The Online Actos Blog

The US Homeland Security is worried about Hydrofoil or Skimmer Craft used as fast moving bombs on water entering one of our ports or Naval shipyards. If you will remember the XXX” Movie with the Hydrofoil Craft with a Biological Weapon which would kill millions of people if it released it’s gaseous cargo.

http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/movie/xxx/27.jpeg

http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/xxx_photo.htm

Although this is hypothetical it is also very possible. One study described our many inlets and rivers such as he Chesapeake, Potomac, San Francisco Bay, Columbia River, Puget Sound, Hudson, Port Houston Ship Lane, Boston Harbor or Tampa Bay.

Luckily for us we have great tracking, radar and competent US Navy and US Coast Guard. However what if one was launched from a Cargo Ship outside of US Territory in international waters? Then what, how do you stop something moving that fast or respond to the threat? Some of these high tech versions travel at nearly 100 knots. A ten thousand pound payload, which is what the nuclear bombs weighed that were dropped on Japan in WWII, could easily be carried by a hydrofoil that was 30 feet long.

The hypothetical of the XXX movie is questionable because the biological gas would be quickly diluted with the relative wind in such coastal areas from off shore or onshore breeze. But a hydrofoil Unmanned Autonomous Device would render very serious consequences. Obviously a good point for trying to prevent rogue nations from developing Nuclear Weapons, which could end up in the hands of International Terrorists piloting hydrofoils, who do not care if they blow up with the Weapon of Mass Destruction.

Once the bomb gets within 1 mile of the shore or enters a harbor there are no longer any possible good outcomes, once it touches land there are only disastrous scenarios. When people run the scenarios and animation programs and study these things, the findings are extremely alarming.

http://www.tybeetyme.com/tb/images/bomb_blast_map.gif

http://www.parowanprophet.com/maps/mohawk_350_KT_nuke.jpg

We should not assume that simply because we board every cargo ship from certain countries that we are safe, these things could come on any type of ship or ultra large yacht. And the technology is well known, used in sport marine, luxury marine, military worldwide. How can you stop a hydrofoil traveling at 100 knots from entering a harbor?

One way is to have large high-pressure tanks under water at the mouth of the river or harbor. Similar to giant cylinder propane tanks only the width of the mouth of the inlet, if you fail to hit the hydrofoil with conventional defense weapons, you release all the gas as the hydrofoil enters the harbor. The tanks can be pipelines which are in use, with quick release valves opening upward, the can be closed off tanks with CO2, Oxygen, Hydrogen, methane or other such gas. The gas as it escapes creates a cavity and the hydrofoil or skimmer craft falls as it would over a waterfall tumbling downward. Then the water fills in over it and even if the weapon of mass destruction goes off, it does so underwater which provides one more layer of protection. This is a last resort defense mechanism able to high-speed boats, skimmer craft, hydrofoils and medium sized fast moving ships. Of course this is only one possible way to stop such attacks as we also have missiles, guns, cannons, etc. at the military shipyards, harbors and inlets.

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

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eBay sees Keyword spamming as a minor violation. However repeated warnings over this policy will eventually have your account suspended or even terminated.

So, what exactly is Keyword spamming?

Firstly you need to release how eBay users works. The majority of users on eBay search for keywords - they do not browse though the relevant categories.

For example if I was looking for a new car, I would type “HONDA” into the search box rather than browse to the Honda category of the vehicle section.

Secondly you need to be aware that eBay’s system only searches for these keywords in the title - It will not scan the description for the keywords I specify.

eBay would then present me with a list of items with the keyword “honda” in the title. Any item such as Honda CRX or Honda keyring will be shown to me as the search results.

So, some sellers will fill their item title with keywords that they expect will be searched for more. If the keywords are relevant to the item they’re listing then it’s within eBay policy.

If the keywords they use are not relevant to what they’re listing, it is known as Keyword spamming.

One example of Keyword spamming would be “Honda CRX for sale - not nissan or toyota” Anyone searching for the keyword “nissan” will be shown this item and it’s fairly obvious the words are not relevant.

Apart from being against eBay policy, using techniques like this is likely to irritate most users as they’re presented with unexpected results.

Mark Kenny runs an eBay forum where you get rewarded for contributing your point of view.

