The Speculative Postage Stamp Market!

From the Economic Wire of the Unbelievable News Service:
5/24/2007 - Appleton Wisconsin.

In an interesting play two independent financial advisors - Hank Bruptsy and Shay D. Idee are teaming up to speculate on – the new forever postage stamp. Hank Bruptsy chief partner says I have a great play in mind. "It's obvious! We buy the stamps in large volumes at forty-one cents each and then the next time the USPS raises their rates we split the difference with consumers. Say the rates go to forty-five cents per stamp, simple we sell our supply of stamps for forty-four cents each and pocket three cents per stamp and save the consumer one cent per stamp. It is a win-win situation for us and the consumer! Our next project is to sell postage stamp options. We are coming up with this super plan to sell postage stamp puts!"

When asked to comment on this plan P. Ost the regional USPS manager said: "They had better not be doing that. Pretty soon, speculation like that will drive the price of stamps just like happens with gasoline!".

Financial Analyst Norm E. Conomic from the Chicago financial consultancy firm of High Finance Me, observes "This is a great idea, I think the USPS and the US Government may step in and wreck what is a mutually beneficial service to both buyer and seller. Oh well, that is what the government seems to relish the most. What I want to see is how they plan to sell put stamp options."

Drug Testing & Welfare

Drug Test
Pee Test

Like a lot of folks in this state, I have a job.

I work, they pay me.

I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as they see fit.

In order to get that paycheck...I am required to pass a random urine test, which I have no problem with.

What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test.

Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check, because I have to pass one to earn it for them?

Please understand, I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet.

I do, on the other hand, have a problem with helping someone sit on their ass.

Could you imagine how much money the state would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check?

Source: E-Mail from Relative

HERE HERE!

Today's Phishing Attempt

Starts off:

> Dear Customer,

> The First National Bank of Manitowoc Online department temporary disabled your account.

After three unsuccessful login attempts your account was temporary disabled until further investigations.

All cards from this account are suspended.

You must reactivate your account at First National Bank of Manitowoc immediately, or you won't be able to use your cards again.

Source: From phishing attempt e-mail received on Thursday May 24, 2007

The URL the phishing attempt tries to get you to click on is http://www.bankfirstnational.com/banking/unsuspend.shtml but is anchored to a site at: firstmanitowoc.com which is registered to:

Domain Name.......... firstmanitowoc.com
Creation Date........ 2007-05-24
Registration Date.... 2007-05-24
Expiry Date.......... 2008-05-24
Organisation Name.... OWEN TAYLOR
Organisation Address. 136 FM 1746
Organisation Address.
Organisation Address. WOODVILLE
Organisation Address. 75979
Organisation Address. TX
Organisation Address. UNITED STATES

Admin Name........... OWEN TAYLOR
Admin Address........ 136 FM 1746
Admin Address........
Admin Address........ WOODVILLE
Admin Address........ 75979
Admin Address........ TX
Admin Address........ UNITED STATES
Admin Email.......... firstmanitowoc@yahoo.com
Admin Phone.......... +1.4092837981
Admin Fax............

Tech Name............ YahooDomains TechContact
Tech Address......... 701 First Ave.
Tech Address.........
Tech Address......... Sunnyvale
Tech Address......... 94089
Tech Address......... CA
Tech Address......... UNITED STATES
Tech Email........... domain.tech@YAHOO-INC.COM
Tech Phone........... +1.6198813096
Tech Fax.............
Name Server.......... yns1.yahoo.com
Name Server.......... yns2.yahoo.com

Source: Whois.net whois lookup of firstmanitowoc.com I have found most of these attempts come from overseass, I am shocked to find a phishing scam arising from the USA.

Updates:
Looking at the e-mail headers I see this note coming to me from 213.193.223.109 (Link takes you to Project Honey Pot) reportedly from The Netherlands via system in Australia – 210.8.99.128 (again this link takes you to Project Honey Pot's entry on the IP).

FYI, whois information is easy to fake up. The phishermen probably got a hold of some poor sap's information and used that. This is the second spoof of the First National Bank I have received.

When is the Baseline?

I have a question for those pushing global warming doom and gloom.

In which year did our climate perfect occur? What is your baseline, any deviation from which is improper? 1967? 1981? 1985?

The earth's climate has varied widely and wildly through the ages.

Sign It Roger!

My assembly Representative is now Roger Roth. Owen at Boots and Sabers is trying to get Assembly Republicans to sign a NO NEW TAXES pledge.

Mr. Roth, I do not see your name on this yet. Please get it on there! Thank You!

Public Broadcasting

The radio station I listen to over the internet WCPE reports they could be in a real bind real soon. Some regulatory snafu is going to go into effect and they will be zapped royalty fees comparable to a commercial radio station, even though they are listener supported and not in it for a profit. I do not believe this endangers their over the air broadcasts just the webcasting.

I am conflicted over this. One the one hand I do not want the music to stop and feel they have a legitimate point about the nature of their enterprise should be given consideration. If I do not hear new music & musicians then what happens to concert ticket sales? However, the record companies and all involved with the production of recorded music do have legitimate concerns as well.

Should internet broadcasting be treated differently than over the air broadcasting? Quite clearly with pro sports it is. I can listen to the Packers on WTMJ on my radio but not over the Internet.

May 23, 2007 1:03 am

It was a usual Tuesday night. Getting ready for the regular work trip and we turned in early.

However, it really was not a usual night.

Last Mother's day the Empress and I visited with my Grandmother. She finally moved out of her house pushing 92 years old, she moved into an assisted living residence. When we left I had feelings about her. She told us food did not taste so good anymore and the way she looked. Her mind was still sharp as ever. In order to get into the home she had to prove she was TB free.

She told everyone she always tested positive on skin tests so they took X-Rays. Well, she did not have TB, but she had something else and at 91+ years old one can pretty much guess. They finally managed to get a CAT scan done and there was no good news coming from that.

The first call came at 11:00 pm and it was from my brother passing on the news the end seemed near. A little later he called again to say he was headed to the hospital. At 1:18 am the last call came...

I've seen dear ones go into the great beyond slowly, like walking into the water where the beach is very gradual. Shane was like this and so too my other Grandma. Slowly, bit by bit the water covers them over until they are completely out of view. However, this time it was along the beach and stepping off a drop-off. One moment there, the next gone.

