CNN Notices Jihad Watch

I wasn't planning to post today. It's past time for me to make some serious blog rounds, now that I'm no longer in pause mode. But this can't go without mention. Excerpt:

"Words matter": Homeland Security rolls out newspeak campaign, cautions against use of terms like "jihadists," "Islamic terrorists," "Islamists" and "holy warriors"

Again, we see the argument that using those terms somehow "legitimizes" or "aggrandizes" the jihadist movement. But honestly, is the public deflection of the Islamic aspect of Islamic jihad going to hinder jihadists from making the connection, or will it hinder ordinary citizens seeking information? Obviously, it will be the latter. And when the public is discouraged from understanding the jihadist enemy's ideology, whom does that ultimately help?

[...]

"There are two legitimate sides to wars?" Baloney. The Nazis didn't have a legitimate cause in World War II. Recognizing a threat is not an endorsement of its existence.

Read the entire article.

Also see "The Great War against Nothing in Particular" at Jihad Watch. Excerpt:

Andy McCarthy wonders, since "war" and "terror" are no good, if it's okay if we call this present conflict the "On" -- "or would that offend all the moderate prepositions?"

Uh oh! The word "moderate" was used! Shouldn't that offensive-to-Moslems word be redacted or changed to "mainstream"? Pffffft!

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The ACLU Advises Moslems

Not a surprise, of course.
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Excerpt from this article in the LA Times:

May 29, 2008

A report that mosques in Los Angeles and San Diego are under federal surveillance has resurrected fears in the Muslim community about government monitoring and led two civil rights groups Wednesday to call for congressional hearings.

[...]

Corey Saylor, Washington spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the article in the San Diego Union-Tribune "has again raised concerns that our community is being watched."

[...]

ACLU lawyers regularly go to mosques to advise worshipers that they do not have to answer questions from FBI agents about how long they have been in the United States, how often they attend services and what they get out of the sermons...

How many jihadomaniacs are hiding behind the ACLU's lawyers?

Crossposted at THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS , where Reliapundit comments as follows:

amazing: the aclu actually has an outreach program to teach disobedience and obfuscation to potential enemies.

this is treason.

at the very least, this is like a mob lawyer who advise his mafia clients on how to set up rackets in advance of doing crime.

lawyers are then not representing clients, but part of the criminal enterprise.

lawyers have done time for this, and the aclu should be busted for this.

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I'm Back! Video: Jon Voight On Israel

Now that the school term is coming to an end and I'm all caught up with work oligations, pause mode at this web site has ended a few days early.

During the time I was not posting, I was still reading and research on the web. On blog rounds, I found the following video at CUANAS:



YouTube link

Additional information about the above video from the above YouTube link:

John Voight came to Israel as a guest of the youth uniun of Chabad. Voight supports the youth uniun of Chabad in a project that assists the children of Chernobyl and up to now 2500 children were brought to Israel from that region which was infected by radioactivity disaster.

Voight talks about his support in Israel and its people, about the mistake of Israel's giving up on Gaza and about the current situation in which Israel is facing daily terror attacks from Gaza and about the apathy of the western communications media toward Israel's suffering and their flopping to the propaganda trap of the terrorists.

He also talks about Vietnam, Cambodia and Iraq wars.

Jon Voight has also recently made a statement about Barack Obama. From this article in the Jerusalem Post:

"[Barack Obama is] really extreme, but he's always trying to say something to cover it. He's like a Leftist from the '60s. I was on the Left, that's why I know who he is," said Voight.

"He says he'll talk to everybody [like Hamas and Iran], but it's simpleminded candy he's throwing to the extreme left wing. He'd be the biggest disaster for Israel - and all democracies - that I can think of."

Read the entire article.

As a rule, I don't pay any attention to what Hollywood types have to say about world politics. After all, performers are not rocket scientists or pundits. But even Hollywood types can occasionally recognize the truth. The ones who do don't seem to get much coverage in the mainstream media.

