The Independent Accountant

2008-09-04T06:24:00.000-07:00

Sarah Palin is bad for the environment. With all our problems, this is another reason why people should vote for Obama.

From the AP

"She has defended Alaska's right to shoot down wolves from the air to boost caribou and moose herds for hunters, and - contrary to a view held by McCain - is not convinced that global warming is the result "

Clearly, this woman is bad for the environment. Had McCain picked Ridge or Libermann, I think McCain is viable choice as independent-thinking fiscally conservative Republican who would have judgement on environmental issues

At the time, we need to place significant effort in investment into alternative energy and global warming initiatives, the choice of Sarah Palin makes me seriously question McCain judgement on making environmental policy.

We are going to Wordpress

2008-08-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

This is the last blog on this website. I moving all of my blogs to Wordpress because my employer's filter does not block Wordpress and my employer stated that blogging would help increase my writing skills for work. So if I use Wordpress, I can use my lunch hour to blog and if I am blogging to increase my writing skills than this is the best interest of my employer as well.

2008-08-20T13:35:00.001-07:00

One idiot friend on Facebook decided add a Benny Hinn group on Facebook. That is a red flag and I went nuts. And then I crushed him. CRI Baby! You added me as friend and you must learn that if I see certain Word of Faith teachers, I go nuts. And you got the response and it was fast, lethal, and you will know Benny Hinn is a person that leads people away Christianity. 79 links from CRI is your present.

Spiritual Home

2008-08-17T16:01:00.000-07:00

My spiritual home right now is Aliso Creek Presbyterian Church. This is a temporary home. My long-term spiritual home is Faith OPC in Long Beach.

I love ACPC but the price of gas and the rental prices in South OC are insane for single guy to afford who save money for retirement is the worst place to love.

Because you work in the HB, there is the LBC. The LBC is much cheaper than the OC and I see crap like this everyday (http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lgb/apa/801006727.html). I also have to remember that in the LBC, I take the OCTA to work everyday and I do not drive. The problem is the OC is killed on rental prices and the superior public transportation of Long Beach. Therefore, my home is doomed to the City they call Long Beach

Delays in Harry Potter

2008-08-16T07:10:00.000-07:00

This month's most shocking and surprising news arrived just yesterday: Warner Brothers announced that they were pushing back the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from November 21st, 2008 to July 17th, 2009, a full 8 months later. Release date changes are always expected in Hollywood, especially when films encounter production troubles or other snags, but the reaction to this date change has been tremendous, and not in a good way. In fact, the reaction has been incredibly negative, with fans lashing out in anger and calling for boycotts and petitions.

Blogger

2008-08-15T21:10:00.000-07:00

Blogger has this feature but it is useful is limited. That takes you the next random blogger on Blogger but it is does go not give access to Wordpress or Typepad which usually have far superior content than with a blogspot.com address. So I invented this link that gives a 100 blogs that were most current archived blogs and selected forum posts that were placed in a Google's super database, and if you are looking some interesting blog or forum that you never would find, this link is a goldmine and custom-written by myself. Please note the results are completely random but you will find some very interesting stuff if you are patient with the link to do its work.

I have made Yahoo News Search tweaked to do the same thing. Wow! I have mastered the art of search engines

Special Order 40

2008-08-15T19:52:00.000-07:00

Is a mockery of the law. Please note this comes from a progressive liberal who laughs every time that Olbermann makes Bill O'Reilly.

Why does the LAPD does this. How does it help the law-abiding illegal immigrants? Because they suffer. They came to work and make an honest living. They are ones who suffer.

They live in the blighted neighborhood because they are poor and destitute. They have few skills but they have the hope of giving them sons and daughters a new life. They work very hard to ensure that the next generation will succeed.

This post is not about my position of illegal immigration but merely the fact that Special Order 40 does not serve the law-abiding illegal immigrant.

Special Order 40 needs to eliminated to get rid of trouble-making gangbangers from MS-13 or numerous other gangs so the people that are criminals are deported but who are illegally for the sole purpose to live a better life live in safety. John and Ken ranted for hours on for this. But John and Ken are right, I am using a progressive arguement and social justice argument for the repeal for Special Order 40

The pro-amensty people shoot themselves in the foot for opposing the repeal of Special Order 40.

