This is the county I live in....
My brother spent his summer working for the Baltimore Country Public School system. His entire summer. They couldn't get their act together to pay him while he worked, and it took them over a month to send him the paycheck for the project he completed for them. Here it is, damn near October and they tell him that they have no record of all the hours he put in working there. The check for the project was small check (about 1/4 the size of the check that he should have already gotten for the hours he put in).
Through unbelievable incompetence my brother has been royally screwed. Like me, he is but a humble student, and (unlike me) he actually would have been able to have a summer vacation between semesters if it wasn't for that job. However, he was happy to have work because it meant he'd be able to afford to do some pretty cool things sporadically through out the summer and come the start of this semester, he'd have money for his text books. Except that because they didn't pay him for the project he did outside of the office for them for over a month, and he still hasn't been paid for the work he did in the office for them, neither of those things happenned.
The incompetent employees at Baltimore County Public School system wrecked his summer plans among other things. This is absolutely rediculous. People want to know why public education sucks? It just might have something to do with the fact that (in Baltimore County) they can't even manage to pay their goddamn employees. Not just that they don't pay them on time (which is unpardonable to begin with), but they apparently don't pay them at all.
Someone needs to tell those fuckwits that this isn't the USSR. People are not slaves of the state, and when they work they get paid for their work.
My brother has had to borrow money all summer long. Borrow money for food. Borrow money for gas in order to get to a job that didn't pay him. He's had to borrow money for text books. This is an injustice.
Now they tell him that they could cut him an "emergencey check", but that the check could arrive any time between a month from now and the end of time. Or that it might not be for the full amount. Or maybe a miracle will happen and he'll actually be paid in full for the time and work he put in, in full within the next two weeks.
All I know is the BCPS pay roll department is damn lucky that I'm not running that outfit. I'd fire every last one of them over a fuck up like this. And not in some pc bullshit "sensitivity" brainwashed way. No, I'd can them like Donald Trump in 'The Apprentice'. You can't screw with people's money.
9.27.2004
*Sigh*
Sometimes you just recieve glaring proof that as hard as we try to pull the world into civilization (to make it a safer place for us) there will always be some dark cave infested with neaderthals pulling in the opposite direction. And it doesn't get any more glaring than this:
Bus drivers in Swaziland have threatened to rape any female passenger seen wearing a miniskirt.
They have banned women from wearing revealing clothes on buses after three men were arrested for allegedly gang-raping an 18-year-old schoolgirl at a bus station in the town of Manzini.
Witnesses said the men - a bus driver and two conductors - shouted abuse at the girl for wearing a miniskirt.
When about 1,000 women demonstrated against the attack, drivers and conductors threatened to do the same again. One conductor said: "Women who wear miniskirts want to be raped, and we will give them what they want."
And for those of you who (like myself) aren't exactly walking atlas (atlasses, atlasi?), this is what our good friends at the CIA have to say about Swaziland.
Bus drivers in Swaziland have threatened to rape any female passenger seen wearing a miniskirt.
They have banned women from wearing revealing clothes on buses after three men were arrested for allegedly gang-raping an 18-year-old schoolgirl at a bus station in the town of Manzini.
Witnesses said the men - a bus driver and two conductors - shouted abuse at the girl for wearing a miniskirt.
When about 1,000 women demonstrated against the attack, drivers and conductors threatened to do the same again. One conductor said: "Women who wear miniskirts want to be raped, and we will give them what they want."
And for those of you who (like myself) aren't exactly walking atlas (atlasses, atlasi?), this is what our good friends at the CIA have to say about Swaziland.
9.16.2004
Speechless....
....Well...not quite. If I was planning a trip to Spain, I'd cancell it. At least after seeing this. I am completely and utterly appalled. After finding out the specifics of who's behind this, I'm not shocked. Not at all. I've stopped expecting anything resembling human decency from socialists, but I am nausiated.
9.13.2004
One For The Home Team
Usually I have nothing but venomous insults for my local news rag. That's because generally, my local news rag is best used for paper mache. Imagine my surprise to find this:
Any news organization broadcasting or publishing potentially highly charged reports - particularly in an election year - must make sure the information is accurate and that the public understands why it can be believed, said experienced reporters.
"That's the kind of thing that you really have to do when you have a controversial topic - endless shoe-leather [reporting]," said Donald L. Barlett, half of a prize-winning investigative reporting team for Time magazine. "That kind of work just takes a lot of time. There are no shortcuts."
There is a particularly heavy responsibility for news organizations that rely upon anonymous sources, reporters said. Typically, any news organization that grants anonymity to a source will then go to exceptional lengths to keep that promise. "We're going to protect our source, every way we can," CBS spokeswoman Sandy Genelius said yesterday.
