Why not pull the plug on Wikilinks.org?

With the release of over 90,000 classified documents, Wikilinks has bared the scabs of many problems the U.S. has faced fighting two wars while facing future combat with two more nations.

Naturally Washington is in a dither.  Senators and Congress Members are elbowing each other trying trying to get face time on TV news.  Meanwhile, 5,582 U.S. service people have died as the result of casualties from both Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom.

Weather you or I think we should be in these wars is a mute point here.  The point is that a small time web site has broken the law and quite possibly put the lives of your hometown people in pearl.

The simple solution is to shut the site down.

This isn't a matter of freedom of speech.  It's publishing ill gotten classified material and making that making that material freely available to any moron including enemy morons.

Sites like Napster have been shut down because of people sharing their Chubby Checker record collections.  Don't you think this is a bit more important.

What surprises me is that the site is still up, and that makes me worry about the leadership in Washington.

What do you think?  Reply at: top5s@hotmail.com

Now, this is what I call a modest web page.

You see, after many years of posting the top 5 TV shows, movies, books etc, I have simply lost interest.

The TV ratings don't mean a thing since cable and broadcast tv are reported separately.  Since the broadcast channels are declining like AM Radio, the overnight numbers are useless unless you are a network programmer trying to justify how your crappy shows are better than the other guys crap.

Music sales have been declining for years.  It's gotten to the point where artists like Prince are giving away their CD's by inserting them into newspapers, hoping to carry fan interest into ticket sales for his live performances.  Meanwhile, live concerts are being cancelled left and right due to lack of interest

Book sales reports are totally money driven.  Want proof?  Compare the top sellers list from and New York Times and compare them to the sales reports at Amazon.com.  It doesn't appear that they are getting their information from the same planet.

So, what am I going to do with this space?

I have many questions on what's going around us and am looking for an outlook to express them.  These are mostly simple solutions to everyday problems.  I do invite your feedback. (top5s@hotmail.com)

Finally, I want to thank those of you who have followed the site through the years and hope you will give the new thoughts your consideration.

[Reply from Larry]

Larry... Try http.//pifeedback.com

An argument against recycling

Years ago you would buy a six bottle pack of Coke and pay an 2 to 5 cents per bottle.  After you drank the soda, you returned the bottles to the store and got your deposit back.  Simple!

Then, most states saw this type program as a money maker and established a CRV fee for every bottle or can sold.  The theory was that the public would take their empties to a recycling site and get their fees back.  Just think of the bureaucracy  created as each and every store had to keep track of all monies collected and transmit that total to the state.  How many state workers do you think it takes to handle those funds.  What does it take to create recycling centers and the people who run them.  Don't forget the extra manpower at the central recycling center.

And to add insult to injury, if you are a good citizen to takes the time to create your own personal dumpsite while saving enough bottles and cans to make your trip to the recycling center, and you discount the pollution your contributing to the atmosphere, you get there and get ripped off.

For each can you paid a 5 cent redemption fee.  Because of declining aluminum prices, you'll be lucky to get 2 cents in return.  It just ain't worth it.

Why not forget about bottle and can CRV's, recycling centers etc. Why not just throw your bottles and cans into the garbage and let them take it directly to the dump where a few more people may be employed to sort and benefit from this new found windfall.

Who will these new employees be?  I can think of a few fold at the DMV that I would like to see transferred.

[Comment from Barbara]

What happens to the original CRV money I pay at the store?

Barbara: consider it a lost cause.  You already have spent the money.  Maybe this will prevent another rise in taxes.

THE LAST HONEST CUP OF COFFEE............

Over the weekend I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some coffee.  I was surprised that what used to be a lb. of coffee is now 10, 12 or 14 OZ.  Isn't a pound supposed to be 16OZ?  This isn't a case were the coffee companies colluded to advertise one pound packages and delivered a lesser amount.  It's us.  We didn't pay attention.  Times were good.  People were paying $4 and $5 for a cup of coffee at places like Starbucks.

Then the economy went to hell and people decided to tighten their belts.  By then the deed had been done and there was no going back.

Good news though.  One coffee hadn't yet caught and were and are selling 2lb cans of coffee that contains 2lbs.  It's MJB Coffee and it's good.

Lest this sound like a commercial for MJB, hold on a minute.  If you want one of those 2 lb cans, you'd better hurry.  They are being discontinued, repackaged and downsized.  Some things are just too good to be true.