Memo to LA City Council: Rewrite Special Order 40 to deport the MS-13 Gang Members but develop internal controls to prevent the harassment on regular law-abiding illegal immigrants. They should not be here in the first place but better procedures need to be written to ICE to let them be deported. It is not the police's job to deport law-abiding immigration and it is ICE's job and not the LAPD responsiblity. The LAPD has limited resources and it is resources should not be allocated to the roundup of illegal immigrants because there purpose is public safety and not the enforcement of Federal law. But without modification in the internal controls, the gangbangers cannot be properly deported.

Last time, the LAPD's mission statement did not include rounding up illegal immigrants for sole purpose of deporting them.

If you want more background on this op-ed, check this link out

2008-08-11T19:20:00.001-07:00

Taxes and more taxes. Yuck. This LA Times blog post states that sales tax will be 10.25% in some parts of the LA County. Thank God that I live in the OC

You really impress me

2008-08-08T23:53:00.000-07:00

This guy put this link and I am not impressed. Because I spit this aganist the author of that post, this link.

For Rick Warren that is a win but us Reformed Christians need to fight aganist bad teaching in the Church, that guy who I posted the first link, you are gone.

Youth Pastor goes Nuts

2008-08-08T08:05:00.000-07:00

It is sad thing when a person that tries to serve God decides to molest Children. From a Christian perspective, it makes me question where he is saved. I have methods that allows to creates a virtual wire of all stories that Yahoo News collects in real-time basis.

One of the stories went to a newspaper out of Eureka and I found the following story, it makes my sould state "Why?"

What in that man wanted to abuse those boys? Why would that person be a person in leadership in the church to molest boys?

I hope the DA got a multiple count indictment with several charges that can being sentenced under the California DSL law. This guy needs to spend 20-25 years in jail for this crime and be released once he served 85% of his sentence. If they put enhancements, it will be something to 45 to life and this crime is not a life sentence.

The guy is only 25 years old. Trying to lock up the guy for life is stupid. Make him do major time but a life sentence, that is dumb. Our state is financial crises and making this guy do 50 years because he can never clear the California Board of Parole Hearings is dumb. [Warning: Do not make me go off in Prisons. It is number one issue to Levy (Nickname to Christian Friends) and Crisco (Nickname to BM friends)

And psychologist and a local pastor (that is independent of this guy's church and demonation) need to assess this man spiritual and psychological health

As a nation, our nation needs to spend a significant amount of money on mental health research on sexual disorders. And the church needs to learn how to deal with these people and restore them back to their faith

We do not how to spell

2008-08-06T17:22:00.000-07:00

I hope this is not the state of the American Colleges. In this Daily Telegraph article, British students cannot spell. So you go to college cannot spell, that shows the slow decline in literacy that our generation is facing. In reality, this is going in the Cal State System right now because a lot of students lack good writing skills.

Have we lost the art of the spelling because we are so addicted to the spell-checker. My era was that last generation that had to do spelling the old fashion way.

My days in elementary school was in the 1980s. Enough to grow up with the computers but we remember the old school days.

We remember life before the spell-check era. My high school days was done at infancy on the era on the Internet generation. We learned spelling but future generations, I afraid are going there is going a long-term decline in our nation's ability to write.

Football Season

2008-08-04T18:39:00.000-07:00

College and the NFL season is less than month a way. Our Nation is a nation that worships football. If you want maximum intelligence on your team and other teams, than go to www.usnpl.com. This site gives the local coverage of your team, the teams that are you in division, and the team that you are playing. If the Dodgers or the Angels, makes the playoffs than you can use usnpl.com to know what the other team's local fishwrap (Jim Rome for Newspapers) is up to.

Yeah, there is ESPN, Fox Sports, and SI but there is USNPL.COM. Any serious person who bets on football or plays Fantasy Football needs USNPL.COM to help them to make smart decision.

