luken7

US Shuts Down Canadian Gambling Site With Verisigns Help – Slashdot

Posted on March 3, 2012 by luken7

So wait, now the gov’t is using Verisign, the company that was massively hacked, but never informed anyone, to seize domains outside the US? That sounds about right. The DHS is on a roll, with a massive “land grab” of anything and everything to further entrench themselves into our lives. Stalin would have been proud….

“Domain seizures are nothing new, but this particular case is interesting. The Department of Homeland Security has seized a domain name registered outside of the U.S., by individuals who are not American citizens, and who registered with a Canadian registrar. From the article: The ramifications of this are no less than chilling and every single organization branded or operating under .com, .net, .org, .biz etc needs to ask themselves about their vulnerability to the whims of U.S. federal and state lawmakers not exactly known their cluefulness nor even-handedness, especially with regard to matters of the internet.”

via US Shuts Down Canadian Gambling Site With Verisigns Help – Slashdot.

Burger can come with a beer at a White Castle restaurant testing sale of alcoholic drinks – The Washington Post

Posted on December 21, 2011 by luken7

This should be a slam dunk, White Castle Beers and Burgers. All they need now is a big screen in every store. The only thing is the price of $3 per beer. They should do an old-school fallback to the days of the 10 cent burger and compliment it with a 25 cent beer !!!

The White Castle hamburger chain is sipping on the idea of selling alcoholic beverages at its restaurants.The 90-year-old company is testing beer and wine sales at a location in Lafayette, Ind., that combines a traditional White Castle burger joint with a Blaze Modern BBQ, a new restaurant concept also being tried out. In other cities, Columbus, Ohio-based White Castle is testing an Asian food concept and a restaurant that serves grilled sandwiches.

via Burger can come with a beer at a White Castle restaurant testing sale of alcoholic drinks – The Washington Post.

Romney group airs attack ads – Political Season Officially Underway

Posted on December 17, 2011 by luken7

Well, we’ve officially kicked of the political season with the negative attack campaign ads. Nothing about the candidate’s message or their ideas or plans or records. Just the usual “the other guy is worse than me”, filmed in grainy black and while video, using the voice narration of someone sounding like the narrator on Forensic Files. Better settle in folks, we have a whole year of this to live through.

A political group working to elect Mitt Romney is launching TV ads in Tampa Bay criticizing former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich as a baggage-laden disaster against whom President Barack Obama would love to run.

“Barack Obama’s plan is working. Destroy Mitt Romney. Run against Newt Gingrich. Newt has a ton of baggage,” says a female narrator, who cites congressional ethics violation fines Gingrich paid, consulting fees he received from Freddie Mac, and his positions on illegal immigration.

via Romney group airs attack ads in Florida – Political Currents – MiamiHerald.com.

American Airlines Bankruptcy Requirements

Posted on December 16, 2011December 16, 2011 by luken7

With AA in bankruptcy, there should be some conditions made for emerging from it. First, the creditors should require that they sell some routes. I’d recommend that the RDU to DFW be sold to Delta, or at least some of the travel times on that route. Since AA charges ~800 round trip for that route and still goes bankrupt, it’s obvious they can’t manage their business.

Second, outside of this bankruptcy but an example of how some legislations simply don’t work, the absurd Wright Amendment should be repealed. This would allow carriers such as Southwest Airlines to fly directly to Love Field from states that are not adjacent to Texas. How of all states, pro-business Texas, could have such an anti-competitive bill passed to protect an airline is beyond me.

So, for once, think of the customer and the economy, repeal that absurd law and make AA sell some routes.

In an interesting find, apparently the commercial domestic airline industry as a whole, has never made a profit in the five decades of existence. A loss of over ~$30B (that’s billion) dollars, enough to make even Dr. Evil raise another pinky. So when we talk about funding a national rail system that may never make money, remember that investors really aren’t bothered that much about their losses in the airline industry apparently.

Friday rant on sales practices

Posted on December 16, 2011December 16, 2011 by luken7

If you’re in sales, remember that your clients (customers) have real names. Odds that they are named “Pal” or “Buddy” is highly remote. If you want to build a relationship and trust, refer to them by their name. Not “hey buddy” or “thanks pal”.

