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Obama says being American is ‘not a matter of blood or birth’ – NYPOST.com (Political Discussion)

Published on July 1, 2010

This is rich. This is from the man that was born in Kenya (per Micelle Obama) and is now our President allegedly.

This is nuts and going against all our laws as well as every country in the world’s laws on immigration. What is his problem? What doesn’t he understand? I thought he was the “all knowing” that will tell us what we had for breakfast today, tomorrow, and next month.

Excuse me? Being AMERICAN is MOST CERTAINLY a matter of blood, birth and YO, Culture! I guess he can make this statement because since we are getting so divided and segregated by the left and each other, we as a culture have forgotten what it MEANS to be American! Someone leaves their country, for whatever reason, to come here, to OUR country; the USA, then they need to learn to be Americans. I don’t need to learn to be Chinese, French, German, Mexican, Spanish, Brazilian, Portuguese, Fijian, Philipino, Indian, Morrocan, etc. You come here, learn English (first thing – or better yet learn it before you come here), learn our culture/history (if they even teach that in school), and how OUR government works.

Don’t come here to use OUR laws against us so that you can have it the way it was where you are from, that you are/were currently running away from. You break the law, you go to jail, or go home. Just STOP IT!

Source: https://nypost.com/2010/07/01/obama-being-american-is-not-a-matter-of-blood-or-birth/

Comments

ObamaFan: His solution is to give the illegals “a pathway to legal status”. Sooooo, it’s not illegal if we change our minds and make it legal.

I trust there are many who see through this double-speaking mindless and clueless POS/Monkey POTUS

Gene: Turn that teleprompter back on.

AgainstTrump: For once Obama get’s it right. Being an America has always been about choice. We are a nation of immigrants after all. Those who are born here also have the choice — to leave, and by far, to many of them that should, don’t. We need to get back to that view of what it means to be an American, one of choice, versus one of entitlement by birth (the equivalent of the aristocracy). Those who don’t believe in the values of the Founders shouldn’t be granted citizenship, and those who don’t uphold them should be encouraged to leave.

James: If we are not Americans by birth, culture, blood, etc., what DOES make us Americans? Our tv viewing habits? Sports preferences? Menu choices? Well, what?

Slowmoguy: Once again President Obama has planted his fat ass on the fence. Talk about hot air and no direction!!

“And no matter how decent they are, no matter their reasons, the 11 million who broke these laws should be held accountable.”

Yeah right, but what are you actually doing about it Mr. President?

“I’m ready to move forward. The majority of Democrats are ready to move forward, and I believe the majority of Americans are ready to move forward…”

That so? Ready to move forward and do WHAT, ace?

“But the fact is, without bipartisan support, as we had just a few years ago, we cannot solve this problem. Reform that brings accountability to our immigration system cannot pass without Republican votes.”

Which translates as POTUS saying,”Hey, Lord knows I tried folks but…really…it’s all the Republicans fault…My ass is just all tied up.”

I swear this guy’s got enough hot air to reflate The Zeppelin ten times over and then some !!… Unbelievable!!

Unfortunately, this discussion is really old and we’ve closed it.

Photo Credit: “Barack and Michelle Obama on election night” by John Althouse Cohen is marked with CC BY-SA 2.0

A Huge Win For Freedom! (Discussion)

Published on June 23, 2010

The Supreme Court held Monday (6-28,10) that Americans have the right to own a gun for self-defense anywhere they live, clearly expanding the court’s view of gun rights and the personal freedom to protect oneself.

By a 5-4 vote, the justices ruled against outright restrictions of guns in cities.

Justice Samuel Alito spoke for the court, saying that the Second Amendment “applies equally to the federal government and the states.”

As usual, the court split along right/left lines: the same Five For Freedom justices voting in favor of the freedom to own a gun and the Four Anti-Freedom justices opposing that freedom.

The Five For Freedom justices were appointed by Republican Presidents. Of course, two of the biggest mistakes in court history were also appointed by two Republicoward presidents, leftist ones at that (Papa Bush & Tricky Dicky Nixon), but nevertheless those were Souter and Stevens, the latter of whom is retiring today.

The three hard-left anti-freedom justices were appointed by Devilrat Presidents: Skinflinton and Obongo.

Overall over the last fifty years, there is a huge difference between justices appointed by rightist presidents and leftist ones.

The nation suffered through horrible appointments by FDR through Nixon. Finally, Reagan began giving us some justices that believed in keeping the American people as free from government control as possible.

As bad a president is overall as Baby Boy Bush was even he gave us two excellent justices: Alito and Roberts.

So friends there is a great deal of difference in the thinking and beliefs among politicians in the US. For clearly some still believe in personal freedom, while others certainly do not.

Comments:

Art: Although expected, this is still a monster win for the American people. We can thank these Five For Freedom justices for this one, as well as Jefferson and George Mason who stayed behind him to give us the Bill of Rights.

You can bet Obongo and his Controllers who would love to see us disarmed are seething huge anti-freedom buckets of blood right this instant.

A very fine image indeed!

Anon: Do you guys not realize that every time you use some pitiful epithet to show your disrespect that you only lower your own image in the eyes of intelligent educated people? If you want to influence people who don’t already think like you, you should learn to stop using silly, childish terms like “Obongo” and “Obumer” instead make sound ration arguments that excel on their own merits.

Jimmy: The sad part of this decision was that it was 5-4. Clearly, this should have been a 9-0 decision. We are all so very close to having a really different country. These are difficult times and we best be prepared for future happenings.

This discussion has been closed.

Photo: “US Supreme Court” by zacklur is marked with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

The Great American Road Trip: Digital Nomad Style

Published on June 4, 2010

In 2000, I packed up everything, said my goodbyes and drove cross country with my then boyfriend (now husband). We made the trip from Massachusetts to Seattle in early December, so we decided to take the southern route, and still got caught in an ice storm that stranded us in Tennessee for three days. There was a guy in our Motel Six lobby wearing overalls, buckled on one shoulder, no shirt and no shoes. He was muddied up like he just came back from an afternoon wrestling pigs. It was my first time in the south. It was awesome.

