Watch it now. This may be the best six minutes invested in your future.
You may have to turn your Sound Control up some.

YouTube - We The People Stimulus Package  

I am writing my non-representatives at least twice a month expressing my desires. I inform them that I do check the voting records and I will vote against anyone who does not represent my view. I also take time to express my views on my Facebook and Twitter. I write about it in my blogs and I discuss it with my friends. I am being proactive. I encourage you to do the same.

I intend to vote out any incumbent. I once believed that we would be losing valuable brain trust by changing our representatives every two years. I now understand there in no brain trust only greed. I extend this to the Senate and apply this to my State elected officials.

It has become my personal conviction to vote against an incumbent after his/her second term. Regardless of the party. I feel that we must stop this cycle of perpetual “representation” that is bleeding us dry. My son serves in the US Marines in Afghanistan after two tours in Iraq.  He and his fellow Marines are placing themselves directly in the line of fire. What am I doing to preserve the country that he is willing to die for? I cannot sit idle and hope or pray for God’s intervention. God gave us the ability to think and act.  I believe that he will hold me accountable.  If I should lose my son in military action while I sit by moaning and complaining about the sad state of affairs and do nothing then what am I? A coward.

I agree with the views expressed in this video and will write letters, and vote. I urge you to do the same.

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A site for Christian business people to connect: Innovative Christian

Here are links to a series to blogs that break down the complexity of Azure.  It all comes into focus now.  Called “Demystifying The Code” a series of posts about Windows Azure table storage.  I already have deployed production quality applications on other “Cloud” providers.  Our BizBanc product Master Tithe (www.MasterTithe.com) provides secure high quality online financial processing for churches.  Why would my company want to consider such a massive change to the Windows Azure cloud system?  The simple answer is cost. Or to better put it “cost over time”.  Without doubt Microsoft will continue to develop and enhance their cloud systems.  They have flatly stated their intent in this market sector.  BizBanc is a Microsoft developer house and our long-term goals are inline.  Making the move to Azure is not without pain.  However our existing system can continue to operate for some time while we reach a production level system on Azure.

http://blogs.msdn.com/bags/archive/2009/04/04/azure-table-storage-the-rest-and-ado-net-data-services-story.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/bags/archive/2009/04/14/azure-application-part-2-access-azure-table-storage.aspx

Certainly reading all the MSDN articles is helpful if not absolutely necessary for a production quality application.  However when you are just dipping your toes in the water it isn’t really necessary to wear a full set of SCUBA gear.

After a day of pure PAIN and Frustration I got a deployment to work.

If you just want to test the methodology of loading a Hosted Azure service (not - storage, and not the LiveID services) this worked for me.

Purpose:
We want to create a do-nothing cloud application to test our ability to publish to the Windows Azure fabric.
Our do-nothing app will be simply to create the default cloud service that the VS tools generates.  We won't be changing anything except the screen title and adding a couple words to display.

Goal:
Create a procedure for working with the Windows Azure in a reasonable fashion and to discover the best/efficient way to work with Azure.

Assumptions:
1. You have a Windows Azure account and you have created a new project in your account.  (Go here: https://windows.azure.com/Cloud/Provisioning/Default.aspx and Sign In. Click on the Windows Azure menu on the left.  You should see your account. Click on it and it will show you any projects you might have already created while you were playing around.  I had one and I deleted it to start fresh. To create a project click on the add new project and follow the instructions.  Do do something else for a few minutes then come back.
2. You have the July CTP tools for Visual Studio 2008/2010 installed. If not get that working first.
3. You are aware that the online documentation is months old and is about useless.
4. You also know that by the time this gets finished they will change it again.
5. The date of this July 28, 2009 so at the end of next month all bets are off.

For this test I used Visual Studio 2008 since it is a production product and I didn’t need any services provided in .NET 4.0 that requires Visual Studio 2010.  Also note that at the moment Windows Azure itself is not at .NET 4.0 (3.5 sp1).

Open VS2008/2010 and create and new Cloud Service and add a web role (I took all the defaults because we are not learning how to program here, just deploy a working app.) I chose to create both a web role and a worker role.  NOTE: Remember the path to our application, you will need it later.
Assuming you used the defaults you will have either two or three projects in your solution one of which will be CloudService1 if you let it default. Right click on the CloudService1 project and from the list select "Set as start up project".
Build your application - I should build with no errors since we haven't done anything to the code.

Now modify the Default.aspx page in the web role project. In the HTML locate the Title tags and add a title: <title>First Try</title>

Next find the "div" tags and add "Hello World" such as: <div>Hello World</div>

Now Build your application. It should have no errors.

Next run the project (F5).  It will load the developer fabric and then show your page in a browser. You can now close the browser and be satisfied that you have a working cloud application.

Ok the fun part, publishing to the Windows Azure project that you created way back at the start.

Warning!  VS is smart but when it comes to cloud it is NOT that smart.  Close ALL pages in the VS editor.  In the Solution Explorer click on the CloudServer1 project name to highlight that project. (If you have another project selected via an open editor page, VS will assume that you want to publish that project.) We want to publish the ENTIRE solution not just a project.

Now with the CloudService1 as the active project click Build on the Main Menu. Look down the list for "Publish CloudService1" and select that.  If you don't see it or you see one of your other projects in your solution then STOP and review the warning above.

Assuming everything is correct you will publish your CloudService1 to your local machine. (Where is it??) Well assuming you chose the defaults when you created the project it is in the following ... (your path to your document folder) \Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\CloudService1\CloudService1\bin\Debug\Publish

There will be exactly 2 files located in the folder.  This is what you need to satisfy the Windows Azure. Visual Studio launches a browser window and takes you to the Azure portal. Sign in if you are not already and navigate to the Windows Azure menu and click on your project.