Shale-Gas Drilling to Add 870,000 Jobs, cleanup to add even more

Posted on December 6, 2011 by luken7

Dec. 6 (Bloomberg) — Producing natural gas from shale will support 870,000 U.S. jobs and add $118 billion to economic growth in the next four years, according to a report from IHS Global Insight.

Cleaning up the environmental mess afterwards will probably add another 50,000 jobs…..

via Shale-Gas Drilling to Add 870,000 Jobs by 2015, Report Says – Businessweek.

Adam Carolla Talks About Occupy Wall Street | Video | TheBlaze.com

Posted on December 3, 2011 by luken7

Adam Carolla breaks down the Occupy movement to it’s basic core. Love it.

Some people have a way of breaking down an issue, laying it out in its simplest, most rudimentary form. Comic and podcaster Adam Carolla did just that recently when he unleashed what many conservatives will hail an acerbic yet painfully accurate debunking of the Occupy movement and its self-ascribed motivations. The nearly ten minute long lampooning of America’s new “f–king self-entitled monsters“ who ”think the world owes them a living” is peppered with very strong language, still, Carolla’s observations are worth listening through to the end.

via Adam Carolla Talks About Occupy Wall Street | Video | TheBlaze.com.

‘Indefinite Detention’ Bill Passes Senate 93-7

Posted on December 2, 2011 by luken7

Stalin would be so proud and China drools in envy….

The Senate last night codified into law the power of the U.S. military to indefinitely detain an American citizen with no charge, no trial and no oversight whatsoever with the passage of S. 1867, the National Defense Authorization Act.

via Prison Planet.com » ‘Indefinite Detention’ Bill Passes Senate 93-7.

Gov’t is the biggest business killer

Posted on December 1, 2011 by luken7

States and local governments will lose up to about $12 billion in 2012 from uncollected sales taxes.

That’s a snipit from a very good WSJ article about a proposed plan for all online businesses to start collecting state and local taxes. First, the problem with that comment above is that gov’t has the notion that it’s “their” money they are loosing. Nothing is farther from the truth.

I’m noticing a pattern here. Gov’t, at all levels, needs revenue. Not to serve the public interest in providing services, but to empower themselves by collecting revenue, and redistributing it in exchange for votes. Votes from people they claim to help, by keeping them in a perpetual state of dependency. “Look what I did for you…re-elect me”.

But in the process of proposing this new law of online taxation, several studies from political independent research centers estimate and explain how that would further damage small businesses. These small businesses that sell online is hte only place where they can effectively compete against the worlds largest online store, Amazon. No wonder Amazon supports this proposal. They’re fully aware that it would damage small online retailers, essentially having the gov’t reduce their competition online. Follow the money trail and you’ll probably see that bills sponsor probably enjoys a recent campaign contribution.

via Sales-Tax Measures ‘to Cost Us Big’ – WSJ.com.

Glaxo Settles With U.S. for $3 Billion – WSJ.com

Posted on November 3, 2011 by luken7

The last I checked, if I defrauded Medicaid or illegally did anything around prescription drugs, I would be in jail. Pure and simple, jail. But GlaxoSmithKline will just pay fines, as though it will hurt the individuals responsible for the fraud, or flat out theft.

The Supreme Court absurdly ruled that a corporation has the same rights as a person, so shouldn’t a corporation bear the same responsibilities in being a good citizen and punishments when committing a crime as a person? Shouldn’t the board, CEO and directors, who’s the actual corporation or represent the corporation be going to jail on behalf of the corporation, representing the corporation? The only people hurt here are the shareholders who have limited voice but take 100% of the risks and losses. The executive team and board members will continue on, brush this off with a corporate statement to the press, and return to business as usual.

GlaxoSmithKline PLC said it will pay the U.S. government $3 billion to settle several long-running criminal and civil investigations into the company, including allegations that Glaxo marketed some drugs illegally and defrauded the Medicaid program.

via Glaxo Settles With U.S. for $3 Billion – WSJ.com.