Driving across the US is one of those epic trips that everyone has to take at least once. This summer we decided to make that twice. This time we upped the ante a bit and made the drive from Massachusetts to Seattle, then north through British Columbia, Canada, all the way up and across to Alaska.

In nine years, a lot has changed. Now we’re traveling nomads, working as we go. In 2000, I didn’t have a laptop, never mind a wireless card. Back then a trip like ours meant quitting your job and having a fat savings account. This time we worked and traveled for over two months, taking client calls outside of Yellowstone, checking email in the Yukon.

The New American Road Trip:
Cell phone coverage hasn’t surpassed Wifi availability. Even in the most remote areas, where my cell phone had lost coverage days earlier, we were still able to find free wifi.

Camping and RVing is still better than budget motels. At $25-$40/night it’s hard to beat some of these luxury campgrounds that offer cabins, game rooms, swimming pools, and free golf carts to drive around their property. We visited over 20 of them and the internet was always free.

Throw out your maps. We spent a good amount of our pre-trip time planning our stops because we were concerned about always having access to wifi. It was never an issue. There were plenty of options, signs from the highways and sometimes even ‘free internet’ flashing in neon.

We’re not alone. You’d be surprised how many travelers stick stateside to enjoy the vast empty spaces. There will always be the weekender, but on this trip we found many more long term travelers.

It’s still amazing. If you ever get the chance to take a long road trip, take it! It’s the only way to truly understand the size and magnitude of North America. Driving through BC, the Canadian Rockies and the Yukon goes down as one of my top five travel experiences… ever.

The barrier to becoming a digital nomad is shrinking everyday.

Having been driving for the last two months, I’d say that cell coverage is much better than wifi. I can get at least Edge coverage on my iPhone on most sections of interstate, and 3G can be found in some surprising areas.

I’m using my iPhone for most of my causal Twitter/email access and for all of my mapping. GPS+mapping data on the iphone is a godsend.

That being said, you can find wifi at almost every chain motel and campground now. The trick is finding places that aren’t too busy so their connection isn’t swamped at night.

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Published on May 10, 2010

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IF Mitt Romney Wins the GOP Nomination 2010 (Discussion)

Published on February 9, 2010

Mitt Romney is in high gear promoting his new book. I caught him on the Sean Hannity show last night and Sean actually asked him if he is considering another run for President. Ahhh, (with a Beavis & Butthead intonation) talk about a charade; come on Sean! Do you think he has been traveling the circuit and authored the book because he needs the money? I felt like I was watching one of those Saturday morning infomercials where the get-rich-quick pitchmen have the studio set up like it’s a “talk show”. I guess there are actually people who believe that approach.

Nevertheless, if Mitt Romney wins the GOP nomination we will need to develop some comparisons to Barack Obama so we should start thinking this through in advance.

There are similarities and differences between the two:

Romney has the advantage of consistency. He has consistently been on both sides of important issues, depending on who he was running against.

They both may be able to say they used their respective executive branches to impose socialized medicine on their constituents.

I did find one major difference. A key difference between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama is that as a Mormon, Mitt Romney believes he is going to become a god over his own planet; while Barack Obama believes he already is.

Seriously, we cannot afford another division like the last primary that diluted the conservative vote so much it gave us the one nominee that no conservative actually wanted. That is one irony we cannot repeat and that is exactly what is going to happen if we do not devise a system where each state must have a run-off if one Presidential candidate does not receive a 51% majority of the votes.

Another critical thing that states need to do is stop allowing the states with early primaries and caucuses the novelty of doing so. By dragging these elections out for weeks in between, we are allowing the media to engineer the outcome through the manipulation of incessant polling. Polling has become more of an art than a “science” to these people. They use these polls to create self-fulfilling prophecies that are actually self-serving and ignominious. It makes me literally sick to my stomach to think of the many glaring instances this manipulation manifested itself in 2008 and I mean EVERY news network is guilty of this. We simply CANNOT allow this anymore.

There are many theoretical reasons why the majority of states have allowed these smaller states to have their primaries earlier than the rest. These reasons have merit but not one of these reasons is acceptable at a time when our republic is hanging on by a thread. They declare these elections over before the majority of the country has even voted and the outcomes would likely be entirely different if all states voted on the same day. They MUST be simultaneous.

This can be accomplished if states prepare themselves early on – to have their primary elections as soon as they possibly can. If some states move their elections even further up in order to be first, other states need to be nimble enough to follow. Of course, this only applies to states that actually care about this problem. I suspect that some of the liberal states do not care about their autonomy as much.

Discussion Comments:

Melinda:

Question any rational person would ask.

Why do you assume the reader would support Mitt Romney? How could anyone support him?

Neither man can be trusted – except to continue repping the corporations with zest and elan.

The last time America was set for disaster the moment Ron Paul was eliminated.

Those polls! Darn those people having opinions, for instance, the instant polling that took place after the South Carolina GOP Debate.

Support Ron Paul and your problem will be simplified.

I hope this is your idea of satire.

Jess: Romney would be another McCain. The Republican Party can do much better, and it better, or we will just see more of the same. Bigger, more expensive, more controlling, more invasive and more incompetent government. The Nation needs a 180′ turn and get the U. S. back to ‘The Home of the Brave and The Land of the Free’.

Stone: We don’t need health care, because Mitt told me anyone can go to the emergency room and be taken care of without insurance. I would vote for Mitt because he has nice hair and he’s always smiling.

Unfortunately, this article discussion has been closed because it was in 2010.

Photo credit: Mitt Romney by Gage Skidmore” by Gage Skidmore is marked with CC BY-SA 3.0

HERDING NOT JUST FOR SHEEP ANYMORE (Politics Discussion)

Published on January 30, 2010

Some wag, during a discussion over projected political moves, said that getting Libertarians to agree is like herding cats.