Obvious!

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, who as a Democratic presidential candidate recently proposed an educational policy that urged "every financial barrier" be removed for American kids who want to go to college, has been going to college himself -- as a high paid speaker, his financial records show.

The candidate charged a whopping $55,000 to speak at to a crowd of 1,787 the taxpayer-funded University of California at Davis on Jan. 9, 2006 last year, Joe Martin, the public relations officer for the campus' Mondavi Center confirmed Monday.

Source: SFGate Politics Blog – Edwards charges $55,000 to speak to UC Davis students about poverty It is obvious as someone "concerned" about poverty Mr. Edwards want to make others know what it feels like to be impoverished by impoverishing them. These Limo Leftists, the way I like to say it, they kick capitalism and the profit motive by day and sleep with them at night with the shades down.

I do not mind people charging what they can for their goods and services, I hate it when those people who can not empathize with other people doing the same. Do as you say not as you do, huh Mr. Edwards?

What, Iran May Be Instigating Things?

The UK's Guardian newspaper passes on a story how IRAN is planning to make trouble in Iraq. Gasp, where are my smelling salts, Iran making trouble in Iraq who would have thought?

Tapping the Earth

For energy.

One of the saddest things Marcus is that we have a "green" energy source inside this country that has the power to completely supply our entire electrical grid and everyone refuses to touch it.

It produces NO byproducts, recycles its own energy transmission source. It requires no new technology7 and it is both inexhaustible and utterly reliable. What is the sacrifice? We have to exploit 2 of our biggest national parks for energy.

Both the Japanese and Iceland make extensive use of this power and have for decades.

Look down, Marcus. Enough power for millennium lies beneath or feet. Geothermal energy could supply all of our electrical needs.

At Yellowstone and Long Valley in California are 2 of the biggest Calderas on Earth and using them to power our electric grid is the single most intelligent thing we could do.

Source: Blogger Beer Comments – Wayne I have been looking into various alternative energies. Wayne is very correct on the above comment however, in my opinion the market is not quite ready for prime-time, but when it goes it will be great.

What is standing in the way? Mass market mass. That is to say, the demand for it is not yet great enough for serious production of the gear needed.

Still Costly

The Empress and I are building a house. I have a bid from a local company for a traditional heating & cooling system. The system is bid out at about $11,000.00 for the duct work, the furnace the air conditioning (AC), and venting. They wanted about another $11,000-$12,000 for an earth-heat pump system.

Now, I am quite willing to consider this as an investment that will pay off given the time. Reading I have done says many of these installations pay off in two to ten years time. Not bad, that time frame is something I am okay with.

However, the bid did not come with an analysis of likely savings so it is a shot in the dark. So, I am going to either punt on this, call and ask where the analysis is, or go somewhere else. The outfit did not impress me.

How Earth Heat Pumps Work

Essentially it is an AC unit.

Using the principles of physics your basic AC (or refrigerator) collects heat and moves it from one location to another. The AC moves the heat from inside of the house to the outside. A refrigerator moves it from inside the refrigerator to the outside of the refrigerator. Simple, no? A furnace, on the other hand is a heat source, you convert one form of energy to heat energy and move that heat about your house. For most of us the energy we convert is the chemical energy of natural gas, fuel oil, or wood (or any other combustible) to heat energy. Some of us use electrical energy as the heat source.

Heat pumps rely on the difference in temperature to generate heating and cooling. In the summer the earth heat pump transports heat from the house to the earth and in the winter the pump reverses and moves heat from the earth into the house.

Understand, heat and temperature are not the same. A spark generated by metal on a grinding wheel has a high temperature but next to no heat. It will dance on your skin and startle but not harm you. The earth down in the ground stays at about 50° F but is able to absord & give massive amounts of heat without a change in the temperature. This is the key.

The heat pump through its action concentrates an amount of heat into a liquid which is (you can put it through your water heater first) then pumped into the earth and then the earth cools the liquid to 50° F or close to it. The liquid returns and is ready to be reheated. Again, in the winter reverse the process, send cool liquid to the earth and then on return concentrate the heat in the liquid and distribute through the house.

In fact, some heat pumps do not go into the earth but will just use the outside air as the heat sink/source.

Two General Types of Systems

Vertical & horizontal. If you have a lot of land you can have a horizontal system where a shallow trench is dug and tubing is laid out and buried. There you have your heat source/sink. If you do not have a lot of land then a vertical sysem is in order. A deep shaft is dug and the heat and the piping is buried in the shaft. Obviously vertical systems are more expensive.

I will have to do a bit more research on this for us.

Commentary on Blogger Beer.

There is no right to comment on another's blog. Bloggers let others comment on their blogs for many reasons.

Most of the blogs/websites I run (and I run multiple) I retain tight control over the commentary. I do so to protect myself against liability from slander or libel lawsuits, and to prevent spam abuse. A secondary concern is to keep the tone reasonable and levelheaded.

I do not like all out flamefests and rarely does anything good come out of a flamefest. This does not mean I will not defend my positions or join in rough and tumble discussions of matters, but lets keep it at or above a certain level.

From the best of my recollection (and this blog is getting close to three years old) I have never deleted a comment critical of me or one of my beliefs that was reasonably put. That is, did not slander anyone else, did not contain profanity, and so on. Seems to me I have deleted one comment wildly off topic as well. If you want to spend the time you will find comments quite critical of me or a stand of mine.

I have deleted spammy coments and I would not be surprised if I have deleted a profanity laced comment or two.

This applies to trackbacks as well. I know I have deleted a number of trackbacks that were spam but other than that I have not deleted a trackback (to the best of my knowledge).

I need to be careful here. I do not want to go PC or any such thing, but some of the commentary here of late is starting to cross a line I do not want crossed.

A few guidelines.
Our countrymen on the left are misguided and are not the enemy (and lefty please feel quite free to substitute right for left if you want). Call them opponents if you will, but do not confuse them with the enemy. The boy who cried wolf applies here. There are groups worthy of being deemed the enemy and save your powder for them.

To sum up: Do not declare war against our political opponents on Blogger Beer.

Islam. I lived for six years on the Arabian Peninsula. I know many good Muslims, many whom would fit right in at any polite dinner party you go to (except with the drinking & eating cocktail wiener part).

