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Now before any of you Jackson fans get the vapors over my anticipated, sacrilegious criticism of such a cultural icon, allow me first to extol his virtues. He had a unique voice and a wonderful creative style. He was a great dancer. His videos set a new standard for the music industry and his records sold in the 100’s of millions. He even had the reputation of being very generous -especially to children.

Concurrent with the above, his dysfunction behavior was equally record-shattering. He personally admitted that he liked to play and sleep with little children. Maybe this was well intentioned even though he paid over $20 million in restitution for which maybe he was framed. After dozens of surgeries, he looked like a bad Halloween mask. I understand he was hoping to look like Diana Ross. He wore a bandage to prevent his nose from falling off. He bleached his skin white. I guess he wanted to dispel the rumor that white men can’t dance. He wore a wig that looked like the picture on a Dutch Master Cigar box. He bought three blond blue eyed children from a surrogate woman, and made them wear masks in public. Finally, he took more drugs than the local pharmacy dispenses in a week. There may be more, but my intention is not to be cruel or insensitive to someone who may have had some psychological challenges.

This is the question of the day! Has society lost all sense of values? Are there so few heroes left in the world that this has become an international event that trumps the world’s shattering economic and political crises? I am not saying that we shouldn’t recognize the loss of talent, but this display is so over the top that it must be symptomatic of a deeper societal problem.

My own theory is that it reflects the break down of the family, and the virtues that parents have historically passed on to their children. Our economy has required two income households short changing child guidance. Additionally, I believe that when the institutions, in which have traditionally believed, fail us, we seek the lowest common denominator. There has been financial and moral corruption in politics on both sides of the aisle; corruption on Wall Street and in our banking system. There has been moral corruption in the church especially the Catholic Church. We have evolved a public school system that is so horribly broken that we give out awards when reading scores exceed the 30th percentile. We demean our political leaders to the point where the smart people simply avoid public service leaving us with narcissists and self promoters. We have belittled patriotism, calling it corny and anti-intellectual. Finally, separation of church and state gone over the political correctness top by attempting rename Christmas, attempting to take the word God off coins and currency, and denying our Judeo-Christian heritage. The constitution's meaning for the separation of church and state was to protect churches from the government, not the other way around.

The canonization of a Michael Jackson type is simply a society crying out for meaning. It should give us pause, when more people voted for American Idol than for the President, and when TV is filled with more and more reality programs promoting trashy, dysfunctional behavior, and when train wrecks cause erections. It should lift us from our proverbial couches and make us yell out, “No More. It’s time to fix things." We are Americans who have a tradition of hard work and rugged individualism. We need to take back our government. California is giving out IOU’s this week. Washington is headed in the same direction and is out of control. China, India and others are calling for a world currency because of their fear of the devaluation of the dollar. I am sorry that Jackson died but let him be buried, and let us move on. We need to stop watching the train wreck, and start laying new tracks.
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I am not Joe the plumber.

I am a lot smarter than Joe the plumber who never challenged the 2008 candidates. He should have asked why they voted so quickly to bail out the crooked accounting methods of the wealthy CEO's etc.

I would not be brainwashed into thinking & believing that the bail-out is in our best interests. I will not pander up to any polition for personal tax purposes when they will do it again. What is the point?

They have screwed us now and will probably do it again in the future. The change we need is in the members of congress. Arrest them all and put them in jail. Make them accountable to us! (The people!)

A void in the large Wall St. Firms & Banks will create a profit motive to allow another company to move in and replace them, Wells Fargo Bank did in fact make a similar move already! This is how the private bank market works. The businesses that floated risk money got what they have deserved because they were paying their salaries on money that they did not make, or truly earn! Dam them to hell to make us suffer for their mistakes.

I want to bring a law suit against the members of Congress for not protecting my USA citizen’s rights & interests. The members who voted for this bail out have successfully stolen our future earnings of income and did so in a mindless manner without thinking it out arefully. In short, irresponsible, and I want to punish them to the full extent of the law.

This decision has done nothing to protect us! Only the 3-5 percent of homeowners have mortgage problems, defaults etc… but all of us are being punished by paying out our tax revenues to the management of wall street firms & banks who floated debts and created extravagant accounting procedures to hide real earnings & cash making them look like everything was fine. For years these firms “floated” business and borrowed the money to continue paying themselves a false earnings! Robbing Peter to pay Paul is how they did it. It is a real shame on the accountants and the accounting industry for this to happen!

What are the colleges of criminal justice for?
What are the colleges of business for?
What are the colleges of law for?

We need to practice what we believe to be true.

Let all the members of Congress who voted for this explain in a court of law what they did was in our best interests? I am sick of what they
did and I don't like it. I want a good attorney to stand-up and become
a representative for me, and all of us!

Reply immediately if you are a trial lawyer in Florida.

]]>Fri, 17 Oct 2008 09:38:50 PDT1224261530keyboard commands, which I couldn't live without, are supported, so that's a plus.