But then, that is not difficult on a temporary basis: throw a stinking fish in the direction you favor and they’ll rush toward it just as if they were a herd of lemmings. After all, Independent Thinkers of whatever political stripe are first, and foremost, human, and thinking dinner tastes right because it seems just what one expected is a universal trait. Perhaps it is all too easy to herd these cats, and maybe not very desirable after all.

Bring up the left-wing bias of the MSM, and all the fuzzy heads will nod together. Show how a lie is propagated and expanded by the MSM and see the necks work in tennis-match unison. Throw anything they are predisposed to believe, and beware the stampede. But what to make of propagations and expansions committed by those decrying that practice by the MSM?

Two such cases recently appeared, and the so-called Liberty-minded and Independent Thinkers rushed to judgment as thoughtlessly and ignorant of the facts as any the so-called “sheeple” have ever done. The blogs SENATE BURGLARY: CIA DOMESTIC BLACK–OP TEAM ARRESTED (Jan 30, about the arrest of journalist James O’Keefe and team), and The personhood of corporations (Jan 21, about the SCOTUS ruling striking down the BRCA, aka McCain-Feingold) were repeated verbatim without question on so-called conservative and libertarian sites such as the Wall Street Journal, The Daily Paul, MoveToAmend.Org, etc. Google either of those titles and witness the hundreds of sites reprinting those stories with loud approval – and without checking their facts. In addition, a raft of derived editorials (including at least three here on RagingDebate and TheBurningPlatform were spawned decrying the awful CIA and the terrible SCOTUS.

The problem, of course, is that both stories were fundamentally flawed, mainly made up, and fact-poor. At best, those stories were misleading; less charitably, they were disinformation.

Regarding such disinformation regarding James O’Keefe, here are two recent pieces from one of the few real journalism sites still out there.

Site: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2010/02/02/once-again-james-okeefe-strips-away-the-msms-mask-of-neutrality-revealing-the-bias-below/

Site: https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2010/02/03/james-okeefe-vs-max-blumenthal-how-the-left-distorts-invents-and-lies/

Discussion Comments:

SeattleGuy: Thanks, TC. I’ve been watching this story closely since the ACORN dust-up occurred a few months ago. I think it will be used in the history books to explain the demise of the MSM.

Politico: A similar thing is happening with the Toyota sudden-acceleration story.

By now we’ve all seen and heard the horrible story of the 9-1-1 call and the aftermath — all 4 people killed.

However, the story behind the story is that the official accident investigation report — performed by an engineer — was that there was ZERO problems with the accelerator. The springs and other devices were functioning perfectly. Indications are that the owner replaced the standard Lexus floor mats with Lexus floor mats meant for another type Lexus — and the pedal subsequently jammed underneath it. However, one media outlet after another ran the story as Toyota’s fault — and even Toyota got caught up in the hype and acted out of necessity to show it-was-doing-something. There is still no clear-cut evidence of a real problem. Billions and billions of miles driven … and almost all of the terribly few incidents involved drivers older than 70. Something smells fishy here.

And, of course, some Senator or Congressman called for people to stop driving their Toyotas. Well, that’s what you get when the government owns a car business … a little smearing of the competitor, justified or not, never hurts.

LostCongress: I am sure the folks at Government Motors have not tried to make it that much harder for Toyota to fix the problem. See the problem?

One hand of the government is running GM and the other is telling Toyota how big this problem is and warning people to not drive their Toyotas at all until it is fixed. No conflicts of interest there.

Foxynews: I don’t care if the fucking fenders fall off my (made in America) tundra, it’s still a hundred times better than that 2003 f 150 i traded in. rather have a paid-for recall any day than a pile of shit transmission replacement at 48000 miles. tundra has never been in the fix-it shop in 78050 miles. buddies’ new government model shit-o let,w/ less than 8000 mi has been repaired 4 times now for the same problem. THAT’S THE “JUNK IN BOX CRAP” THAT SHOULD BE RECALLED! it’s still not fixed. and now its off to arbitration.

Anon: Exactly correct, Stuck. The stink eminating from the District of Corruption is so vile we can smell it here in Fl. These “people” have no honor and they will stoop to unbelievably low levels to control us. Who cares what the facts are! Toyotas are built by non-union workers, they compete with govt owned GM and Chrysler……soooo lets use this trajedy to discredit Toyota any way we can. In the mean time what’s left of our “country” is going down the shitter at an ever accelerating rate, but the crooks in DC will do nothing about that.

Alex: So I don’t understand, then refute the allegations. Was O’Keefe and three of his “associates” masquerading as telephone repairmen or not?

There is a difference in pretending to be a pimp, a known illegal activity, and pretending to be a telephone repair service person, which is a legal profession. So quit the lecturing and where can I read what actually happened?

NotCNNNews: You’ve explained a lot about spin and dishonesty, most of which anyone who has worked in Washington already knows to be “business as usual,” but you haven’t told us what Mr. O’Keefe was actually doing in Mary Landrieu’s office. The legal accusations appeared to be pretty specific. If those accusations are incorrect, which ones are untrue, and what was occurring instead? This laundry list of “the other side’s” naughtiness tells us very little. Since you know O’Keefe, perhaps you can provide some non-hearsay input into what really occurred. Did they misrepresent their identities and intent in a Federal office building? Did they actually handle Landrieu’s office telephone? Did they ask for directions to the telephone closet? I can appreciate the efforts of any patriot in uncovering corruption, but there is a risk and price for such endeavors if done illegally. It isn’t really reasonable to whine about it after getting caught. What is more reasonable is to appreciate that, at least for the time being, the situation in America is still such that they didn’t disappear into political prison, or worse yet, get shot outside in the street twenty minutes after getting caught.

