I wish I had looked this up sooner... but it looks as though the case was over about a month ago:
U.S. case vs. Hells Angels fizzles
Racketeering counts dismissed
Dennis Wagner
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 13, 2006 12:00 AM
A much ballyhooed racketeering case against Arizona's Hells Angels Motorcycle Club has all but ended in federal court with the U.S. Attorney's Office dismissing charges against some defendants and settling for lesser convictions against the rest.
When the two-year sting known as Operation Black Biscuit became public in 2003, it was touted as the most successful infiltration ever of the notorious biker group. Undercover agents were feted in Washington, with Top Cop awards from the National Association of Police Officers.
The government's case of drug violations, gun running, murder, racketeering and other crimes came to a close Wednesday, in part because of a feud between federal prosecutors and undercover agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives...
Read the article here
I wonder if this still counted as my 1 free "get out of jury service"? ¶ 5:22 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
IF CANNABIS were unknown, and bioprospectors were suddenly to find it in some remote mountain crevice, its discovery would no doubt be hailed as a medical breakthrough. Scientists would praise its potential for treating everything from pain to cancer, and marvel at its rich pharmacopoeia—many of whose chemicals mimic vital molecules in the human body. In reality, cannabis has been with humanity for thousands of years and is considered by many governments (notably America's) to be a dangerous drug without utility. Any suggestion that the plant might be medically useful is politically controversial, whatever the science says. It is in this context that, on April 20th, America's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a statement saying that smoked marijuana has no accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
The statement is curious in a number of ways. For one thing, it overlooks a report made in 1999 by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), part of the National Academy of Sciences, which came to a different conclusion. John Benson, a professor of medicine at the University of Nebraska who co-chaired the committee that drew up the report, found some sound scientific information that supports the medical use of marijuana for certain patients for short periods—even for smoked marijuana...
Read the article here
Isn't it ironic that this FDA statement was made on 4/20? ¶ 7:13 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
When I first started working at my current job (which is almost 3 months now) I knew that having a Starbucks downstairs was gonna be dangerous.
Ever since I was a smoker (actually way before I even started smoking) I've loved coffee. When I was very young I'd want coffee at breakfast time, and sometimes my parents would appease me with a lot of milk with just a dash of coffee for slight taste and coloring.
As a teenager, I started drinking more coffee, and when I became a smoker I started drinking even more coffee. What makes it worse is that when I was a smoker I started drinking my coffee black - no sugar, no milk/cream... nothing. Just black coffee - the stronger and bolder the brew the better.
Then as I was going to college I started drinking even more coffee and in stronger doses. On campus there was a Coffee Plantation (coffee shop). They soon became to know me very well, and they began to learn my drink: Large iced coffee. (they make it the right way!)
Most coffee shops make iced coffee, but most of them make it the crappy way: they take hot coffee and throw it in a cup over some ice. That is just disgusting! So then you get diluted coffee that is luke warm. Coffee Plantation (and I'm pretty sure Starbucks) uses an iced coffee mix that helps to retain its bold taste.
So then 6 years ago I went to Europe for a month and learned to drink espressos drinks. Back then there I found not a single Starbucks while tramping around Europe. Not a single location! I did find a Dunkin Donuts in Barcelona Spain, and when I asked them for a coffee they gave me a tiny little shot of espresso. Matter of fact - the only places where I found "American-style" coffee was in the hostels (obviously they cater to many American travelers.)
So now back to my original point... Starbucks is downstairs from my job and it has proven to be very "dangerous." I'm down there at least 3-4 times per week (I've been trying to cut back!) And now, as a product of the evolution of my coffee tastes, I've begun to drink Café Americanos: shots of espresso with hot water. As explained to me by the barista at Starbucks: Americanos were invented when WWII soldiers in Europe didn't like European espresso. So they began serving "American Coffee."
Now my current drink is a Venti Americano with an extra shot. That is 5 shots of espresso with hot water. Sometimes I get it on ice... for some reason I think that makes it even stronger. Perhaps it's because you can suck it down much quicker!
All I know is that 3-4 times per week I spend at least $3.00 for a cup of "coffee" and then I spend another $2 - $5 on a danish or sometimes a sandwich (like I did this morning.) So that is about $15 - $32 per week!
Now I know where all the money I was supposed to be saving from not smoking went!
(now I can go on with the rest of my life!)
If you have no idea what I'm talking about read my previous jury duty post: here ¶ 8:38 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
A year-old effort to force the nation's No. 1 private employer to change its business practices has evolved into a Washington-style brawl: tens of millions of dollars spent by Republican and Democratic political consultants using polling, micro-targeting, ads, e-mails, direct mail, grass-roots organizing and strategic war rooms to ply their trade in the corporate world.
Story continues below ?
Their fight involves some of society's most vexing trends, including the rising cost of health care, the painful realities of globalization and the waning relevance of organized labor.
Read More: ¶ 8:25 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
It took me a year to get out of NJ, but in August of 1997 I finally made my way to Mesa, Arizona. I was about a mile away from the Tempe ASU campus.
When telling people where I'm from, they always ask, "so why Arizona???"
"Why NOT Arizona!"
But my first destination wasn't supposed to be Mesa, Tempe, or Phoenix (for that matter!)
