Lester's Raves and Rants Raves = To speak or write with wild enthusiasm.  Rants = Wild or uproarious merriment.

Welcome to my Rants & Raves new home, a progressive political action and human interest blog,
founded to share insights, observe human nature, search for truth, and recommend action if
necessary. Thanks for visiting!
                                                                                                                                                 05/01/09
Raves and Rants Rewind = Oldies not posted due to time restraints or sidetracked or......

What I hate the most while surfing: Noise on the speakers when visiting a website, jeez, I'll be surfing
during the commercials on TV, then BLAM! BOOM! BLAH, BLAH, BLAH! My habit is to hit the back button
or close the browser when that happens. If they think they can interrupt my air space, then I can interrupt
their space in front of my eyes. Now if the noise is faint, or is embedded in a another page within the website,
that's fine. But not BOOM! on the home page.

Jericho...now that was a show!
I'm really sick to death of the mindless game and so-called "reality" shows (a.k.a. flakes on parade). I want to
be entertained and escape into a story, go on an adventure. Like watching the Saturday afternoon matinees
on TV in the late 50's and most of the 60's. The other networks are also to blame as well for the demise of
excellent shows when they bounce the shows' airings on different nights thus confusing the viewers.

One of the most insightful and thought provoking shows on television, Jericho, was an American serial drama
that centers on the residents of the fictional town of Jericho, Kansas in the aftermath of nuclear attacks on 23
major cities in the contiguous United States. Produced by CBS Paramount Network Television, the show was
broadcast in more than 30 countries.

The show ran on CBS from September 20, 2006 through March 25, 2008. It was initially canceled after its first
full season due to poor ratings. While a fan campaign was able to convince the network to bring the show
back for a seven-episode second season, it was canceled for a second time after that run.
Jericho...was TV worth watching!

SAS is a frequent visitor to many of my websites and I visited their website to see what they do. Their
website is still not clear, but after browsing around for about 5 minutes, as best as I could figure, they seem
to be a data management company. I was about to submit their website to the (now defunct) website,
websitesthatsucks.com, because after browsing around further, I discovered a lot of acronyms that they do
not explain, as in the Barry Strassler syndrome. What follows is a prime example from one of their clients
question/answer page:
My company is considering BI options for use on top of our SAP ERP system. What is the most important
strategic issue we should consider?

Tonny Dierckx: First of all, you should define your BI strategy: You probably selected SAP, PeopleSoft
and/or Siebel for your ERP strategy; Oracle or DB2 for your transactional data storage strategy; Microsoft
Office as your desktop productivity strategy. BI deserves its own strategic choice because it is totally
different than ERP, transactional data storage and desktop productivity. Although SAP can store data, you
use Oracle or DB2; although SAP can make simple graphics, you use MS Excel. Why should you use SAP
for business intelligence?

Needless to say, there are NO references on their site to what ANY of the acronyms means. Their site also
neglects to explain what the letters SAS of their company means.

In America the late night news used to broadcast this message:::::::
"It's 11 o'clock do you know where your children are?
In England they say "Its 11 o'clock do you know where your wife is?
In France they say "It's 11 o'clock do you know where your husband is?"
In Poland they say Its 11 o'clock do you know what time it is?"
                                                                                                                                                 01/25/09
The End of the Sixties: CBS Sunday Morning Bill Flanagan had "The Last Word" on the end of the Sixties
which was a very, very interesting commentary. Too bad I didn't record the show and too bad CBS don't offer
transcripts on their website...but the summation of his comments was that every five years, most news
outlets offer retrospectives of the major events' anniversaries that occurred within the decade...Vietnam, LBJ,
Nixon, the MLK 'I have a dream' speech', the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK...anyway Obama's
presidency is going to shut down the Sixties, once and for all. Why? RFK was once asked what year will he
think a black (sic) be president and RFK responded "2008". Right on the nose, Robert!
"There's something's happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear!" says Stephen Stills on the Buffalo
Springfield song "For What It's Worth".
                                                                                                                                                 01/21/09
So now we have a new President.
Good Day Bloggers - Well, the holidays are over - thank the stars - and now we begin to focus on the
inauguration's aftermath and the upcoming storm of activity by the new Obama Administration. Something
tells me that's it's going to be a fascinating year of analyses, praise and criticism.

Before we get to the more practical matters of turning the Bush DEPRESSION into a RECESSION, I would like
to comment on the state of the far right, or what some might call their EXTREME DENIAL and lack of support
for change. There are many reports, and lots of FOX "News" coverage, about how Obama will be making a
mistake if he tries to be "too extreme" in his policies.

They do credit him with appointing a "moderate" team so far, but they won't stop criticizing him for plans to
push FDR-like programs. You know, health care reform and stuff that YOU AMERICANS voted him into office
to fix.