Bill: If OKeefe had proof of this bribery then he should have taken it to the authorities. He didn’t, obviously. And tried to ‘prove it’ by checking phones? Makes no sense. How is people not getting thru on a phone mean they took a bribe????

Bill: Please explain to me how dressing up as a phone repair person and checking the phones prove that legal bribes were taking place? I don’t care about all this he said, they said, she said the MSM did this Blumenthal said that. Hannah Gile wrote what. Blah blah BS….How does checking a phone prove OKeefe’s idea that Landrieu took a ‘legal’ bribe? How are the two, a legal bribe & nonworking phone, even remotely connected? When I want to see if the government is corrupt I go inside and see if the phones working? Is that it? And if it isn’t then, by Gosh, someone is taking a bribe and I need to put on a telephone repair uniform and rush out to some politician’s office, with a camera hidden in my hard hat, to catch the phone in the act of taking a legal bribe? Do people want me to believe that? Anyway, I need to fix my car so I’m going to dress up as a doctor and take my hidden camera to the hospital and prove that they broke my automobile’s brakes. And when I get arrested that I was simply being a journalist trying to uncover the saboteur doctors that mess up people’s brakes on their cars cause I am an investigative car repair journalist.

Anon: Calling BullShit on the self-proclaimed Purveyors of Truth? Get with the program.

Unfortunately, this is an old discussion that has been closed.

Photo Credit: “Pasqua. Easter” by the bbp is marked with CC BY 2.0.

It Must Be the Water in Guatemala

Published on January 21, 2010

It all started with a very bad idea. Maybe it was the lack of showering or the inability to cook our own food that clouded our judgment, but one morning, in lieu of fresh bottled water, we decided to make tea with tap water. My husband and I were in Guatemala at the time, living in an apartment we had rented for the month, and when the gas went out, so did our stove and shower. When we ran out of bottled water hours before the local tienda opened, we put our limited knowledge of how to kill bacteria to the test. We would microwave what was essentially rainwater until we saw bubbles, assuring us it was at boiling temperature.

A quick google search will tell you just how little good this will do. In fact, you’re supposed to boil it for minutes, not one second, something I didn‘t realize even later, as I was rolling around in bed, clutching my bedclothes and trying to figure out if I was sick enough to brave the health care queue. At the time, I had no idea why I had gotten sick.

Was it the lettuce from the night before? Was it that tortilla and fresh cheese I bought on the street? Did I get it from using tap water while brushing my teeth? It didn’t matter. The women from the language school diagnosed me and gave my husband a packet of pills. I took them dutifully, but I was still sick for most of the following week.

When I returned to the school, my teacher pulled me aside and asked, “Do you think you’re pregnant?”

No! Wait, hmm.

I counted the days. I couldn’t be sure. Could I be 5 days late? That’s not right is it? I conferred with my husband. He smiled, “You’re so pregnant.”

Shut up! I am not!

But secretly I was a little hopeful, even delighted, at the idea.

So I slipped away from class, got a pregnancy test and flashed it to my husband as I walked by his classroom. “You’re going to take it now, right?” He yelled to me in the hallway.

“Take it now! You have to take it now!”

Ok, jeez. I peed on the stick. There were no instructions. A single line came up in the C box. There was a T box but it was empty. Huh? Slightly embarrassed, I asked my teacher if she understood what this meant: was I pregnant?

She didn’t know. She grabbed the test from me and headed down to the main office. She showed it to the secretary, the school administrator, and some teachers on break. No one knew what it meant. They gathered around a computer and started looking up pregnancy test results. By this point, I slinked away, as they passed around the stick I had peed on only minutes ago.

I found my husband. “Are you pregnant?” he asked.

“I don’t know yet, they are still trying to figure it out. Are you freaked? “

“You know what, I’m not. I’m really happy.”

Later that afternoon, my husband and I and our respective Spanish teachers marched down to the local laboratory. In Guatemala you can get a blood test without a doctor’s order, so for about $15 I got my blood drawn and tested.

The result? Not pregnant.

I was disappointed. And that feeling surprised me. My husband and I are both in our early 30s and while kids were on the someday list, it wasn’t something we had planned on any time soon. But suddenly we both realized something. We’re ready. It’s time.

Armed with this new information, we returned home a month later and began the very serious business of baby-making. After our first attempt I forgot about it, until one day looking at a calendar it came back to me: I could be pregnant. We got the test, I did my thing and a very, very faint blue line appeared. Inconclusive, I announced to my husband. That had to be it, right? I couldn’t be pregnant after the first try? It’s sad to say it took me a full 4 hours to realize that you can’t be a little pregnant. I finally looked online and found lots of baby boards where wise mothers informed nervous women with faint positives, “Honey, you’re pregnant. A line is a line.” Holy crap, we’re having a baby!

My husband and I don’t do sentimental. But this changed everything. I didn’t know I could be one of those people. Just so happy. So in love. So, well, just mushy. We’d look at baby clothes together and start giggling. We’d just grin at each other about our little secret. We’d walk around town and coo at other people’s babies or notice every pregnancy bump. Thankfully morning sickness snaps you out of that within a few weeks, before you completely embarrass yourself.

Then last week, I crossed into the ever so important pregnancy milestone: my second trimester. We feel a little safer making long term plans- deciding where and when we’ll travel with the baby, how our new family will find it’s way around the world. I’m looking forward to it, sharing travel with this little one.

Until then, I’m just trying to enjoy every moment.

All About Seattle

Published on February 2, 2007

Learn More About Seattle

Seattle has it all. Warm sunny summers and mild winters offer just about anything you are looking for in a vacation spot.. You have the ocean close by for sailing, cruises, and guided tours. Great sights and attractions are here for your entertainment including: the Space Needle and The Northwest Trek Wildlife Park. If you are coming alone on business or with the whole family on vacation, you will have a great time.

