Senate Dems set House Dems up for a fall -

From CNN/Politics posted a couple of hours ago ...

Last night, the House rejected a Democratic version of the FISA bill, 218-207, with a two-thirds majority required for passage, but the Senate passed a Republican-sponsored bill Friday night, 60-28.

Some Democratic sources have predicted the House will pass the Republican-sponsored measure, and send it to Bush.

"All but one Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee voted for it," House Minority Whip Roy Blunt said. "If it's good enough for the Senate Intelligence Committee Democrats, it would seem to me it should be good enough for House Democrats.

"It would also seem to me that it's critical to get that done before we leave here today, and we intend to see that that happens," Blunt said at the news conference with Hoekstra and others.

So, the cowards in the Senate set the House Dems up for a fall.

More thoughts on the new Wiretapping Bill

Some more thoughts on the Democrats that voted for George Bush's bill and what we really got for the last election from PoliBlog:

In regards to Democratic voters who thought they were getting change out of the new Congress, I suspect that the Majority Leader’s words will sound a tad hollow:

“My Republican colleagues chose to rubber-stamp a flawed administration proposal that fails to provide the accountability needed in the light of the administration’s past mismanagement of key tools in the war on terror,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.).

Last time I checked, Reid was the Leader and the Senate was in Democratic hands. I am not sure, therefore, that Reid can peg this on the Republicans, per se. Some of those 60 “yes” votes came from the Democrats–not to mention that if the majority really wanted to find a different solution, they could have worked a little harder at it.

In all honesty, it is rather stunning that they actually have voted here not just to continue a controversial program, but to expand it:

Privacy advocates accused the Democrats of selling out and charged that this bill gives the government more authority than it had under a controversial warrantless wiretapping program begun in secret after the 2001 terrorist attacks. Under that program, the government could conduct surveillance without judicial oversight only if it had a reason to believe that one party to the call was a member of or affiliated with al-Qaeda or a related terrorist organization. This bill drops that condition, they noted.

The only saving graces are that the legislation, as currently written, requires legislative review in six months and apparently does seek some controls over certain activities:

White House and intelligence officials have sought a broad overhaul of the act to allow spy agencies to listen in on terrorism suspects quickly, without having to apply for a court order, as is required for surveillance that targets U.S. residents. But Democratic leaders say the administration’s proposals could lead to broad searches of phone calls and e-mails by ordinary Americans without judicial review.

I know many of my readers, and many, many citizens will find any concerns about the government and surveillance to be unfounded. After all, this is just the government trying to keep us safe, right? However, I would submit to you all that in the grand scheme of things it is always more likely that human being are more likely to make mistakes and abuse powers than they are to do precisely what they ought. As such, the more we empower the federal government in these matters, the more we allow for some monumental errors to take place. This is, after all, the administration that held a US citizen, captured on US soil as an “enemy combatant” for years without charges and without basic legal rights just because it thought it needed to do so.

And to appeal to the Reagan Republicans in the audience, I would note his famous quip: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m here from the government and I’m here to help.’” He was there speaking mainly of things like fiscal policy. The matters we are discussing here go well beyond with how the government might spend tax dollars, but to how it treats its citizens.

As a slight digression, and as I ponder the politics of the situation, I wonder what hardcore Second Amendment types think about this kind of behavior. After all, they typically argue that one of the main reasons why they ought to be allowed to keep whatever weaponry they wish is to protect against tyrannical or abusive government. As such, that is a segment of the population that one would think would be concerned about expanded police powers in the hands of the federal government. However, I suspect that they are unconcerned, as they tend to also be stronger pro-defense (which is ultimately rather ironic, actually, as a stronger defense mechanism means a more powerful state that could more easily disarm the even heavily armed citizen.)

It's a year old but still brilliant -

Sometimes while I'm roaming around the web and making prayers to google a bit of wisdom hits me literally in the face. What follows is a great example of the whole process. While wondering why the blogosphere wasn't throwing a collective grand mahl fit about 16 Dems voting for Bush's wiretapping bill I googled the phrase "sold out" and discovered this gem.

