your donation pin number, which you will use in collecting the funds.

Please endeavor to quote your Qualification numbers (N-222-6747,E-900-56) in all discussions.

FULL NAMES:__________________

ADDRESS: ____________________ CITY:_________________________ STATE:_______________________ ZIP: ______________ COUNTRY_______________ SEX:_______________ AGE:__________________ MARITAL STATUS:___________ OCCUPATION:_________________ E-MAIL ADDRESS:_____________________ TELEPHONE NUMBER:_____________________ ================================

SEND ALL YOUR CLAIMS AND INQUIRIES TO THE Executive Secretary- Claudio Giovanni Email:vittoriofondazio_grantclaims07@yahoo.no

All information is strictly confidential and will only be used for the purpose to which it is been requested. Please note that these donations/Grants are strictly administered by Economic community for West African States (ECOWAS), European Union (EU), under delegated powers from the United Nations Organization (UNO). This means that your qualification number will be reffled to know the organisation (ECOWAS or EU) that will handle your payment. You are to keep this whole information confidential until you have been able to collect your donation, as there have been many cases of double and unqualified claim, due to beneficiaries informing third parties about his/her donation. Finally, all funds should be claimed by their respective beneficiaries, no later than 15 days after notification. Failure to do so will mean cancellation of that beneficiary and its donation will then be reserved for next year's recipients.

On behalf of the Board kindly, accept our warmest congratulations.

Regards. Mr. Sparo Malcom

(Foundation officer)

XXXXXXXX

On Sat Oct 27 18:01 , 'Kenneth Moore Esq' sent
:
Dear Correspondent.

I am compelled to write you this email for the following reason:-One of my client, who is now deceased, in his Will, left his entire Estateand Cash deposit, valued millions of US dollars. The truth is that l donot know if you are the beneficiary or not.For over two years, l have tried effortlessly to locate the person on the will without success, which mandated me to contact you.

Can you get back to me urgently if you are capable of investing thesefunds in any profitable ventures in your domain?

You can reach me via this email address: kennethmooreesq@strompost.com for further explanation.

Respectfully Yours,

Kenneth Moore Esq

Tel:+447035901857

XXXXXXXX

On Sat Oct 27 2:01 , ahmd_sidq4@zipmail.com.br sent
:
Attention: Beneficiary,

Greetings

I am much delighted and privileged to contact you now. I am Barr. Williams G Ben & councelors Chambers. I have been expecting you to come down here and pick your Cashiers Cheque from my client but did not hear from you since that time ,so I deposited your Chequewith global max in Benin of Republic for quick delivering to your home address,as I travelled to see my family.

Your $850,000,000 USD has been dormant due to the Time it was deposited,All you have to do is to contact the GLOBAL COURIER and pay them their monthly dumorage fee of $98 USD and Present them with your information where they will Deliver the funds.

This is the information they need to delivery your package to you, it'sonly delay now.

1.YOUR FULL NAME................
2.YOUR HOME ADDRESS..........
3.A COPY OF YOUR PICTURE.............
5.YOUR CURRENT HOME TELEPHONE NUMBER.........________________________________________________

FOLLOWING, IS THEIR CONTACT INFORMATIONCONTACT PERSON; DR.Eric johnson DISTRICTMANAGER GLOBAL MAX COMPANY LIMITED.E-mail:(c.globalmax@yahoo.dk)CONTACT PHONE+229-9389-2879___________________________________________________

Now make sure you are writing direct to the giving addressand let me know as soon as the transfered is completed.

Have a Nice Day.

Sincerely,

Barr. Williams G Ben (SAB)

SHARE IS $850,000 IS NOW WAITING TRANSFER

Hillary Gives a Rat's Ass

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/weekinreview/28liptak.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

"The first jury trial Mrs. Clinton handled on her own, for instance, concerned the rear end of a rat in a can of pork and beans. She represented the cannery, and she argued that there had been no real harm, as the plaintiff did not actually eat the rat. “Besides,” she wrote in her autobiography, describing her client’s position, “the rodent parts which had been sterilized might be considered edible in certain parts of the world.”