There's more. You'll have to register, but it is free.
Any news organization broadcasting or publishing potentially highly charged reports - particularly in an election year - must make sure the information is accurate and that the public understands why it can be believed, said experienced reporters.
"That's the kind of thing that you really have to do when you have a controversial topic - endless shoe-leather [reporting]," said Donald L. Barlett, half of a prize-winning investigative reporting team for Time magazine. "That kind of work just takes a lot of time. There are no shortcuts."
There is a particularly heavy responsibility for news organizations that rely upon anonymous sources, reporters said. Typically, any news organization that grants anonymity to a source will then go to exceptional lengths to keep that promise. "We're going to protect our source, every way we can," CBS spokeswoman Sandy Genelius said yesterday.
There's more. You'll have to register, but it is free.
Joyous!
Observe the mighty fisking handed forth by Jim Geraghty at NRO.
Mr. MARCEL MATLEY (document and handwriting expert): We look, basically, at what's called significant or insignificant features to determine whether it's the same person or not. See I have no problem identifying them. I would say, based on our available handwriting evidence, yes, this is the same person.
Why did Matley say in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that "he had only judged a May 4, 1972, memo — in which Killian ordered Bush to take his physical — to be authentic. He said he did not form a judgment on the three other disputed memos because they only included Killian's initials and he did not have validated samples of the officer's initials to use for comparison." If what Matley said to the Times is correct, aren't you radically misrepresenting his statements?
RATHER: Matley finds the signatures to be some of the most compelling evidence.
First, the signatures would be the only evidence he is qualified to give a professional opinion on. And, as stated earlier, Matley insists one cannot verify a signature from a photocopy.
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll squirm with glee. But you have to go read it first.
Mr. MARCEL MATLEY (document and handwriting expert): We look, basically, at what's called significant or insignificant features to determine whether it's the same person or not. See I have no problem identifying them. I would say, based on our available handwriting evidence, yes, this is the same person.
Why did Matley say in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that "he had only judged a May 4, 1972, memo — in which Killian ordered Bush to take his physical — to be authentic. He said he did not form a judgment on the three other disputed memos because they only included Killian's initials and he did not have validated samples of the officer's initials to use for comparison." If what Matley said to the Times is correct, aren't you radically misrepresenting his statements?
RATHER: Matley finds the signatures to be some of the most compelling evidence.
First, the signatures would be the only evidence he is qualified to give a professional opinion on. And, as stated earlier, Matley insists one cannot verify a signature from a photocopy.
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll squirm with glee. But you have to go read it first.
9.11.2004
Holy Hell
You know, if I got this lost when I skip classes in college I'd never skip. Here it is, but a few weeks, since I've (yet again) stepped out of the fight and return to what's being called "Forgery-gate". I'd love to jump right into the thick of things, but I'm going to catch up first. I'll see yall tomorrow. Really. I promise. "Rathergate" has me hooked.
Trenches
I pulled myself out of what Bill Whittle has dubbed 'the trenches' because I found I was losing my sense of humor and becoming unable to pick my battles. I don't know if should be re-entering, but I am. Today. I can't not blog today.
As Rachel Lucas said, "Remember."
The following will be a link round up.
http://http://www.datamanos2.com/wtc/contents.html : audio and visual thing (If you opt to click through the images, I suggest turning your speakers off- the midi soundtrack is a bit hard to stomach.)
http://http://www.glennbeck.com/traggic/traggic.htm : a collection of news from that day in the order it came in. (And lest anyone, anyone forget, Palestinians Celebrate)
http://http://instapundit.com/archives/017741.php : Real American Heroes remember.
http://http://www.gunstuff.com/america-attacked.html : AV thing. (it takes a while to load, but be patient and hang in there.)
http://http://www.gunstuff.com/america-attacked.html : The last (?) Steven DenBeste post. (not counting the post where he explains why he's not posting anymore.)
As Rachel Lucas said, "Remember."
The following will be a link round up.
http://http://www.datamanos2.com/wtc/contents.html : audio and visual thing (If you opt to click through the images, I suggest turning your speakers off- the midi soundtrack is a bit hard to stomach.)
http://http://www.glennbeck.com/traggic/traggic.htm : a collection of news from that day in the order it came in. (And lest anyone, anyone forget, Palestinians Celebrate)
http://http://instapundit.com/archives/017741.php : Real American Heroes remember.
http://http://www.gunstuff.com/america-attacked.html : AV thing. (it takes a while to load, but be patient and hang in there.)
http://http://www.gunstuff.com/america-attacked.html : The last (?) Steven DenBeste post. (not counting the post where he explains why he's not posting anymore.)
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