They truly fret about what is being done in the name of their faith, however the consequences of speaking out against the Osama Bin Ladens of the world is a little more serious than anonymous phone callers calling you an idiot.

It is VITAL we have their support or at least their acquiescence in prosecuting the war against the likes of Osama Bin Laden. Also, when the preachings of Qutb and Bin Laden are finally condemned to heck where they belong who is going to set Islam's direction?

To sum up, do not declare war against Islam on Blogger Beer.

If you make a factual claim or dress up a factual claim in the language of opinion you had better be able to support it with facts a judge & jury will accept.

To sum up, no libel or slander will be put forth here.

All comments as now posted will be allowed to stand as is, but from this point on comments are subject to deletion.

Dear John McCain

Dear John,

While this is not quite a dear john letter it is not going to be too far.

I am sympathetic to your ideas on immigration. I do not see us deporting all illegal immigrants as a practical idea both in terms of the political resistance as well as being able to muster the resources to do the job. I am okay with coming up with a list of true criminals and going after them and sending them back.

I hope (have not yet taken the time for the analysis) provisions are in the bill for real border security and pressure upon our neighbors to the south to reform their economies so their people do not have to wonder the world over for work.

But that is not my concern right now. Your actions, words, and so on are very disturbing. I understand politics is a rough and tumble sport (after all disagreeing friends usually do well to avoid the topic) and people have said some nasty things about you, but you are beginning to lose your cool. First you unload on Senator Cornyn, and now Mitt Romney.

"Maybe I should wait a couple of weeks and see if it changes because its changed in less than a year from his position before," McCain responded, referring to his rival's immigration stance. "And maybe his solution will be to get out his small varmint gun and drive those Guatemalans off his lawn."

Source: The Politico – McCain unloads on Romney, Mitt's camp punches back I am not yet on board with any presidential campaign, Your's is the closest to it, but if rubbish like this coming from yourself I will not support you, maybe even to the point of not voting for president if you win the nomination.

Do you honestly think the above quote won your campaign or your ideas on immigration any love? It lost your campaign & immigration plan support. Watch it.

Searching for Bill LeMay

With the immigration bill in the news I am getting a lot of visits from North Carolinians looking for formerly of WTAQ Bill LeMay. I would guess he is all worked up about the immigration bill.

I did a little googling and found he is indeed in Raleigh NC (hehehe, I listen to WCPE a radio station Raleigh residents would be familiar with) and that Blogger Beer ranks #1 in Google searches for Bill LeMay. Wow!

Anyway North Carolinian Bill LeMay listener, if you ever call him I would like you to tell him two things. One Vince Biskupic is a good man, and John Maloney is not, then I advise you to pull the phone receiver away from your ear!

Its funny how referrals can alert you to something that is happening somewhere. I have had this happen with the Aragoncillo & Aquino spy case. When I start seeing a lot of Google referrals landing on Blogger Beer where the referral results from a search for Aragoncillo & Aquino I know to start looking into the news on that case.

It was Our Policies & Their Hate of Freedom & LIberty

Wow! I had a great framework established and Blogger's new auto-save puked out. I probably even manually saved the framework I had setup to no avail. Oh well, it happens.

I have been commenting quite a bit on the idea on how it was our policies that brought on 9/11. It was the Rudy-Ron exchange that brought this on and many people do not seem to understand just because it was our policies that may have had a contributing factor does not automatically mean those policies are wrong.

It WAS Due to Our Policies

I have already laid the rough framework to support the idea our policies had something to do with causing the terrorists to lash out. To say it was not our policies is just as silly as it is to say our freedom & liberty did not have anything to with the attacks.

Remember acknowledging our policies led to the attack does not mean our policies were bad. Evil people detest good & just policies.

Surely, our Liberty & Freedom Had Something to Do With It?

Many people promptly retort it was the Islamo-terrorist's hate of our freedom and liberties that caused them to attack our nation (which they have been doing regularly for sometime now).

It seems many take it to be binary choice here. It was all due to our policies or it was all due to our liberty & freedom. No thought is made on the fact our concepts of freedom & liberty are tied to our policies. They are tied into our policies and I firmly believe the future of mankind lays in liberty not in oppression.

A Gedanken (thought) Experiment

Think about this. If instead of promoting freedom and liberty we were pushing Eighth century Sharia & Islamic law do you think Osama Bin Laden, Zawahiri, et. al. would be in opposition to us? Do you believe 9/11 would have happened if the USA instead of working to promote liberty were instead pushing strict Sharia on Iraq & Kuwait? Yeah go ahead and laugh, the answer is obvious, they do not mind interference they only mind interference designed to thwart their aims and goals.

The Writings, Preachings, and Teachings of Osama Bin Laden

Osama bin Laden at least up to a couple of years ago was not shy about openly and loudly proclaiming his aims. What are his aims? To restore Islam to its former glory as a world domineering empire. Why whine about Al-Andalusia? Al-Andalusia has been lost to Islamic Empire since 1492. Who stands in the way of that? Not France, not Germany, not Spain (as much as these nations were stalwart against Islamic encroachment in days past), but the United States. In fact, the European nations seem to be having a hard time hearing the miners despite the miners obvious and loud presence in their nation.

The Crooked Timber that Man is: Fit only for the Planer?

Sometime ago Dinesh D'Souza came & spoke in Appleton. One of the things he talked about was the idea of virtue and how society works to make sure we are all virtuous. There is a distinct difference in how virtue is encouraged and it means only those living a liberated society can be truly virtuous.

Islamic thinking sees the crooked timber that man is and concludes the only way man can be virtuous is to enforce it very rigorously. In fact, the brand of Islam we are engaging in war takes the idea to an extreme and essentially says man (and yes by man please include woman) is completely irredeemable only by strict enforcement of the Sharia does society become tolerable for all.

Freedom and Liberty

Only the free can be truly virtuous. Coerced virtue is nothing but a shaken can of beer waiting to explode as soon as the top is removed. Many of us have seen people from repressive societies coming to the US or the West and engage in lecherous activities. That is as soon as they get to the west they seem to think freedom and liberty is only good for – going to the strip club.

However, those used to living in a free & liberated society understand the need for self-control & self-discipline.

Next Installment: Boulders & He WAS our SOB

Ron Paul Scares Who?