Additional reading: Wikipedia on Jon Voight

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Pause Mode (Updated on May 22)

Due to end-of-the-school-term tasks and other matters to mull over, my blogging will remain in pause mode until June 1 — with the exception of announcements related to The Gathering Storm Radio Show.
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In other words, I have neither the time nor the inclination to blog right now.

(Posted on May 15, 2008 @ 10:26 PM)

UPDATE ON MAY 22: I am gradually getting back into making blog rounds and am catching up on reading here in the blogosphere. In fact, I've done a few recent posts at Infidel Bloggers Alliance and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS.

Next week, I plan to work on a new posting for this site and, at the moment, am on schedule to resume here on June 1.

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Weekly Radio Show: May 16 — Ibn Misr and Chaim

Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.

The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.

Callers welcome!

Friday, May 16 (90 minutes): Our guests this week are Ibn Misr of Sons of Apes and Pigs and Chaim of Freedom's Cost.
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Ibn Misr, who will be with us for the first hour, is a Coptic and a real firebrand who knows Islam inside out. According to information at his web site, his blog was launched in an effort to blow away the barrier of the Arabic language for Westerners, and give the proofs, from none other than Mohammad himself in his Koran and Hadiths.

Chaim will be with us at the top of the second hour for thirty minutes. According to information at his web site, his blog counters the revisionism, the lies and the ignorance (whether real or purposeful) of what is written about world events.

If you are unable to listen live to this week's edition of the radio show, you can listen later by CLICKING HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS
May 23: Cassandra USA
May 30: John Kenneth Press and Radio Free Dar Al Harb
June 6: Gary Swenchonis and Vadim

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Muslims And Dogs

(With a hat-tip to The Merry Widow, who emailed me the first link in this posting)

Tyler Hurd and Emmitt





We infidels have heard numerous stories about how Muslims hate dogs, even the very sight of a dog. From this article in World Net Daily comes another such story:

Muslim threats force out
disabled teacher with dog
Islamic students reportedly taunted 'unclean' animal

A Muslim high school student's intolerance for a service dog needed by a student teacher with a disability has reportedly prompted the student teacher to abandon the last 10 hours of his scheduled assignment at Technical High School in St. Cloud, Minn.

The St. Cloud Times online said the situation developed with student teacher Tyler Hurd, 23, of Mahtomedi, who hopes to teach special education.

He's a student at St. Cloud State University, and was assigned to Technical High School in the St. Cloud district for his 50 hours of student teaching, and took with him his service dog, Emmitt.

The newspaper said Hurd needs a service dog because of a childhood injury that leaves him with seizures, sometimes happening as often as weekly. The black lab is trained to protect Hurd when he has a seizure.

The school district told the newspaper it wasn't really a threat.

"I think it was a misunderstanding where we didn't really prepare either side for possible implications," Julia Espe, curriculum director for the public schools, said.

Hurd, however, reported a student threatened to kill his dog. He said the threat came from a Somali student who is Muslim.

[...]

A meeting was set up involving Kate Steffens, the dean of education at St. Cloud State, and assistant principal Lori Lockhart of Tech, in order to avoid future problems.

"We certainly welcome (Hurd) in our district, and we hope we can get this all resolved so he feels welcome and his dog is welcome," Espe said.

Oh, really, Ms. Espe? Considering Muslim dogophobia, just how will such "future problems" be avoided? By locking away service dogs such as Emmitt in some isolated corner of the campus and having a human escort for Mr. Hurd from the dog's confinement point to the work Mr. Hurd does?

From the above-cited article, the following comment demonstrates a laudatory anti-dhimmitudinal attitude:

On the newspaper's forum, "scorpionthoughts" said: "The last time I checked this is the United States of America!!!!! So many people are getting shipped over here and expect to be treated like they and their beliefs are better …. If you don't like the way things are in this country – stay in your own … place of origin!!!"

Kudos to you, Scorpionthoughts!

