MarkDobie.com

Family picture

The Dobie Family at Easter.

Darfur

Celebrities, activists rally for Darfur

"We need deeds, not words," said Cober, now of Portland, Maine. "They need to come to Darfur today, not tomorrow, because what is going on is a disaster."

Hmm..military intervention in Darfur good, in Iraq bad.  Everyone got that? 

I'm not saying I disagree with what is being said, I wish the U.S. would take a greater roll in the Darfur region, but it all seems hypocritical to me.  I'd consider 300,000-500,000 deaths at the hands of Saddam worthy of U.S. intervention too. 

Gas prices, Oil and who profits

Great article on who profits from oil.

Link to Article

"From 1986 to 2003, using 2004 dollars, the real national annual average price for gasoline, including taxes, generally has been below $2 per gallon," noted the Federal Trade Commission in a 2005 report absolving the industry of collusion. "By contrast, between 1919 and 1985, real national annual average retail gasoline prices were above $2 per gallon more often than not."
In other words, gasoline prices were lower than at anytime since 1919 for much of recent history. Some conspiracy! Maybe somebody should have been investigating consumers for "gouging" the oil companies.
And just who is the profiteer here? While the average profit on the sale of a gallon of gasoline is nine cents, the average state and federal tax on that same gallon of gasoline is about 45 cents (and 52 cents in Michigan). And if we must have an investigation, how about investigating the extent to which government regulations drive up prices and block new production?

It's a good thing we seized all those Iraqi oil fields and turned them over to Exxon, er..wait...we didn't do that?  Hmm... makes those "no war for oil" people look pretty silly eh?

Powerbook trade-in

I'm thinking of trading in my 12" Apple Powerbook for the Toshiba M400 TabletPC. Anyone using a TabletPC that can comment on how much you like or dislike it? I've been testing the Fujitsu 1510d mini-tabletPC and I'm really enjoying the TabletPC os. The Fujitsu is a bit too small with only an 8" screen, I'm thinking the 12" screen of the M400 would be much better.
Link to Toshiba M400

How does Mexico treat illegal migrants

Few Protections for Migrants to Mexico

TULTITLAN, Mexico (AP) -- Considered felons by the government, these migrants fear detention, rape and robbery. Police and soldiers hunt them down at railroads, bus stations and fleabag hotels. Sometimes they are deported; more often officers simply take their money.

While migrants in the United States have held huge demonstrations in recent weeks, the hundreds of thousands of undocumented Central Americans in Mexico suffer mostly in silence.

And though Mexico demands humane treatment for its citizens who migrate to the U.S., regardless of their legal status, Mexico provides few protections for migrants on its own soil. The issue simply isn't on the country's political agenda, perhaps because migrants make up only 0.5 percent of the population, or about 500,000 people - compared with 12 percent in the United States.

The level of brutality Central American migrants face in Mexico was apparent Monday, when police conducting a raid for undocumented migrants near a rail yard outside Mexico City shot to death a local man, apparently because his dark skin and work clothes made officers think he was a migrant.

New Camera

I’m really loving my new Nikon D50 digital SLR.   I took around 250 photos at the Des Moines Zoo this weekend.   Shutter lag and a fast moving 2 yr. old was the main problem with our old Point and Shoot digital camera.  I don’t have that problem now.   There is a good deal on the D50 from Dell right now, Nikon D50 Deal   The D50 is closer to a Point and Shoot than it is to a professional camera.  You can make it a like a professional camera if you want, but out of the box with auto settings it still takes fantastic pictures.  The posters on Amazon kept saying the same thing over and over in their reviews, “you’ll be glad you bought this camera” and I’d have to say that it certainly was money well spent. 

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my son Jefferson today, he is 2 yrs. old!   I have 3 new pictures up for his 2nd year.  He only wanted to talk about cake this morning at breakfast.  If the weather is nice, he gets to go to the Des Moines Zoo tomorrow.  Susan made him 2 costumes so he can dress as a cowboy or a turtle.  He also received the plastic playset pictured in the last 2nd year picture.  Time sure does go by fast. 

Bush was Right

Right Brothers Video: Bush was Right