The jury seemed to buy her argument, more or less, as it awarded only token damages. But no one was particularly happy about the case or her performance. Her former partner, Webster L. Hubbell, told one of her biographers that she was “amazingly nervous” in speaking to the jury."

"It may surprise you to learn, that an attorney represents her client. etc."

(snort)

Don't be so patronizing. Yep, I know what a lawyer does. On what basis do you assume that I'm one of "you wing-nuts"? I'm pretty consistent in my blogging going way back in my roasting of the Republicans and I'll probably be voting for Billery.

This is a fairly typical post from November 2nd, 2006.

http://mymallandnews.bizland.com/index106.html

and this a few days later.

http://mymallandnews.bizland.com/index109.html

You're a shining example of those wormy hard-eyed partisan true believers of both the right and the left that is irony deficient and humorless and probably dateless as well. So to you and them I say: lighten up.

Then what was your point in posting that drivel?

That drivel is from the The New York Times, as read with horror by the likes of you.

http://rightwingnytimes.cf.huffingtonpost.com/

S is for Sugar

so sweet on your lips,
so wild in your bloodstream,
so fat on your hips.

savoir faire
sinuate
subsume
sizar - poor schoalr
salient
sincere - sine cere - without wax
sales lady - prostitute
scraps the mug shave
satchel - buttocks
sprinter - when winter and spring overlap
salbugrious
skald
sock a corpse - shroud it
sedulous
steatorrhea
sleipnir - Odin's grey eight-legged horse
scratch horuse - brothel
SS - siilicet - let it be known
scurvy
social overhead capital
sesquipedalian
stop over - short jail sentence
stare decisis - general rule formign a precident
sui generis - of the same kind
standing vote
sucking bamboo-- smoking opium
Souther Christian Leadership Conference
somnolent
solipsist
selector channel
shilly shaly
simonpure
sub rosa
supernal
surian
sciamochous
stranbge bedfellows
splentic
sankasktachaturthivratodyapana - sanscrit work
scatalogical
shaman
saturnine
sophistry
sui juris
shibboleth - watchword see Judges 12:4-6
spoliation
silver pheasant - beautiful aristocratic lady
suacy
sedge
scions
solstice

The Evangelical Crack-Up

The evangelicals are in retreat. They don't have a natural presidential candidate. They don't have a unified leadership. They no longer seem to share even the same political beliefs.

Excerpts from David D. Kirpatrick's End Time for Evangelicals? and Frank Rich's Rudy, the Values Slayer. (The New York Times, October 28th).

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/magazine/28Evangelicals-t.html

Meanwhile, a younger generation of evangelical pastors — including the widely emulated preachers Rick Warren and Bill Hybels — are pushing the movement and its theology in new directions. There are many related ways to characterize the split: a push to better this world as well as save eternal souls; a focus on the spiritual growth that follows conversion rather than the yes-or-no moment of salvation; a renewed attention to Jesus’ teachings about social justice as well as about personal or sexual morality. However conceived, though, the result is a new interest in public policies that address problems of peace, health and poverty — problems, unlike abortion and same-sex marriage, where left and right compete to present the best answers.

The backlash on the right against Bush and the war has emboldened some previously circumspect evangelical leaders to criticize the leadership of the Christian conservative political movement. “The quickness to arms, the quickness to invade, I think that caused a kind of desertion of what has been known as the Christian right,” Hybels, whose Willow Creek Association now includes 12,000 churches, told me over the summer. “People who might be called progressive evangelicals or centrist evangelicals are one stirring away from a real awakening.”

