********** PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING A RESPONSE **********
Dear Anonymous of 9/24/11 (and all future visitors),
Thanks for the visit, the link and your comments.
No tin foil hats here.
The original post was in 2009. At that time, the site was different. It was much thinner in content and there was no advertising. See older posts for details on the changes I've observed. My suspicion, then as now, could be called a "conspiracy theory", I suppose, if you as the reader want to read more into the post and the subsequent discussion than is really there.
Two years ago I was asking questions based upon what I saw as some suspicious observations I was making. To date, no one has really addressed those observations.
1. It seemed to me that the timing of when this site was brought to my attention by an ultraconservative friend was suspicious considering it was W's debt, not O's.
No one can dispute that fact.
2. To this day, no one has stepped forward to indicate ownership of the site beyond what I found by checking the web site name's registration. There is nothing of significance on http://www.usdebtclock.org/about.html to identify who started, owns, or operates this site.
No one can, as of today, dispute that fact.
3. Why did I never get a response from the comments@usdebtclock.org about any of these questions?
Unless someone wants to accuse me of lying, I did send that email 2 years ago and to this date I have never received a response.
So I ask you and all future visitors to please resist the temptation to jump to too many conclusions about me or anyone for that matter. Instead, I would ask that responses to the outstanding questions from the original post be the focus.
"Where was this site when W was running things into the ground at historic levels not seen since Reagen?"
"Did I just miss this site back then? Did no one think to send it to me back then? Why am I only getting it now?"
If anyone wants to address these issues, I'd very much like that. Thanks and have a nice day.
*********************************************************************
Ok, everyone has seen the usdebtclock.org link.
Well, you know me, the first thing I want to know is if this is verifiable?
The web site itself is very, very thin. It's the counting clocks page which some of us learned to program into 8086 microprocessors back in the day at PSU Lake Lehman, so I'm not impressed. They're freakin' counters, for chrissakes. I could probably still do the programming, and I haven't written a line of real code since 1984 in BASIC on a Radio Shack TRS-80.
There's no other web page except the About page. It has no information identifying who this dot-org is.
And, being the heathen that I am, I get immediately more suspicious any time I see the words "....and God Bless America!" preceded by "Thank you for your continued support..."What support? From whom? And for what nefarious purpose?
Where was this site when W was running things into the ground at historic levels not seen since Reagen? Did I just miss this site back then? Did no one think to send it to me back then? Why am I only getting it now?
Did someone wait until Obama came into this "inheritance" to try and make him look bad?
So, being the ever inquisitive liberal, I checked Snopes. Gasp! Nothing! Not to worry, I've sent them a note asking about it.
I then started searching all over the web trying to find out who this organization is and who owns the domain. Nothing. The domain is registered to a company called DomainsByProxy. (See http://www.networksolutions.com/whois-search/usdebtclock.org)
Hmmm.....wonder why someone would "hide" behind this sort of registration?
So I decided to ask using the only means offered on the web site; comments@usdebtclock.org. Again, no surprise that the only answer received so far is an auto response thanking me for my comments and for my support. What support?
You don't suppose that someone with an agenda might be making this site up just to try and create angst and anger, do you? You don't suppose it could be someone with a desire to try and make this mess look like it's the current administration's fault?
My email to them asked some really straight forward and simple questions. I'll let you know if I ever get a response.
If anyone knows anything more about this website, its origins and, most importantly, who is behind it I would like to know.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
More Lies from the Whacked Out Right; Why Not Register that Piece?
Just got an alarmist email from a right-wing associate yelling about how the sky is falling because of SB2099 and HR45.
SB 2099 - FALSE
http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/taxreturns.asp
It's a bill from 2000, for chrissakes.
Seriously, how much longer before we all take some responsibility as educated and rational adults to do our own homework and examine sources in order to determine their validity and truthfulness before going on our merry way and helping to perpetuate lies and misleading information? Doesn't anyone care if what they read is true or not? What, if it fits your belief system it must be true and is ok to send to others?
HR-45 TRUE
http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/blairholt.asp
What I don't understand is why anyone has a problem with a gun registration requirement as it would be applied in HR-45. The actual bill is worth the read to understand the facts.
It applies only to a certain class of qualifying firearms (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-45&version=ih&nid=t0:ih:72).
The term 'qualifying firearm'--
'(A) means--
'(i) any handgun; or
'(ii) any semiautomatic firearm that can accept any detachable ammunition feeding device; and
'(B) does not include any antique.'.
So what's so wrong? I had to take a hunter safety course as a kid before I got a hunting license and voluntarily took it again as an adult. When guns are involved, it's worth having some knowledge about the rules and regulations, as well as guidelines for safety. I thought it was reasonable considering firearms are involved. I would have gladly had my picture taken and given them a thumb print. If you think you walk around in this world anonymously today, you really don't understand reality.
So why is the idea of registering the fact that you own a handgun or semi-automatic firearm such a big deal?
You can't get a driver's license without passing a test. You have to pay to renew it every 5 years and I am one of those people that favors testing the elderly and revoking their licenses if they present a safety hazard. If there's a time in your life when you're too young to drive, there could come a time in your life when you're too old, too.
You have to register your car when you buy it so that "the state" knows who owns it. You have to pay that registration fee every year.
Some states require you to register ownership of your quad, your snowmobile, and your boat. I would imagine fewer people would get killed every year if every state required "operator licenses" for these, too, that included a safety course akin to driver's ed. I'd support that. You shouldn't be allowed on the water or in the woods with these vehicles without some amount of training as there's too much opportunity for you to hurt yourself and others. Why do you think people have to pass a driver's test or a hunter safety course? Because you might injure yourself and, more importantly, others.
So what's the problem with registering something like a handgun or semi-automatic? Don't those items have more capacity to be used to kill someone better than anything else generally available to us citizens? Why is the idea of registered gun ownership so distasteful? Why shouldn't gun owners (like me) be held accountable for the proper storage and safe-keeping of those guns? Shouldn't we be held accountable to report a lost or stolen gun the way we are if our car is stolen?
Yeah, yeah, I know. This some sinister plot by Big Government to take away all our guns so we can't form militias to resist the next tyrannical leader who comes along. Please. In case you don't have a calendar, this isn't the 18th century. You're out-gunned. Even the world's shittiest military has you out-gunned. If you think the idea that your gun collection is what keeps you safe, you're......well, mistaken. You won't be able to resist government forces from your bedroom windows no matter how well armed you are and no matter how well you can "deploy the family."
And if you think the likelihood that you as a homeowner will be broken into or otherwise criminalized goes up because you have to register - not surrender, register - your piece is an argument I don't get either. What, the thing that keeps you safe is the possibility that you might be packing? Again, please. This ain't West Side Story, and the Jets and Sharks have you out-gunned, too.
Everyone has you out-gunned because there is too little accountability and responsibility on the part of gun manufacturers, distributors and owners. What do you think would happen to gun crimes if every single gun from cradle to grave was registered to someone? Do you think they'd end up sold on the streets, in pawn shops, or at gun shows to anyone and everyone? Not likely.
If you bought a 357 Mag or semi-automatic weapon, had to register it, you couldn't then get away with selling it and then claiming it was lost or stolen. You'd be responsible for that weapon and for at least reporting that it was lost or stolen.
It reminds me of the movie Tombstone, I think it was. "No one is saying you can't own a gun. No one is saying you can't wear a gun. You just can't wear your gun in town."
Enjoy that NRA Kool-Aid
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