American Express again sends us someone else’s information with no way to report it.

AMEX (Middle East) B.S.C. (c) Settlement Advice Establishment Services P. O. Box 5990 Manama, Bahrain Page 1 of 1 (+973) 17 557799 Service Establishment No Reference Number 9740108691 7635901834 Settlement Date PALM BEACH SAL 29/12/2009 PALM BEACH BLDG Settlement Amount MINET EL HOSN ST. USD 3,977.00 CR AIN EL MERISSEH Discount Rate LEBANON 3.00% LEBANON THANK YOU FOR ACCEPTING THE AMERICAN EXPRESS CARD AT YOUR ESTABLISHMENT. Amex Submission Processed Discount Net Ref. Number Capture Date Amount Amount Amount Amount 9740108691 PALM BEACH LEBANON LEBANON Submission 358001 25/12/2009 576.00 576.00 -17.28 558.72 CR 902844 25/12/2009 3524.00 3524.00 -105.72 3418.28 CR Branch Total 3,977.00 CR Total USD 3,977.00 CR

Maria Shriver gets another ticket and runs a stop sign.  Do as I say, not as I do is the operative phrase of the group of people who want to control the rest of us for their own benefit. Real illustrative. Thank you TMZ for publicizing the continuing illegal behavior of those who want to regulate our freedom away.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2009/12/18/maria-shriver-parking-ticket-arnold-schwarzenegger-california-suv-driving-meter/#comments#ixzz0a6HEQUNZ

There are two types of leaders in this world. Those who lead by  incentive, and those who lead by force. Those who lead by incentive will offer you a salary to come and work for them, those who lead by force will throw you in jail if you do not pick up a gun and fight for them.
Stefan Molineux

And more private financial information from American Express with no way to notify them – email doesn’t work and calling Bahrain is not in my calling plan.

Dear Merchant Partner,

Please find attached your latest Settlement and Payment Advice Report for SE No: 9740108691.

Should you have any queries, please contact us in Bahrain on (+973) 17 557799.

Regards,

Establishment Services Operations
AMEX (Middle East) B.S.C. (c)
P. O. Box 5990
Manama, Bahrain

Interesting article on 100 reasons why climate change is natural.

“If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.” – Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, to CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo, December 7, 2009.

Google’s New Privacy Policy:

At Google, we are keenly aware of the trust you place in us and our responsibility to protect your privacy IF you have nothing to hide.  Otherwise, too bad, use Bing.

I guess Schmidt won’t mind:

1. Cameras stationed outside his house.

2. Providing his credit card statements to the public.

3. Responding to ValleyWag and others who reported on his many girlfriends, despite being married.

4. Publishing his health records.

5. Publishing his tax returns.

If Google’s Schmidt does not immediately publish those records, it is obvious he has something to hide.

It is the height of stupidity to say that everyone’s private life should be open to the public view.  Just because you don’t share your credit card statements doesn’t mean you are doing something wrong.

There are people out there (including one on the CBS News website today) that claim Al Gore never said “I took the initiative in creating the Internet.”  The facts say otherwise and Snopes.com tries to massage the issue by saying it is false.  Snopes confuses the issue by saying “Claim: Vice-President Al Gore claimed he ‘invented’ the Internet.”  They respond with it as “Status: False.”  Now, we have never seen a claim that Al Gore says he “invented” the internet, but it is clear that Al Gore does say that he “took the initiative in creating the Internet.”

Let’s look at the facts:

1. CNN’s own transcript of the discussion on March 9, 1999’s “Late Edition” with Wolf Blitzer (see

http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/03/09/president.2000/transcript.gore/index.html) says  “I’ve traveled to every part of this country during the last six years. During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country’s economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system.”

Clearly he does not say he “invented” the internet, but he does claim he created it and Snopes.com is clearly being disingenuous when they change the claim to something it is not.  This is called a straw man, and while one should expect better from Snopes, it is not surprising.

2. ARPANET, the first packet switching network, first went active October 29, 1969 (recently there were articles about the 40th anniversary of the Internet, commemorating that event). But ideas for such a network had been circulating as early as August 1962.  In October 1963, ARPA began to believe that such a network was an important concept.  So, who “created” the internet?  Scientists in the 1960s.  If any politician can claim to have “taken the initiative in creating the internet” it would be the two Presidents were involved in funding it – President Kennedy and President Johnson with President Nixon continuing to fund it more in the early 1970s.  President Johnson’s tenure coincides closest with the initial groundwork and initial operation.  The Congresses at the time should also deserve some credit if any politician could be said to have “created” the internet.  In reality though, it was the researches and the people at ARPA would took the initiative to create the internet.

Gore began serving in Congress in 1977 and the Internet was approximately 9 years old.