Despicable Senator Snowe

She makes my list again:

Senator Olympia Jean Snowe McKernan

“History calls“, Senator Snowe, not for your vote on the Democratic “health care” (uh, power grab assault on individual liberty) “bill” (uh, alleged bill), but rather for you to leave the GOP in disgrace.

configuration management for spreadsheets

OpenDocument Spreadsheet (Flat XML) (.fods) format in OpenOffice 3.0 is a great source format for spreadsheets. It’s human-readable XML, it’s good for “Save As…” into Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP (.xls) format.

Best of all, it allows you to easily configuration manage your spreadsheets (along with meaningful textual diffs) using Mercurial, git, etc.

Kubuntu Jaunty, WPA-PSK wireless, SSID broadcast disabled, now working

I made a clean install of Kubuntu Jaunty (9.04) last week, and had some trouble getting wireless networking to work.  This post explains my current working configuration.

the looming cap and trade disaster

My letter du jour to Congressman Griffith:

Dear Congressman Griffith,

I applaud your vote against the Cap and Trade bill in this morning’s “test vote”.  It’s a massive tax hike/power grab based on pure pseudoscience.

I would request that you not only vote against this bill when it comes to a live vote, but also speak out strongly in a leadership role against it.

We Americans are growing very weary of these supposed “emergency” bills that must be rushed to vote right now or else.  We’re not being given reasonable time to review the text of these voluminous bills.  I suspect our representatives have no time to truly digest them, either.

Vote NO, lead NO on cap and trade.

Respectfully,

Dave K. Smith
Huntsville, AL

hmm, weren’t we free to join unions before?

My letter to Congressman Parker Griffith:

Congressman Griffith,

Please vote NO on the euphemistically named Employee Free Choice Act (aka Card Check).  Americans do not need to be strong armed into joining unions.  Misguided unions destroyed GM with their power to drive the company to a globally uncompetitive position.  Exporting that failure to the rest of our economy accomplishes nothing.

America doesn’t have “little guys”.  We don’t want or need faceless unions to stand up for us.  We stand up for ourselves.

I will be watching your votes very carefully on repressive power grabs like this one that seem to be all the rage in Washington, DC these days.  I will work diligently against those members who support such attacks on our cherished freedoms.

Respectfully,

Dave K. Smith
Huntsville, AL

Linux-friendly audiobook mp3 downloads

(UPDATE 2009-09-23): LearnOutLoud.com has outstanding technical support if you ever have trouble with your downloads.

Today I found my Linux audiobook solution. LearnOutLoud.com allows paying for and downloading audiobooks in MP3 format. No annoying proprietary client-side app required. Books purchased in the past are available for later re-download from my LearnOutLoud account if I need them. Wow, it’s so nice not to be treated like a common criminal! Thanks very much, LearnOutLoud.

their customers aren't criminals

my new Thudbuster

Yeah, I know it’s a poor man’s soft tail, but I’m hoping to break it in with 50 miles of trail riding this weekend. I’m psyched.

Cane Creek Thudbuster

that pesky “endless mantra” of fiscal responsibility

Here’s Senator Steinberg to Senator Sam Aanestad, R-Penn Valley, who took issue with the public being excluded from recent California state budget deliberations:

And I wish to God that you could deviate just a little bit from your philosophy, from this endless mantra of no new revenue, no new revenue ever…

I've got a small violin going for California Senator Darrell Steinberg...

Yeah, I see where you’re coming from, Senator Steinberg.  There’s been way too much of this “no new revenue” nonsense flying around recently.  I can fully appreciate your frustration.  [Okay, okay, let me find the off switch for this sarcasm-whirligig before it throws a lug nut...]

Jack’s not buyin’ what they’re sellin’

Harrison “Jack” Schmitt (Apollo 17 astronaut) doesn’t subscribe to the New Science hubris school of human-caused global warming.

Harrison Schmitt

Despicable Senators

The vote is not quite over, but the turncoats have ensured that it’s a mere formality at this point:

Senator Arlen Specter
Senator Olympia Jean Bouchles Snowe McKernan
Senator Susan Margaret Collins

In response to your votes on today’s Economic Stimulus bill, American conservatives invite you to leave the Republican Party.  Each of you is a complete disgrace to the GOP.