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LOTTOMIKE's Blog

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sorry i can't help it

i was sitting here thinking about something.you can't fix something you can't change.i get worked up easily about injustices.one thing i get worked up about is the president right now.i'll humor him for a few more months until he leaves his throne.i hope his legacy is a haunting one.i'm not going to sit here and post all his ills and bad points we know all those and no need to waste positive energy rehashing them.are me and his supporters seeing the same man? of course not.i see the truth.this tragedy is almost over and i'm sorry you had to bear witness to it.i'll pass the tissues one at a time.what a waste of eight miserable years.you have my best friend more than his own family does.you sit around and pass boneheaded laws that make no sense.you veto the ones that do.you pick wars with the wrong place.you change things around the way you see fit.you ignore the crises that should not be ignored.you make money off others miseries.you have the whole world against us.your no john wayne mister.not by a long shot pee wee herman.not by a long shot.well the nightmare is almost over.then we can all wake up and get on with our lives.......

Entry #1,185

Bush Votes Down Stem Cell Bill

whats wrong with research to save lives you heartless bastard.you vote this down but you'll regret it.michael j fox is one of my all time favorite actors.i love the man because i grew up on family ties and all his movies.explain it to him........

Entry #1,184

could someone be trying to harm the U.S.?

first we had all those pets die from the tainted pet food.next we had the case of all the peter pan peanut butter being tainted.now we have some toothpaste with poison in it.do you think al-qaeida could be trying to hurt us through our food supply?

Entry #1,183

Carrying friend in body bag haunts soldier

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. Army Spc. Gerald Lee Meeks says all he wanted in Iraq was to "keep everybody alive, all my buddies."

That hope was shattered last month when a roadside bomb blew up one of his best friends, and Meeks had to carry his slain buddy more than a mile back to base.

"I didn't want to believe it until I actually had to carry his body bag, which was pretty bad," he says, making a fist with his left hand and smashing it against a wall. "We had to carry him two clicks [kilometers] all the way back here."

There's a long silence as Meeks looks at two comrades. Finally, after a pause that seems like hours, he slowly says, "Those images will always be in your head. I'm sure many people over here got them, but I mean ... it just is bad. ... He has three kids and a wife."

He pauses again, correcting himself: "A widow."

His friend was Army Sgt. Robert J. Montgomery Jr., 29, of Scottsburg, Indiana. He was killed May 22 when a roadside bomb went off during a patrol not far from Fire Base Red, which is in Iraq's "Triangle of Death" about 15 miles (25 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad.

Meeks still struggles with what happened, even as he fights to survive every day.

"There's a bunch of mixed emotions going on in there," he says. "You want to scream out loud, you want to go home. ... You just hate seeing these people every day after one of your buddies dies."

Soldier part of U.S. military 'surge'

More than 3,500 U.S. troops have died in the war, including five more Thursday. Meeks is among the thousands of troops at the center of the U.S. military's "surge" -- the plan to put more boots on the ground, spread the troops out and get them into places where the military has not had a direct or consistent presence in the past.

He's a young soldier who's been worn down by the war and everything that comes with it. The 21-year-old from Spanaway, Washington, has been in Iraq for eight months, his first tour here.

On a hot day in mid-June, Meeks is planted on a corner "sniper's nest" on the rooftop of Fire Base Red. He's manning a gunning position -- keeping a close eye on the palm groves and fields in front of him. He's looking for any movement. Base troops have come under major attack already this week, and this spot is one of the most dangerous places in Iraq.

He takes his tour day by day, rarely thinking further than the next patrol, his next mission.

As Meeks speaks, Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, the commanding general of the 3rd Infantry Division, is nearby on the rooftop, talking with CNN correspondent Hala Gorani about the "surge" and the strategy behind it.

The military is working to establish small patrol bases such as this one and form alliances with Iraqi army units to patrol the volatile farmland and fight insurgents. But in this area, there are no Iraqi forces, Lynch says.

"We're in an extremely risky business. This is indeed combat operations that we're experiencing out here," he says.

