Wacky MCI Bill

I’m packing up lots of stuff in preparation to move into our new house. I found this gem in a file of oldies but goodies. This is a phone bill I received in college. Check out the numbers, then read the details below.

Some things worth pointing out:

• The bill shows a total of 59,473 minutes of phone use. There are only 43,200 minutes in a 30-day month!
• The bill is 320 pages long. It was mailed in two boxes each a little larger than the size of a box of checks. When I got it, I thought I won something.
• Total amount due: $14, 191.95

Here’s the story: While in college at North Texas State University MCI offered students a long distance calling plan we could use in our dorm rooms. All you did was call an 800-number, enter a 5-digit code and then dial the number you wanted. It was quite common for people to randomly enter codes until they found one that worked. Well, my code (4248 was one of the ones that was found and spread around the athletic department. I had no idea.

MCI found out about this and offered ‘amnesty’ to any students willing to turn themselves in. I guess they needed help figuring out which calls were which. A picture was taken of students in the deans office waiting to meet with MCI. A good friend of mine was the main person in the photograph. The story eventually made it onto CNN and the photo taken of my friend is the one that was used with the story. Pretty funny stuff.

As to my responsibility? MCI eventually told me that I owed about $500, which was a load of crap. I contested and said that they had to provide me an itemized list of the calls before I would pay. They never did, so I never did.

Just another funny chapter in my life.

DailyKOS: KOS = Keeping Out Sanity

The very first paragraph in the “About” section at the DailyKOS says that the site was created “in those dark days when an oppressive and war-crazed administration suppressed all dissent as unpatriotic and treasonous. As a veteran, Moulitsas [site founder] was offended that the freedoms he pledged his life for were so carelessly being tossed aside by the reckless and destructive Republican administration.”

Let me point out two key objections of the founder:

• the “administration suppressed all dissent”
• He was “offended that the freedoms he pledged his life for were so carelessly being tossed aside…”

This would lead one to believe that the Daily KOS was a site motivated to seek the truth, promote discussion, welcome debate and strive to be everything that an ‘oppressive administration’ was not.

Survey says: WRONG

As a grown-up that enjoys sharing my opinion and engaging in debate with dissimilar opinions I thought it would be enlightening to create an account at the Daily KOS. I posted for a couple of weeks and tried to remain polite yet direct with my comments. Usually I was called crazy or clueless. Sometimes a member would counter with their own facts in a rational manner. The Internet at it’s finest.

Then I was ‘outed’ by ZappoDave. <insert dramatic music stab>

Apparently my comments supporting our troops pissed some of the loonies off. I suggested that the war could have been over years ago if soldiers were allowed to engage the enemy as they were trained as opposed to being handcuffed by the ridiculous rules of engagement that they are forced to follow today. I received three comments: an f-word laced emotional outburst plus two other less vicious yet still curse-including responses. I countered with “Curses and insults are the best you can come up with? My post and facts still stand.”

I came back a couple of days later to find that my commenting privileges had been revoked. Oh yeah… the three asinine comments and my pimp slap of the three were removed from the site. I drew out a few of the losers and they got erased along with me. Just like a good homicide bomber…

I also saw that there were several comments re: my outing. What do I mean by outing? ZappoDave had a stroke of investigative genius and checked out my member profile. He posted his ’scoop’ in the comments section. He found my blog. <insert another musically tense stab> Note to Zappo… if I didn’t want people to know that I had my own conservative blog I wouldn’t have put the link in my KOS profile you bonehead! Yet users chimed in with “nice catch” and “this guy is a fucking troll.”

If voicing an opinion other than the liberal party line makes me a troll, color me guilty. I guess when you have nothing but your heart to argue with you can’t let things like facts our counterpoint get in the way of a good temper tantrum against the Neo-cons, right?

The site also is proud of the fact that “tens of thousands of regular Americans have used Daily Kos to lend their voice to a political world once the domain of the rich, connected, and powerful.” Um… the political world is still the domain of the rich, connected and powerful. I can only surmise that opinions like mine exclude me from the category of ‘regular Americans’ as defined by the left.

In other words, my dissent needed to be suppressed. My freedom was carelessly tossed aside.

What good is a message board if it contains nothing but redundant “atta boys” and “down with the man” posts? Where’s the intellectual stimulation? What possible value is gained by marching lock-step with a crowd of lemmings? If you truly believe what you say, if you have a rational defense for your opinion

s, wouldn’t you enjoy the opportunity to try and educate a non-believer? Wouldn’t you try to expose your political opposite as a fraud? I guess that’s not an option at the Daily KOS. You either tow the lefty line or you get muzzled.