Charles Johnson at Litte Green Footballs notes how lefties are loving Ron Paul. They say he is scaring all the right people.

Ron Paul scares me as much as Dennis Kucinich scares me that is, not at all. However, what does scare me is people who buy into elaborate conspiracy theories can get into office in the first place.

Sugar Plum Petroleum For...

Plastics & medicines. Surprised? The song goes:

Black and viscous - bound to cure blue lethargy
Sugar-plum petroleum for energy
Tightrope-balanced payments need a small reprieve
Oh, please believe we want to be
in North Sea Oil
New-found wealth sits on the shelf of yesterday
Hot-air balloon - inflation soon will make you pay
Riggers rig and diggers dig their shallow grave
but we'll be saved and what we crave
is North Sea Oil
Prices boom in Aberdeen and London Town
Ten more years to lay the fears, erase the frown
before we are all nuclear - the better way!
Oh, let us pray: we want to stay
in North Sea Oil

Source: Lyris of Jethro Tull's North Sea Oil from the Stormwatch Album The songs sings of energy and that is what most people think when they hear the word petroleum. However, another very important part of petroleum is for the chemicals we derive from it. Many plastics are petroleum based that is why when I am green minded I get the paper bags not the plastic bags from the store. To replace a tree is lot quicker work than replacing the petroleum used to make the plastic bag (plus the fact paper degrades a lot more quickly).

What I wonder is, if we get off of gasoline as a primary means of fueling consumer level locomotion, will refiners be able to redirect their processes to refining other chemicals? That is, can a refiner alter their process to turn what is now gasoline into other products? I suspect they are unable but I do not know (and I do not have time to google it). In any event, the petroleum dependence is not over with new sources of consumer locomotive energy.

Tagged I am It!

The Nurse on Call has tagged me! Now, I must reveal some dark deep inner secrets about myself. Well, may not dark and not too deep, but you get the idea!

1. I lived for six years in Al-Ain in the United Arab Emirates (long time readers know this, but maybe not newer ones or drive bys)


2. In the spring I miss winter, summer, and fall, in winter I love downhill skiing, during the summer fishing (when I can), the fall – deer & grouse hunting (when I can). All year I love to do things on my computer (blog, program, websites, etc), cook, and take an active role in lopcal & far away communities.


3. I hates the Windowses. My computer runs on Slackware Linux.


4. The Empress and I are planning to build a house this summer.


5. I am an optimist which gets me into trouble as the optimism leads me into thoughts such as: Rebuilding that multi-national company's financial system? Oh, that will take one month and I can start on it in three weeks from now.

Now, who am I going to tag? I would love to tag Wretchard at the Belmont Club but I doubt that will get a response.

1. Bob at Mindanao Blog


2. DJB at Philippine Commentary


3. Kate at An Ole Broad's Ramblings


4. Jonz at Drunken Blogging (hehehe I am doing that right now!)


5. Jib at Jiblog

Aluminum + Gallium + H20 =

Energy for our industrious and mobile society?

Possibly. What happens, is the gallium acts as a catalyst and prevents the aluminum from oxidizing and when you add water, the aluminum pulls off the oxygen from the water molecules and then the H₂ can then be utilized as either a combustible or to energize a fuel cell. There are waste products involved but those consist of water (exhaust) and aluminum oxide & the gallium.

However, discharging water as exhaust is unlikely to get people worked up and the other two wastes are recyclable and can be processed & returned to the energy cycle.

Is it a wonderful development full of limitless energy? I do not know but a few concerns on my part that constrain possibilities.

How plentiful is gallium? Some quick googling leads me to believe gallium is a rare element. Will there be enough of it? How hard is it to extract from the earth?

How costly in terms of energy is recycling the aluminum oxide? There is no free lunch especially with energy. You can not drive this process by utilizing the aluminum gallium energy process we will need to utilize nuclear, coal, or some other source for that.

Very intriguing. Combine the above with fuel cells and we may finally have a practical alternative to petroleum as a fuel (however, recall petroleum is used for more than just fuel).

It WAS Our Policies

And so what for it?

This is going back to my previous post on Ron Paul & Rudy Giuliani's little fun at the debate. Nick at Boots & Sabers and his own blog questions the typical reaction defenders of the War on Terror have when others say we were attacked for our policies.

Often times the response is "No, it was because they hate us for our freedom and liberty". Well, that plays a role in all of this but what the response does is to fail to respond the real charge being made and that is our policies are wrongheaded.

Officer Fabiano from the Kenosha area was just gunned down on a routine traffic stop. Why was he gunned down? Because of the Kenosha County Sheriff Department's policy to stop and cite traffic law violators.

Now, if the Kenosha County Sheriff Department did not have its policy of stopping and citing traffic law violators Mr. Fabiano would most likely be out on the fairway right now, but most of us (on both sides of the political spectrum) are not going to condemn the policy here. We recognize the need for the policy and the costs of the policy. The costs we see are not limited to dollars.

When the likes of Ward Churchill and Ron Paul come out and say it was our policies we do ourselves little good in saying it was not our policies. We do ourselves much better if we say yes that is true and here is why we have to be resolute in the execution of various policies.

BTW, this is not to say our liberty and freedom are not among the reasons for being attacked, they are. That detestation of our freedom and liberty is also in the writings & speeches of Qutb, Bin Laden, Zawahiri, et al.

Ru Paul

Ru(n) Paul is what I have dubbed Ron Paul. According to JPod I should get a huge traffic shot here sounds like Ru Paul fans spend there time monitoring their inboxes for Google Alerts.

Anyway Ru Paul's argument the 9/11-19 attacked us on account of our policies is correct. However, most people either concede Ru Paul's (or that of his evil twin Patrick Buchanan) premise or do not realize what it is.

What is the premise? The policy the 9/11-19, Zawahiri, Bin Laden, et al. attacked us for our misguided (at best) or our evil (at worst) policies. The solution is to withdraw behind the maginot line of our borders. This typically means sealing our borders to trade, and immimgration as well (however, this is where the likes of Paul & Buchanan split off from the kooky left).

For instance, Pat Buchanan argues we had Pearl Harbor coming in this shortly after 9/11 article.