Chrome also works great with TAC, and it allows you to stretch any text box that you encounter.

If you don't have it yet, I recommend trying it out ASAP. The fast download and install time suggests that this browser isn't likely to drain all system resources. But, it's a Beta version, so let's see.

I've already removed all my Firefox, Navigator, and Explorer shortcuts.]]>Sat, 06 Sep 2008 15:36:14 PDT1220740574Thu, 29 Nov 2007 09:41:55 PST1196358115Thu, 29 Nov 2007 09:38:34 PST1196357914 Tanning beds offer the same ultraviolet light that is produced from the sun. However, the intensity of these rays is increasingly higher than the natural sun. The UVA and UVB rays are produced by the bulbs that are inside the conventional beds. "The UVB rays are accountable for stimulating production of the naturally occurring skin pigment melanin. The UVA rays are the ones that oxidize the melanin, producing the golden brown color."(Marlborough).
Within in each tanning salon, there are a variety of beds to choose from. When first starting to artificially tan, it is best to use the basic beds. This is to obtain a base tan. The basic beds contain the least amount of UVA and UVB bulbs, and are the least intense. These beds usually come with the choice of a high or low pressure facial tan. The high pressure allows for an instant glowing face that later on fades away. The low pressure facial takes longer to see the results, but they last longer. Most basic beds have a maximum time limit of twenty minutes. However, the amount of time somebody stays in the bed is their personal decision.
There are many different higher level beds as well. Most of these have only high pressure bulbs, which tan the body differently than the lower beds. "They utilize only UVA rays and no UVB rays. The term 'high-pressure' refers to the atmosphere inside the lamps or bulbs, which are made out of quartz. The higher air pressure is what allows the lamp or bulb to filter out virtually all UVB rays - the rays that produce burn. The result is a faster, deeper, longer-lasting tan"(Marlborough).
These choices that are offered at the conventional tanning salons are hazardous enough. For the most part, people today tan because they want to get results that are produced by the sun, except faster. Taking this into consideration, how easily a person becomes sun burnt does not always cross their mind. Somebody with fair skin may be suggested not to use a high pressure bed right away, or ever, but they will not be turned away if they are willing to pay for it.
The employees of the salons are not professionals in the field of dermatology either. Sure the beds have a maximum time limit on them, but one time that will barely alter one person's pigment, could cause sun poisoning for another. The employees just simply put in the desired time of the customer into the computer, not thinking that the maximum length for a fair skinned, red head could be too dangerous. Just a little bit of overexposure to the ultraviolet rays could cause skin to burn. Too much overexposure has the potential to lead to skin cancers, or other trends appearing today.
One of these visual trends is premature aging and wrinkles. The UVA rays that produce the golden brown color do this by penetrating the skin. The result is a longer lasting tan. Because of this, many tanning salons are using UVA rays in their higher beds. However, the salons are not informing customers of the dangers of this amazing long lasting tan. "The repeated darkening of the melanin by the UVA rays can cause your skin to thicken. The result of these pigment changes may then cause premature aging of the skin"(Pipkin). The penetration of the UVA rays into your skin does not only darken the pigment and thicken skin, it also break the elasticity down in the skin, and over time, this will also cause premature aging and wrinkles (Croy). There is a misconception of a person's overall appearance after going to a tanning bed. Sure skin will presently be glowing and dark, however, the long term effects of wrinkles and premature aging are not advertised.
There is also a serious side effect to artificial tanning that is not as clearly noticed by the people who participate in this. The usage of tanning beds actually causes an addiction. Many people actually make time in their schedule to go tanning and even feel bad if they do not get to go. The tanning addiction is just like a drug addiction. "Researchers looked at frequent tanners -- those who tan eight to 15 times a month. Their study shows that frequent tanners get withdrawal symptoms when given naltrexone, a drug that blocks a narcotic-like substance produced in the skin during tanning. But infrequent tanners who take naltrexone don't get withdrawal symptoms." (DeNoon).
The most dangerous long term effect of tanning beds is skin cancer. This more than affects the customer of the tanning salon. If the diagnosis of cancer is serious enough the effects of it can hit home. While people are laying down receiving radiation and darker skin, they do not always think of the risk of possible death. Many studies have proven that the use of tanning beds have highly increased a person's chance at getting melanoma. A study done by a Swedish researcher reinforces this conclusion. "Risk of melanoma more than doubled for those who first began using the lights when 35 or younger, and generally increased with more use of the lights until a person had used the lights more than 250 times. Using commercial lights also more than doubled the risk" (American Cancer Society).
The risks of tanning beds have become more prevalent in the recent years. Frequent visitors to tanning beds are searching for a quick tan while ignoring the potential risk factors. There are many alternatives to tanning beds such as spray tans and various lotions. The long term effects of tanning can cause severe illness even death. Personally, I feel that a short term sun glow is not worth long term skin cancer.


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