Its not directly on topic but it does explain something about the system and why we, the workers bees of the Dem Party, are ultimately supposed to shut up and take what they give us. In the case below the Party gave us Lieberman and by god we were supposed to like it.

From Ezra Klein's blog a July 21, 2006 posting:

It's Not About Lieberman

Josh Marshall on Lieberman:
I think the Lieberman skeptics are really on to something when they point out that in the Kondrackes and others there is this sense that for a well-liked-in-the-beltway senior pol like Lieberman to face a primary challenge is somehow a genuine threat to the foundations of the system. You'd think he was a life peer, if not an hereditary noble, suddenly yanked out of the House of Lords and forced to run for his seat like they do in the Commons.

That's what's so stunned me about this debate. I had it out the other night with a very pro-Lieberman writer who, it came clear to me, believed the entire concept of a primary challenge against Lieberman a simply illegitimate form of opposition. Lieberman, as a Democratic incumbent, had a claim on his party's nomination and his Senate seat that couldn't be challenged by a bunch of bloggers and a cable television executive named Ned. It was the impudence of the whole thing that so offended.

I've really been saddened, in fact, by how often, when I drill down into anti-Lamonter motivations, I find their ideological and electoral motivations mere sandrock obscuring a core rage at this affront to tradition and orderly succession. I didn't believe this even a few months ago, but I've been forced to conclude that what scares folks about Lamont is that he represents an assault on privilege -- Joe Lieberman's, to be sure, but also theirs, no matter what sector of politics they currently represent.

In some ways, Lieberman is the canary in their coal mine, and if his sanctimonious song stops, so too may all of theirs. They never reacted this way to the Club for Growth primaries, or the Unions' promise to work against Melissa Bean, or NARAL's threats to primary Casey, because they were comfortable with the role and global motivations of those groups -- they were part of the structure, and they sought only to make it work better for them, not substantively challenge its mechanisms. The bloggers, however, are different, more unpredictable, less obviously invested in the perpetuation of this fine political system we have. And so they represent not a challenge to Joe Lieberman, but a challenge to the establishment as a whole. And that's why the establishment as a whole is howling.

Here's to my ferverent hope that somebody out there takes the 16 Dems that just sided with Bush to task. I'm tired of being viewed as a doormat by the elites of the Democratic Party. A few more opponents from the Left during general elections will do wonders to make the system wake up and take notice.

Filthy Democratic Cowards

From Kos.

These are the Filthy Democratic Cowards that voted for George Bush's Wiretapping Bill:

Evan Bayh (Indiana)
Tom Carper (Delaware)
Bob Casey (Pennsylvania)
Kent Conrad (North Dakota)
Dianne Feinstein (California)
Daniel Inouye (Hawaii)
Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota)
Nancy Mary Landrieu (Louisiana)
Blanche Lincoln (Arkansas)
Claire McCaskill (Missouri)
Barbara Mikulski (Maryland)
Bill Nelson (Florida)
Ben Nelson (Nebraska)
Mark Pryor (Arkansas)
Ken Salazar (Colorado)
Jim Webb (Virginia)

They deserve our unending contempt for their attack on the Constitution.

If these folks won't stand up to George Bush why should anybody think they will stand up to a bunch of terrorist.

Joe M., thanks!

Joe:

Thanks for this - the view that all Democratic politics in NM automagically devolves into the Diane vs. Marty fight is starting to get tiresome. It was amusing for a few weeks but folks give us all a break.

Speaking as somebody who ain't a fan of Mayor Marty - where is one shred of evidence that Bryon Paez is a Martista put-up job? I've heard it all before and while it might solidify some of Martin's support with groups that don't like Marty it really doesn't help Martin nor does it hurt Bryon one little bit,

I totally agree with his reader's comment that:

"Marty has run before. So why would he need a hand me down organization? The truth is that Paez plugs into Marty's players. Not the reverse."

