The turnout represented agencies from an area much bigger than what I expected. It even attracted a municipal agency. Hopefully, there will be more frequent and better offerings as time goes on.

Is this for real? I am incredulous that such a statement goes entirely unchallenged in this country. This isn’t a knock against Islam either. The few Muslims I’ve met were American Muslims and I had no problems with them. They were kind, friendly, and open. But this statement was talking about Muslims “around the world” and not one who’s family has been here for a few generations and has fully integrated into American culture.

For this statement to stand, I have to throw out so much of my education and history that we have an entirely different country. Below is a bulleted list of the points our President made and why I am having such difficulty with them.

• Ramadan is a celebration of a faith known for great diversity and racial equality.
• Known for “great” diversity and racial equality. OK, who knows this? I didn’t that’s for sure. When watching any news stories involving Islam, diversity is something that honestly never crossed my mind.
• Ramadan is a reminder that Islam has always been part of America
• Was the Santa Maria carrying the Muslim pilgrims? How many minarets were in view of Independence Hall? Did the Liberty Bell compete with the muezzin when it rang? These things are strangely missing from my memory.
• that American Muslims have made extraordinary contributions to our country.
• such as…..? (not saying it hasn’t happened, just asking to know what)
• These rituals remind us of the principles that we hold in common
• OK, having never practiced Ramadan it would be unfair to even comment on that.
• Islam’s role in advancing justice,
• Would that be the many advances in stoning or amputation techniques?
• Islam’s role in advancing progress,
• towards what? I know we owe Arabs for a lot of our math. The Moslem empires of old certainly played a key role in trade that allowed the whole of mankind to advance. Is that the reference? Has there been much lately?
• Islam’s role in advancing tolerance,
• Oh sure. Perhaps Barney Frank a self-proclaimed “left-handed gay Jew” should walk down the streets of Iran, Pakistan, or Nigeria. I’m sure they would demonstrate their tolerance.
• Islam’s role in advancing the dignity of all human beings.
• as in conducting dignified beheadings, burning corpses and hanging them in public with the utmost respect, etc.

Those standards deal with everything from how much sunlight an inmate is allowed to the temperature range the jail must maintain (65° - 85° F ). They also require that preventive maintenance be performed to keep the facility safe and sanitary. The sanitary condition of the facility is why inmates are moved whenever there is a leak in the facility. The jail has had some issues with leaks but the Commissioner’s Court has taken steps to address the situation and continues to do so.

Fortunately, this doesn’t happen anymore with the roofing situation having been addressed by near continuous work over the past year.  The fact that this is no longer occurring in the jail is why the trip was more of a slight nuisance than anything else. The reason for the small sigh of relief? While not expecting it, there were a few cells in my brain worried that Wichita County might lose the use of some jail beds.

Instead, the worst thing that happened was the feeling the next day after eating from the Mellow Mushroom. The pizza was excellent.

I sent them information defining the basic problem. I was soon contacted by Justin Cowan, a Dell Technical Support Specialist, who opened a service ticket and within a few days I had a new battery waiting for me after work. Glad to be able to finally work on my computer without being attached to the wall, I sent them a thank you letter for their prompt service.

I wanted to withdraw that about two weeks later when it quit charging again. I was a little concerned that I was going to have issues getting the same issue addressed in such a short period. Glad to say I was wrong.

After contacting them, and sending a few bits of information obtained from the BIOS menu, I received an email letting me know how they would take care of it. True to their word, a few days later I was sitting in my living room watching the tech they had dispatched replace the motherboard. He left a new AC Adapter as well.

Two thumbs up to Dell from this customer.

Underscoring Congress’ image problem, half of Americans now say they have "very little" or "no" confidence in Congress, up from 38% in 2009 — and the highest for any institution since Gallup first asked this question in 1973.

Congress Ranks Last in Confidence in Institutions

I didn’t bother looking up links but given the poppy crop in Afghanistan, it seems drugs and violence might be a familiar combination in places other than Mexico.