In addition the above information comes the following about the role of service dogs in assisting human beings who suffer from seizures:

Seizure dogs can help when a family member is having a seizure. A few dogs may even be able to predict when people will have a seizure.

[...]

...Some dogs have been trained to bark or otherwise alert families when a child has a seizure while playing outside or in another room. Some dogs learn to lie next to someone having a seizure to prevent injury....

As King of SCSU Scholars stated regarding the situation with Hurd and his service dog Emmitt:

One would think that the Americans with Disabilities Act would allow this student to participate to the fullest extent possible in pursuing his goals...

Still, Tyler Hurd seems to have stopped short of finishing his student teaching at Technical High School — all because some Somali Muslim suffers from dogophobia (or claims to, anyway). Furthermore, Islam does allow for work dogs, and Emmitt, being a service dog certainly qualifies as a work dog, even if he isn't herding goats.

Muslims need to get over themselves.

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RIP: Irena Sendler

Excerpt from this obituary in the Washington Post:

...In recent years, a biography of Mrs. Sendler called her "Mother of the children of the Holocaust," and Polish President Lech Kaczynski awarded her the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest civilian decoration.

"Every Jewish child who survived due to my efforts has justified my existence on this Earth but is no cause for praise," Mrs. Sendler told the Express. "We who were rescuing children are not some kind of heroes. That term irritates me greatly. The opposite is true. I continue to have qualms of conscience that I did so little. I could have done more. This regret will follow me to my death."...

Read the rest of the article.

Read more about Irena Sendler and "Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project" HERE. More details about her acts of heroism in saving 2500 Jewish children can be found HERE.

(The above entry also posted at THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS)

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The Ailing Republican Party

(All emphases by Always On Watch) to expand

Have you noticed the concerns and the general malaise on the part of typically-Republican voters with regard to the party's choice for the November 4 National Election? John Hawkins of Townhall.com has written an essay with his views as to why conservatives are less than enthusiastic about McCain's candidacy. Excerpt from "The Republican Party's Real Problem in a Nutshell," in which he states the following:

[C]onservatives, who are the heart and soul of the Republican Party, no longer believe that the GOP has their best interests at heart.

In his essay, Mr. Hawkins goes on to draw a distinction between supporters and allies:

Conservatives will stay up late volunteering for a campaign, give until it hurts, and crawl over broken glass to put candidates in Washington who're "on their side."

However, it's a totally different ball game when we're talking about mere allies. Why give money and spend precious time volunteering on the campaigns of people who are going to turn right around and cut you off at the knees on spending and illegal immigration once they get to DC?

Read the entire essay.

In my view, Mr. Hawkins has drawn an important distinction. Many conservatives will vote for McCain simply because he is not the Democratic Party's candidate, who certainly leans further left than McCain. Other conservatives will stay home, excercise the write-in option on the ballot, or cast their votes for a third-party candidate — even though those options will almost surely give the victory to the Democratic Party's candidate. The Republican Party has moved away from its conservative base, and that shift could put a Democrat into the White House.

How did the Republican Party get itself into such a mess? Yes, the GOP shares some of the blame. But not all of it. Consider this excerpt from Seth's recent essay "In The Proverbial Nutshell":

I firmly believe that the “silent majority” of right-thinking Americans referred to during the Vietnam era is still alive and well, our self-deception is in our belief that it is sufficient that we do our talking at the polls on Election Day.

The problem there is that in between mid-term and Presidential elections, the only “talking” that really gets done is between elected politicians. Granted, there are occasional, though few and far between, voter rebellions wherein We, The People intercede en masse, such as the thankfully aborted amnesty legislation a couple of years back, but for the most part, we just kinda’ sorta’ sit back in blissful unawareness or semi-awareness...

Read Seth's entire essay here.

Mustang, too, has posted an essay on the coming election. In the concluding paragraph of "Exciting Politics," Mustang opines as follows:

[T]he problem isn’t really our politicians (snakes that they are); it is about the uninformed voter who swallow everything candidates tell them and then cast their ballot based on illogical and patently untrue political supposition.