Some rebellious evangelical pastors and theologians of the new school refer to themselves as the emergent church. Others who are less openly rebellious but share a similar approach point to the examples of Rick Warren and Bill Hybels. “What Warren and Hybels are doing is reshaping the perception of what it means to be a Christian in our country and our world,” McKnight says.
Warren and Hybels are also highly entrepreneurial. Each has built a network of thousands of mostly evangelical churches that rely on their ministries for sermon ideas, worship plans or audio-video materials to enliven services. As a result, their influence may rival that of any denominational leader in the country.

Warren is clearly a theological and cultural conservative. Before the 2004 election, he wrote a letter to other pastors emphasizing the need to combat abortion rights and same-sex marriage. But these days Warren talks much more often about fighting AIDS and poverty. He raised hackles among conservatives last year by having Barack Obama give a speech at his church. And he also came under fire last year when he traveled to Damascus, Syria, where he implicitly criticized the Bush administration for refusing to talk with unfriendly nations.

Hybels, founder of the Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago, is very possibly the single-most-influential pastor in America; in the last 15 years, his Willow Creek Association has grown to include more than 12,000 churches. Many invite their staff members and lay leaders to participate by telecast in Willow Creek’s annual leadership conferences, creating a virtual gathering of tens of thousands. Dozens of churches in Wichita, including Central Christian and other past bastions of conservative activism, are part of the association.

As his stature has grown, Hybels has seemed more willing to irk Christian conservative political leaders — and even some in his own congregation. He set off a furor a few years ago when he invited former President Bill Clinton to speak at one of his conferences. And the Iraq war has brought into sharp relief Hybels’s differences with conservatives like Dobson.

Most conservative Christian leaders have resolutely supported Bush’s foreign policy. Dobson and others have even talked about defending Western civilization from radical Islam as a precondition for protecting family values. But on the eve of the Iraq invasion, Hybels preached a sermon called “Why War?” Laying out three approaches to war — realism, just-war theory and pacifism — he implored members of his congregation to re-examine their own thinking and then try to square it with the Bible. In the process, he left little doubt about where he personally stood. He called himself a pacifist.

Hybels traced the “J curve” of mounting deaths from war through the centuries. “In case you are wondering about this, wonder how God feels about all this,” he said. “It breaks the heart of God.”
At his annual leadership conference this summer, Hybels interviewed former President Jimmy Carter. To some Christian conservatives, it was quite a provocation. Carter, after all, was their first great disappointment, a Southern Baptist who denounced the conservative takeover and an early critic of the Bush administration. Some pastors canceled plans to attend.

“I think that a superpower ought to be the exemplification of a commitment to peace,” Carter told Hybels, who nodded along. “I would like for anyone in the world that’s threatened with conflict to say to themselves immediately: ‘Why don’t we go to Washington? They believe in peace and they will help us get peace.’ ” Carter added: “This is just a simple but important extrapolation from what a human being ought to do, and what a human being ought to do is what Jesus Christ did, who was a champion of peace.”

In a conversation I had with him, Hybels told me he considered politics a path to “heartache and disappointment” for a Christian leader. But he also described the message of his Willow Creek Association to its member churches in terms that would warm a liberal’s heart.
“We have just pounded the drum again and again that, for churches to reach their full redemptive potential, they have to do more than hold services — they have to try to transform their communities,” he said. “If there is racial injustice in your community, you have to speak to that. If there is educational injustice, you have to do something there. If the poor are being neglected by the government or being oppressed in some way, then you have to stand up for the poor.”
In the past, Hybels has scrupulously avoided criticizing conservative Christian political figures like Falwell or Dobson. But in my talk with him, he argued that the leaders of the conservative Christian political movement had lost touch with their base. “The Indians are saying to the chiefs, ‘We are interested in more than your two or three issues,’ ” Hybels said. “We are interested in the poor, in racial reconciliation, in global poverty and AIDS, in the plight of women in the developing world.”