How this poll would be different on two different sites

2008-07-29T05:39:00.001-07:00

Fox Business took a poll that stated whether Congress should pass a second stimulus package.

The ratio was 33% Yes and 66% No.

If I took the same poll at the Daily Kos which I maintain a account, it would be like 80% Yes and 20% No.

In reality, I have to see what the proposal is. While being a liberal, I also a deficit hawk so I only like more debt when I know that the government spending is going to return maximum benefit to the taxpayers. In that case, the spending is needed.

Lesser Known Consequences of Energy Inflations

2008-07-08T06:13:00.000-07:00

This video shows some of the less-reported consequences of higher energy prices

2008-07-06T11:36:00.000-07:00

The Republican party is reeling right now. The party of Newt that started now is former shadow of itself. Now, I am proud blue person. Keith Olbermann's special commentaries are played each day.

But fiscal conservatism has not left me. Rather, I am standing aganist wasteful spending. If we can get a National Healthcare plan that is operationally effective and increase our competiveness, than I am all for it. If taxes have to be raised, than I got no problems. I believe in the priniciple on return on investment and I do not

But Gun and Butter cannot coexist. This is lesson from Economics 102. The Bush Administration has ignored Economics 102. Any University professor should give the Bush Administration a D or F on Macroeconomics. There is a series of lectures that I found at UCLA that address this issue (http://farmer.sscnet.ucla.edu/NewWeb/WebPages/lectures_on_macroeconomics_fall_2006.htm)

The Bush administration needs to look at the lessons but Bushco are on the way out and happy birthday, Mr. Bush. My present to you is this (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#21645654)

Coming back to the main point, Obama's people need to follow the rules on Macroeconomics. And even McCain's people need to learn this.

The Bushco administration is a disaster on this country. McCain or Obama are not responsible for this mess. They have to clean it up. And this administration now makes the next administration inherit a $500 billion deficit because the Bush Administration did not follow the lessons of Macroeconomics.

Our country has delivered to a fiscal mess because the Bush Administration did not apply the lessons of economic 102. I do not even blame my current boss: Robert Gates for this mess. He is just a clean-up man and Robert Gates is far better secretary of Defense than that scumbag called Rumsfield.

Cutting Down E-Mails

2008-07-05T17:01:00.000-07:00

My life is very manageable amount of e-mail. While I get flooded with e-mails with various functions, I ignore most of them unless I have good purpose.

There was NY Times articles that discussed this issue because some people get flooded with e-mails and that includes my supervisor.

This person used special methods to reduce the amount e-mail recieved and increase the level of amount of personal interaction from the person

The author article states that

"as in a good position to give up most of my other e-mail because I’m a “social computing evangelist” for I.B.M. and have used social software tools for years to collaborate on projects and to share knowledge. I live in the Canary Islands off the coast of Spain and report to managers in the United States and the Netherlands. Between time differences and participation in various projects, it’s important that I spend my time efficiently.
I have had continuing support from my management in this effort, because I’ve been able to prove how much more I can accomplish by answering a question, and posting it on a blog, for example, than I can by answering the same question over and over. I still help people, but in a more open and collaborative fashion. Other people can join in the discussions — maybe they will have a better idea than mine.
I started this experiment by announcing my intention on a couple of blogs, like my personal one and blogs inside I.B.M.’s firewall. The postings in response were overwhelmingly positive — but I also encountered some skepticism. Many people wondered how I would manage to communicate and collaborate with my peers without using e-mail.
The first step was to decide which social software tools were available for me to use much more extensively. The second was to encourage people to stop using e-mail themselves and to start using some of these same social software tools as well, to share their knowledge and collaborate with one another.
Most social networking tools I use are pretty standard. Instant messaging is my preferred method of collaboration and knowledge sharing while at work because it allows real-time interaction. If an instant-message exchange lasts more than three minutes, I usually move the discussion to the telephone."

The problem is that my agency is in the Stone Age on this issue. For supervisors in DCAA, e-mails can be a nightmare. If the agency had better technology, management could reduce the amount of e-mail that they need to respond to you and use their time more productively. On a government level, to implement the recommendations of this article would be impossible because of the established bureaucracy.