In my view, Mr. Hawkins, Seth, and Mustang are sounding important alarms about conservatism's future in America. For the coming election, however, and for a variety of reasons, many of which are conservatives' own fault, we on the right side of the political spectrum are limited to choices not reflective of our views. Perhaps by 2012, our choices for leadership will change. At the moment, such a change is the best that conservatives can hope for and, more importantly, work toward.

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Weekly Radio Show: May 9 — "Mohammed Abdul"

Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.

The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.

Callers welcome!

Friday, May 9: Our guest for the full hour is "Mohammed Abdul."
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Mohammed Abdul is a pseudonym for this week's interviewee, who is an expert on the Middle East and on some of the lesser-known tenets of Islam.

If you are unable to listen live to this week's edition of the radio show, you can listen later by CLICKING HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS
May 16: Ibn Misr and Chaim
May 23: Cassandra USA
May 30: John Kenneth Press and Radio Free Dar Al Harb
June 6: Gary Swenchonis and Vadim

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Hezbollah Takes Beirut

(Hat-tip to Michael)

Blurb from this May 9, 2008 news article:

Gunmen loyal to Nasrallah take control of Muslim part of Lebanese capital, seize outlets owned by governing coalition leader Hariri; Lebanese troops begin taking up positions in some Sunni neighborhoods. Saudi Arabia, calls for emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers over crisis

Read the entire article here.
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Reuters also reports here, in "Hezbollah routs pro-government gunmen; controls Beirut."

Update from this source:

- The highway to Tripoli (Tarablous) has been closed. (not sure by which side)

- Death toll in the past 72 hours: 13 dead / +45 injured

- Sporadic gunfire ongoing in Koreitem. Mini markets in Hamra have opened shop for the locals stuck in the area.

- Reports indicate Saniora & Hariri are still in Beirut.

- The government vs opposition fight has moved to the South and North of Lebanon. Akkar [Minieh & Miniara] is a flashpoint, with Hariri's Future Movement militias setting up roadblocks and firing automatic weapons. Tyre (Sour) is also seeing some activity.

- Pro-government media outlets admit defeat of pro-government militias [by opposition militias] in Beirut.

- Italy has just opened up a hotline for its citizens in Beirut. (don't know the number)

- Aoun has just gone on TV to say that the fighting is over, the opposition has won, and the tomorrow all life will be back to normal in Beirut, with a greater sense of safety as the militias have either disbanded or fled, with militia offices and weapons now controlled by the Lebanese Army.

- MEA has cancelled all flights for another 24 hours.

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FEATURED QUESTION: Our Economy

(Each "Featured Question," an idea which I gleaned from A Republic If You Can Keep It, will remain toward the top of the blog until the next question appears. The previous QUESTIONS are HERE. Please scroll down for recent postings)

The cost of gasoline, heating oil, food, and health insurance continue to rise. This FEATURED QUESTION doesn't need any links to substantiate that statement.
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As for gasoline, we have significantly cut back on distances we drive — not that we did all that much driving in the first place. My work commute for the entire week is under 100 miles. Dur to lack of business for the company where he had worked for nearly twelve years, Mr. AOW lost his primary job in January, thus limiting his work-related driving to commuting to his second job, located a mere two miles from our house. During the course of a week, we now drive less than 200 miles every week, even forgoing pleasure trips in our Mustang.

At home, we keep the thermostat set lower during the cold and cool months (64 degrees) and higher during the warm and hot months (78 degrees). To reduce the impact of the soaring price for petroleum, Mr. AOW and I had thermal windows installed a few months ago. Fortunately, we had savings enough to pay for the windows and their installation. We have already noticed that our home is more efficient, keeping in the heat and the cool. Of course, with the cost of heating oil and electricity continuing to rise, we may still experience monthly bills of amounts inconceivable this time last year.