Peering out over the vast area, Meeks gives a soldier's view. "To tell you the truth, it is one of the biggest s--- holes in Iraq. There is an IED planted everywhere," he says, referring to improvised explosive devices, or roadside bombs.

The conversation is quickly interrupted by the general, who walks over to Meeks and hands him a special military coin.

"Thanks for what you're doing," Lynch says.

"Wow," Meeks responds.

Once the general walks away, Meeks looks at his two buddies in this netted fire position and adds, "That's pretty cool."

Quickly, the conversation picks up again about that fateful day when he lost his friend. Montgomery was in the lead. Meeks was five men behind him.

"The blast hit -- sharp metal went up in the air and came down. I could hear my two buddies screaming, and they were yelling Sgt. Montgomery's name," he says. "I could tell from the screams of their voices that something bad had happened."

Meeks' face slowly changes -- from remorse to sadness and slowly to anger -- as he continues.

"Our medics came rushing up with our platoon sergeant ... and, um, there was just utter silence out of him. And then I heard KIA [killed in action]."

A hero's tribute in Indiana hometown

Back in southeastern Indiana, residents on May 31 lined overpasses hanging flags and banners to honor Montgomery as his flag-draped coffin made the 20-mile journey from Freeman Field in Seymour to Scottsburg, a town of about 6,000. Montgomery was the first soldier in Scott County to die in the war.

When the body arrived in his hometown, more than 2,000 people crowded the streets, and two fire trucks formed an arch for the procession to pass through, says Mayor Bill Graham, Montgomery's uncle.

"It was overwhelming," Graham says. "The streets were lined and people were crying. An unbelievable tribute."

Montgomery was buried about a block and a half from where his mother raised him, Graham says.

"As low and as devastated as the family was, the outpouring of love and respect that the community showed helped carry the family through such a low, low time. I'm so proud of the respect shown," he says.

Montgomery's older brother, Micah, a master sergeant in the Army, came home from Iraq for the funeral, but he has since redeployed. "It was a great loss to Micah," Graham says. "His mother told him he could not go back to Iraq, but his reaction was that all of his friends and brothers were over there and he must go back."

Graham says troops in Iraq should know "that people over here support them."

"We can never thank them enough for the sacrifice they are making for freedom."

By Cal Perry
CNN
Entry #1,182

what do you think the world will be like five years from now?

what do you think the world will be like five years from now?

i think we will be facing high prices,recession,more war,rising crime,oil shortages,natural disasters,etc.

i feel like things are gonna get worse and i hate that for my childrens sake.i swore i'd never have children due to the way the world is now.i was 30 years old and then had two beautiful babies and i love them and i regret saying i never would have children.i will be getting near 50 before they even graduate high school.i hope they have the same feel good times and carefree worries i had in high school but i think thats wishful thinking.in high school they'll probably go through metal detectors or have to pay 8 bucks a gallon for gas.they'll probably have to deal with gangs and worry about some foreign country dropping missles on us.i'll worry myself sick probably about all this when they get older.my parents used to talk about the good 'ol days and i would laugh but it looks like i had my good 'ol days too.i can just see myself saying..."sonny when i walk to school nobody shot at me or killed the teacher" or "when i was your age we only paid a dollar a gallon for gas"  or "the only gang i joined were the boy scouts"

 

Entry #1,181

so how did ya like the sopranos ending?

Fans of "The Sopranos" are seizing on clues suggesting the controversial blackout which abruptly ended the TV mob drama meant that Tony Soprano was rubbed out,Tony plays the Journey hit "Don't Stop Believin" on the jukebox as he waits for his family while munching on onion rings..........

Entry #1,180

atari--the good 'ol days of video gaming

i haven't played video games in years.tonight however i ran across some articles on the atari on the web.i remember getting my first atari in 1982 and i think i might've been in the 3rd grade at the time.i played that thing night and day and even bought the next couple atari systems that come out after that.pac man and combat came with mine.i quickly bought games like pitfall,donkey kong,centipede,e.t.,dig dug,yars revenge,keystone kapers,etc. i sure do miss it now that i look back on it.i had many hours of fun playing and i think that video games kept a lot of kids off the street and out of trouble back then....