Now, I do not dismiss Pat's entire case but most of it relies on a knowledge of how events played out in the end. In addition, being able to conduct a more consistent relies on something we do not have in our system of government and that is a long term executives, remember even before term limits having a person as president for more than two terms was non-existant except for FDR.

Pat and Ru long for a period of mythic American isolation from the rest of the world and this period never existed.

Even our founding fathers found it necessary to intervene in world affairs, the Marines sing about this (the Shores of Tripoli).

Sooner or later the Islamists were going to be gunning for us.

Jonah Goldberg takes on Ru Paul's silliness on many more fronts than I do. Check it out.

RIP Jerry Falwell

I was never a big fan of Jerry Falwell. When I was young it was because of what he said about Kiss. WOMT radio used to carry his radio show and I recall Mr. Falwell decrying the Kiss song God of Thunder.

Then the reason for not being a big fan was because of my turn to leftism, and since I turned away from leftism I have been uncomfortable with Mr. Falwell due to my Catholicism and an earned suspicion of those practicing fundamentalist faiths. However, after my turn from leftism I viewed him and his movement as time to time political allies. However, what he said and did never had a huge effect upon myself one way or the other.

However, it is undeniable the effect him and his organization have had on the American political landscape.

What is notable the hatefest is well underway in the notable lefty blogs. Reports have it the HuffPo in their blog on this topic closed comments, but the HuffandPuffs are spewing their sewage in the commentary in another comments section. Reports have the DemocraticUnderground and others just bubbling over with the raw sewage of hate.

There is wonderment at Hot Air if the left will get this worked up when Osama Bin Laden finally goes down for his dirt nap? No one there is holding their breath over that one.

Thank You!

Milwaukeean Rhapsody counts Blogger Beer as one of their 19 must read blogs.

Consider Milwaukee Rhapsody the latest Blogger Beer blogroll entry.

A Proposal

The legislature in Wisconsin is tax-happy. Fortunately, the latest tax increase proposal (yes Fred, it is an increase) is DOA even Democrats are not going for it.

Anyway an idea struck me. Our legislators like to tax us all the time. Why not return the favor? Why not ask them to place a tax on the proposal of legislation? A simple flat fee every time someone sponsors a bill into the senate or the assembly or the house of representatives. Lets say a $1,000.00 fee for sponsoring or co-sponsoring a bill.

I would add the following restrictions to paying the bill tax.

1. The fee must not come from the public treasury! That is, a sponsor can not ask the taxpayers to pay it. I would allow the sponsor to write a check on his/her own checking account, accept visa/mastercard/American express/discover, or cash. Payments out of a sponsor's campaign funds are also allowable as long as the sponsor does not participate in any sort of public campaign financing scheme.


2. All sponsorship fees must be paid prior to the bill's introduction.


3. The source of the fee must be fully disclosed

Now, we will not be able to setup a legislators anonymous program with this tax or any such thing but I hope it would make make the costs more real to our legislators.

On Condeleeza Rice.

At one time I was very keen on Condeleeza Rice running for elected office namely the office of President. The shine has come off a fair amount.

Why? She has no elective political experience. Very important, all the posts she has held have been by appointment not by election. Getting elected is a complicated matter and while I have every confidence she can learn she must first – learn. If she wants to pursue higher elected office then she should pursue the governorship of a state.

So many who are Rice supporters back off and then suggest a bid for the vice president. The Vice President often plays the role of attack dog. I just do not see Condeleeza Rice pulling that off well.

Furthermore, her stint as Secretary of State has been less than pleasing to myself. Obviously one person (even the captain) can only do so much and a ship as big and entrenched as the State Department is not going to turn on a dime, but even the top level initiatives of the State Department are not pleasing.

Also, I have n documentation to back this up, but the buzz I hear about Condeleeza's stand on many social issues is she closer to the Democrats than the Republicans. Maybe, maybe not, but until those come out I err on the side of caution with Ms. Rice.

Obamanisms

Obama gets a question. The question, if two US cities were nuked and we knew for certain it was Al-Qaida what would you do?

What an out is the stipulation on perfect knowledge! So, when a future Democratic president is faced with such a quandry the out will be we don't know for certain who it was, and they will have a pass on acting. Of course, they will act but it will be to send Ophrah to comfort us.

Queueing Up.

Ann Marlowe reviews Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist

When Changez [book's narrator] works briefly for an American firm in Manila, he learns to act like an American, which apparently means speaking rudely to older people and cutting to the front of lines. (Never mind that, almost anywhere in the third world, locals would rather work for Americans, who treat them well, than for their feudal-minded fellow countrymen. And I’ve also found that, whenever I’m in a crowd trying to get somewhere in the third world, it is the Americans and English who are left behind, while the locals charge forward ignoring the queue.)

Source: National Review Online – Buying Anti-American (And the annoying whining in The Reluctant Fundamentalist isn’t even authentic.) by Ann Marlowe My experience is square on with Ann's. I would wait in a queue and it was the locals who would cut the queue and push and shove their ways to the front. It was expected at the DMV, for instance, there would not be a line to the person taking applications (or fees or whatever) but a mob, the individuals in the mob would then push and shove their way to the front waving their paperwork at the paperwork processing guy. Ironically in this instance most of those people were from – Pakistan. The only times I found myself jumping the queue was when the queue tender invited me to come forward and that was far from frequent and usually happened because the person working the line recognized me as someone he knew (e.g. one of my current or former students) or I was with a buddy who had children.

In fact, the worst offenders when it came to queue cutting were those who were citizens in my host nation. I tell you, many of them felt very entitled to cut the queue, to barge their way into an office building after hours (when the overworked expatriate staff was trying to close up for the day and get some well deserved rest. These people would typically work 6-1/2+ days a week and while it varied I would guess many worked for more than 8 hours per day).

The times I have been in Manila I waited patiently for my/or turn to come up to be served when we had to queue up. The other charge is a more realistic one to make, but the problem with manners and cross-cultural meetings is the fact rudeness for one culture is simply not for another.

However, Ann's other point about how many in other nations prefer to work for Americans over even their own countrymen is one I have found to be true more frequently than one would suppose.

Best Mileage!

On my car since I again started keeping accurate records.

Every time I fill up I write down (and reset) the miles since my last filling, the number of gallons purchased, and information from the car's trip computer (average mpg, average speed, and gallons consumed). I then plunk the data into a spreadsheet.