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Jig Fishing Techniques
By Steve vonBrandt

Today’s soft plastic lure market is booming with new styles and colors of baits, but when you are looking for the biggest bite of the day, the fish that consistently win tournaments; then anglers in the know go to the bait that has been proven over time to catch the biggest bass; the venerable jig-and-pig.
20 years ago, this bait was reserved for the sluggish bass, or for fishing in the heaviest cover, or for bottom fishing techniques. Today, this bait is being used at all times of the year, in a variety of different fashions.

This bait has remained relatively the same over the past 30 years. It has gone through some cosmetic changes, such as better hooks, livelier skirts, and a broader spectrum of colors and sizes, along with plastic trailers, which enable a wider variety of color options, but this bait, dressed with either plastic or pork, continues to catch bigger bass when other baits fail. Because of the popularity of the flipping technique used by most of the veteran anglers today, the jig has remained among the most popular baits in many anglers tackle boxes. Because of so many recreational anglers concentrating on the flipping technique, the jig’s universal effectiveness has been overlooked.

Many people have forgotten that casting a jig is an effective technique also. The jig can be presented at a lot of different depths and around a variety of structure. You are really limiting yourself if you only focus on the flipping aspect of it. Many times during the summer months, we have come in behind other anglers flipping obvious targets, or casting more traditional summer lures, and we have caught bass making roll casts, and looking for isolated pieces of cover that other anglers have missed.

DIFFERENT SIZES

Jig sizes have changed in recent years, along with skirt material and colors. The 3/8 ounce size remains the most popular, with smaller versions are being used more and more with great success. The smaller finesse type of jigs are much more effective in clear water, while the heavier, bulky versions are great for fishing stained to muddy water. Not that the heavier jig isn’t effective in some shallower, open water, but a more compact 1/2 ounce bait is more effective, than the bulkier style. I use a shorter trailer for this. This is especially true when fishing some of the finger lakes of New York State, or any of the waters where smallmouth bass are also present. The heavier jig is more effective when the bass are aggressive, as it allows you to fish it faster and cover more water. When the fish are suspended, or you need to keep it in the strike zone longer, the lighter jig is more effective. We always keep experimenting with several sizes, letting the bass tell us what they want. In the summer months, when we swim the jig around boat docks, we opt for the lighter 1/4 ounce size, with a plastic trailer, to imitate a crawfish or baitfish. Swimming the jig is a very effective technique that is overlooked by many weekend anglers. Most small jigs don’t have a big enough hook to handle quality bass, which is why we use a Spotsticker handpoured Jighead. We have been using this bait since 2002, when we had great success with it in several local tournaments in cold water as well as in the summer. The Spotsticker has a bigger hook than most, and it handles larger bass well. In warmer, clear water, we like to use a grub or swimming worm as a trailer, this is very effective when you are trying to imitate a crawfish. In colder, or more stained to muddy waters, we like a bulkier trailer, as they displace more water and make it easier for the bass to home in on the bait.

The design of the jighead is another thing you have to think about. They need to be matched to the type of cover you are fishing. A jig that has a head that is more pointed, with its eyelet coming out of the front rather than the top, is going to pull through weeds better than a broad shouldered jig. We like to use a Jungle Jig, by Northland, or a Terminator Pro’s Top Secret jig for this. The Terminator has a recessed eye, as does Mann’s Stone jig designed by Mike Iaconelli, and they all come through this cover well.These jigs helped us win the Big Bass World Championship several times. They were very effective here in the Northeast, in some of the heavier, weedy cover. When we fish around rocks and wood, we use a jig with more shoulders to help stop it sometimes. Many companies make this type of football or stand up jig, which is great for these situations. When you pull it over an object, the jig tips, adding more action. We have used these jigs effectively on many of New Jersey’s reservoirs such as Spruce Run. You must also match the size of the line to the size of the jig hook you are using. A heavy-duty jig hook requires a stronger hook set, so you need heavier line to handle it.

Of course, it helps to know when you’re getting a bite. Big bass really thump a jig with the same vigor they do a plastic worm, and many other strikes are felt simply as spongy sensation, or just like you’re dragging weeds. That’s why it is important to set the hook on anything that feels unnatural, it could be weeds, or it could be a seven pounder!