Next click on your Hosted application project (create one if you don't have one).
In the center of the page is a Staging server and a Deploy button.  Click the Deploy button.
On the next screen it will want two files.  Guess what, they are the one created in the Publish folder (see above).
In the first box it wants the path to your PACKAGE file, the dead give away here is that the file name ends with xxxxxxx.xxpkg
Likewise the second box wants the configuration file which just happens to end with "cfg"
Deploy these.  It will take several minutes to upload, configure and go live (15-20 minutes) Coffee time.
I hope this helps, wish I has had this

I tried Yahoo, I used Google.  I switched to Microsoft’s Live Search a while back.  I really like Bing!

Google returns so much stuff that has nothing to do with my search that I end of searching the search.  Hours and hours of time wasted.  I have had good success with Bing getting what I want.

When I really have no clue I use them both and try to refine my search.

On another note I am really looking forward to the new Windows 7.  I have the RC (release candidate) version on all my computers and it is very good.  At the moment I am making new extensions and enhancements to BizBanc.net and MasterTithe.com and will be porting these to the Microsoft Azure Cloud very soon.  So you will find me most any time writing code on Visual Studio 2010 for the Azure cloud.

Bing!

President Obama does not represent anything that I believe in.  I support the office of the Presidency of the United States and to that end I do temper my speech.  However Obama does not speak for me.  I hold him in contempt.  It will be a wonderful day when the American people rally against the Democratic party and remove them from office.  I will vote against any legislation that they support.  I urge my representatives to do the same.  I will vote against any representative that votes in favor of a Democratic supported bill of any kind.

I have worked for 30+ years in my own business.  Like 95% of the business owners out there I am at the mercy of our government.  This President and the Democrats SCARE me.  I have seen more socialism in the last six months than I have seen in my entire life.  This was sent to me.  Do you feel everything you ever had slipping away.  CIT is a good example.  Not helping CIT forces many small businesses into the abyss.

Dinner with Obama, a parable


   Once upon a time, I was invited to the White House for a private dinner with
   the President. I am a respected businessman, with a factory that produces
   memory chips for computers and portable electronics. There was some talk
   that my industry was being scrutinized by the administration, but I paid it
   no mind. I live in a free country. There's nothing that the government can
   do to me if I've broken no laws. My wealth was earned honestly, and an
   invitation to dinner with an American President is an honor.


   I checked my coat, was greeted by the Chief of Staff, and joined the
   President in a yellow dining room. We sat across from each other at a table
   draped in white linen. The Great Seal was embossed on the china.
   Uniformed staff served our dinner.


   The meal was served, and I was startled when my waiter suddenly reached out,
   plucked a dinner roll off my plate, and began nibbling it as he walked back
   to the kitchen.


   "Sorry about that," said the President. "Andrew is very hungry."


   "I don't appreciate..." I began, but as I looked into the calm brown eyes
   across from me, I felt immediately guilty and petty. It was just a dinner
   roll. "Of course," I concluded, and reached for my glass. Before I could,
   however, another waiter reached forward, took the glass away and swallowed
   the wine in a single gulp.


   "And his brother Eric is very thirsty." said the President.


   I didn't say anything. The President is testing my compassion, I thought. I
   will play along. I don't want to seem unkind.


   My plate was whisked away before I had tasted a bite.


   "Eric's children are also quite hungry."
   With a lurch, I crashed to the floor. My chair had been pulled out from
   under me. I stood, brushing myself off angrily, and watched as it was
   carried from the room.


   "And their grandmother can't stand for long."


   I excused myself, smiling outwardly, but inside feeling like a fool.
   Obviously I had been invited to the White House to be sport for some game. I
   reached for my coat, to find that it had been taken. I turned back to the
   President.


   Their grandfather doesn't like the cold."


   I wanted to shout- that was my coat! But again, I looked at the placid
   smiling face of my host and decided I was being a poor sport. I spread my
   hands helplessly and chuckled. Then I felt my hip pocket and realized my
   wallet was gone. I excused myself and walked to a phone on an elegant side
   table. I learned shortly that my credit cards had been maxed out, my bank
   accounts emptied, my retirement and equity portfolios had vanished, and my
   wife had been thrown out of our home. Apparently, the waiters and their
   families were moving in. The President hadn't moved or spoken as I learned
   all this, but finally I lowered the phone into its cradle and turned to face
   him.


   "Andrew's whole family has made bad financial decisions. They haven't
   planned for retirement, and they need a house. They recently defaulted on a
   subprime mortgage. I told them they could have your home. They need it more
   than you do."


   My hands were shaking. I felt faint. I stumbled back to the table. The President cheerfully cut his meat, ate is steak and drank his wine.
  "By the way," He added, "I have just signed an Executive Order nationalizing
   your factories. I'm firing you as head of your business.
   I'll be operating the firm now for the benefit of all mankind. There's a
   whole bunch of Erics and Andrews out there and they can't come to you for
   jobs groveling like beggars."


   I looked up. The President dropped his spoon into the empty ramekin which
   had been his creme brulee. He drained the last drops of his wine.
   As the table was cleared, he lit a cigarette and leaned back in his chair.
   He stared at me. I clung to the edge of the table as if were a ledge and I
   were a man hanging over an abyss. I thought of the years behind me, of the
   life I had lived. The life I had earned with a lifetime of work, risk and
   struggle. Why was I punished? How had I allowed it to be taken? What game
   had I played and lost? I looked across the table and noticed with some
   surprise that there was no game board between us.


   What had I done wrong?


   As if answering the unspoken thought, the President suddenly cocked his
   head, locked his eyes to mine, and bared a million teeth, chuckling
   wryly as he folded his hands.


"You should have stopped me at the dinner roll," he said.