Conservative Christian leaders in Washington acknowledge a “leftward drift” among evangelicals, said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council and the movement’s chief advocate in Washington. He told me he believed that Hybels and many of his admirers had, in effect, fallen away from orthodox evangelical theology. Perkins compared the phenomenon to the century-old division in American Protestantism between the liberal mainline and the orthodox evangelical churches. “It is almost like another split coming within the evangelicals,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/opinion/28rich.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

When Rudy’s candidacy started to show legs, pundits and family values activists alike assumed that ignorant voters knew only his 9/11 video reel and not his personal history or his stands on issues. “Americans do not yet realize how far outside of the mainstream of conservative thought that Mayor Giuliani’s social views really are,” declared Tony Perkins, the Family Research Council leader, in February. But despite Rudy’s fleeting stabs at fudging his views, they are well known now, and still he leads in national polls of Republican voters and is neck and neck with Fred Thompson in the Bible Belt sanctuary of South Carolina.

There are various explanations for this. One is that 9/11 and terrorism fears trump everything. Another is that the rest of the field is weak. But the most obvious explanation is the one that Washington resists because it contradicts the city’s long-running story line. Namely, that the political clout ritualistically ascribed to Mr. Perkins, James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Gary Bauer of American Values and their ilk is a sham.

These self-promoting values hacks don’t speak for the American mainstream. They don’t speak for the Republican Party. They no longer speak for many evangelical ministers and their flocks. The emperors of morality have in fact had no clothes for some time. Should Rudy Giuliani end up doing a victory dance at the Republican convention, it will be on their graves.

But the most significant — and happiest — explanation for the values czars’ demise as a political force is that white evangelical Christians and a new generation of evangelical leaders have themselves steadily tacked a different course from the Dobson crowd. A CBS News poll this month parallels what the Times reporter David D. Kirkpatrick found in his examination of evangelicals for today’s Times Magazine. Like most other Americans, they are more interested in hearing from presidential candidates about the war in Iraq and health care than about any other issues.

Abortion and same-sex marriage landed at the bottom of that list; fighting poverty outpolled abortion as a personal priority by a 3-to-2 margin. To see just how large a gap separates that evangelical electorate from the values organizations that purport to speak in its name, just look at the Values Voter Summit that the Family Research Council convened to much press attention in Washington last weekend. In a survey of participants to determine which issue would be “most important” in choosing a presidential candidate, the summit’s organizers didn’t even think to list the war, health care or fighting poverty among the 12 hot-button options.

The Values Voter Summit’s survey of the attendees’ presidential preferences showed just as large a disconnect. Rudy Giuliani came in next to last (behind Tom Tancredo, ahead of John McCain) in the field of nine candidates, earning only 1.85 percent of the vote. By contrast, among white evangelicals nationwide in the CBS News poll, he was in a statistical dead heat for first place with Fred Thompson; indeed, Mr. Giuliani’s 26 percent among evangelicals nearly matches his showing among all Republican voters. The discrepancy between the CBS poll and the summit survey leaves you wondering who exactly follows Dr. Dobson and Mr. Perkins beyond the ticket buyers who showed up for their media circus last weekend at the Washington Hilton.

Of late Dr. Dobson has been throwing a hissy fit about Rudy’s rise, reminiscent of his 2005 condemnation of the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants for appearing in what he labeled a “pro-homosexual video.” Apparently suffering from the delusion that he has the pull on the right that Ralph Nader once did on the left, he has threatened to bolt to a third party. But for all this huffing and puffing, Dr. Dobson and his stop-Rudy brigade are as politically hypocritical as the Reverend Haggard was sexually hypocritical.

If they really believed uncompromisingly in their issues and principles, they would have long since endorsed either Sam Brownback, the zealous Kansas senator fond of using fetus photos as political props, or Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who spent 15 years as a Baptist preacher, calls abortion a “holocaust” and believes in intelligent design rather than evolution.