JIG COLORS

While a black and blue jig seems to be the favorite, we like to match jig colors to the water conditions. A dark colored jig with a big crawfish trailer, moving on the bottom, does a great job imitating a crawfish, but a white jig swimming over cover and around boat docks does a good job of imitating a baitfish. This is great when bass want a slower presentation, or when you can’t fish a crankbait or jerkbait with ease. Many times when bass are feeding on shad, but want a slower presentation than a spinnerbait, this is the best choice. It can also catch the bigger bass that are ignoring the spinnerbait. The new “Sweet Beavers” by Andre moore’s company, “Reaction Innovations”, have been the hottest and most productive soft plastic this year all over the country.

We like the plastic trailers in the summer months, and the pork in the winter.The new Uncle Josh Pork is more pliable in cold water, while plastic gets stiff. In places where many anglers cast tubes or small finesse worms, such as clear water flats, we cast jigs in neutral colors, and catch bigger bass. Many times when bass ignore other baits, the jig will trigger a strike. This is also a great bait for night fishing.

Big Bass World Champ/De NAFC Hall Of Fame Owner of Anglers Radio, Delaware Tackle, and Reeltimeanglers.
http://www.reeltimeanglers.com

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It’s no surprise If you’ve become interested in the new camera phones being advertised by cellular service providers on television. They have quickly become one of the fastest selling technologies in U.S. history and are well on their way to becoming one of the must have cellular phone accessories. Almost 6 million cellular phone users within the United States now have camera phones. Surprisingly this number is extremely low when compared to Japan where the camera cellular phone has become a trademark in almost all of the cellular phones. Don’t be alarmed though, camera cell phones are here to stay in the United States and with the cellular phone providers making it easier and cheaper to mass produce them an estimated 50 to 90 percent of U.S. cell-phones will contain built-in cameras by 2007, according to market research.

Like all new cellular products initially their price was rather high but now many cellular companies are actually giving them away for free when you sign up for their cellular phone service. The ease of use has also sparked an interest among users of the camera phone. In many cases a simple point and click is all that’s needed to be able to send a picture of a family member or event to someone else. This ability to capture the moment has helped sales soar on camera cellular phones but will that novelty wear out anytime soon?

Unfortunately there are still a few drawbacks to having a camera phone. The pictures aren’t near the quality of what a regular camera can take. There is also the problem of storage space. Until the photo is downloaded into a computer it eats up the cellular phone’s memory. There is also the cost factor some carriers, such as Verizon and T-Mobile, charge 25 cents per photo sent or received. Although as in many previous technological advances the few minor problems should clear up and the cost should go down as the technology improves.

There are several camera cellular phones on the market. The Sony Ericsson T6106, the LG VX6000, the Sanyo VM 4500 represent some choices. Additional features can be found on the Motorola V300 and the Nokia 3650.

Whichever camera phone you choose there is no doubt that the technology is here to stay and judging from the current consumer demand and the commitment of the cellular phone providers to supply that demand camera cellular phones will soon be as common place as the current regular cell phone.

Timothy Gorman is a successful webmaster and publisher of Cellular-Phones-Online.com. He provides more free cell phone information and resources that you can research in your pajamas on his website.

Other websites operated by Tim

Military-Loans-Online.com - Trusted provider of military loans and VA loans

Best-Free-Insurance-Quotes.com - Offers discount auto, home and life insurance

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A newcomer to the world of investments in the notion of “Virtual Real Estate Investing“. There are many variations on what this term means, encompassing everything from using the internet to aid in real estate investing efforts to participating in online games such as SecondLife.

To get the facts, I sought out the man generally considered to be the father of virtual real estate investing: Bryan Ellis.

“I began using the term ‘virtual real estate investing’ in the late 1990’s when I realized the clear similiarities in profit strategies, regardless of whether the “real estate” is “virtual” or “physical” said Ellis.

Bryan Ellis cites the similar strategies one can employe to make money from “virtual property” and “physical property” as a primary parallel of the two markets. “These types of assets - websites and physical real estate - can be monetized in very similar ways like buy lo/sell high, leasing/rental and advertising opportunities” he says.

The parallels really are obvious. After all, if you own a valuable piece of real estate, it’s “valuable” because other people are interested in that specific piece of property. Likewise, if you own a desirable domain name, others will find value in it because it serves their purposes. Regardless of the type of asset, you can sell or lease or use any number of strategies to turn the assets into cash.

In our next installment of this series on virtual real estate investing., Bryan Ellis will share the internet analogies to the physical concept of real estate development.