Bryon Paez is running because he decided to do so. Based on the reception he got both inside and outside the Plumbers & Pipefitters Hall at last Thursday's Bernalillo County Democratic Party meeting he has a support base that spreads throughout the County.

Political Pete

So, now Saint Pete wants us to believe he has jumped ship on the Iraq War.

Nonsense - he's still Bush's rubber stamp. He was his rubber stamp last month and will be his rubber stamp next month. This is about his election campaign not about what he actually believes.

From Feb. 2007 in Las Cruces - the obviously unwell Pajama Pete lectures us on the need to give the surge a chance. On that day he still supported Bush and his Iraq War.



Based on Pete's February performance a few suggestions to his handlers:

1) don't do any debates!
2) don't do any public appearances!
3) pray that the Albuquerque Journal keeps its subscribers and continues to protect Pete from all enemies. It worked hard for him during the Iglesias affair but Pete will need them more than ever to stay hidden through this election. They are his best hope for success.

For the Morons who want a flag burning amendment

A 4th of July thought from Penn and Teller explaining why we don't need a flag burning amendment to the US Constitution.

H1B visa - what's next? What's Plan B?

No one should have a moment's doubt that supporters of H1B visas will give up and go home after the death of the Immigration bill. The question is not if they will go for an increase but rather how to do it. The Corporations that want the increase to occur have lots of power and lots of money, they "control/own" many members of the Senate and the House - it will be fascinating to see who they choose as their water carrier.

From Computerworld:

June 28, 2007
by Patrick Thibodeau

The demise of the U.S. Senate's comprehensive immigration reform legislation is a setback for the technology industry's push to increase the annual cap on H-1B visas. But count on a Plan B from H-1B proponents.

The Senate bill was the primary vehicle for efforts to raise the H-1B cap from its current limit of 65,000 visas per year, plus another 20,000 visas that are set aside for foreign workers who have advanced degrees from U.S. universities.

But the proposed legislation, which also would have mandated the development of a national electronic employment verification system, died an early death on Thursday after its sponsors failed to garner enough support for a procedural motion that sought to end debate on the bill and bring it to a vote. The motion got only 46 of the 60 "yes" votes that it needed in order to be approved.

However, the high-tech industry has other options for pursuing an increase in the visa cap, according to various policy analysts within the IT industry.

"There are several options—it's just a matter of making the case," said Robert Hoffman, vice president of government and public affairs at Oracle Corp. and co-chair of Compete America, a Washington-based lobbying group that today vowed to continue its efforts to increase the H-1B cap. See the group's statement here.

The H-1B cap for the federal government's next fiscal year, which starts in October, was exhausted on the first day that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began accepting visa applications in April. The USCIS received about 150,000 applications that day, and Hoffman said he thinks the strong demand for visas makes a compelling case for why an increase in the cap is urgently needed.

Option one for H-1B proponents: stand-alone legislation such as the so-called SKIL bill, which was reintroduced in both the House and Senate in April after failing to win approval last year. The bill—officially called the Securing Knowledge, Innovation and Leadership Act—would raise the cap to 115,000 visas and provide market-based mechanisms for further hikes. But a separate measure may be the least attractive option for H-1B backers because it could become a magnet for all sorts of bill-killing amendments related to immigration reform.

Option two: increasing the cap through an amendment to a spending bill. That approach has worked in the past.

Option three: adding an H-1B provision to one of a number of bills that Congress is considering as part of the Democratic majority's so-called Innovation Agenda—such as legislation intended to improve science and engineering training programs. But the IT industry isn't likely to embrace legislation that is seen as partisan because it has backers for increasing the H-1B cap from both parties.

The Senate's action on the immigration reform bill means attention on the H-1B issue will shift to the House of Representatives, said Ken Wasch, president of the Software & Information Industry Association. The Washington-based SIIA issued a statement today saying that the high-tech industry will have trouble finding enough skilled workers if the H-1B cap isn't raised (download PDF).

