Anti-Semitism

Cox & Forkum have linked to three events in the past week highlighting just how friendly a place Europe is to the Jewish community. Of course, the UN has assured us that there really isn't anti-semitism in Europe, it's just random violence that is being carried out against Jews. Right, thank you once again for leading with moral clarity.

The Kerry Plan

The Onion has figured out Kerry's plan for America.

Culture Wars

It's now officially safe in Houston. This after a judge ordered a Bible remove from public viewing. Good thing we got rid of that horrible book! Just imagine the kind of things it can inspire. Things like sacrificing your life for others, feeding the poor, and loving your neighbor as yourself. Yes, it's a good thing this vile book is out of public site. The real estate agent who brought the case before the court had this to say,

"It is just a wonderful day for religious freedom and religious diversity," she said.

Yes, nevermind that all three of the major religions use at least part of the Bible. The Jews use the first Testament, Christians of course use both, and Mohammed believed himself (and the Qur'an) to be the completion of the first two Testaments. Nevermind all that though, not when it concerns one person's bigotry. That's what's really most important anyway.

Mmmm... Apple Store...

Let's just say my trials with MacMall and BankOne are over.

As If American Education Did Not Have Enough to be Enbarrassed About...

Yahoo! News is reporting that a school that advertises itself as a way to give immigrants a "stap up" through education is teaching such amazingly wrong information as the USA has 53 states, and 4 branches of government!

Students learned that Congress had two houses -- the Senate for Democrats and the House for Republicans; that the U.S. flag had not been updated to reflect the addition of Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico to the "original" 50 states; that the federal "administrative" branch oversees the Treasury Department; and that World War II occurred from 1938 to 1942.

The California attorney general is taking the school to court to stop it from handing out diplomas, but the school is trying to expand into other states and jurisdictions.

WHEN IS SECURITY, TOO SECURE?

Over the last 24 hours, I have been trying to purchase a 12 inch Apple Powerbook from MacMall over the internet. MacMall is a generally good site to order from - they have a decent selection of software/hardware at decent prices. They are never the cheapest, but they are always fair. I have bought two of my other past computers from them, and a lot of software. Well, I placed the order and charged it to my BankOne card (actually a SchoolPop BankOne card, so X% of my purchases go to my alma mater as a pain-free donation). BankOne, unlike some of my other cards, has a pretty good security system in place for tracking unusual purchases. They (ie. the computer) noticed that I had a recent charge in Seattle (hotel cost for Sean's wedding) and now was attempting a large computer purchase. They stopped the transaction as suspicious (good) and placed an automated call to me to ask about the charges. While I was a bit annoyed at the computerized voice instead of a human being, it was okay with me. I approved all of the "suspicious" charges and assumed that the charge in question would be allowed to go thru.



No such luck. It turns out that I would have to put the charge through AGAIN in order to make it work. Okay. I called MacMall, let them know the score, and they assured me the computer would ship overnight for delivery on Tuesday (today). I checked back in a few hours to make sure everything was good. Nope. Refused again. I called back BankOne. Oops, you see it was sent to my work address instead of the billing address (silly me, for wanting to be able to work on the day I recieved a computer). Reauthorize, recall MacMall, reassured that it would ship overnight. Nope. I called MacMall last night to get a final okay on the transaction. Nope. Failure. Refused. (By this point, I realize I should have just changed the card I was charging it to.) So I called back BankOne and this time reached the security department. I personally, explicitly authorized the charge including the EXACT AMOUNT, the BILLING COMPANY, and the EXACT ADDRESS. They told me EXPLICITLY that "all security flags are lifted for the next 24 hours." They confirmed I could charge anything "right away." I called back MacMall. No dice. Refused, and oh-by-the-way-did-I-mention it is now too late to ship anything anyway.



Ultimately, I cancelled the order. It'll be simpler to go up to the local Apple store and buy it directly from them, using a different credit card, where security forces are less stringent (because they know if I am stealing, they have my face on the store cameras and my fingerprints on the reciept). I also learned that BankOne is currently (for the next two weeks) upgrading their systems... ALL OF THEM. So this means I CAN NOT check my account activity online, it means that I get hung up on when I call any automated line, and it means (apparently) that it is IMPOSSIBLE to lift a security hold. BankOne, take it from me. Security is all well and good. But security is supposed to make business SAFER. Not stop business altogether.



Though perhaps there is a lesson for the War on Terror, too.

Don't Call it Genocide, That Offends Us.

Yet more appeasement to murderers. Yet more of the world sitting on it's butt and doing nothing. That's right, the EU has officially declared that the situation in Sudan isn't genocide. It's just an example of one group murdering another. Oh wait, that is genocide. Well never mind, don't let all those lost lives get in the way of our comfortable way of life.



Debate Update: Nomad should be posting our debate today or tomorrow.