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There’s a war going on and the latest battle continues to offer the promise of good prices to consumers looking for the best stuff for their computer.

Since the inception of dual-core processors a little while back the race has been on to see who can get the better chip with this dual-core processor technology.

During the final days of the single-core battles, there was a stalemate between AMD and Intel. Intel’s clocked higher but were unable to match the speeds that the AMD managed at lower clock speeds.

The oldest difference between them has been their suitability for specific tasks. AMD have had the gaming sector in the bag, especially in terms of the value for money possible with their lower clocked chips, which could be overclocked to the same speeds as their top models. Intel has the crown for general performance. When it comes to office related tasks, Intel processors are able to outperform AMD chips in these areas.

As the ability to clock the chips any higher became more and more difficult technically, the next step was to just add another core, theoretically allowing twice as much number crunching in a dual-core processor. This is not exactly how it works however.

Modern operating systems and programs have not been designed with multiple-core or dual-core processors in mind. They were designed to make use of one core on one processor. The major expense that went with multiple processor computers was the circuitry needed to split tasks up amongst the processors and sharing cache.

Dual-core processors simply act like two places for tasks to go. Instead of single tasks getting split up and performed in two different places, as is the case with traditional single core processors, single threads get split up amongst the cores. This essentially means that each program gets assigned to a core.

Because of this there is absolutely no increase in speed for gaming from dual-core processor chips. Only once the games themselves have been programmed to take advantage of dual-core processors will there be a difference. This is due to the intensive nature of games and the number crunching needed for intense graphics, which for now cannot be split over multiple cores in dual-core processors.

So back to the battlefield.

AMD were the first to introduce their dual-core processor solution to a desktop computer. This gave them a slight lead over Intel. Despite this, AMD gave people a bit of a surprise with their new offering.

Always having been renowned for giving far more than expected for the price, these new dual-core processors were very expensive. Part of what managed to give AMD a hold in a market previously dominated by Intel was their good pricing. This shock did not go down well with consumers.

To add insult to injury, Intel’s dual-core processor offerings came in at remarkably good value. Both of their initial dual-core processors cost less than AMD’s lowest priced model. That’s right, AMD’s cheapest dual-core processor cost more than Intel’s most expensive. This definitely put the ball in Intel’s court and was downright disappointing for AMD fans.

AMD did manage to introduce a cheaper model to compete better with the Intel offerings. Despite this, Intel was still the forerunner in this area.

Performance remains an area that is sketchy.

With the relatively new technology involved it is hard to draw a clear conclusion on who is faster. With operating systems only recently oriented towards fully utilizing dual-core processor technology, it is still new territory. Both offer increased performance, but as to who will rule the roost, we’ll have to see.

For the meantime it would probably be advisable to just watch. Being a cautious buyer I prefer to buy into a sure thing, once things have settled down, prices will balance out and all the related technology will be in place. Then we will be able to get a true opinion on where to put your hard earned cash.

Get the most honest and useful reviews and Dual-core processor reviews at our Desktop Computer Hardware Reviews site or get practical computer buying tips at our Computer Buying Guide site

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Almost everyone has now heard about “broadband.” As more and more people are gaining access to the Internet, broadband has become just another common term that laymen are familiar with, even if they are not sure what it means.

Broadband is essentially a term within the area of telecommunication, which refers to a signaling method handling a wide range of frequencies. While broadband is often associated with Internet, the term can actually be used in the context of both radio and television.

For radio, broadband carries audio frequencies so that listeners can, for example, hear music played by a disc jockey. On the other hand, broadband television can refer to the antenna, which helps in bringing the different channels into your television set at home or via an internet connection.

In the context of the Internet broadband concerns data transmission over a fiber optic cable or telephone line. Many Internet service providers are now offering fast broadband connection to suit the fast-paced life of the general users. In essence, broadband helps in making life of the public easier in terms of data transmission.

There is a huge array of mobile broadband connections available in the UK, with different packages suitable for different needs; I use broadband genie.co.uk as a comparison site.