 

Entry #1,179

do you lose faith in the direction of your country

i cannot remember in my lifetime seeing as much disillusion and misguidance as i see with this president.i was born months after nixon stepped down so that doesn't qualify and even if i had to compare the two i still say this is a lot worse.nixon lied and made himself untrustworthy but i doubt he is going to take us to hell in a handbasket like bush is doing.since he became president in 2000 he has turned all these countries against us,made war with a small country halfway around the world where all our young men are dying,trying to bring all these illegal aliens into the united states,passed all kinds of dumb laws like the gambling bill,won't sign into law a bill that could help people with parkinson and even vetoed it,turned his back on katrina victims,passed laws so he can spy on the american public and junks the constitution or uses it as he sees fit.anybody is a big improvement over george.'08 can't come fast enough.is it too late to regain our integrity and our standing with the world?

Entry #1,177

the pursuit of happiness

different things please different people.some people are happy quite often and some just stay in dark moods.it doesn't matter if your rich,poor,black,white,sexy,ugly or whatever.i'm interested in what makes a person happy or what it takes to keep them in a state of happiness.i guess in my pursuit of happiness that as long as my kids are healthy and i'm healthy myself thats the number one goal i aim to stay at.followed by spending plenty of quality time together and doing things.i like material things but they don't mean as much to me since i didn't grow up with much.i got a bike at christmas and if that bike got stolen a few weeks after i got it then tough luck i had to wait until the next christmas to get another.i got atari on my birthdays every year the new one come out.i had the 2600,5200,etc.see my babies have gotten to where they beg in the store now and scream for toys and most of the time i don't get them anything.every blue moon i might get them something but most of the time i don't because they have plenty of toys at home.my girlfriend says that is mean when i don't ever get them anything but i'm trying not to spoil them.i'm the kind of person that if i have few thousand in the bank i feel secure and comfortable.i don't go blowing money just because i have it.some people just don't get it.i was told the other day wow you have enough to go get a new digital camera and this and that.why?  why should i go blow money because i have it.and then when an emergency comes up i'll be flat broke regretting the purchase later.it don't take much to make me happy how about you?

Entry #1,176

Immigration Bill Derailed in Senate

WASHINGTON (June 8) -- The Senate  divisions that derailed a White House-backed immigration  bill -- for now, at least -- mirror the U.S. society's deep differences over the issue, according to polling data, lawmakers and analysts. Those gaps will challenge any effort to get the measure back on track.

While most Senate Democrats appeared to back the bill, several liberal members said it did too little to keep immigrant families together and protect jobs for U.S.-born workers.

The split in the Republican  Party was more obvious. The issue pitted social conservatives, who insisted that illegal immigrants not be granted "amnesty" for entering the country unlawfully, against business groups hungry for willing workers in hotels, restaurants, construction sites and other comparatively low-wage, low-skilled workplaces.

A bipartisan group of senators tried for weeks to bridge the chasms, but fell glaringly short Thursday night. Needing 60 votes to end debate and schedule a final vote on the bill itself, they won only 45. Senate leaders set aside the legislation until further notice.

House leaders, meanwhile, said they will not tackle immigration legislation until a Senate bill is completed.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., said he hoped to pass the measure eventually, but he devoted much of his post-vote comments Thursday night to accusing President Bush  of doing too little to obtain Republican support. "This the president's bill," Reid told a hushed chamber. "Where are the president's people helping us with these votes?"

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., defended the administration. "The White House has worked like a dog," he told reporters. Indeed, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff lobbied senators inside the Capitol right up until Thursday's showdown vote.

The White House argued the setback was not fatal for Bush's top domestic priority and urged Reid to allow the bill to continue to be debated and eventually receive a vote. Administration officials monitored the developments from Germany where the president was attending the annual summit of world leaders.
"He obviously is disappointed by the setback," White House counselor Dan Bartlett said of Bush. "But based on the latest information we have, there still is a good chance this bill could go forward."

Bartlett said the president did not call any lawmakers from Germany to lobby for the measure.