We have an '02 Chevy Impala (with the 3.8 liter V6 IIRC). Today, we filled up and crunching the numbers shows we had a mileage of 30.31 miles/gallon over the last tank. Not bad, we have been averaging 24.85 since early April of 2007.

What is the difference? Maintenance? A magnet on the gas line? One of those pills that turns water into fuel? New brainboxes?

Nope none of that. Thoughtful driving and sticking to speed limits.

The energy of a moving object is related to the square of the object's speed. That is, if tow identical objects are traveling at 2 mph and 4 mph the energy of the faster object is not 2x more but 4x more. Another factor working against higher speeds is wind resistance is generally proportional to the object's speed. That is (the faster object in our prior example will only experience a resistance force of 2x greater than the first one) the faster you go the more energy you have to pump into the object to keep the speed up.

For example, in order to go from 65 mph to 75 mph you must pump in 1/3 more energy than it took you to get from 0 mph to 65 mph and then you have to expend more power (something like 15% more) to keep the speed at 75 mph. That extra power required needs gasoline.

Of course, one may say "Why don't you drive 45 mph then?", well life is full of tradeoffs. On my trips to/from Madison the difference in speeds results in a trip time of about 14 minutes provided. However, it seems on the way to Madison the speed matters little I usually get to the office in a range of five minutes despite my speed. If I drive fast, I hit the beltline at an earlier & busier time, if I drive slower I hit it later and less busy.

Vote!

What? Yeah, go out and vote! Not here in the USofA but for any Filipinos reading this blog get out and vote in your upcoming elections.

I have only one endorsement to make. If you live in Barili Cebu make sure to vote for

RAMON BOY EWICAN

for vice mayor. Ramon Boy Ewican is a good man worthy of your vote!


Updates:

1. 5/22/2007 6:30 am US Central Daylight Time

Word is Kuya Ramon is the declared winner (the declaration happened sometime ago)! Yeah! Also I gratuitously type in the word "Philippines" to help someone searching for this post to find it! If you find it, let me know by adding a bark! Salamat!

2. 5/15/2007 10:45 am US Central Daylight Time

A text arrives from my sister-in-law (sister to my wife & Kuya Ramon) saying Kuya Ramon wins by a 400 vote margin. Though, the local comelec has not issued a statement regarding this. I have to believe 400 votes is a slim margin and a recount will happen with more time for... Not yet time to celebrate, while winning the first count is important it is not over yet.

3. 5/15/2007 7:00 am US Central Daylight Time

It has been up & down with Kuya pulling out to an early lead, then falling behind, and the latest news is kuya Ramon is leading!

Internet Attack Happening?

Websites I frequent are unavailable. At first, I thought it had to do with my pipe out of my office to the Internet. Wrong, I can access certain sites, but some of my hosted websites (not this one) but other ones I maintain are down. In fact, I am also unable to load Yahoo.

A Soccer Match

Anyone who knows soccer and how soccer tournaments work know how teams often do not play to win and how a draw works just as well as a win so what do they do? They all sit back on defense. The other team gets shots on goal all night long but can not score so the game ends in a nil-nil draw with one team advancing and the other going home.

This is the situation the Congress & the President are in. Congress does not have to pass any bill, they can play for a draw and as long as there is no bill authorizing more money the Surrendercrats win (and we will go back in a number of years at much greater cost) the contest.

They will send bills to the President all day and all night long and the President can veto the bills just the same, but eventually something has to give and the Surrendercrats are not going to be the ones giving.

I feel bleak about this no victory for our force is going to be big enough and no terrorist victory is too small.

Up Yours Employer X!

I applied at Employer X not too long ago. Finally had a phone conversation with them on TU and already they sent me an FO e-mail.

I did not apply at Employer X because I want to work there. In fact, I have been in Employer X's office 3 times as a consultant and thought if the people there spent as much time working as they did whining to managers and engaging in CYA that place would do much better. So, I am not too broken up over the FO.

Why did I seek employment at Employer X then? Because I am getting fed up with my current situation, that is why.

In the past I have seen opportunities to work at Employer X in the past but never applied, but things with my current employer have finally pushed me that far. No rationalization but thankfulness. At least I can say I tried and they fumbled the opportunity.

Obamanisms

You know Barak Obama stated 10,000 people were killed in the tornado in Kansas.

Now, when he finally figured out what he said he said he was tired. Guess what? I am entirely sympathetic to his claim. He is jetting about the nation, giving speech after speech, answering question after question (one every now and then may be unscripted), and meeting with contributors etc.

How can anyone not stumble over their words occasionally?

In fact, I hear Barak is not that great of a speaker. Offering trite platitudes instead of substance or fresh ideas. He is Πthe Madonna of politics.

Despite the desire to reciprocate and call Obama what another person gets called for similar stumbles I refrain.

Just remember, eloquence did not convince the left President Reagan was smart (noted leftist and Saddam Hussein apologist Clark Clifford called Ronald Reagan an amiable dunce). They just try to pretend they have something more profound than simple disagreement.

Who You Calling an Anti-Tax Extremist?

Earlier I commented on a Bruce Bartlett commentary. Here is Wikipedia's entry on Bruce Bartlett. In his commentary Mr. Bartlett use the phrase anti-tax extremists. He then tries to tell us the loaded language he uses is not intended to describe the positions.

If I were Mr. Bartlett I would be careful using the phrase anti-tax extremist:

In January 1977, Bartlett went to work for Congressman Jack Kemp (R-New York) as staff economist. Bartlett spent much of his time on tax issues, helping to draft the Kemp-Roth tax bill, which ultimately formed the basis of Ronald Reagan's 1981 tax cut. Bartlett's book, "Reaganomics: Supply-Side Economics in Action" appeared in 1981 (New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House Publishers). He also co-edited the book The Supply-Side Solution (Chatham, NJ: Chatham House Publishers, 1983).

Source: WikiPedia &3150; Bruce Bartlett That is, Mr. Bartlett may with some fairness be called one of the original anti-tax extremists. I may be fairly called a part of the group Mr. Bartlett is calling out. However, I do not want a Hillary in power and if that means voting for Giuliani or (better yet) McCain then I will. However, it does "moderate" (lets reciprocate here, wishy-washy or even better yet RINO) Republicans no good when they choose their words poorly.