The rising cost of food has hit all of us, I think. Mr. AOW and I have found Angel Food Ministries, available throughout the United States, to be a blessing in coping with the cost of food. In addition, at the store we shop more wisely and look for bargains. Required by the doctor to adhere to a high-protein diet, I also substitute Melaleuca protein bars for at least one meal every day. Even our cats are cutting back on how much they eat!

Cutting back on local taxes and health insurance present a conundrum. They continue to climb! I suspect that the next round of local elections will result in throwing our present leadership out of office. But maybe not: everyone claims to favor budget cuts, but various groups are unwilling to have their services cut or reduced. As for health insurance, we are trapped. No reasonable coverage is available for us fifty-somethings with pre-existing conditions, even though we rarely go to the doctor. At COBRA rates, the cheapest coverage available to us and lasting only for another year, the cost of the coverage approaches 40% of our gross income. Mr. AOW and I have no control over the rising costs of local taxes and health insurance.


FEATURED QUESTION: What are you doing to cope with the rising costs as outlined in this posting?

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Islamic Divorce Denied In Maryland

The information below the fold is an encouraging development that provides some anti-dhimmitudinal satisfaction. Nevertheless, the case may not have larger significance in the greater counter-jihad.
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Excerpt from the May 7, 2008 edition of the Baltimore Sun:

Saying "I divorce thee" three times, as men in Muslim countries have been able to do for centuries when leaving their wives, is not enough if you're a resident of Maryland, the state's highest court ruled yesterday.

Yesterday, the Court of Appeals rejected a Pakistani man's argument that his invocation of the Islamic 'talaq', under which a marriage is dissolved simply by the husband's say-so, allowed him to part with his wife of more than 20 years and deny her a share of his $2 million estate.

The justices affirmed a lower court's decision overturning a divorce decree obtained in Pakistan by Irfan Aleem, a World Bank economist who moved from London to Maryland with his wife, Farah Aleem, in 1985. ...

Irfan Aleem had lived for nearly twenty years at the top echelons of the bankings in the West. But when his wife filed for divorce in Montgomery County, Maryland, in 2003, Mr. Aleem decided to pursue a shari'a avenue to limit the cost of the settlement terms:

But before the legal process could be completed - and without telling his wife - Aleem went to the Pakistani Embassy in Washington and invoked the 'talaq', in effect attempting to turn jurisdiction of the case over to a Pakistani court that later granted him a divorce.

The Maryland Court of Appeals nullified his Aleem's plan, although

Muneer Fareed, secretary-general of the Islamic Society of North America, said that if Aleem had traveled to Pakistan and invoked his talaq there, it might have been recognized in a U.S. court under the concept of comity, under which nations accept the premise of a law in another country "whether or not we agree with the law or its spirit."

Read the entire article. Additional information about the case is here and here.

The above small victory for anti-dhimmitude, apparently achieved because Irfan Aleem didn't physically travel to Pakistan to invoke 'talaq', is encouraging. But, at the same time, another form of shari'a law — shari'a banking — continues to gain ground within Western nations.

From this source, an article entitled "The Silent Jihad Against the West" (Hat-tip to Infidel Bloggers Alliance):

Islamic Sharia banking is coming to the United States and other western nations, thanks to global banks such as Citigroup, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. Great Britain is now pledging to become the Islamic banking center of the world. Clearly the headlong rush by all global banks to enter the world of Islamic banking is well underway. Why do western banks seek to participate in Sharia banking; because it gives them a chance to enter the Islamic banking industry which has over $1.5 trillion available today and is growing at a steady and explosive rate of over 15% per year.

The implications for the west, and especially for the United States, are staggeringly destructive. Islamic banking working through global banks is doing for Islam what it could never do on its own: giving legitimacy to Sharia law and infiltrating it into the fabric of western society.