But I

Waste Weapon Spending

2008-07-03T05:43:00.000-07:00

One of my concerns is the huge budget that is being spend on Defense Contractors. My concern is that the value of the product of being developed is not providing the return on the investment that our tax dollars are going to waste

According to Robert Scheer, this is a huge problem.   Mr. Scheer stated this

"emember Curtis LeMay, the Air Force general played to chilling effect by Sterling Hayden in the 1964 movie Dr. Strangelove? If you're too young for that reference, you probably don't recall when the concept of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) dominated our military posture toward our Soviet enemy. I bring this up because the midair refueling tanker that the MAD warrior LeMay commissioned suddenly has become a controversy in the presidential campaign.

MAD was based on a triad of air, land and sea forces that would punish a Soviet first strike, ending all semblance of life on the one-sixth of the planet that composed the old Soviet Union. Toward that end, we needed not only thousands of land-based weapons but thousands of other weapons on ships and on airplanes. It was LeMay's insistence that nuclear-armed bombers be in the air 24/7 that gave rise to the midair refueling tankers that were in the news this past week. Controversy arose when the Government Accountability Office questioned an Air Force decision to award the contract for a new generation of those "gas stations in the sky" to one defense contractor instead of its rival.

The news was presented in a Wall Street Journal front-page story focusing on the profit potential rather than the military significance of the tanker. So, too, the account that led the New York Times business section, which detailed the good news in Boeing's revived chances to secure the refueling tanker contract. This deal would initially cost $35 billion, but, as the Times pointed out, "The tanker contract, which could eventually grow to $100 billion to build a fleet of 179 refueling planes, is one of the most lucrative ever awarded by the Pentagon."
"
(http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/89468/?ses=fce7694a85004ca84d553914202cb4b0)

That is correct. The congressional auditors have provided sufficent evidence to agree with Mr. Scheer. The weapons budget is a high area of risk and the return on investment is low. Programs like FCS and JTRS have huge cost overruns and wasteful money is going to programs that do not have return on investment.

Return on investment is defined by Investpodia in the following

"A performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiency of a number of different investments. To calculate ROI, the benefit (return) of an investment is divided by the cost of the investment; the result is expressed as a percentage or a ratio.

Return on investment is a very popular metric because of its versatility and simplicity. That is, if an investment does not have a positive ROI, or if there are other opportunities with a higher ROI, then the investment should be not be undertaken"
(http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/returnoninvestment.asp)

The American people need to know but the terrible return on investment that we have gotten this administration.   There is voluminous information on this but I do not think that most Americans do not know where to find it. Here it is (http://www.gao.gov/docsearch/app_processform.php)

If the DOD cannot provide ROI to the American people, than transfer the money to other programs like children's healthcare or providing a low-cost health care for all americans.

This post is not about cutting defense spending but rather it is getting value for our tax dollars. We should demand our government be accountible with our tax dollars. And tax cuts do not solve anything. The government needs the money but should be hold accountible on how the money invested and the return on investment for the American people.

Slaughter

2008-07-02T21:12:00.001-07:00

Ah yes! 1980s and glam rock. I thought this band was history. A relic in the halls of Rock and Roll History. A face among faces in the Glam Rock scene. The sounds of guitars has feel deathly silent. The falsetto which once boomed is now a whisper and limited to drunk guys singing glam rock tributes at Karaoke Bars.

I thought were done with. But they are not. They are still Rocking. Slaughter is actually still playing. But, there are now a shadow of their past. They roam from small town to small town and but they continue to rock.

Evidence of the survival was found here (http://www.winonadailynews.com/articles/2008/07/03/news/06slaughter03.txt)

George Carlin

2008-07-01T16:43:00.001-07:00

George Carlin, we will miss you dearly. I could not write artful tribute to one of my favorite comedians so let this piece from Indianapolis Star be my tribute to Mr. Carlin.

