Many, many years ago, I became an apprentice in Linotype typesetting. Finished the apprenticeship and went off to work in the magical world of printing. But more importantly, we apprentices were taught how to use punctuation, how to check for spelling errors and how to correct them.We set type for all manner of things (those that had been written, corrected and submitted by editors and agents) and were careful to learn how all those funny little marks were used. It was a man's job demanding accuracy and speed. And we had professional proofreaders who were tops at their jobs. And then came the age of phototype setting. And typewriter keyboards. And 18 year old girl typists plunking away at the keys. So the typographers disappeared, the editors and agents found other things to do and the professional proofreaders all but disappeared. And the kids thought they could do the job that professionals could do. And so the slow destruction of literate writing began. These same kids are the reason we find light green type with green backgrounds. The reason we find 6 or 7 different and clashing typefaces in an 8 or 9 word heading. The reason we have page after page of reverse type (and, yes, Virginia, the more you are forced to read such trash the harder it becomes on your eyes and brain. And the more you tend to skip some things). And the reason that we seem to ignore easy to read serif type and use eye straining san serif faces. The youngsters have never read even a paper (let alone a book) on typography. And why serif type is easier on the human brain. There are many reasons for the lack of capability in English among today's people. I thought you might like to hear my theory on some more of the reasons.

Shhhhh. Now everybody'll know.

"People learning English as a foreign language get taught proper grammar and only learn the vernacular later." Oh my, Cedric. I have friends (we also take in stray dogs and cats) who have been entered in ESL courses, graduated and passed the citizenship test (yes, they were all in this country legally). The horror stories they tell me about the classes are proof of idiocracy being rife and disseminated among all those about to become Americans. I am told story after story about illegal Mexicans who treat the classes as though they are a joke, do not learn any real English (they do, however, get the "dirty" words, right) and yet when the class ends they receive a passing grade. I can only point out to my friends that they themselves are the real winners. They will be able to order dinner, read newspapers and books, and converse with us snobby collitch graduates. No, I do not know why they continually use the Mexican peon as an example. One told me about a Chinese male who spent all his class time cutting out paper designs. I've also heard how one teacher of ESL (a graduate of a local high school) was asked by a student for some help in writing to a Senator. The teacher started out by having her write "To Whom It My Concern...." The rest of the letter only got worse and less grammatically correct. You and I, fellow taxpayer, pay that ESL teacher for all the hard work.

Mr. Rudd is holding out a carrot to you. His "single largest infrastructure decision in Australia's history," is the main step of having the entire grip in the hands of 1984. I lived in Aussie for a number of years (way back when) and learned to respect and love the Australian way of life. Men were men and the women were glad of it. Please do NOT let them turn you into sheep baaing to be allowed what you have an innate right to, the right to choose what you will, or will not read for yourself. Government lackies hide behind the shields of bigness and transferring your calls to others who transfer you some more until you give up in frustration. A toe hold is all they need to enslave an entire nation. The idiocy of "censoring" porn will not stop there. Look at Iraq China and North Korea to see what can happen. Keep fighting Big Brother, Australia.

Richard Dawkins Sight? You bet it is. Turns my stomach just opening it. Who the hell buys crap from him?

"Free?" When more than 13 minutes of a 30 minute show are commercials? And the more than 22 minutes of commercials in a one hour show? And constant ads across the show you are trying to watch? T'aint free, buddy. The most amusing part is watching our Congressional Representatives and the White House Watch Dogs in their inability to think beyond the most imminent problemns that could occur. Just imagine, if we applied that type of "thinking" to our war policy, we might get mired in a possible unending war in the middle east.

Um, just one thing you forgot. That $100.00 you mentioned has not been attacked by our care-less Congress. In the future it will be lucky to be worth $10.00. Such is progress under our spendthrifts.

A way out for all you H1-B's. First, become disabled (almost anything works for that), then apply for SSI. When refused, hire a lawyer (there are lots of them that work at 25% for their labors) and finally sue SS for your "rights". You can use mental problems. Works like a charm. Then you can start collecting SSI (whether or not you ever paid a dime into SS) and keep your job (you'll have to take some remuneration in "hidden" mode). SS has been altered to do that for the immigrants. Like Topsy, it just grew.