Seething on the Third Rock

2005-12-19 Background Checks

o it has been nearly a month now since I started my new job.  Things are going quite well and I am more convinced than ever that the change was definitely over due and for the better.  I did get an instant message yesterday from HR saying that one of the background checks that they routinely perform as part of the hiring process came back "not clear" in the US and they asked me to "speak to that".  I told them that since I have no idea what they are talking about I would not be able to do so.  I also suggested that any further communication that they have with me concerning the matter should probably be in writing.

Well I spent an agonizing day and night worried about that and what they had found or who they might have me confused with.  So this morning, more or less overcome with anxiety I decided to purchase a criminal record check on myself from the myriad of online services to see if I could find what they were looking at.  I ended up using an outfit called IntegraScan.  For just $12.95 they were able to identify EVERY ADDRESS I HAVE EVER HAD FOR THE LAST 20 YEARS! They also pointed out that I didn't have a criminal history.  Later in the day, HR came back and said that the matter concerned a speeding ticket and once again asked me to "speak to it."  I told them, "Guilty, guilty, guilty!"  Geeze!  Whereas it is frightening that that much information is available about each of us online 24/7 to anyone with a credit card, I was relieved to know that filling out my address history for my Canadian Permanent Residency application was now going to be a great deal easier!

2005-12-12 Life imitating fiction?

The Fall of Lillo Brancato

He played DeNiro's son in the movie A Bronx Tale and was a star on TV dramas Falcone and the Sopranos. [Complete Filmography]

This past Saturday, Lillo was apprehended breaking into an abandoned house by an off-duty police officer. (Lillo was coming home from a strip bar.)  There was a gunfight, the officer was killed and Lillo was critically injured.  Police intend to charge him with murder.  More...

2005-10-07 Who should we invade next?

Who should we invade next?  Download here -> Who should the US invade next?

A good, commonsense, anti-crime issue.

MIAMI (AFP) - Florida's legislature has approved a bill that would give residents the right to open fire against anyone they perceive as a threat in public, instead of having to try to avoid a conflict as under prevailing law.  More...

Dubya on DOMA

Well it's great to see that Dubya wasn't just pandering for homophobic votes in the last election.  Now he doesn't think a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage is really necessary after all.  Gee.  And I thought that we shouldn't amend the constitution to discriminate against minorities.  See below:

washingtonpost.com
Transcript of Bush Interview
Sunday, January 16, 2005

Following is an excerpt of the White House transcript of The Washington Post's interview with President Bush, conducted by staff writers Michael A. Fletcher and Jim VandeHei Friday aboard Air Force One en route to Jacksonville, Fla.:

The Post: Do you plan to expend any political capital to aggressively lobby senators for a gay marriage amendment?

THE PRESIDENT: You know, I think that the situation in the last session -- well, first of all, I do believe it's necessary; many in the Senate didn't, because they believe DOMA [the Defense of Marriage Act] will -- is in place, but -- they know DOMA is in place, and they're waiting to see whether or not DOMA will withstand a constitutional challenge.

The Post: Do you plan on trying to -- using the White House, using the bully pulpit, and trying to --

THE PRESIDENT: The point is, is that senators have made it clear that so long as DOMA is deemed constitutional, nothing will happen. I'd take their admonition seriously.

The Post: But until that changes, you want it?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, until that changes, nothing will happen in the Senate. Do you see what I'm saying?

The Post: Right.

THE PRESIDENT: The logic.

Click here for the full transcript.

US teens 'reject' key freedoms

US teens 'reject' key freedoms

A significant number of US high-school students regard their constitutional right to freedom of speech as excessive, according to a new survey.  More...

The "Gay Bomb"

BBC News World Edition.          
January 15, 2005.

US military pondered love not war.

The US military investigated building a "gay bomb", which would make enemy soldiers "sexually irresistible" to each other, government papers say.

The plans were obtained under the US Freedom of Information by the Sunshine Project, a group which monitors research into chemical and biological weapons.

The plan for a so-called "love bomb" envisaged an aphrodisiac chemical that would provoke widespread homosexual behaviour among troops, causing what the military called a "distasteful but completely non-lethal" blow to morale. More ...

There by the Grace of God

This is just too weird.  I was surfing the net today and googled my grandfather the Rev. Soloman S. Seay, Sr.  He was a forerunner of the Civil Rights Movement in the American South (1).  Among other things, he is believed to have inspired the famous "I Have a Dream" speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963.  My grandfather's autobiography, There by the Grace of God: The Memoir of an Early Civil Rights Activist, One of the Great African American Preachers was published in 1990 and will be available in paperback on Amazon in December of 2005 (2).  First Edition hardbacks are also available (3).

Well it turns out that there is an alternative band in the UK called the Manic Street Preachers who released a song (presumably based on the autobiography) called "There by the Grace of God" on their 2002 album Forever Delayed.  Click here for the Amazon music sample page.

One of their fan websites provides some background:

"There By The Grace Of God" is the title of a book published containing the memoirs of the Reverend Solomon S. Seay, an American activist during the civil rights movement in the American South (in the mid-20th century).

Seay's book is especially welcome because of his role as an older, activist minister in Montgomery, Alabama, at the time when the young Martin Luther King was beginning his career there. Seay was important to King, and also to Rosa Parks, Fred Gray, and others who are now familiar historical names. Seay himself considered his memoir the fulfillment of a life-long commitment to the destiny of his country, his community, and the oppressed. (4)

Above. Pictures of my grandfather and myself from his autobiography.

Oh Canada!

Americans flock to Canada's immigration website (1).

Despite that War of 1812 thing Thane Burnett says the states that voted Democrat can join us (2).

NZ prime minister welcomes surge in US migration interest after election (3).

News of the Weird Part II

I found these employment listings on the Internet today.  Read some of the details--to die for!  Haliburton alone says it has over 100,000 applications for employment based in Iraq. (1)