Whether Bush can revive the legislation may depend largely on whether he can soften some of the differences between key components of his party's base, including the corporate community and social conservatives.

They clashed on matters such as the immigration bill's proposal for a new temporary worker program. Businesses that crave immigrant workers were furious when senators in May set the limit for incoming temporary workers at 200,000 a year instead of the original plan for 400,000. They were even more dismayed when the Senate narrowly voted to end the program altogether after five years.

But slapping tighter limits on immigration is a priority for many conservatives. When it came to the temporary worker program, their interests overlapped with those of pro-labor groups concerned about a flood of low-wage workers.

Top U.S. Chamber of Commerce lobbyist R. Bruce Josten told The Associated Press this week that the immigration issue is "divisive in the Republican base, it's divisive in the Democratic base, it's divisive in the business community. It splits organized labor, it splits the immigration community."

Republican senators who backed the immigration bill felt particularly exposed to fierce attacks from conservative activists in their home states, including talk show hosts and local GOP  officials. Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., said in a floor speech Thursday that he disliked many aspects of the bill but felt it would be irresponsible to kill it.

"I am getting calls, but I would say to my constituents: Do you have no faith in me after 35 years that I am just going to buy a pig in a poke here, or be for something that is bad?" Lott said.

In a recent poll by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, 55 percent of the respondents said penalizing employers who hire illegals is the best way to reduce illegal immigration . One in four said more border agents is the best answer, and 7 percent favored more border fences.

When the word "amnesty" was not invoked, 62 percent of Republicans said they favored letting illegal immigrants now in the country obtain citizenship if they have jobs, pass background checks and pay fines. But only 47 percent of Republicans said they favored giving amnesty to illegal immigrants if they met those same conditions.

Democrats, independents and moderate and liberal Republicans were most concerned about jobs, but conservative Republicans were about equally concerned with jobs and terrorism .

CHARLES BABINGTON--AP
Entry #1,175

FBI WEBSITE HEADLINE:Online Gambling,Don't Roll The Dice

ONLINE GAMBLING
Don’t Roll the Dice

06/06//07

 

If you’ve ever thought about visiting a cyber casino, here’s something you should know: it’s illegal to gamble online in the United States.

“You can go to Vegas. You can go to Atlantic City. You can go to a racetrack. You can go to those places and gamble legally. But don’t do it online. It’s against the law,” says Leslie Bryant, head of our Cyber Crime Fraud unit at FBI Headquarters.

That means:

… No placing cyber bets on sporting events or in virtual card games;

… No transferring money electronically for gambling; and

… No wagers in offshore Internet casinos even if you live in the U.S.

What’s allowed? Some free online games, fantasy leagues, and Indian gaming sites that aren’t strictly defined as Internet gambling.

It’s also illegal for businesses to run gambling websites and to solicit online bets. Even companies handling transactions for cyberspace bettors can face federal charges.

Cracking down. Our strategy for tackling illegal online gambling—as a key enforcement agency—is to start with the companies providing the services in the first place. “We’re going after the people making the money—the owners of these virtual casinos, gaming rooms, and off-track betting parlors,” Bryant says.

We currently have about a dozen of these cases in motion. One of the biggest came last July when a federal grand jury in St. Louis returned a 22-count indictment against 11 individuals and four companies for their involvement in illegal online gaming and related activities. On May 24, one of the companies—BetonSports— pled guilty to racketeering charges in the case.

We’ve also had success against companies supporting the money flows behind virtual gambling. In January, for example, two Canadians were charged with operating an Internet payment services company that transferred billions of dollars in illegal gambling proceeds between U.S. citizens and the owners of online gambling sites outside the country.

In 2003, another Internet financial services company paid $10 million in a civil agreement to settle allegations that it aided illegal offshore and online gambling agreements. The U.S. government has also settled several cases with online businesses that have accepted money to market virtual gambling operations.

Think a little online gambling can’t cost you? Don’t bet on it. Even if you don’t get caught gambling, you could well lose the money you have in an online gaming account if the company faces charges, since the U.S. government seizes assets in these cases whenever possible.

