The world according to Riff

Not sure who the bad guy is in this one, the tool of a pharmacist, inflicting his personal religeous veiws on another person, or the courts that punished him, or the girl that didnt take her business elsewhere. Maybe a little of all three......The pharmacist was a dick for not filling a script. But that is his bizness and if he runs it like the jackass he is, the word will get out and he wont have any bizness........The board that slapped a fine on him, was punishing him for following his own convictions, disguised as not giving a patient prescribed meds, that seemed a little one sided..........and the girll who just wanted a simple prescription filled, could have gone elsewhere, unless there is only one pharmacy in Wausau. inconveinent ...yes...maddening....yes....I would be pissed too, and I would have filed a complaint against the jerk, with his employer....once again capitalism at work....do a crappy job, lose job....problem solved....next time do a better job....this kinda hits home for me because the group I work for does not do abortions, or boob jobs ect..for the sake of just an enhancement...its religous based, but they do tons of charity and indigent care for those who wont get care otherwise.....I feel that if the service you want isnt provided by the place you are at....go elsewhere....but there are always exceptions, and "what ifs"....riff    

Read the rest of this entry ... (519 words left)

Man this is right outta that movie "They Live" starring Roddy Piper, the spy saucers that routinely flew over the city, looking for anything...except without the subliminal stealth disguise....lolMIAMI (Reuters) - Miami police could soon be the first in the United States to use cutting-edge, spy-in-the-sky technology to beef up their fight against crime small pilotless drone manufactured by Honeywell International (HON.N), capable of hovering and "staring" using electro-optic or infrared sensors, is expected to make its debut soon in the skies over the Florida Everglades.

If use of the drone wins Federal Aviation Administration approval after tests, the Miami-Dade Police Department will start flying the 14-pound (6.3 kg) drone over urban areas with an eye toward full-fledged employment in crime fighting.

"Our intentions are to use it only in tactical situations as an extra set of eyes," said police department spokesman Juan Villalba.

"We intend to use this to benefit us in carrying out our mission," he added, saying the wingless Honeywell aircraft, which fits into a backpack and is capable of vertical takeoff and landing, seems ideally suited for use by SWAT teams in hostage situations or dealing with "barricaded subjects."

Known in the aerospace industry as UAVs, for unmanned aerial vehicles, drones have been under development for decades in the United States.

The CIA acknowledges that it developed a dragonfly-sized UAV known as the "Insectohopter" for laser-guided spy operations as long ago as the 1970s.And other advanced work on robotic flyers has clearly been under way for quite some time.

"The FBI is experimenting with a variety of unmanned aerial vehicles," said Marcus Thomas, an assistant director of the bureau's Operational Technology Division."At this point they have been used mainly for search and rescue missions," he added. "It certainly is an up-and-coming technology and the FBI is researching additional uses for UAVs."

SAFETY, PRIVACY CONCERNS

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been flying drones over the Arizona desert and southwest border with Mexico since 2006 and will soon deploy one in North Dakota to patrol the Canadian border as well.

This month, Customs and Border Protection spokesman Juan Munoz Torres said the agency would also begin test flights of a modified version of its large Predator B drones, built by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, over the Gulf of Mexico.

Citing numerous safety concerns, the FAA -- the government agency responsible for regulating civil aviation -- has been slow in developing procedures for the use of UAVs by police departments.

"You don't want one of these coming down on grandma's windshield when she's on her way to the grocery store," said Doug Davis, the FAA's program manager for unmanned aerial systems.

He acknowledged strong interest from law enforcement agencies in getting UAVs up and running, however, and said the smaller aircraft particularly were likely to have a "huge economic impact" over the next 10 years.

Getting clearance for police and other civilian agencies to fly can't come soon enough for Billy Robinson, chief executive of Cyber Defense Systems Inc, a small start-up company in St. Petersburg, Florida. His company makes an 8-pound (3.6 kg) kite-sized UAV that was flown for a time by police in Palm Bay, Florida, and in other towns, before the FAA stepped in.

"We've had interest from dozens of law enforcement agencies," said Robinson. "They (the FAA) are preventing a bunch of small companies such as ours from becoming profitable," he said.

Some privacy advocates, however, say rules and ordinances need to be drafted to protect civil liberties during surveillance operations.

"There's been controversies all around about putting up surveillance cameras in public areas," said Howard Simon, Florida director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

"Technological developments can be used by law enforcement in a way that enhances public safety," he said. "But every enhanced technology also contains a threat of further erosion of privacy."

(Reporting by Tom Brown; Editing by Michael Christie and Eddie Evans

If the aclu is against it, I like it!!  There will always be some kind of abuse potential involved, but you got to weigh the benifets over the bad parts.  But the main people who dont want things like this are the ones who are up to no good. The cry of "my privacy is being violated" when out in the public doesn't fly with me....too f*ing bad...Now if they are doing fly by's over private fenced in backyards looking for nude sunbathers, thats a different story...But in the active pursuit of criminals, Im all for it.......riff 

Oil fluctuates as dollar, stocks rise By JOHN WILEN, AP Business Writer 20 minutes ago NEW YORK

Read the rest of this entry ... (311 words left)

Almost half of the 47 members of the United Nations' Human Rights Council are not "free democracies" (according to Freedom House rankings), and several, such as China, Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia, have been widely criticized as human rights violators. Consequently, the council has failed to address any of the most prominent rights abuses around the world (including some that were called genocide) in Sudan, North Korea, Chad, Zimbabwe and Iran, among other places, but in January, the council voted its 12th "condemnation" of Israel (out of only 13 condemnations it has ever issued). [Wall Street Journal, 1-29-08]...

Read the rest of this entry ... (320 words left)

Day before yesterday my 73 year old one eyed (retinal detachment) Father, shot and killed three Axis deer.  When we finished de-boning the meat, we had close to 110 lbs of steaks and cuts for making sausage.....heck we even got an unborn calf that we are gonna skin out and make wallets out of..(lol...just kidding) Let me tell you what.....they are just as pretty as white tail, and just as big, and the MEAT is awsome!!!!!Tender and juicy...makes good grilling material, good chili , good roast...and best of folks....no limit and no season...he he he....they are an introduced non-native animal, and TPWD (texas parks and wildlife) has no jurisdiction to regulate!!!!!! Hunt them at night, with a q-beam, bait the ground with corn, use a .22 or 30.06 or whatever gun you want.......mmmmmm tasty!....I hope PETA gets their panties in a wad....Hey look Pa another set of horns for the wall....yeeeeeeehaaaa....riff 

Read the rest of this entry ... (1 words left)