The death of George Carlin last week focused attention on his most famous comedy routine: "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television."
That got me thinking about the various words politicians can't -- or just won't -- say. So in honor of one of the world's great comedians, here are 15 seven-word sentences you can never say in politics.

» Lobbyists are some of my best friends. Better to portray all lobbyists as evil, despite the fact that you played 18 holes with three of them yesterday.
» I'll do anything to be vice president. When it comes to the veepstakes, open ambition is not welcome. Even as you lobby behind the scenes for the gig, you must act as though you've never given it a second thought.
» Stop whining about gas prices; drive less. This would be career-ending. Instead, politicians trash oil companies and D.C. lobbyists, and propose meaningless tax cuts.
» Honestly, I love living in Washington, D.C. Politicians fight desperately to win an office in D.C. Nonetheless, they insist they hate everything about the nation's capital.
» Who was that joker who introduced me? Even though you can barely pronounce the name of the local official who introduces you before a speech, tell the crowd he is not only a great guy but also a trusted old friend.
» I gave this exact speech in Dubuque. Just pepper your speech with a few cliches about the city you're in and nobody will notice you've given it three times that day.
» Everything I'm saying has been poll-tested. Always criticize polls. Do not, under any circumstance, admit that your campaign orders a new one every month.
» Those economic stimulus checks? Pure political pandering. It's much easier to send out a news release telling Americans to enjoy their free money.
» I did have sex with that woman. It's a lot safer to say, "It was only a massage."
» Welcome to my carefully staged photo-op. Somehow, politicians think it looks natural to sit at a dinner table for a candid conversation with a few "average people," while dozens of advisers, reporters and photographers swirl around them.
» You voters sure are easy to scare. Politicians claim they hate negative ads -- the ones that say their opponents would ruin Social Security or let sex offenders live in your basement. But they know nothing works better at election time than a little fear-mongering.
» It's time to blow up Social Security. Frank talk on this issue is unacceptable at all times.
» I was wrong, and I'm very sorry. Politicians are trained to use phrases such as, "If my words unintentionally offended anyone, I regret that."
» Regarding my opponent's misstatement: Hey, mistakes happen. No politician can pass up the opportunity to indignantly claim, "I am deeply offended by my opponent's comment."
» Yep, I inhaled, and it was goooood! No way. Use phrases such as "youthful indiscretion." Or say you tried it and hated it. Or, if you're really desperate, just say you don't remember.

2008-07-01T16:43:00.000-07:00

Saw This in the Indianapolis Star and want to pass this long to
The death of George Carlin last week focused attention on his most famous comedy routine: "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television."
That got me thinking about the various words politicians can't -- or just won't -- say. So in honor of one of the world's great comedians, here are 15 seven-word sentences you can never say in politics.
OAS_AD('ArticleFlex_1');

» Lobbyists are some of my best friends. Better to portray all lobbyists as evil, despite the fact that you played 18 holes with three of them yesterday.
» I'll do anything to be vice president. When it comes to the veepstakes, open ambition is not welcome. Even as you lobby behind the scenes for the gig, you must act as though you've never given it a second thought.
» Stop whining about gas prices; drive less. This would be career-ending. Instead, politicians trash oil companies and D.C. lobbyists, and propose meaningless tax cuts.
» Honestly, I love living in Washington, D.C. Politicians fight desperately to win an office in D.C. Nonetheless, they insist they hate everything about the nation's capital.
» Who was that joker who introduced me? Even though you can barely pronounce the name of the local official who introduces you before a speech, tell the crowd he is not only a great guy but also a trusted old friend.
» I gave this exact speech in Dubuque. Just pepper your speech with a few cliches about the city you're in and nobody will notice you've given it three times that day.
» Everything I'm saying has been poll-tested. Always criticize polls. Do not, under any circumstance, admit that your campaign orders a new one every month.
» Those economic stimulus checks? Pure political pandering. It's much easier to send out a news release telling Americans to enjoy their free money.
» I did have sex with that woman. It's a lot safer to say, "It was only a massage."
» Welcome to my carefully staged photo-op. Somehow, politicians think it looks natural to sit at a dinner table for a candid conversation with a few "average people," while dozens of advisers, reporters and photographers swirl around them.
» You voters sure are easy to scare. Politicians claim they hate negative ads -- the ones that say their opponents would ruin Social Security or let sex offenders live in your basement. But they know nothing works better at election time than a little fear-mongering.
» It's time to blow up Social Security. Frank talk on this issue is unacceptable at all times.
» I was wrong, and I'm very sorry. Politicians are trained to use phrases such as, "If my words unintentionally offended anyone, I regret that."
» Regarding my opponent's misstatement: Hey, mistakes happen. No politician can pass up the opportunity to indignantly claim, "I am deeply offended by my opponent's comment."
» Yep, I inhaled, and it was goooood! No way. Use phrases such as "youthful indiscretion." Or say you tried it and hated it. Or, if you're really desperate, just say you don't remember.