FYI, here are the primary federal laws that govern online gambling:

For more information on our cyber investigations and operations, see our Cyber Investigations website.

Entry #1,174

shrink the box and raise the price

MINNEAPOLIS (June 6) - General Mills Inc. said on Tuesday it would raise cereal prices to match increases by competitors, but investors sent its shares down more than 3 percent, and one analyst downgraded the stock.

General Mills spokesman Tom Forsythe said customers should actually see lower prices per box, but the boxes will be smaller, so the effect is a price increase of a few percent. The new prices go into effect on June 25.

The maker of Wheaties and Lucky Charms has been looking for a way to boost profits on its cereals. It sold as much cereal during its most recent quarter as it did in the same period a year ago, but at lower prices because of promotions. Profits have been squeezed by higher prices for fuel and ingredients such as oats.

"Input costs are definitely a factor" in the price increase, Forsythe said. "Grain and energy costs have increased. Most of our competitors in the cereal category have already raised prices, some months ago."

General Mills competitor Kellogg  Co. said in April that it had raised prices by 5 percent based on weight.

Forsythe said General Mills cereals often appeared more expensive on the shelf because of their larger box sizes, and the switch to smaller boxes will make them appear more competitive, even with the increased price per ounce.

General Mills is also eliminating some cereal sizes, although Forsythe declined to say how many. That will help reduce costs and should make its cereals easier to put on store shelves, he said.

Citing the quiet period before General Mills reports results on June 21, Forsythe declined to say what effect the company expects to see on its profits.

Bear Stearns  analyst Terry Bivens wrote in a research note on Tuesday that General Mills appears to be trying to boost volume with the lower shelf prices. He said the company is gambling by making the change across all its cereals at once rather than experimenting first to see if it works. He downgraded the stock to a neutral rating.

"Though we still admire many aspects of the company, the risks in its cereal plan are too acute, by our measure, to maintain a confidently bullish rating on a stock that already has performed so well year-to-date," he wrote.

General Mills shares have risen steadily from about $51 a year ago to over $61 recently. But on Tuesday they dropped $2.07, or 3.4 percent, to $59.40.

General Mills' last attempt at an across-the-board price increase went badly. In early 2005 it effectively raised prices by reducing discounts - and watched sales of some cereals drop as much as 5 percent.

One question is whether retailers will pass along shelf-price reductions to customers, or keep the difference for themselves. That's a risk, but it wasn't a problem that Kellogg ran into, said Jon Fisher, a portfolio manager at Fifth Third Bancorp  who follows food companies.

He said he believes General Mills waited this long to raise prices because it was hoping to grab market share from Kellogg. But it didn't work out that way. Kellogg even claimed in April that it had gained market share.

"It was becoming evident as the spring wore on that it wasn't having that impact," Fisher said.

Other food companies have been raising prices successfully he said, and retailers have been going along.

"Food companies, consumer product companies, they have pricing power right now," he said.
BY JOSHUA FREED -AP
Entry #1,173

get ready for another sweltering summer

welp its time for my unfavorite part of the year in the very humid west tennessee heat.a time where i bake to a crisp and have breathing trouble.its going to be 97 here by the end of the week ain't that grand.june,july and august ain't no friends of mine.the next three months will be hell on earth for me.welp this year there are two good things i didn't have in my favor last year.no more half hour rounds outdoors at work anymore so i don't have to dehydrate in a 200 degree boiler,kiln,mill and warehouse because its shut down.i also have air finally in my van(so far) and the problem was the vaccum lines.i remember rickg and someone else asking me to let them know because they had vans and this was what my problem was.they said the vaccum lines had melted off so the air wasn't getting through.so i ought to have a much better summer this year based on these two factors.i had hell at work every year with a boiler running making it very hot plus i drove a black z-28 with no air which black is the worst color to have in the summer because it attracts more heat.don't have either of those to worry about anymore.however due to the humidity it won't take long to have my breath taken away.thats what does it is the humidity.we had the worst may in history of the city this year with only an inch or so of rain all month.i usually don't care for rain but i welcome it when its really hot.be glad when september gets here and its cool and shady and football starts!

Entry #1,171
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