At this point, Wasch said he isn't sure what the next step will be for H-1B proponents. But like Hoffman, he said that visa relief is needed. "Our companies have a huge problem," Wasch said. "And if the immigration problem is not solved, we create an enormous incentive for our companies to do more of their development work where talent is being developed."

Re: the options presented by the article's author - my vote is for "Option two". There are too many folks complaining about H1B's to go with "Option one" and "Option three" will just be too public. Expect a late night add-on to some massive bill and lots of prayers no one will notice.

H1B visa mess - the $3,500 surcharge is a crock!

I find it troubling how Dems often sugar coat things to make them look acceptable to the base. The fact that they think we will buy into the nonsense is even more troubling. I remember that after voting for the recent onerous bankruptcy bill Bingaman tried to play fast and loose with his treachery by emphasizing he had introduced an amendment to allow bankruptcies for folks who suffer crippling medical bills at a county party meeting. Good try but the audience wasn't buying it. Everyone knew he still voted for the bill even after acknowledging that most bankruptcies are cause by medical debt.

Senator Bingaman - we just aren't that stupid.

So, here we go again - in the posting below we hear that:

Last week, Bingaman voted to impose a surcharge of $3,500 on employers who hire H-1B workers (in addition to the $1,500 fee) to raise scholarship money for American students to pursue degrees in mathematics, engineering, nursing, medicine, or computer science.

Lovely -

Does he think this matters? Certainly he thought it was good enough to keep us from seeing what he really wanted to do!

Enrollment in IT/Computer Science programs across the US is dropping. Students know there are no jobs. Off-shoring and programs like H1B visas have robbed them of that possibility. So how are a few $'s gonna change that? Why are we training folks for jobs that don't exist jobs that the House and Senate are actively exporting out of the US? Moreover, the $3,500 will simply be extracted from the "hides" of the poor slobs that get the H1B jobs - it won't come out of the pockets of corporations.

This is just a crock designed to cover up a bad vote and bad program. When will Bingaman realize that we are smart enough to see through this crap?

Re: H1B visas, a proposal

Real Green Cards for all H1B holders!

Here's a stab at solving the H1B visa issue - give all H1B folks that enter the US a Real Green Card when they show up at the border. Here we are talking about a Real Green Card - one that would allow the worker to look for any job anywhere in the US.

Currently, H1B visa employee can only work for the employer that brought them into the country. With a real Green Card they would no longer be a techno-slave to the owner of the H1B visa technically they could look for another job as soon as they crossed the border and got handed the card. If they found they were being paid below average wages they could move to another job. If their boss was an ass they could split to another job. This would restore balance to the employer-employee equation for the H1B employee.

Of course the employers would not like this - they want the worker to be their slave. My guess is that Corporate support for the H1B program would dry up immediately. However, it would be a fascinating test of the program’s real intent. We, the IT worker in the US, know its all about getting high skilled workers for low pay but the Companies/Corporations that use the H1B visa system will never admit it. Logically they should support giving Real Green Cards to H1B visa holders but since they lie you can expect their bitter opposition.

[Note - this was also posted as a comment on another blog.]

H1B visas - a view from India

A posting from a blog called "Churumuri" called me to consider how the H1B visa issue was being seen from India. Although it views the process from the other end of the pipeline and finds other villains it struck me as being particularly enlightened. Frankly I have no wish to totally kill off the H1B visa program but remembering the old phrase "figures don't lie but liars surely figure" I wonder ifs its possible to structure the program in such a way that it won't be heavily abused.

How our IT firms wrecked the HIB visa program

“DHEERENDRA GOPAL” writes: Later this year, the US Congress will sit down to discus reforms to the high-skill immigration policy. But if someone is to be held responsible for the current sorry state of affairs in the H1B visa area, it is Indian IT firms.