But they gave Senator Brownback so little moral and financial support that he folded his candidacy a week ago. And they continue to stop well short of embracing Mr. Huckabee, no matter how many rave reviews his affable personality receives on the campaign trail. They shun him because they know he’ll lose, and they would rather compromise principle than back a loser.
Backing a loser, they know, would even further diminish their waning Washington status in a post-Rove, post-Bush G.O.P. The more they shed their illusion of power, the more they imperil their ability to rake in big bucks from their apocalyptic direct-mail campaigns. They must choose mammon over God if they are to maintain the many values rackets that make up their various business empires.

Hilariously enough, some other big names on the right, typified by Sean Hannity of Fox News, are capitulating to the Giuliani candidacy by pretending that he, like the incessantly flip-flopping Mitt Romney, is reversing his previously liberal record on social issues. The straw they cling to is Rudy’s promise to appoint “strict constructionist” judges to the Supreme Court.

Even leaving aside the Giuliani record in New York (where his judicial appointees were mostly Democrats), the more Democratic Senate likely to emerge after 2008 is a poor bet to confirm a Scalia or Alito even should a Republican president nominate one. No matter how you slice it, the Giuliani positions on abortion, gay rights and gun control remain indistinguishable from Hillary Clinton’s.

“You have absolutely nothing to fear from me,” Rudy disingenuously told the assembled at the Values Voter Summit last weekend. Actually, there’s plenty for everyone to fear from a Giuliani presidency, starting with the mad neocon bombers shaping his apocalyptic policy toward Iran. But that’s another story. Whichever candidate or party lands in the White House, this much is certain: Inauguration Day 2009 is at the very least Armageddon for the reigning ayatollahs of the American right.

Boo!

Crayons

We could learn a lot from crayons: some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to learn to live in the same box.

Saturday

Here's how my day went.

9:00 Roused into consciousness from a creepy dream involving my youngest boy, tempestuous ocean waves, and Harvard's Langdell Hall.

10:45 Dropped oldest boy off at Mountain View Park to referee three soccer games.

11:15 Sorted laundry, watered the new rye grass and fruit trees, and added water to the pool.

12:00 Made lunch for myself-- rice, chopped red cabbage, and tuna.

1:00 Picked up two gallons of fat-free milk from Albertsons. Returned them thirty minutes later for two percent. While driving to Albertsons on Indian Bend, I saw a collision-- a Buick driven by an elderly man at seventy miles per hour broad-sided a turning red Sentra that then hit a traffic light, causing the light to collapse and all lights at the intersection to shut down. The man sat stunned in his car while gasoline leaked over the road.

3:00 My 13 year old bought a T-Mobile cell phone with his referee earnings. He has wanted this for some time. The plan costs $50 a month, and he will pay for everything. Yet another introduction to the karma of effort. Study hard, get good grades. Work hard, and get things things you want. Certis paribus of course,

5:00 Watched C-SPAN for a hour. Interesting debate "Is Christianity the Problem?" from The King's College in New York, with Dinesh D'Souza, author of "What's So Great About Christianity," and Christopher Hitchens, author of "God Is Not Great," moderated by Mavin Olasky, provost of King's. I had seen Dinesh a few times before on Fox, and was never impressed by his predictable right-wing platitudes perhaps due to the kind of questions and format that Fox has. I had also heard Hitchens before as well on various cable shows, and I also was never impressed with his visceral hatred of Christianity and militant anti-theism. Although the audience applauded D'Souza more frequently that Hitchens, I felt Hitchens had the better arguments. The claim that the West's ethics derive from Jesus Christ, that Hitlerism is agnostic, and that proof for a divine law giver lies in the fine-tuned laws of the universe were just a few of the D'Souza's assertions that struck me as dubious. I was also dubious about Hitchens' claim regarding the theistic predicates to Marxist-Leninism. For fanatics on either side, Christianity is the either the source of all evil or the source of all good. There is a middle ground in there some where.