Seattle has many local activities & attractions. Amusement parks, deep-sea fishing, boat rides, sightseeing, fine dining, AAA basketball, marine museums, and that is not all. You can spend hours, days, or weeks entertaining yourselves and your family without having to travel more than a few minutes in any direction. Nighttime entertainment includes: music and dance clubs with music ranging from smooth sounding jazz to lively disco, comedy clubs, concerts, theater, opera, symphony and movies. Even with all that to do, virtually no one comes to Seattle without visiting the Space Needle. Come, have fun, and enjoy.

Whether you’re on budget or not, you should be able to find affordable accommodations in Seattle anytime of the year. Expedia’s reservations system offers many hotels & resorts to choose from with discounted rates. You can view individual hotel web pages with pictures and information. Check rates, availability and make secure online reservations. If you would prefer a little more space, then you’ll want to check out the vacation rentals that we offer. We’ve learned Expedia also offers some of the lowest rates on car rentals anywhere in the city of Seattle from major companies like Enterprise and Thrifty car rentals.

While visiting Seattle you’ll never go hungry for quality food or shopping. Seattle offers lots of great restaurants that will please anyone’s appetite. You can eat everything from seafood to sushi and do it with a fantastic ocean view. Restaurants serving Italian, French, American, and Seafood can all be found close by. If shopping is what you are looking for you are in luck. Seattle has everything from your department store chain to local gift shops. Shopping here is great for everyday items as well as the special gift items you are looking for.

What to See and Do in Seattle:
Seattle is packed with things to see and do. There is everything from scenic walks on nature trails to fast moving rides at exciting amusement parks. Try the view from the top of the Space Needle or take a cruise down the coast and view gorgeous seascapes. Whatever you reason for visiting Seattle we are sure you will find what you are looking for. Below we have put together a sample of what Seattle has to offer. Please feel free to look around and don’t forget to browse our site for all of the other information about Seattle we have assembled just for you.

Attractions and Activities:
Chimpanzee & Human Communication Institute – Chat with a chimpanzee. With sign language, you might do just that at CWU’s Chimposiums. Meet Washoe and her family. The first animal in history to acquire language. Experience this one of a kind project first hand. Groups welcome. MC, VISA. Central Washington University 400 E 8th Ave Ellensburg, WA 98926-7573 (509) 963-2244

Family Fun Center – Open year round 9am-11pm. Go karts, bumper boats, miniature golf, laser tag, arcade. Fun for families, birthdays & groups. VISA MC and company checks. Handicapped accessible. 7300 Fun Center Way Tukwila, WA 98188 (425) 228-7300

Funtasia Family Fun Park – is a family-oriented community based amusement park providing an exciting place for enjoyment without alcohol, drugs or tobacco. We welcome your business, school and church groups for indoor private parties or outdoor picnics. 7212 220th St SW Edmonds, WA 98026 (425) 775-2174

Gameworks – Gameworks is a unique place where people can connect and play the hottest games available. 1511 7th Ave Seattle, WA 98101 (206) 521-0952

Grand Prix Raceway – Grand Prix Raceway is a state of the art, 45,000 square foot facility which offers European style Grand Prix racing INDOORS! 2105 Frank Albert Rd E. Fife, WA 98424 (253) 922-7722

Icicle Junction Family Fun Center – A visit to the Bavarian Village of Leavenworth would not be complete without a visit to Icicle Junction Family Fun Center! Bumperboats & Excursion Train Rides, Miniature Golf, Arcade, Remote Controlled Boats. Open year round. MC VISA 565 Highway 2 Leavenworth, WA 98826 (509) 548-2400

Northwest Trek Wildlife Park – Explore over 600 acres of native wildlife in natural surroundings during a guided tram tour and along nature trails. Gift shop and cafe. 11610 Trek Drive East Eatonville, WA 98328 (360) 832-6117

Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium – Experience icy white beluga whales, intriguing sharks, playful pachyderms. Over 5,000 animals overlooking Puget Sound. 5400 N Pearl St. Tacoma, WA 98407 (253) 591-5337

Seafair – Summer-long festival with over 50 events for spectators and participants: Milk Carton Derby, Torchlight Parade and Run, Hydroplane Race, Air Show featuring the Blue Angels and more! 2200 6th Ave, Ste 400 Seattle, WA 98121 (206) 728-0123

Woodland Park Zoo – Reconnect with nature at this top award-winning zoo and see why it’s hailed as among the finest in the world. 5500 Phinney Ave N. Seattle, WA 98103 (206) 684-4800

Sights to See:
The Bay Pavilion – Refurbished 1890’s Gold Rush pier with N.W. dining, panoramic views, gifts and apparel, vintage carousel. Entertainment. Open daily from 11am. Pier 57, 1301 Alaskan Way Seattle, WA 98101 (206) 623-8600

Gig Harbor Peninsula Area – Escape the ordinary-visit picturesque Gig Harbor only 60 min. from Seattle. Inviting shops, galleries, waterfront restaurants, charming accommodations. 3302 Harborview Dr, #2 Gig Harbor, WA 98332 (253) 851-6865

Space Needle – Revolving restaurant, Observation Deck, banquet level and gift shops. Elevator ride complimentary when dining. Parking is available or ride the Monorail. Open daily. 219 Fourth Ave N Seattle, WA 98109 (206) 443-2111

Where to Eat in Seattle:
Time for dinner? Seattle has plenty to offer, ranging from seafood to steaks and from Cajun to Deli. Make no mistake Seattle has more to offer than just dinner. Look for great restaurants serving outstanding breakfasts, great lunches as well as savory dinners. Please look below for some of Seattle’s various types of restaurants, cafes and pubs. You will surely find something you like.