The H1B program was started in “Good Faith” by the United States to help people from “all over the world” to come to and work in the US.

Supporters of the program claimed that the H1-B helped meet the shortfall of scientists and engineers by allowing the import of guest workers, thus preventing the “outsourcing” of high-wage, high-skill jobs to low-cost countries. And they claimed the program paved the way for the immigration of the “best and the brightest” foreigners.

But large Indian IT houses have overexploited the loopholes in the HIB program to such an extent that they have made nonsense of its original intentions.

In their greed for higher and higher profits (every Indian firm hits 30% profits every quarter) they have spoiled a perfectly working program a few years ago to such a state that now getting an H1B has got less nothing to do with talent but has become like buying a supperlotto ticket.

A very good article by Ron Hira in the March 28 issue of the “Economic Policy Institute” exposes how Indian IT firms are playing around with the HIB program.

On the one hand, the HIB program, as is being used, is not encouraging the immigration of the “best and brightest”.

“The largest users of the H-1B program are offshore outsourcing firms, whose business model depends on moving as much work overseas as possible. And these firms do not use the program as a bridge to immigration, for they sponsor very few of their workers for green cards. For example, in 2006, Wipro Technologies applied for 19,450 H1B positions but only for 69 green cards, a 0.004 green card to H1B application ratio.”

And on the other hand, the Indian IT firms are blatantly using HIB for labour arbitrage. The H1B program’s primary safeguard for US as well as H1B workers was the requirement that an H-1B worker be paid the prevailing wage.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has a vast majority of its personnel in the US on either H1B or L1 visas. But its vice-president Phiroze Vandrewala has told Businessworld how his company derives a competitive advantage by paying its visa holders below-market wages.

“Our wage per employee is 20-25 percent lesser than U.S. wage for a simlar employee. Typically, for a TCS employee with five years experience, the annual cost to the company is $60,000-70,000, while a local American employee might cost $80,000-100,000. This (labour arbitrage) is a fact of doing work onsite. It’s a fact that Indian IT companies have an advantage here and there’s nothing wrong in that….The issue is that of getting workers in the U.S. on wages far lower than local wage rate.”

I cannot help agree with the facts in this article. I totally agree that firms like these which abuse the system ought to be severely punished and blacklisted, so that genuine US companies can get their required workers, when they need them.

Read the full story here: Outsourcing America’s technology and knowledge jobs

The H1B mess continues -

Sometimes I'm just too pissed to write about an issue - such as the case with H1B visa's and the recent Immigration Bill that just died in the Senate.

Buried in the questionable Immigration Bill was a massive increase in the number of H1B visas and a new L1 visa program. While its difficult to tell which is really worse right now I'll focus on the H1B visa issue.

Unfortunately the H1B visa program has bipartisan support. I expect Heather and Saint Pete to not care about the middle class or High Tech workers but when the Dems stab us in the back its hard to ignore. While I'm not sure how Rep. Udall views the H1B program I'm sad to say that it has received unwavering support from Senator Bingaman. My communication with his staff has been disappointing. Essentially when it became clear that I didn't agree with them they blew me off -

My first email -

--- intro stuff deleted-----
I'm writing to inquire about Senator Bingaman's views on H1B visas. I became alarmed recently when I discovered that the number of H1B visas would be increase massively by the new Immigration bill. I understand that the Senator was successful last week in cutting the number of visas issued in half but not sure how that effects numbers of future H1B visas.

I and others oppose H1B visas since they are simply a mechanism to cut high tech worker salaries. I personally know of situations where companies only hire H1B visa holders for certain types of jobs - US citizens/legal residents need not apply. The whole situation is simply a farce and the "safeguards" that are supposed to prevent abuse are a joke. I urge Senator Bingaman to join Senator Durbin in opposing more of these visas.