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Large parts of the world today suffer from a severe liquidity crisis. The famed globalization of the capital markets seems to confine itself, ever more, to the richer parts, the more liquid exchanges, the more affluent geopolitical neighbourhoods. The fad of “emerging economies” has all but died out. Try telling the Macedonians about global capital markets: last year, the whole world invested 8 million USD in their poor country. Breadwinners earn 300 DM a month on average. Officially, in excess of one third of the workforce is unemployed. Small wonder that people do not pay their bills, employers do not pay salaries, the banking system has a marked tendency to crash every now and then and the average real default rate is 50%.

Illiquidity erodes the trust between the economic players. Such trust is a precondition to the existence of a thriving, modern economy. We all postpone the gratification of our desires: we save now and consume later, for instance or we sell goods or services and get paid a month later. Such postponement of gratification is at the heart of the economic machine of the new age. It cannot be achieved, however, if the players do not trust each other to fulfil their promises (to pay, for example). Alternatively, the state can instate an efficient court system, aided by active law enforcement agencies. Keeping promises can be imposed to counter the natural tendency to ignore them.

The countries in transition lack both: liquidity necessary to keep one’s monetary word and the legal system to force him to do so if he reneges. Small wonder that solutions are actively being sought by all involved: the business community, the state, the courts and even by consumers.

In this article, we will describe a few of the global trends. The trends are global, the reaction is world-wide because the problem is global. Bouncing checks have become a household reality in places as rich as Israel, for instance. The mounting crisis in Southeast Asia foreshadows bankruptcies and delinquencies on a chilling scale.

The simplest method is to revert to a cash economy. Payments are accepted only in cash. This, naturally, slows the velocity of money-like products and diminishes their preponderance, obstructing the expansion of economic activity. An even more malignant variant is the barter economy. Goods and services are swapped on a no-cash basis. It is money that generates new value added (by facilitating the introduction of new technology, to mention but one function). In the absence of money, the economy stagnates, degenerates and, finally, collapses because of massive mismatches of supply and demand aggregates and of the types of goods and services on offer and demanded. Still, this system has the advantages of keeping the economic patient alive even following a massive liquidity haemorrhage. In the absence of barter economy, the economy might have ground to a complete halt and deteriorated to subsistence agriculture. But barter is like chemotherapy: it is good for a limited period of time and the side effects are, at times, worse than the disease.

In many countries (Georgia, to mention one) defaults are prevented by demanding prepayment for projected consumption. Let us take the consumption of electricity as an example: many heavy users and numerous households do not pay their bills at all. To disconnect the electricity is an effective punitive measure but it costs the electricity company a lot of money. The solution? Programmable Electronic Meters. The consumers buys a smart card (very similar to phone-cards). The card allows the buyer to use a certain amount of prepaid electricity and is rechargeable. The consumer pays in advance, electricity is not wasted, the electricity company is happy, the tariffs go down for all the users. Prepayment does have a contracting effect on the demand and usage of electricity - but this is welcome. It just means that people use electricity more efficiently.

A totally different tack is the verification approach. The person making the payment carries with him a card which confirms that he is creditworthy and will honour his obligations. Otherwise, the card also serves as an insurance policy: an entity, not connected to the transaction, guarantees the payment for a fee. This entity is financially viable and strong enough to be fully trusted by the recipient of the payment.

This market in credit guarantees is more developed in the USA (where credit cards have overtaken cash and personal checks as a mode of payment) than in Western Europe. But even in Europe there are credit card equivalents which are very widespread: the Eurocheck card, for instance, is really a credit card, though it usually comes with physical checks and guarantees only a limited amount. One must differentiate the functions of a debit card (with direct and immediate billing of a bank account following a transaction) from those of a credit card. The latter allows for the billing of the account to take place in a given day during the month following the month in which the transaction was effected or converts the payment into a series of instalments (within the credit limits of the cardholder as approved by his bank). But in both cases, the guarantee is there and is the most predominant feature of the system. Such cards seem like a perfect solution but they are not: the commissions charged by the card issuers are outrageous. Between 2 and 10 percent of the payment made go to the pockets of the card issuers. Cards get stolen, forged, lost, abused by their owners, expire. But with the advent of new technologies all these problems should be solved. Electronic POS (point of sale) cash registers, connected through networks of communication, check the card and verify its data: is it valid, is it presented by the lawful owner, was it stolen or lost, is the purchase within the limits of the approved credit and so on. Then, the billing proceeds automatically. Such devices will virtually eliminate fraud. The credit card companies will guarantee the payments which will be subject to residual crime.