American || Pan-Asian || Indian || French || Japanese || Italian || Southwestern || Seafood

American

Canlis 2576 Aurora Ave. Seattle, WA, USA Phone: 206/283-3313		EL Guacho 2505 1st Ave. Seattle, WA, USA Phone: 206/728-1337

Five Spot 1502 Queen Anne Ave. Seattle, WA, USA Phone: 206/285-7768		Hunt Club Sorrento, 900 E. Madison Seattle, WA, USA Phone: 206/622-6400

Kaspar’s 19 W. Harrison St. Seattle, WA, USA Phone: 206/298-0123		Metropolitan Grill 818 2nd Ave. Seattle, WA, USA Phone: 206/624-3287

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Pan Asian

Blowfish 722 Pine St. Seattle, WA, USA Phone: 206/467-7777		Noodle Ranch 2228 2nd Ave. Seattle, WA, USA Phone: 206/728-0463

Siam 616 Broadway Seattle, WA, USA Phone: 206/324-0892		Wild Ginger 1400 Western Ave. Seattle, WA, USA Phone: 206/623-4450

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Indian

Chutney’s 605 15th Ave. Seattle, WA, USA Phone: 206/726-1000		Chutney’s Queen Anne: 519 1st Ave. Seattle, WA, USA Phone: 206/284-6799

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French

Campagne Inn at the Market, 86 Pine St. Seattle, WA, USA Phone: 206/728-2800		Rover’s 2808 E. Madison St. Seattle, WA, USA Phone: 206/325-7442

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Japanese

Nikko Westin Hotel, 1900 5th Ave. Seattle, WA, USA Phone: 206/322-4641		Shiro’s 2401 2nd Ave. Seattle, WA, USA Phone: 206/443-9844

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Italian

Cafe Lago 2305 24th Ave. Seattle, WA, USA Phone: 206/329-8005		The Pink Door 1919 Post Alley Seattle, WA, USA Phone: 206/443-3241

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Southwestern

Cactus 4220 E. Madison St. Seattle, WA, USA Phone: 206/324-4140		Santa Fe Cafe 2255 N.E. 65th St. Seattle, WA, USA Phone: 206/524-7736

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Seafood

Cutter’s 2001 Western Ave., Seattle, WA, USA Phone: 206/448-4884		Etta’s Seafood 202 Western Ave. Seattle, WA, USA Phone: 206/443-6000

Palisade 2601 W. Marina Pl., Seattle, WA, USA Phone: 206/285-1000		Ponti 3014 3rd Ave. Seattle, WA, USA Phone: 206/284-3000

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Where to Stay:
Seattle offers hotels, resorts, motels and inns for almost any budget. Whether you need a room downtown or on the beach, the selection is enormous. You can also find great savings on car rentals and airfare by looking online on Expedia or other booking websites. You should always compare the rates to save the most money. Seattle’s hotel rates can be very expensive!

Local Sports:
Seattle has a spectator sport or recreational activity for everyone. Baseball, basketball, hockey, and football are all on the menu for the sports enthusiast. If you would like to get outside and enjoy the sea air we recommend Safeco Field where the air is fresh and the hot dogs taste great. Below we have listed the sports and recreational activities in the Seattle area.

Professional Sports:
Seattle Seahawks – Professional Football.
Seattle Mariners – Professional Baseball.
Seattle Sounders – Professional Soccer.
Seattle Mist – Women’s Professional Football.
Seattle Storm – Women’s Professional Basketball.

Recreational Activities:
AAAA riverrider.com – River rafting trips around Washington State includes wetsuits, booties and BBQs. Hassle free convenient rafting rides for families, singles and groups. PO Box 666 Leavenworth, WA 98826 Phone (509) 548-4575 (800) 448-7238

AdventureXpress Mountain Outfitters – Complete guided outdoor adventures: Hiking, mountain-biking, whitewater rafting, fishing, skiing, snow shoeing and sleigh rides. Custom tours. Transportation available. P.O. Box 1163 North Bend, WA 98045 Phone (888) 874-8602

Bicycle Adventures – Regional experts offering the best bicycle and multi-sport vacations in Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, California, Utah, Hawaii. Free brochure. PO Box 11219 Olympia, WA 98508 Phone (360) 786-0989 (800) 443-6060

Crystal Mountain – Washington’s favorite ski area. Lessons, rental equipment, child area and lodging available. Call for more information. Summer chairlift rides. 33914 Crystal Mountain Blvd. Crystal Mountain, WA 98022 Phone (360) 663-2265

Emerald Downs – Live Thoroughbred racing thunders on in Western Washington, Thursday-Sunday, April-September. Special summer activities include concerts and Family Sundays. 15th Street NW Exit off Highway 167 Auburn, WA 98071 Phone (253) 288-7700 (888) 931-8400

King County Park System – The King County Park System provides parks, open space, aquatics, recreation. Highlights include Marymoor Park, Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center, King County fairgrounds, and one of the largest regional trails system in the US. 2040 84th Ave SE Mercer Island, WA 98040 Phone (206) 296-4232

River Recreation, Inc. – Enjoy whitewater rafting or inflatable kayaking on Washington’s incredible rivers. Friendly guides, satisfying meals and all equipment provided. Package options available. PO Box 55488 Seattle, WA 98155 Phone (206) 417-4695 (800) 464-5899

Nightlife in Seattle:

Night Clubs
Art Bar
1516 2d
Seattle, WA 98101-1543
(206) 622-4344

Baltic Room The
1207 Pine
Seattle, WA 98101-1931
(206) 625-4444

Club FX
333 Elliott
Seattle, WA 98119-4101
(206) 285-6698

Club Zasu
608 1st Ave
Seattle, WA
(206) 682-1200

Neighbors Night Club
1509 Broadway
Seattle, WA 98122
(206) 324-5358

Re-Bar
1114 Howell St.
Seattle, WA
(206) 233-9873

Romper Room
106 1st
Seattle, WA 98109-4901
(206) 284-5003

Showbox Music Club
1426 1st
Seattle, WA 98101-2004
(206) 628-3151

Superhighway
423 2d
Seattle, WA 98119-4012
(206) 903-0870

Tractor Tavern
5213 Ballard
Seattle, WA 98107-4809
(206) 789-3599

Comedy Clubs
Barbies Brews & Cues
5050 S Tacoma Way
Tacoma WA 98409-4449
(253) 472-2940