Rudy Giuliani did this lately sounding much like Howard Dean. Even when put into proper context the words do him no good.

I am convinced a goodly number of the people Bruce Bartlett refers to are perfectly willing to give the likes of Rudy Giuliani a shot, if they feel their views on cultural matters receive the respect the candidate feels their views deserve. Rudy has me wondering about that.

In the end I do not view conflicts over culture and policy as separate; they may be separate conflicts but they are part of the same struggle.

Virtue is liberty's oxygen, without virtue liberty is soon to die.

Chopping at the Tent Poles

The tensions I viewed within the Outagamie County Republican Party, the Republican Party of Wisconsin, and the national Republican/conservative movement are bursting into fatricidal warfare.

There is a tension between the tent and the tentpoles. One side has big cash the other side has zeal and time. One side poo-poos social concerns the other side from time to time veers into the poison of economic populism. One side derides the others as "blue blazer Republicans" or Country Club Republicans the other uses terms like ignorant and intolerant yahoos.

Now, many try to paint the fight as the far right getting too big for its breeches but what happens if the far right stays home? What happens is the still GOP loses and of late the social conservatives are feeling not excessively included but are finding their concerns being given short shrift. The arrogance Mr. Bartlett expresses is not done with the above comment but he goes on:

However, if the Republican party loses everyone except religious zealots, gun nuts, anti-tax extremists, and pro-life absolutists, then it is not going to win any national elections. That’s not a comment on the rightness or wrongness of the views of those I just listed...

Source: National Review Online Dealing with a Democratic Advantage
(The price of purity is political powerlessness.) a column by Bruce Bartlett What caught my eye was That’s not a comment on the rightness or wrongness of the views of those I just listed Then why do you use the following terms religious zealots, gun nuts, anti-tax extremists, and pro-life absolutists? That clearly expresses an attitude on on the rightness or wrongness of the views.

However, Mr. Bartlett has to consider the fact a Republican Party bereft of religious zealots, gun nuts, anti-tax extremists, and pro-life absolutists is every bit as bereft of electoral victory as a Republican Party bereft of big money.

Demagouging

It is approaching summer driving, boating, 4x4ing, motorcycling, chainsawing, season. What other season is it? Gouging, gouging and gouging demagoguery season.

It is also the season we hear idiot politicians scream for investigations on the oil and gas companies for engaging in profitable business.

I do not like high gas prices any more than anyone else, but access to gas is not a right it is something we have to earn. Of course the politicians who are the first to scream about gas prices being too high are often those who scream wages are too low and uses the force of law (which sooner or later comes from a gun) to force the wages higher.

High gas prices do a couple of things. Mainly, it discourages the frivolous use of a scarce resource. Frivolous use such as joyriding, perhaps 4x4ing, perhaps boating, the purchase of gas hog vehicles (without a serious need), etc. This benefits the environment, you remember Demagouger – the environment? It can be protected without your intervention. New sources of energy need to be explored and considered, it can be done without Demagougic intervention.

It is widely known this is a busy year for traveling and vacations. People going to the lake. What do they do at the lake? How far is it to the lake?

No, do not punish the oil companies for making a profit, even a healthy profit. What is your goal in your professional life? To give your work for the least possible wage or salary? When you sell a house, what is your goal? To see for how little you can sell your house? Think about what you do in your life and apply that to others, even when it goes against your interest.

Oh yeah, one last thing. If you do not like paying a lot for gas, then use less of it.

Milwaukee Media

As you all know I live in Wisconsin's Fox Valley about an hour and one half drive from Milwaukee. I listen to WTMJ when I am not listening to Rush, music, or local news. Often times I have it on when driving to/from Madison and to listen to Brewer games in the car (I detest the talkers on the local station and listen to WHBY only for weather & news). Sometimes it is WTAQ I listen to.

However, recently the mother of WTMJ's #1 talk show host passed away in a fire. Most civil people express regret and condolences when such events happen, even to those they politically oppose. However, the McGees of Milwaukee did the opposite. It was a vicious comment having no place in civilized society.

Now, you can find the McGee comments yourself the Milwaukee bloggers have done a great job of getting this story out and Michelle Malkin is watching this story too.

My take is on the media take. Quite silent, in fact very silent. My parents live in the Lakeshore area (roughly defined as the first set of counties adjacent to Lake Michigan running from Sheboygan to Kewaunee county) and listen to & watch Milwaukee media. Go to my folks house and most radios are playing WTMJ 24x7 (unless a nut like myself changes it) they do not watch the Green Bay stations but the Milwaukee stations instead. When I mentioned to my mother the McGee commentary she was utterly clueless about it.

I would say the only stations with an excuse would be WTMJ (radio & their TV) out of respect for the Sykes family. But the other stations did not. What a shame. The story is now getting a bit of recognition.

DUH!

Picked this up on Drudge:

Former President
Bill Clinton said Friday that disasters such as worldwide famine and an obesity epidemic could destroy the U.S. health care system unless politicians begin to look ahead and cooperate.

Clinton, speaking at a forum sponsored by Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, said governments fail to act even when disasters are anticipated because leaders are distracted by fulfilling campaign promises and scrambling to respond to immediate emergencies. Big-picture planning gets "crowded out," he said.

Source: Yahoo News – Bill Clinton warns of looming disasters (JESSE HARLAN ALDERMAN, Associated Press Writer) What a duh-ism this statement is.

Jonah Goldberg frequently likens life to boulder dodging. You have a series of boulders rolling down at you. Some boulders bound well away from you before they get close and other boulders do not veer away from you. What happens? Is you are most intently focused on the boulder about to roll over you, never mind avoiding the closed boulder puts you in the path of the next closest boulder, you survive. The effort of avoiding the close boulders means you have less effort to spend on planning and preparing for the boulders farther up the hill.

Hunger was always one of those boulders and in most places is still a major concern. Well, dodging the hunger boulder puts people in front of another boulder.

Tell us something else stunningly obvious.

The rest of report is nothing but Democratic Powerpoint bullets.

Nasaan Ba Si Nurse on Call?

Where is the Nurse on Call?

I hope the Ministry of Health did not spank her for her blogging?

Flagstar Bank Customers Targeted for Phishing

I just received multiple attempts to scam personal financial information. The scam spoofs Flagstar bank (which does have the reported contest going on) and tries to make you click on a link which directs you to www.zakerin.biz ( an Arabic website) site that spoofs the Flagstar survey.