Iraq Report

2008-06-30T22:25:00.000-07:00

The War in Iraq has been a farce. Every day I have to remind how much this war is a farce. Report after Report comes out and demonstrates that the war was farce and built on misconceptions and personal deceptions. Personal self-interest triumphed over clear well-reasoned logic. Blind idealism and imperialistic delusions guided the planners of the war.

Keith Olbermann points out this quite poetically. At times, Olbermann is ranting and raving but his point is clear and truthful. It is the scathing indictment on the Bush Administration (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#24635229).

A lot of my conservative friends will point out that this simply a rant. In a lot of ways, it is a rant but his point is truthful, clear, and devastating.

And now the U.S army now backups Olberman and my asserations, 700 pages. Yep, I read the Iraq Study Commission recommendations but 700 pages (http://usacac.army.mil/CAC2/CSI/OnPointII.pdf_

It is a worth a look and please do not come here with talking points from Hannity, O'Reilly, or Limbaugh. I will have talking points from Olbermann, Scheer, and Amy Goodman ready to defend my points. I am here to inform and educate. Not to lecture you or brainwash you with my liberal gospel. I want a nation of thinkers and not a nation of "Yes Man"

Unfortunely, Mr. Bush had a bunch of "Yes Man" and that is why we have the fiasco called Iraq If Bush just had listen, than this war would might never have been a fiasco that it has turned out to be.

Yes, there is a lot of progress on Iraq but the war is based on false premises. What we do in the future, I have no clue on. In reality, I do not take a position whether to stay or leave. I have too many other concerns than this issue and the area of public policy that I focus on the penal system not the War in Iraq. Since I work for the Department of Defense, it is wise for me for me not to take a strong stance on this issue.

Rather, I am presenting the facts as I see it.

The Ends of Windows XP

2008-06-29T21:53:00.001-07:00

I guess we will have dig a grave for Windows XP. Microsoft has decided to no longer sell it any more. That is sad loss. My work has not even updated its operating systems to Windows Vista because the government thinks that Window Vista is inherently unstable compared to XP

The next major release, Windows 7 does not come out until 2009. I hope Windows 7 is better than Windows Vista. Personally, I could careless about Windows Vista. It always freezes and is slow compared to Windows XP.

Mr. Terranova

2008-06-17T19:17:00.000-07:00

The return of Levy to the Decablog has happen. This is my new blog. My blog focus on the arts, politics, sports, finance, Reformed Christianity, my struggle with Autism, and course of the war between the secular humanism and Christianity written from somebody who is the middle and in the real middle.

Thanks Mr. Terranova for inspiring the return of the blog

2008-04-13T09:45:00.000-07:00

Welcome to this blog. A commentary on politics, the arts, the religion, and finance from an accountant who non-partisan but has a center-left bias towards politics. I work with both parties. Crisco is the bridge between the Boomers and the Generation Y.

I am an auditor with the Defense Contract Audit Agency that is working on getting his CPA. I have six years of professional auditing experience. This is blog is very active because I like to journal my thoughts very often. I listen to KPFK and Rush Limbaugh. What? Name a guy who does that. But that is true. And I do not get mad at Rush unless he talks about global warming and that makes me teeth cringe. Even McCain beliefs in it.