Giggles Comedy Nite Club
5220 Roosevelt Way
Seattle, WA 98105-3627
(206) 526-5653

Theatre
The 5th Avenue Theatre
1308 Fifth Ave
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 625-1418

ACT- A Contemporary Theatre
700 Union Street
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 292-7676-Box Office

Pacific Northwest Ballet
301 Mercer St.
Seattle, WA 98109
(206) 441-9411

The Paramount Theatre
911 Pine Street
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 467-5510

Golf Courses:
Looking for a game of golf? Seattle has many courses to choose from. These courses designed by some of the greatest minds in golf today are sure to offer everything for every skill level. If you are a beginner or an advanced player you will enjoy your golf vacation at Seattle. Below we have outlined some of the local courses for you to browse through.

Classic Country Club
(253) 847-4440
Spanaway, Washington

Druids Glen
(253) 638-1200
Kent, Washington

Gold Mountain
(360) 415-5432
Gorst, Washington

Harbour Pointe Golf Club
(206) 355-6060
Mukilteo, Washington

Kayak Point Golf Course
(360) 652-9676
Stanwood, Washington

Meadow Park Golf Course
(253) 473-3033
Tacoma, Washington

Port Ludlow Golf Course
(800) 455-0272
Port Ludlow, Washington

The Golf Club at Newcastle
(425) 793-5566
Newcastle, Washington

Parks & Guided Tours in Seattle:
Seattle has it all for the nature lover. Guided boat tours and nature parks and gardens for all to enjoy are just part of the beautiful sights Seattle has to offer. You can hike, bike, boat or take a motor coach to enjoy the breathtaking beauty of some of Americas best seascapes and landscapes. Whatever your pleasure Seattle is sure to please. Below we have highlighted some of the main scenic gardens and tours available in Seattle.

Nature Parks & Gardens:
Elandan Gardens, Ltd. – Ancient Bonsai trees in an elegant waterfront garden. Admission-$5. Extraordinary antique gallery. Sculpture garden. Open Tues-Sun 10am-5pm. 3050 W State Hwy 16 Bremerton, WA 98312 (360) 373-8260

Lakewold Gardens – Beautiful ten-acre public garden showcasing stunning formal gardens and naturalistic displays…a must see! MC, VISA. P.O. Box 98092 Lakewood, WA 98498 (253) 584-4106

Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden – Enjoy over 10,000 rhododendrons growing in a beautiful 22-acre woodland garden. Group Tours available. Unique gifts and plants for sale. Weyerhaeuser Headquarters Campus 2525 S 336th St. Federal Way, WA 98003 (253) 661-9377

Guided Tours:
Argosy Cruises – How May We Help You on the Water? Argosy Cruises offers everything from speedboat rides to fine dining. Seize the day and join Argosy on the water. We can accommodate individuals and groups up to 600. 13 vessels and over 50 years of service. Pier 55, Ste 201 Seattle, WA 98101 (206) 623-1445

Beamers Hells Canyon Tours – Scenic jet boat tours through Hells Canyon, North America’s deepest gorge. It’s fun and safe for people of all ages. Discover, MC, VISA. 1451 Bridge St. Clarkston, WA 99403 (800) 522-6966

Chinatown Discovery Tours – DISCOVER SEATTLE’S CHINATOWN! An Asian cultural experience-unique, historical, fun! Escorted tours with presentations, leisurely walks, with/without food. Reservations required. P.O. Box 3406 Seattle, WA 98114 (425) 885-3085

Discover Houseboating – Cruise through Seattle’s floating homes community with a local houseboater who reveals the famous “Sleepless” home, former bunk houses and brothels, and the relevance of sewer connections. PMB 258, Lake Union Mail 117 East Louisa St. Seattle, WA 98102 (206) 322-9157

Kitsap Harbor Tours – Hourly harbor tours of Bremerton Navy Shipyard and Mothball Fleet. Group tours to other Kitsap Maritime attractions. 833 Bay St. Port Orchard, WA 98366 (360) 377-8924

Spirit of Puget Sound Harbor Cruises – Located at Pier 70. Elegant harbor cruise ship offering dining, dancing, bar service, live entertainment and narrated sightseeing. VISA, MC, AMEX. 2819 Elliott Ave, Ste 204 Seattle, WA 98121 (206) 674-3499

Spirit of Washington Dinner Train – Experience the nostalgia of a bygone era as we travel along the shores of Lake Washington to the beautiful Columbia Winery in Woodinville. Enjoy Northwest cuisine as you dine in comfort aboard our luxurious, vintage rail cars. Departing year round from the Renton Depot just 20 minutes from Seattle. 625 S 4th St. P.O. Box 835 Renton, WA 98057 (425) 227-7245

Underground Tour, Bill Speidel’s – Seattle’s hidden treasure-only in Pioneer Square. Historic, tongue-in-cheek narrated walking tour. The tour begins in a restored 1890’s saloon, with a 20-minute introduction. The walk lasts 1 hour. Daily. Reservations recommended. 608 First Ave Seattle, WA 98104 (206) 682-4646

We hope you enjoy reading all about Seattle, Washington. Contact us if you’d like your details added.
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The Road To Affordable Zero Downtime For Exchange

Published on March 12, 2005

Microsoft Exchange Downtime Photo

In today’s world of mobile computing, global business and electronic commerce, businesses have grown to rely 24×7 on Microsoft’s Exchange to facilitate critical business communication and processes through e-mail, group scheduling and calendars. Microsoft has made great strides in improving the availability of its highly popular Exchange messaging system, but now there is the promise of a technology that can eliminate Exchange downtime altogether.