Being I am not a Flagstar Bank customer and have never heard of the bank I immediately suspected the scam and doing the mouse float over the links the classic signs of phishing were apparent.

I have alerted Flagstar Bank of this situation.

MS Project Comes to Iraq?

The next phase of the debate regarding the Iraq war & funding it.

The buzz phrase in round I was the weasel word redeployment (think Monty Python's Holy Grail: redeploy! redeploy! redeploy!. The buzzword in round II is benchmark. Redeploy was nothing but surrender and the Democrats did this for one reason and that was to show their blue meat leftists the state of things and to at least try to appear to surrender.

Benchmarks is a much more reasonable idea. Of course, it all depends on the exact meaning of benchmarks and the consequences of not achieving those goals. I believe the Administration does have milestones set for the Iraqi government and this entire project. This is going to be where the contention lies. Usually in war you do not get too specific or vocal in broadcasting your objectives, let the enemy find out what your objectives are after you have accomplished them.

What goals, what consequences for not meeting those goals, and what are the consequences of meeting those goals will the Democrats attempt to legislate? That is starting to sound like a Constitutional power grab.

I would guess the cliche about no plan is going to get louder and the Democrats are going to try and tell us their new funding bill lays out a winning plan. Anticipating this very debate I wrote a piece entitled On Plans & Planning. The political opposition confuses the enemy veto with lack of a plan. There is an active enemy working to disrupt any and all Coalition plans and that can not be discounted when analyzing former plans and creating future plans. How the enemy disrupts the plan is usually quite unknown.

The Iraqi War is a situation that requires flexibility and what may seem at the moment a reasonable benchmark, milestone, goal etc may in the future not just be unattainable but undesirable. The mandate to fix funding to benchmarks removes the flexibility our commanders need.

Think of it this way. Let us say the Packer defense plans to defend a run play going away from AJ Hawk. AJ Hawk (linebacker) detects the Bears are going to run a screen play to his side, what is AJ to do? Does he go with the plan or does he attack the screen he detects? The Democrats appear to be saying he had better go with the plan and potentially give up a lot of yards. Of course, AJ had better be correct.

A couple of thoughts. In WWII the objectives and campaign goals were roughly debated over. Not only within service branches, but between services, and nations. If congress decided to insert itself in all of that and attempted to make those goals widely known I shudder to think what would have happened.

A Tale of Two Mothers

Angenette Levy contemplates two mothers in opposite corners of a legal battle but in otherwise very similar situations.

First on Karen Halbach in particular and the rest of the Halbach's:

I’ve heard over and over again that the Halbachs have a deep faith that has guided them through the last 18 months. Mike Halbach has often said that he gets his strength from his mother. I don’t know whether it’s faith or life experience or a combination of both, but I know that I don’t understand how this family has kept it together.

Imagine for months, turning on the news and listening to the man you believe to be the murderer of your daughter, granting interviews and suggesting that your daughter might still be alive. Imagine Karen Halbach, listening to Steven Avery talk about how cops might have planted his blood to frame them for her daughter’s murder. To listen to him say, “she was here for 5 minutes, and left” even after his nephew gives a three-hour recorded confession.

Source: WFRV Courtroom Journal – Two Mothers – Polar Opposites (Angenette Levy) Faith is a strong force and can move people to greatness or get them through great trials:

The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger."
Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

One day when Job's sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, "Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:
"Naked I came from my mother's womb,
and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised."

In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

Source: Job 1 – BibleGateway.com New International Version We do not know the reasons we just believe there are good reasons to be revealed sooner or later.

Barbara Tadych the mother of Brendan Dassey presents a more conflicting image. She too has lost a child, though her child lives and breathes yet who can say he is not lost? I feel for Ms. Tadych. However, the conflict comes in her reversal of course. I have touched on this before. Angenette picks up on the first half of it as well:

I’ll [Angenette] never forget what it was like to look into her eyes as she realized what her brother had dragged her son into that Halloween day. She said that she was “numb.” She looked into the camera and spoke to her brother and said, “Steven, I know you’re going to be watching this and I hate you for what you did to my son, so you can rot in hell, alright. And I’m gonna get you for it.”

Source: WFRV Courtroom Journal – Two Mothers – Polar Opposites (Angenette Levy)

Angenette goes onto wonder:

As I’ve said before, only Brendan Dassey can answer the “why” question. And, if he did do it, and if it was simply because he “wanted to see what if felt like”as far as sex goes, then why did Steven Avery bring his young, impressionable nephew into this?

Source: WFRV Courtroom Journal – Two Mothers – Polar Opposites (Angenette Levy) why did Steven Avery drag Brandon into it? In the movie The Treasure of the Sierra Madre Howard, Curtin, and Dobbs were confronted by another man trying to get a piece of the action. Howard, Curtin,and Dobbs refuse and decide to approach the man and shoot him together. Why together? So they would all be in on the murder together and would be equally likely to hang. IIRC, Brandon confessed he stumbled upon the horror and was invited by Steven to partake. Steven did it to try to make Brandon part & parcel of the action so as to give Brandon a good reason to be quiet. It worked for a time, but the same pliancy that led Brandon into the horror and kept him quiet for a time also lead to the confession.

It’s also terribly sad that most of the time Barb comes to court by herself. Brendan’s dad Peter has been here in the mornings, but he has to work in the afternoon. When Steve was on trial, many of the Avery family members showed up for court everyday. It’s sad to see that Brendan’s grandparents, Dolores and Allan, and his uncles choose to stay home for his court appearances. Why all the support for Steve and none for Brendan?

It must be awful to feel like no one’s behind you, or your son. She also trusted her brother with her son, and now look what’s happened, if what Brendan said is true.

Source: WFRV Courtroom Journal – Two Mothers – Polar Opposites (Angenette Levy) Now, as Wizard points out earlier in a comment the prosecutors attempted to cut a deal with Brandon. Now, with the the confession, the phone call, and Ms. Tadych's statement above why oh why did you not advise your son to take the deal? I guess they all felt Brandon was a snitch.

In the end Steven Avery bears the most of hte guilt:

And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck.

Source: Mark 9:42 - Biblegateway.com New International Version