Thanks for your time and be well -
--- end stuff deleted-----

Their reply to the email above......
--- intro stuff deleted-----
xxxxxxx xxxx asked that I get back to you regarding your inquiry about H-1Bs. I am the Senator's staffer who works on immigration issues. As you know, the legislation that we are debating as part of the immigration bill raises the annual allocation of H-1Bs to 115,000, but also contains an escalator mechanism that allows this number to grow up to 180,000 if the cap is reached each year. The immigration bill also tightens the rules regarding the issuance of H-1Bs (these protections were added at the request of Senator Durbin).

Last week, Bingaman voted to impose a surcharge of $3,500 on employers who hire H-1B workers (in addition to the $1,500 fee) to raise scholarship money for American students to pursue degrees in mathematics, engineering, nursing, medicine, or computer science. Although he believes that we should ensure that there is an avenue for talented foreign-born immigrants to work and study in the United States, he also strongly believes that the best way to ensure our nation's competitiveness is to invest in educating our youth and improving the skill set of our workforce.

The amendment Bingaman offered reduced the number of guest worker visas allocated under a new program (separate from the H-1B program) that allows foreign workers to fill a wide variety of non-agricultural jobs throughout the economy. The number of workers under the original version of the bill could have allowed up to 600,000 of such workers to be admitted each year (his amendment reduced this number to 200,000).

Senator Bingaman has many concerns about guest worker programs and their affect on American workers, and as we discuss the immigration bill he will continue to fight to ensure that we are not undercutting American workers.

Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.
--- end stuff deleted-----

My reply......
--- intro stuff deleted-----
xxxxxxx:

Thanks for the quick reply -

To be blunt - the problem with all this is that its really a fraud. And sadly, like the bankruptcy bill, its another place where the Democratic Party is stabbing the middle class in the back yet again.

If we are simply gonna import more workers in the Tech industry why do we need to train them? I teach IT and can't tell you how many of my students over the last few years have told me that they were losing their jobs to outsourcing or to a HIB visa holders. Enrollment in IT programs is falling nationwide because student know there are no jobs - the House/Senate/Administration is working hard to send them offshore.

Re: the $3,500 to train workers for jobs that aren't there - well the employers will just take that out of the "hides" of the poor slobs from India or China who get H1B visas. Remember, once they get to the US they can't change jobs or move around. They are stuck. To change jobs they have to go home and start again so their employers can do whatever they want to them. These poor folks are in a kind of hi-tech slavery. Like the bankruptcy bill - sooner or later Senator Bingaman will be embarrassed by his votes for this program.

Be well,
--- end stuff deleted-----

No further replies for Bingaman's office - another email from me......
--- intro stuff deleted-----
xxxxxxx, xxxxxx:

You may have heard of this YouTube video on H1B visas -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCbFEgFajGU

Please view it!

It clearly shows that H1B visa process is a fraud.

After this I can't see how Senator Bingaman will continue to support these visas.

The program must be ended now!


Be well,
--- end stuff deleted-----

To date nothing else from Bingaman's office -

Its clear - I will be ignored from now on -

Just so you won't miss it - here's the informative YouTube video on the subject. It pretty much explains how the process is manipulate by Corporate America today and why the "safegards" to protect American workers are a sad joke:

Micro$oft could buy Yahoo ......

If that happens Microsoft would instantly become on of Oracle's Non Stop Linux biggest customers - for details see "Oracle replaces Red Hat at Yahoo".

Wonder how long they will take to rip that of and slap Novell's SLES10 on those boxes?

Hector, Lem help!!!!!!!!

Calling Lem Martinez & Hector Balderas, I have a question - are either of you gonna run for Congress?

Please consider it - I fear Heather will wipe the floor with Martin Heinrich. It will be a joke - not even close. I don't know who has put it in Martin's head that he can win - probably the D triple C but you know their track record in this district. Please don't let this happen. Martin's a nice guy but needs a few gray hairs before he takes on a filthy viper like Heather.

I need at least the delusion of hope and there is no hope in a Martin - Heather race.

Martin Heinrich, dead before arrival!