Nearly 45 percent of business-critical information is housed in messaging applications such as Exchange, thanks to the volume of traffic generated by increasingly large attachments such as multimedia files and the integration of voice messages and faxes. Furthermore, messaging systems increasingly support vital applications such as workflow and knowledge management, making the data they store even more voluminous and incredibly valuable. E-mail is a particularly popular application with a typical end-user spending nearly 26 percent of his or her day on e-mail management.

Clearly, Exchange is the kind of technology that organizations cannot afford to lose. However, even the best systems fail sometimes. While Microsoft and its partners have done much to increase the reliability and availability of Exchange in recent years, the average uptime of the system, high though it is at around 99.78 percent, no longer reflects business’ increasing dependence on Exchange for their very survival.

Any failure of Exchange inevitably results in unacceptable operational, functional, or financial harm to the company or project. Every minute of downtime, planned or unplanned, can mean thousands of pounds lost, annoyed customers, a negative impact on the business’ reputation and even litigation. We have reached the point where, whether we like it or not, companies can no more afford e-mail downtime than they can afford to be without telephones.

All system downtime is costly in time and money. Exchange downtime can be even more so given that it can have many causes because of the breadth of the systems’ influence in IT terms. This can mean that it takes many hours to identify the source of the problem which then takes as much time again to fix. In some cases it is not unusual for Exchange to be offline for 1-2 days. With messaging downtime affecting other enterprise applications, the pressure on the IT department for a fast recovery is immense.

When downtime occurs, the state of the business is frozen in time at the point the system failed, leaving staff to operate on out-of-date information, if at all. People outside the company are unaware of any problem, but this brings its own troubles. For example, customers may e-mail the company with queries, orders or complaints, but get no response. Time-critical documents such as trading instructions or new versions of legal contracts may arrive but no-one inside the company is aware of them and they go unacknowledged and unseen. In all cases the sender will make their own assumptions from the lack of reaction of the company, compounding the negative impact of the downtime.

We know this happens, and we also know that companies live with this situation – not because they like it but because they believe that a solution for guaranteeing uptime of Exchange either does not exist or will be prohibitively expensive. This is confirmed by research. While 76 percent of IT managers who responded to a survey by The Continuity Forum acknowledge that bug fixes are the bane of their lives and they would welcome an automated process for server recovery and protection, nearly three quarters shy away from continuity planning because they think it is too expensive, and over two thirds also think it lacks a return on investment.

Instead, those Exchange users that can afford it seek to minimize downtime by implementing some form of redundancy in their configurations. Typical methods are clustering, where several computers are connected together so the failure of one does not render all services running on that computer inoperable, and installing one or more backup servers. However, clusters are expensive to deploy and complicated to configure. They require substantial planning, medium to high-end external shared storage solutions, and often leave standby servers under-used. It is true that clusters provide the most cost-effective level of hardware availability, but the complexity and capital cost limits deployment to relatively few installations. Backup servers are also a costly option.

As an additional general fallback, companies also spend five and six-figure numbers on disaster recovery plans in the event that a catastrophe of mega proportions should befall their systems, wiping out all the business’ IT as well as Exchange. Ironically, none of these options actually increases Exchange uptime much, but they certainly cost an arm and a leg for the privilege of trying to do so.

What users need is a solution that guarantees the uptime of Exchange, which costs less than the total private medical insurance of a single company’s IT staff in a year – a mere four-figure number. At this price, it becomes affordable for both enterprise and medium-sized users to insure themselves against an event that they know will happen – Exchange downtime – in comparison to paying out shed loads of cash on clustering or a disaster recovery plan which will only be needed when the moon turns blue.

Workspace recovery at affordable pricing and more commercial benefit from investment is definitely high up on IT managers’ wish lists, according to the Continuity Forum research. Over two thirds of IT managers say they would consider buying a solution that could deliver zero downtime – if it cost only around $10K. It is easy to understand why.

Messaging downtime costs an average of $564 an hour, according to research by the Standish Group. In the case of Exchange, those tiny, point percentage figures that deny the system 100 per cent uptime equate to thousands of lost pounds a year to enterprise users. Using standard models for measuring the cost of downtime of a variety of messaging systems, research by Creative Networks (CNI) reveals that a typical organization using Exchange experiences 84 minutes of unscheduled, unplanned downtime each month. This affects nearly 48 percent of staff and lessens their productivity by 20 percent.

In addition, Exchange users also experience 124 minutes of scheduled, planned downtime during which time staff are 10 percent less productive. This totals 3 hours and 28 minutes of downtime each month. CNI estimates that unplanned Exchange downtime costs an average company employing 3,000 staff over $89,000 a year. Increasing uptime by just 0.12 percent could therefore save nearly $55,279 annually.

But financial claw backs are only one part of the equation when it comes to assessing the impact of Exchange downtime. What price can you put on loss of sales, customer goodwill, productivity, and competitiveness, along with missed contractual obligations and additional costs required to correct these losses? If all of these losses could be avoided, as well as tens of thousands of pounds saved by implementing one solution bought out of petty cash, who wouldn’t buy it in a heartbeat?

This year will see the launch of a technology that can deliver zero downtime as an affordable option for Microsoft Exchange today. Is it worth buying? That depends on what you are using Exchange for as a tool. Ask yourself who uses Exchange to communicate with your business – maybe customers, suppliers and so on? What business processes are driven by those incoming e-mails which would cease to function if Exchange went down? What are the productivity implications inside your company of such a situation? What are the payroll costs for staff standing idle when Exchange goes offline?

If the combined cost of Exchange downtime in all these guises totals more than five grand, this solution is guaranteed to save you money. In times of recession when IT managers are under immense pressure to squeeze the maximum performance out of existing systems, it makes sense to spend on IT where the cost is more than justifiable in returned benefits to the business. Where that expenditure also removes a significant risk to the very survival of the business, it must surely be a necessity.

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