“Members of Hezbollah have already entered the United States across the Southwest border.”

“A Line in the Sand”, a report from the House Committee on Homeland Security.

"These guys are copying the methods of al Qaida (terrorists)," said Jorge Chabat, a criminal justice expert at the Center for Research and Teaching of Economics in Mexico City.

Why are beheadings so popular with Mexico’s drug gangs? | McClatchy

Mexican authorities say the assailants lured police and paramedics to the scene through an elaborate ruse seemingly taken out of an Al-Qaida playbook.

US official: Mexican car bomb likely used Tovex - World news - Americas - msnbc.com

Mention the new "tan tax" in a major news outlet and cries of discrimination and reverse racism often follow.

‘Tan tax’ discussions include allegations of reverse racism

And this one from the AP.

To me it [the gulf oil spill] was more about eight years of bad policy before (Obama) got there that let this happen.

Buffett hopes to boost Gulf spirits with concert

I can’t believe the news I read, the emails I get and some of the comments I read on various social media. I mean come on, there are numerous legitimate reasons to oppose the federal government sticking its fingers into healthcare. Are we really to the point where we have to appeal to the negative? Every. Single. Time?

Then there is the comment from Jimmy Buffet about the oil spill. Since he feels responsibility lies at the feet of the Executive office of the federal government, I’d say it’s about time for this administration to start owning problems. Is the American public buying this “It is still Bushes fault?” The reality of the matter is that it’s not either President’s fault. The information that is available makes it seem as though BP had some bad policies and procedures. (Entirely too much information available about the spill here and here.)

Americans need to think for themselves and stop being party hacks to the point of being ludicrous.

So I’ll end with a repeat of the subject of this post. Seriously?

Rosenfield was released after officials looked through the pictures he had taken and took down his date of birth, Social Security number and other personal information, the photographer said. The information was turned over to the BP security guard [emphasis added] who said this was standard procedure, ProPublica quoted Rosenfield as saying.

Field Notes - Photographer detained by police, BP employee near refinery

I’m not really going to spend a lot of time on this. This is not an indictment of our President though I wish he would slow our federal government down. No this is not about him. Rather it is about a federal government that is increasingly going absolutely nuts. IF this story is presented accurately, we should all have issues with this. Especially the part where the federal government is turning over personal information to private businesses.

Elphaba on the other hand, known later in life as the “Wicked Witch”, was never bubbly but certainly always did what is right. I’ve never heard a voice, in person, that was so clear and smooth when singing.

The show takes a story that most everyone is familiar with, the Wizard of Oz, and informs us that many things are entirely different from a different point of view. It’s a story of propaganda working exactly as intended and an uninformed, uncurious public believing just the opposite of reality.

The wizards remark that, “Truth is not based on facts… the truth is what everyone believes” is profound when one considers 1) the innumerable sources of information available today, 2) recent attempts by the government to “help” the media out of financial difficulty. Perhaps we need a Fiyero and an Elphaba of this world.

The Obama administration announced Thursday that it has ordered BP to release all data related to the massive spill, including environmental sampling analyses, internal investigation reports and details of the cleanup effort. In a letter to BP Group CEO Tony Hayward, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson told BP to post that information on a website and update it daily

BP: Oil leak could be stopped by next week - CNN.com

I think there are a few points to make about this. It sickens me that all of the news is about how much damage this is doing to the environment. While the photographs I’ve seen of that are terrible, this rig explosion cost the lives of eleven men. Just something to think about.

Now to my knowledge, based on what I’ve read about this demand, there has been no subpoena produced, nor is there an EPA tactical team waiting to kick down door in corporate offices to serve any type of warrant. Both may exist and if they do, then this post is an environmentally unfriendly waste of electrons.

However, it appears that Secretary Napolitano feels that by nature of her position in the cabinet, she has some authority to demand a private entity produce internal documents without without any review. It may be that regulatory rules are in place that require these documents to be produced. If so, they should be reviewed.

What type of government is it that can make this demand of a private entity with no due process?