We’ll see if my account regains its former privileges. (update 10/5/07: no privileges still… to disagree is to be shunned) When it does I’ll be glad to remove my Markos ‘Kos’ Moulitsas/Hitler ‘art.’ I would like to continue posting at the Daily KOS in the hope that I can foster discussion and maybe expose just some of the illogical musings of the uneducated. I’m not on a friggin’ Crusade, I’m just trying to insert a dose of perspective.

My homeschooled kid has more social skills than most adults.

We home school our kids and it has been a wonderful change to our lives. When the topic comes up with friends, coworkers and relatives the first thing that most people say is “That’s nice, but be careful. You need to make sure your kids get properly socialized.” For some reason non-home schoolers think all home schooled students act like the freak spelling bee girl to the right. As a product of the Connecticut public school system I am quite aware that there are plenty of anti-social kids out there that get that way without the excuse of home schooling.

Take a look at this excellent article on the myth of socialization. We are starting our second year of home schooling I’ve had plenty of opportunities to witness my children’s stellar behavior and impressive manners. It is wonderful to come home and hear that my wife was approached by a stranger at a store or restaurant to tell her how well-behaved and courteous my kids were. I love when I go to a playground or event and see my kids behaving while other kids are causing problems. I’m not talking about being anti-social, I’m talking about being polite and respectful of others. While Ritalin-filled Johnny is jumping off of tables at a restaurant, while hyper Sally is beating up on a smaller kid, my kids are finding friends, playing games and having fun.

Think about it this way. What socialization skills does a child get when stuck in a classroom of 20+ students where the majority of students have to sit and wait while the teacher deals with the class trouble student? What happens to the student that is bored because the work is not challenging but is not allowed to talk in class while other slower kids struggle to keep up? Playgrounds have more and more restrictions and teachers are allowed to do less and less in their rooms. Schools are not the best place to gather social skills. In fact, we had to unteach behavior that our daughter picked up during her year in public school. Things picked up on the bus or on the playground these days are quite different than what we dealt with as kids twenty or thirty years ago. I had to send a neighbor’s child home because this kindergartner was asking other playmates “do you want to have sex with me?” Yeah… great social skills.

Time will ultimately tell but I am completely confident in the results that my wife will be able to generate based on her teaching background and the intelligence of our children. Great parents make great kids, I think we’ve got nothing to worry about.

Craig’s ‘gayness’ is NOT the story people…

As usual the press is running with the wrong side of a story. Senator Craig (Republican from Idaho) was arrested last month for solicitation while at the Minneapolis airport. Liberals are whining that he is being persecuted for being gay. Others are saying that Craig was the victim of a hateful Idaho newspaper editor. Once again the concept of personal responsibility has slipped into some other plane of reality that most Americans can’t perceive. Craig was arrested for solicitation, as in asking for sex, in a public place. Where’s the ambiguity?

Look at it this way. Would the left be supporting Craig if he got busted soliciting a prostitute while in office? Would they support him if he was a woman soliciting another woman in a restroom? (does that even happen?) Craig’s sexual preference has nothing to do with the issue; his lack of judgment is the problem. A sitting Senator was caught trying to engage in sex in a public restroom. At least Bill Clinton had the nerve to do so in a private, albeit publicly funded room of an oval shape.

Here’s a quick history lesson for the younger crowd: This ain’t the first time… Craig was accused of this behavior in 1982. (I wonder how many bathroom forays he’s had over the past two-and-a-half decades?)

A former governor has weighed in on this issue and offers prayers for Craig and his family. While pontificating on the shame and suffering of growing up gay and how his sexual desires ruined his political career, former New Jersey governor James McGreevey closes his article with the following quote: “I pray that the tide of American history continues to sweep toward the inevitable expansion of freedom that recognizes the worth and dignity of every individual — and that mine is the last generation that is required to choose between affairs of the heart and elected office.”

Again, being gay is not the issue. Soliciting in public restrooms is the issue. Show me the article or news clip that suggests that Craig step down for being gay. Hey James, we’d be happy with a generation of politicians able to focus on their jobs instead of finding an anonymous quickie.

Libs will quickly chime in “But what about Senator Vitter…” Well, I can think of two things that make his calls to a prostitution house different than Craig’s bathroom escapades.

1. Vitter’s behavior occurred before he was a senator. Shame on the Louisiana press for not finding out about this before he was elected. Then again, what do you expect from the state the brought us Katrina victims Ray Nagan and Kathleen Blanco?
2. Vitter fully admitted to his actions and took responsibility for them. It only took senator Craig 19 seconds to try and deflect the blame to the police officer interviewing him. Craig said “you solicited me.” He knew what he was doing. He knew the implications. Do you really want someone with such horrible judgment making important political decisions?

I’m all for forgiveness. If Craig had admitted to his mistake, and if it was an isolated event I believe the public would be willing to let him remain in office. But his arrest is the end of an apparently very long history of discreet sexual activity, and his reactions on tape and his public denial were the final nails in his political coffin.