For those not familiar with Sharia Banking; it is a system which creates and sells services and products that are in strict accordance with Sharia law. Sometimes it is referred to in the Islamic culture as "Sharia finance". It dictates how the practices of banking, investment, bonds, loans, brokerage, etc, are to be conducted.
To insure compliance and to become "Sharia banking" compliant, banks must hire Sharia experts to review and approve each product and practice of the bank....There is a shortage of such Sharia experts so there is competition among banks to find such experts to sit on their boards of directors. By having an "expert" involved in banking decisions, this provides the legitimacy to each banking decision because it is made at the director rather management level. However, most of these Sharia experts" are from the radical Wahhabi school of Islam in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, and they hold views diametrically opposed to the basic values of Western civilization.

Read the entire article.

For current developments in shari'a banking, please visit Shariah Finance Watch.

[Cross-posted to THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS]

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Demeaning The Office

I find myself growing sick of the displays on the part of the candidates for the office of President of the United States. These candidates appear on television shows such as Late Night with David Letterman, Jay Leno, and Saturday Night Live. Are these appropriate forums for those individuals running for the highest elected office in our land?

Until the last several election cycles, I labored under the misapprehension that such television shows existed for the purpose of entertainment. Indeed, Mr. AOW and I occasionally tune into such programs so as to unwind after a long day of dealing with reality. We don't want to see a political candidate on the screen when we watch such shows! After all, we switched from watching the news and surfing the web so that we can have a break and get some laughs — not to see on the screen a Presidential candidate schmoozing it up with a late night talk-show host. We want a break from politics and the wall-to-wall media coverage of the months leading up to our national elections!

In my view, candidates' appearances on these programs demean the office of President and send the message that our democratic process is a form of entertainment — a political dog-and-pony show. What is your opinion?

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Catching Up

Verizon finally restored my phone and Internet service this morning! I'd be cheering — except that I'm so worn out with all that I had to go through to get my service restored. I haven't yet tackled Verizon's billing department, but that step is not far in the future.
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Of course, after nearly a full week off the web, I have a lot of catching up to do. I will first be tending to work matters (end-of-term papers and grades), then getting to emails, reading comments here, visiting my favorite web sites, and posting again.

Anyway, for now, I'm no longer living under a rock.

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Cut Off From The World

My troubles are not over. My line is still not connected to the Internet. I merely have a few hours' access to my neighbors' computer while they're out to dinner. This computer feels strange to me, but at least I have a bit of access to news on the web.

Today, I called Cox Communications to see how fast they can get me back online. They could've gotten my up and running today — so the sales representative said. The appointment time, however, would have interfered with my co-hosting the radio show. I have opted for a Saturday appointment with Cox. Of course, a new system will mean new glitches; I may not be online immediately with Cox either.
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I'm boiling over with anger at Verizon! To be without both a landline telephone and Internet access for a full four days here in the D.C. Metro area is unconscionable! Furthermore, the only way I got Verizon even to agree to come out at all before May 7 was to threaten them yesterday with both an announcement on the radio show and contacting the media. Still, Verizon informed me that the technician could not get to my house before Saturday.

Meanwhile, as I suspected, the subcontractor Al Tech has finished their work and have departed, leaving me disconnnected. Verizon had told me that my problem was "a system problem." Not so! I have since found out that I am the only house without service in my neighborhood. So much for customer service from the company which I've always used, from the first day I moved onto this property over thirty-five years ago.

I don't take kindly to lying. Perhaps I will rue the day I signed on with Cox Communications. Right now, though, the word "Verizon" is anathema to me. Never mind Verizon's commercials about reliability. That promise is merely a sales pitch.

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I have a new nickname for AOW...

...BeniHime(pronounced, benny hemay), means Red or Crimson Princess in Japanese. It's the name of a katana.
And after what Altel and Verizon have done, OR NOT done, I can very well understand it!
Seems Altel is putting in new phone lines, using a sub-contractor, who apparently unplugged AOW's module, and forgot to plug it back in.
Verizon claims it has no techs available to deal with the problem before Saturday...BUT, she passed a technician parked on the side of the road, talking to his girlfriend on a cell phone...ummmhmmm, sure Wilbur!
We are about to start betting on the legality of the sub-contractor's workers...
Stay tuned for further adventures of BeniHime...

tmw

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