Another fast developing solution is the smart card. These are cards similar to phone cards and they can be charged with money in the bank or through automatic teller machines. These cards (in wide use in Belgium, Austria, Germany and many other countries) contain an amount of money which is deducted from the cardholders account. The account is billed for every recharge. The card is the electronic (and smart) equivalent of cash and it can be read (=debited) by special teller machines in numerous businesses. When payment is made, the money stored in the card is reduced and the recipient of the payment stores the payment on magnetic media for later delivery to his bank (and crediting of his account).

A more primitive version exists in many countries in Eastern Europe: depositors receive checks exactly corresponding to the amount of money deposited in their account. These checks are as safe as the banks that issued them because they are fully convertible to cash. They are, really, paper “smart cards”.

Credit cards and (more cheaply) smart cards are a way to restore confidence to a shattered, illiquid economy. Macedonia should consider them both seriously and encourage them through the appropriate legislation and assistance of the state. For Macedonia, the choice is to be liquid or, God forbid, to economically self-liquidate.

About The Author

Sam Vaknin is the author of “Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited” and “After the Rain - How the West Lost the East”. He is a columnist in “Central Europe Review”, United Press International (UPI) and ebookweb.org and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory, Suite101 and searcheurope.com. Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government of Macedonia.

His web site: http://samvak.tripod.com

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It seems no matter how much publicity is given to fraud on bay there are still plenty of unwitting victims

I think eBay is wonderful and I use it all the time, but it is a haven for thieves. I’m an experienced buyer, considered a “Hard Case” but early on I personally was a victim of an unscrupulous seller but also of Identity Theft due to a forged notification from eBay.

All of this fraud can be avoided by following a few very simple, common sense rules.

1. NEVER use Western Union

2. NEVER use a debit card.

3. NEVER give anyone your PIN number

4. ALWAYS use a PROTECTED credit card

5.On high value items NEVER deal with an unknown entity. Make sure you have a bona-fide name address and telephone number.

I know of one person in the UK who actually visits the sellers. This isn’t too practical in the USA. But you should take adequate precautions. Checking with the BBB isn’t a bad idea, but is far from fool proof.

eBay has plenty of good rules to follow that can help. Can they do more? I think so.

But ” God helps those that help themselves.”

Here’s one of the latest examples of what not to do.

This young man is one of the many victims of a bay fraud. He wanted to buy a used car for around 4 thousand dollars. He found one and bid on it. He didn’t win. The car went to a higher bidder. But, wait!

He got an e-mail from the seller of the car, saying he had a second chance to buy the car, because the winner had backed out. He jumped at the chance and before he knew it, he was scammed.

The so-called second chance was a fake. It had been copied from bay’s own website, and made to look like it was official. It wasn’t, and the victim lost more than four thousand dollars.

This is the way it worked. The “seller” told the victim to make the financial arrangements through Western Union. As soon as the money was wired, it was too late, it was gone.

The experts have simple advice for novice eBayer’s like this. Never, ever
use Western Union for any eBay transaction.

Rosalinda Baldwin of the Auction Guild in upstate New York patrols the Internet for frauds. She says almost always when Western Union is involved, fraud is occurring.

Western Union agrees with that, saying that its service is only for people who know where they are sending the money. The company also says Western Union is not for anonymous commerce, like that on eBay.

Written by: George W. Cannata

You may reprint this article
so long as it is not altered
in any way and that you include the
link to this web site and give full credit
to the author

Link to http://www.caveatemptorus.com

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You’re Fired!
by Sheldon Reiffenstein