6:00 Took my youngest boy to Nothing But Noodles where I had wavy egg noodles sautéed with tender beef and mushrooms, tossed in a Stroganoff sauce. He had alfredo-- curly pasta tossed with a freshly made Parmesan cream sauce, topped with Parmesan and Romano cheeses. On Saturday and Sunday, his dinner was free. A good meal, but the restaurant was deserted. I'm not sure why. Drove back home into a spectacular goldenrod sunset.

7:00 My wife and I went to the Harkins Shea 14 to see new Steve Carrell movie "Dan In Real life." We enjoy seeing "The Office" each week, so we were curious about his latest movie release-- and we weren't disappointed. It was a feel-good comedy that captured the poignancy of trying to kindle the spark of love in the middle of one's life and also the tension between what one proclaims and what one lives. The setting-- a family reunion in Rhode Island-- also reminded me of our family reunions as well in Door County and also our summer trips to New Hampshire when I was a kid. I recommend it.

First Quarter Report Cards

Kudos to my boys who continue to astonish me with their hard work and distinguished grades.

B in grade six

Pre-Algebra A
Science A
Social Studies A
Language Arts A
Computers A
Band A

Z in grade eight

Science A
Band A
Social Studies A
Language Arts A
Algebra A
Visual Arts A

A double 4.0. Awesome!

California Burning

It must be terrifying for so many people in California. But kudos to governor for evacuating almost a million people out of harm's way. The test as to whether this will be New Orleans 2.0 will be the follow-through from the Federal, state, and local government and the response from the insurance companies. All of those liberterians who saw their homes go up in flames have just be mugged by reality and may now have a little more fondness for what the government can do. I'm sure that Hollywood will also mount a fund-raiser as well.

The tribulations facing California tonights reminds me of the challenges that faced my ancestors in more than a century ago. Death in the form of fire would race over the dry bristle. The shifting line of fire would sometimes cover 30 miles or more. In 1873, in Saline County, Nebraska, the wind swept the smoke of a great fire toward a schoolhouse. One mother, against the teacher’s most earnest objections, took her children and those related to her away. The ten children tried to run before the fire and fell, one after the other, the mother too in her efforts to save them. The teacher and pupils who remained with her were safe on a nearby plowed field. Ironically, the schoolhouse was untouched by the fire.

I had a glimse into what Californians are enduring in 1983. A fire in the apartment complex where I was living that took the life of a seven-month-old girl in the unit beneath me and left the father critically injured. My cat Rex woke me up at about two a.m. and I remember the utter horror of the moment when I saw billowing clouds of orange come towards me from the first floor, a horror that was compounded when I had to fight through thick, black smoke in an apartment that had no sprinklers or alarms. Little Jaclyn Wallace’s clothes, toys, and crib lay twisted in a puddle of ashes and glass. I was amazed that the soot and the stench penetrated everything, through cupboards and under and between stacks of clothes.

You can always count on Fox News to spread misinformation.

For the second straight day, Fox News stood virtually alone in advancing thinly supported speculation to raise fears that the wildfires ravaging California are not the result of a confluence of arid heat and high winds but were set deliberately by al Qaeda terrorists bent on destroying America.

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Fox_hypes_Qaeda_plotted_fires_theory_1025.html

The "facts" in this case is a four-year old memo from the FBI. No doubt al Qaeda was responsible for Hurricane Katrina as well.

But it may be that with the hindsight of history, the fires in California are a sideshow. The more scary event occurred before a congresisonal committee this morning where Condi "mushroom cloud" Rice announced new financial sanctions on Iran, even while Turkey is poised to invade Iraq.

The Bush administration today imposed a series of new sanctions on Iran to punish Tehran for weapons proliferation and supporting terrorism throughout the Middle East.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-usiran26oct26,1,7832443.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&track=crosspromo

I doubt that the factual basis for taking this action is any stronger than is the factual basis for assuming that al Qaeda is responsible for global warming. The administration has demonstrated its eagerness and shamelessness in inventing facts to align with policy as they did in the run up to the war in Iraq. So I am hoping that Congress has the stomach to ask the hard questions before committing our troops to yet another front in the "war on terror".