Well, let's see, he's inexperienced, did not fulfill the Senate term he was elected to five years ago....Obama is
already unfairingly being compared to John F. Kennedy. Huh? Why? John Kennedy had about 15 years of
congress experience under his belt before being elected President. 10 years more experienced than Obama...

And ha, ha, ha, ha, the first flip flop on Obama...he broke one of his campaign promises already, he wants to
slam shut the revolving door on ex-government officers becoming lobbyists and lobbyists becoming ex-lobbyist
government officers but Obama's pick for the nominee for the Defense Department’s No. 2 job received a waiver
on President Barack Obama’s tough new ethics rules.

After a long stint as a senior Washington operations executive at Raytheon Co., William J. Lynn is poised to
head back to the Pentagon to become the deputy secretary of defense. He was a registered lobbyist for the
giant defense contractor from 2003 through June 2008.

Peter Orszag, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said in a statement that “it is in
the public interest to grant the waiver given Mr. Lynn’s qualifications for his position and the current national
security situation.” Specifically, the waiver covers a “revolving door ban” designed to address appointees’
conflicts of interest with former employers or clients during and after their government service.

Obama, 1 day after being re-sworn into office after he infamously flubs the swearing in, be breaks his
first campaign promise...bad boy, bad boy, what are YOU AMERICANS gonna do now? It's too late! We sure
as hell can't unvote him now! Geez, another 4 years (8 years! YUK!) of broken promises!

Hey! He made the rules right? Well, he's now the President so he can break the rules, right? Nixon did.
Flashback to November 18, 1973, Nixon says "I'm not a crook'!

Well, as Ray Stevens used to say..."Let's see what happens".
                                                                                                                                                01/20/09
Yeah, I unexpectedly had a day off due to snow on Inauguration Day so I decided that during
the lulls of the festivities through out the day, I'll dig into the back burners of my to do list and work
on this. I've decided to relocate this blog for easier access between updates onto this server which
contains the family website pages.

If you are new to this agenda and want to look at my previous posts, you can to do here until I
transfer those pages to an archive section.
                                                                                                                                                 01/11/09
This Rant is an expansion of a review already published elsewhere...
www.csdvrs.com
Well, this one is not a website of the month but a disappointment and a grief about the company
behind the website. I've put off getting VRS because I just didn't want a another TV waiting to be
used. The CSDVRS folks at the ASL Expo in Greensboro, NC back in September 6, 2008 convinced me
to sign up for Z30 (Z340) on sale for $80. Although it has a small screen, I really liked this unit
because of its laptop like portability. It would serve its purpose very well as I could take it with me
on my road trips as well as being able to connect this unit in any room in my house as well as inside
my workshop separate from my house. Really, a perfect and ideal VRS unit for me.

OK, so weeks go by...no e-mail, mail, or any communications from CSDVRS. I go to NCSD's
Homecoming and eureka! CSDVRS has a booth! I asked about getting Z340. Their representative said
I will get e-mail in three weeks. So again, I waited and waited. No e-mail, nothing, nothing, and
more nothings. So, on January 6, I contacted them through their website and basically I wrote: "It is
now 2 and half months OR 4 months since September 2008! WOW. I waited and waited. No e-mail,
nothing, nothing, and more nothings".

"I'm a patient guy but I am tired of people telling me to go ahead and publish about your number one
very poor service on both of my websites.

OK, now it's your turn to communicate with me. Do not let me wait. I expect an e-mail this week.
Thank you...can you read me now?"

And now, finally, I received a response, albeit a manufactured response...you know...the same
response sent to anyone who's asking. Here's what they said: "We are completing the final stages of
testing the new Z phones. The Z-340 has started being shipped to customers, and there is still no
release date of the Z-150. This has been due to an overwhelmingly high volume of requests we have
received for the Videophone. CSDVRS will be contacting you once the Z becomes available, and the
current units we have will be assigned on a first come, first serve basis."

Oh, wow, whoopie doo! Geez, I didn't ask about the Z-150. Here was my response:
"Same old, same old.
That's the same story the rep said at the NCSD Homecoming on Oct. 18, 2008.
So in effect, nothing new, nothing changed.

Sigh,
Lester Latkowski"
                                                                                                                                                 11/08/09
On the day after The (election) Day, hope, relief and anger. And there were still others who never supported
Barack Obama and were clinging to the idea that the nation made a mistake. That concern - anger, for some -
is just as persistent and real.

The speeches are done. The parties are over. The signs are coming down. But feelings endure about an
election that was as ugly as it was inspiring, as monotonous as it was momentous. As Americans shift from
the prospect of a black president to the reality of it, it is coming home in different ways.

As quoted By PAULINE ARRILLAGA
AP National Writer