The scene opens in a boardroom with three men, two seated on one side of a large rosewood table, the third seated on the opposite side facing them. The third man is speaking:
“George, Dick, you’ve had four years to run this business - four years! I’m looking at the balance sheet, and, frankly, I’m disappointed. Just looking at the numbers here freaks me out. When you took over, the business had a surplus of $200 billion and today we have a deficit of over $400 billion. Plus you’ve had to layoff about two million people. If I ran a business like this, I’d be bankrupt.”
“But, Mr. Trump, we did run into some bad times. September 11 cut a large hole in our revenues…”
“Yes, George, I know that September 11 was devastating, but it only accounts for about 30% of this deficit. And, in three years you should have been able to pull the business out of the red. Didn’t you promise that when you put in place those major tax cuts of yours? Weren’t they supposed to have revived the business?”
“Well, it’s starting to, Mr. Trump. We’ve added almost 700,000 new jobs this year, and the unemployment rate is only 5.4%. I think that’s good progress. We’re moving forward and we’re not turning back.”
“George, don’t try tossing those ridiculous feel-good lines at me. Do I look like an idiot?”
“No, Mr. Trump.”
“Right. So now that we’re clear on that. You made a big hit with the employees that day you stood at ‘Ground Zero’ and hollered through that megaphone. Then you bombed Afghanistan. Those were good things. But, George, you’ve lost your focus since then. This Iraq venture, what is it with that?”
“He was a threat to the free world, Saddam was.”
“How? He had no WMD, no nuclear program, which you claimed in front of the whole world. His army was in disarray, his economy could never have supported any kind of war or invasion of another country. Worst of all he had absolutely no ties to the real criminal…you do remember his name don’t you, George?…That Osama guy, the guy you threaten to capture dead or alive? Just what happened to him?”
“We have men searching for him right now.”
“How many? A few hundred searching hundreds of thousands of square miles of mountains in Afghanistan. You really think you’re going to find that needle in a haystack with that force? While you’ve got 140,000 troops tied up in this Iraq mess, and for how long? It’s going to be five years or more according to your own reports.”
“But America is safer, Mr. Trump, with Saddam gone.”
“How are we safer? You have no proof that Saddam posed any threat to the United States. All we have to rely on are your words. A lot of people are looking at the mess in Iraq and they don’t seem to trust your word, your simplistic little phrases, so much. How can we believe we’re safer? Osama is still on the loose; we know that the Al Qaeda ranks are growing; militants are causing terrible havoc in Iraq cities; over 1,000 American soldiers are dead, almost 900 of those since you declared ‘Mission Accomplished’. What was it with that anyway?”
“Mr. Trump, that wasn’t my idea. Dick thought that one up.”
“Dick, are you going to take that, let him lay that one on you? Where did that sign come from?”
“The ship made it.”
“Now, come on Dick, I know it came from the White House. And another thing, what’s with the language in the Capitol, telling a senator to go f*** himself? You guys promised to bring character back to the White House, and you use language like that. I could fire someone on the spot for talking like that in any of my companies. And you did it in full public view. Don’t you think that was a lapse in judgment?”
“I felt good afterwards and I don’t apologize for it.”
“No, I guess you don’t. You two don’t think you should apologize for anything do you?”
“Well, Mr. Trump, we are on the side of the righteous on this and no we don’t need to apologize for keeping America safe.”
“George, that’s the problem. I get back to my earlier question, how is America safer with Saddam gone, Osama still on the loose, Al Qaeda recruiting faster than our army can, our ports, airport security, borders all under-funded. Potentially any terrorist could walk up Fifth Avenue with a suitcase bomb in his hand and set it off. And you have us up to our necks in Iraq over some revenge thing against Saddam Hussein. You could have let the inspectors go back in, forced Hussein to comply, by getting the whole international community to pressure him. But, no you had to go it alone.”
“Mr. Trump, if I had to I’d do it the same all over again.”
“Even knowing what you know today?”
“Yes, I would. The Iraqi people are free, a terrible murdering dictator is in jail”…
“At what cost? How many Iraqis are dead since your invasion? About 20,000. How many more will die before this whole thing is over and our troops are out of there? Yes, Saddam killed half a million of his own people and that is terrible. But look at Sudan, what are we prepared to do there? How many North Korean civilians have been murdered by their government? How many Tibetans by the Chinese? I could go on. The point is there are lots of dictators who should be put in jail and their people freed, but we can’t do it all. 20,000 Iraqis dead since our invasion, and what do we have to show for it…1,000 American soldiers dead, Saddam is in jail and we have no idea how to fix the situation, or how we’re going to get out.”
“But we can’t leave now.”
“Yes, you’ve made sure of that with your adventure. But, what I can do is find someone else to take over and get us on the right course, get our respect back and actually make us safer”…he presses the intercom button… “Please send the two Johns in here.” He looks at the two men sitting in front of him.
“I have to say it…George, Dick, you’re fired.”

About the Author

Sheldon is a freelance writer with a Political Science degree. His recent book “Liberal is NOT a Four Letter Word” is available online at www.liberalisnotafourletterword.com

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