Witnesses Knock on My Door

Two Jehovah Witnesses stopped by today. I was still working so I couldn't chat with them. They left me copies of their publications Awake! and The Watchtower. The publications contained a mix of human interest stories ("The Plight of the Shark") and sound ethical instruction ("How to Protect Your Children"). I admire the Witnesses for their political neutrality and their refusal to take up arms but not so much their views of end-times and blood transfusions.

Apparently your theism does not push you to believe absurd and readily falsifiable things about the world.

I try to be economically on my beliefs, especially faith-based beliefs. One of my core beliefs is that the great division among world views is not between theism and atheism but between reason and unreason-- uncritical and fanatical thought. One test for reasonable or rational belief is the extent and williness of those that hold that belief to aggressively test that belief in the market place of freely competing ideas, moderating their beliefs in the light of new information. Totataliterian and authoritarian beliefs naturally do not meet that test. I also make a divison between thoughts and actions. I really don't mind how nutty someone's convictions apparently are, but the time to draw the line is when thoughts translate into demonstrably hurtful actions. I had a good example earlier this week when two Jehovah Witnesses knocked on my door. The Witnesses prohibit the transfusion of blood for any reason, and I wonder how many of their flock went to the grave because of that immoral dogma.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah's_Witnesses_and_blood

Doing Well By Doing Good

At least twice a year, we try to reduce the extra stuff that makes up our existence by donating them to charity-- clothes that boys have out-grown, books, toys, or bikes they no longer use, and also appliances, jewelry, kitchenware, and appliances. We found that on a bottom-line basis, it's better to donate this than try to sell it through eBay or in a garage sale, taking the deduction on our income tax form-- generally amouting to several thousand dollars of refunded money in our pocket. We usually donate to Big Brothers and also to Vietnam Veterans of America. They rebulk the donations, which are then auctioned to resellers. It's a good deal for everyone.

Dipping Our Toe in Politics

We were invited to a wine tasting Sunday evening sponsored by a PAC in Paradise Valley where we were introduced to several local Democratic candidates, notably Bob Lord who hopes to defeat John B. Shadegg of the Third District.

A wine tasting consists of an aroma component-- detecting wines based on aroma. For exampe, a lemon aroma relates to the citrusy qualities of Sauvignon whereas the smell of jasmine, orange, an apricot can be found in Gewurtztraminer and Riesling. Gererally, the aromas break down into floral, spicy, herbal, vegetable, nutty, woody, earthy, oxidized, and micro biological (yeasty and lactic).

The tasting components consists of seeing how foods interact with the wine causing sometimes similarity and blending and other times contrast. For example, Ecco Domani Pinot Grigio shows similarity with basil pesto and contrast with toasted pine nuts. With Beaulieu Vinyard BV Pinot Noir (a red wine), the grilled portabello mushrooms showed simalarity on the palate. The sundried tomatoes accentuated the acidic taste thereby showing contrast.

Paul Stahl

I was very sorry to hear of the death of a distant cousin Paul Stahl, 25, in South Dakota. The first paragraph is from my uncle and trhe remainder appeared in local newspapers.

I don't know if you have been informed that Janet & Robert Stahl's only son Paul died Oct. 9th. He had contacted hantavirus. It is a virus which can be inhaled from deer mouse dropppings; urine or saliva & there is no known cure for it other than one's own body being able to fight off the virus. He had not felt well & began to run a high fever later turning into nausea & flu like symtoms. He & Megan have a 6 mos. old little girl. They have been advised not to enter their manufactured home ,as they have no idea of where he might have contacted the virus, so are temporarily staying at Jamet & Roberts.