It was supposed to be a Bisbee, Arizona.
Bisbee is about 90 miles from Tucson and less than 10 miles from the US-Mexico border. It's an artsy small town that also contains many retirees. Bisbee is a quieter place that is preserved in the wild west flavor. When I was thinking of moving there, there was only 1 stop light in the entire city. Bisbee emphasizes slower growth and tries to refrain from the urban sprawl of some of the other Southwestern cities.
After 9 years of being in the Phoenix metro area, I've been glad to have decided on a more central location for my move (for practical reasons).
But I was reading the paper this past weekend, and I found this article entitled, "Bisbee's vibe lands it in 'Frommer's' top 10 for cool."
Hmmm... maybe I was onto something with Bisbee?
Read the article here
... speaking of cool towns: another one of the cool towns on the list is Marfa, Texas. I never would've heard this place, but we just did a proposal for a project out there. It's in the middle of no where (southwestern portion of the state). At a few hour drive southeast of El Paso, there is nothing out there... except for an artist "compound" called the chinati foundation. Their website is http://www.chinati.org/
Additionally, my coworker took some photos. Some of them are pretty cool. ¶ 9:09 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
Lansing State Journal: Schneider: Ride to laundromat lands cabbie on sold-out stage
Pretty cool story... They could have at least given him something (paid him) to play! ¶ 2:55 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Actually this problem has been intermittenly plaguing my computer for the past year.
I would be using my computer as normal, and suddenly it drops my connection. Not my router connection, cause I still have my assigned IP address and have access to the network resources (e.g. shared folders, shared printer, etc.)
Usually, it takes anywhere from a few hours to a week or two for the issue to become "resolved." Resolution is usually a mixture of some technical know-how and miraculous accident. Half the time I'm not really sure why it decides to start working again. I do the usual restart of the modem, router, and my computer. I release and renew the IP addresses, and sometimes this works... but most of the time it doesn't.
This problem has occurred multiple times in the past 2 years. The first time it was with my first Netgear router. I thought it was a bad router, so I got a new router (another Netgear). I'm not sure why I thought another Netgear was a wise choice, but I had faith in my Netgear... it had worked well for so long.
Then about a year ago, it happend with the new router. Frustrated, I tossed the router that day and just went out and bought a nice Linksys router. It worked very well until last month...
Which brings me up to the current state of things...
We've been extremely busy for the past few months, and I really haven't had too much time at night (or the weekends) to really sit down with the router/modem/computer to try and "fix" the issue. Finally, with a somewhat "free" weekend, I sat down on Saturday night and Sunday night trying to figure out the problem.
Each night, I would try everything I could to fix the problem. Frustrated and stressed out, on Sunday night I was about to throw my computer across the room. I yelled and screamed in the agony of defeat and impatience. Even my wifey was wondering what was wrong with me as she heard moans and grunts from the computer room.
Finally, last night I got onto Linksys' site (I was always able to directly connect to the modem to get on line.) Through Linksys' site, I was able to live chat with tech support. After a 2 minute chat, they told me to download a "NetAssist" program from their site to help me reconnect my modem and router to my computer.
And damn it... don't you know - it worked within 10 minutes!!! WTF??? It has stayed working for the past 24 hours now... so I'm hoping this was the fix. At least this may work in the future when this problem occurs again.
(I'm not too optimistic about my long-term connectivity.)
So all-in-all, I'm back online again.
This blog has been severely neglected for the past month or so, due to a lot of different reasons, but the biggest (reason) is our lack of a shared internet connection at home. I'd like to say that now that my computer(s) are back online, I will be blogging more...
but I'm not making any promises! ¶ 8:51 PM 1 Comments Links to this post
PETE YOST- Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney's former top aide told prosecutors President Bush authorized the leak of sensitive intelligence information about Iraq, according to court papers filed by prosecutors in the CIA leak case.
Before his indictment, I. Lewis Libby testified to the grand jury investigating the CIA leak that Cheney told him to pass on information and that it was Bush who authorized the disclosure, the court papers say. According to the documents, the authorization led to the July 8, 2003, conversation between Libby and New York Times reporter Judith Miller.
There was no indication in the filing that either Bush or Cheney authorized Libby to disclose Valerie Plame's CIA identity.
But the disclosure in documents filed Wednesday means that the president and the vice president put Libby in play as a secret provider of information to reporters about prewar intelligence on Iraq.
Read More... ¶ 11:15 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
¶ 9:24 AM 0 Comments Links to this postDear Mr and/or Mrs Inconsiderate,
What the fuck makes you so special that you think you can drive in the carpool lane when you're by yourself? The rest of us (when driving alone) can manage to keep
in the other 3 lanes... why can't you?
Are you in a hurry? Are you late?
Not my problem.
STAY OUT OF THE CARPOOL LANE!!!
You want to pass the slow grandma in the left lane and you use the carpool lane to pass a car ortwo? Fine... but then get the hell over!You see me coming in your rear view mirror (or I hope so at least). Then why do you
have to cut me off? I know you're not carpooling, and I know your hunk-a-junk isn't an alternative fuel vehicle!
SO GET OUT OF MY WAY!
Sincerely,
The Pissed-Off Guy Tailgating You
p.s. I will be more tolerant if you just move your ass and don't hold up traffic in front of me.