Paul Stahl, 25, of Bridgewater, died Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2007, at Sanford Health in Sioux Falls of a sudden illness.His funeral will be Friday at 10:30 a.m. in the Bridgewater gym.Burial will be in Bridgewater Cemetery.Visitation will begin at 4 p.m. today at Zion Mennonite Church of Bridgewater with the family present from 7 to 8 p.m.He was born July 27, 1982, at Sioux Falls to Robert and Janet Stahl. He attended Lake Area Technical Institute and farmed in Bridgewater with his family.He married Megan Juhnke in 2004. She serves on the South Dakota State Fair Commission.He is survived by his wife; parents; grandparents, Paul and Hulda Stahl and Betty Fillbach; and parents-in-law, Kent and Sandy Juhnke.He was preceded in death by his grandfather, Myron Fillbach.

Paul Stahl, 25, was working in his machine shop in Emery when he felt light-headed and dizzy Oct. 2.Within days, he felt sore muscles, a tightening chest and spiked a fever of 103.8 degrees. Stahl of Bridgewater went to a clinic in Salem on Oct. 5, then to Sanford USD Medical Center's emergency room that night. Hospital tests showed he had a virus, but doctors said it would have to run its course, Stahl's wife, Megan, said.When Stahl had nausea, a constant fever and deep muscle aches last weekend, he returned to the E.R. on Sunday, where he was admitted and had several tests for meningitis. They showed nothing abnormal.

A chest X-ray on Monday pointed doctors in the right direction when it showed that Stahl had interstitial pneumonia in both lungs - which is less common. An infectious-disease doctor began exploring whether hantavirus was an option, Megan Stahl, 25, said.After being put on a respirator to help with breathing, her husband died the next day in the intensive care unit.

"There is no way to pinpoint exactly where he contracted it," Megan Stahl said, adding her husband hadn't been out of state. "He loved the farm. He enjoyed being outside with the cattle, dogs and horses. ... We want to prevent this from happening to someone else."South Dakota has seen 13 cases of the disease since 1993. Of those, four have resulted in death, including one a year for the past three years.State Epidemiologist Lon Kightlinger said hantavirus can strike any time of the year. It's caused by a virus carried by rodents, primarily the deer mouse, and results in hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. That causes the lungs to fill with fluid and can cause respiratory failure.

The virus is found in mouse droppings, urine or saliva, which release the virus into the air when disturbed, Kightlinger said.It's best to treat mouse droppings or nests with bleach and water - and to let it soak - before carefully wiping it up and bagging it for disposal, Kightlinger said.

Hantavirus is not contagious or transmittable from human to human. Researchers don't know why some people exposed to the virus get sick while others don't, Kightlinger said.There have been 465 cases of hantavirus diagnosed since it was first detected in 1993 in the southwestern U.S. Deer mice are located throughout South Dakota.Symptoms usually appear within two to four weeks of exposure and include fatigue, fever, muscle ache, coughing, vomiting and diarrhea.

Paul Stahl was laid to rest Friday, with services at the Bridgewater gym. Along with his wife, he is survived by a 7-month-old daughter, Sydney; his parents, Robert and Janet; three grandparents; and his parents-in-law.

Cold Stone Adventure

Earlier this week, my wife and I were invited for a taste test at Cold Stone in Scottsdale. Along with about a dozen other, we went into a classroom where someone wearing a white lab coat gave us two small samples of vanilla marked Sample A and Sample B. We indicated on a piece of paper what we thought about its texture, creaminess, and taste and whether we liked Sample A better than Sample B. There was only the most subtle differencs. The test took about 15 minutes, after which a Cold Stone representative gave us a $15 Cold Stone gift card. It was certainly more enjoyable than most of the tests I've taken in my life.

Yesterday, my wife and I went on a 16 mile bike hike. To verify our distance, we traced the same route by car and then continued on to a Cold Stone at 510 S. Mill Street in Tempe, bustlng with ASU college kids and the occasional vagrant and musician. It was also a chance to expose our kids to that kind of experience-- to have fun but also to blend in, stay alert, look people in the eye, and show confidence. Anyway, we finished