I like Martin Heinrich just fine but this piece if true is stupid beyond belief. Does the Gov. actually believe this? No, Richardson ain't that stupid. What races has Martin run and won? What else has he done?

If Pete D. doesn't bail out of his Senate race Heather and the Abq. Journal will paint Martin as a light-weight pretty boy that just not ready for prime time. She will beat him badly.

If Pete bails as I and many, many others expect and Heather runs for Senate - Darren White, the person the Repubs have lined up to run in her stead, will do the law and order gig on Martin and tear him apart.

For my fiends at Democracy for New Mexico they will do the same thing to Eric Greigo - we need somebody that's gone out and done something to run else it won't be worth the effort.

Although I would happily vote for either Martin or Eric we shouldn't delude ourselves - neither can win against Heather or Darren.

Pajama Pete's probe begins -

From The Crypt

Senate Ethics Confirms Domenici Probe Over U.S. Attorney Firing

Cooking along quite nicely ---:-;

concatXlines.pl - the concatenator!

Somebody needed a program to put 4 contiguous lines of a file on the same line starting from the beginning of the file and going to the end.

Well, here it is with a simple improvement - you can set the number of lines to concatenate. One notice - this works on Linux - Unix files. A Perl program to convert Windows files with carriage returns (\r) and end of line (\n) characters to Unix/Linux files with only end of line characters can be found here.

You can find this program here.

..........................
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
#
# Author: Michael W Folsom
# April 8, 2007
#
# USAGE: ./concatXlines.pl num_lines_to_concat input_file_name
#
# PURPOSE: To cocatenate date from X contiguous lines to a single
# line. For example if the data is organized like so:
# 1
# 2
# 3
# 4
#
# And the program is told to convert 4 lines to 1 you would get:
# 1 2 3 4
#
#

# stash the number of arguments
# $#ARGV + 1 is ARGC in C, C++ land
$argNumber = $#ARGV + 1;

sub usageStatement {
print "\nUsage: ./concatXlines.pl num_lines_to_concat input_file_name\n\n";
}

if($argNumber != 2) {
&usageStatement();
exit(1);
}

# use the open command to open the input file for reading
open(FILE, $ARGV[1]);

$numLines = $ARGV[0];
$newStr ="";
$i = 0;

while () {
# chop off newline character
chomp($_);

# chugger through file X lines at a time and build up new
# output line
if($i < $numLines) {
$newStr = $newStr . $_;
$i++;
if($i < $numLines) {
#print "\t";
$newStr = $newStr . "\t";
}
# got data from X lines, print and add a new line
else {
print "$newStr \n";
$i= 0;
$newStr = "";
}
}
}

# if number of lines not equal to 4 then print out remainder
if($newStr) {
print "$newStr\n";
}

close(FILE);

exit();
..........................

Manny's toast, Heather and Pete ain't doing so hot either!

Earlier today what's left of the Federal Prosecutors Office here in Albuquerque released the indictments that Heather and Pete so badly wanted to be released before last November's election.

Currently, the best summary of this is by Heath Haussamen.

Turns out that they finally nailed the poster boy of sleaze in New Mexico Democratic Party Politics - Manny Aragon. Frankly no one in the state is surprised, the bigger question is why it took so long to nab him. Moreover, it turns out that its somewhat a bipartisan crime scene as another one of the folks nailed is a former Republican Mayor of Albuquerque.

Is this what Pete and Heather were screaming for? Really it is kind'a anticlimatic - who in NM is surprised that Senator Wackenhut is headed to the pokey? It ain't news when you find a rat in the sewer!

In no small way this venerates Iglesias. Since the Albuquerque Journal has done its best to slime him in order to absolve Pete Domenici, a.k.a Saint Pete, it will be interesting to see if they continue their series of attack "articles" on "the real issues that lead to his firing".

Beware the Marty Party!

The Bernalillo County Ward elections have occurred. One thing is clear, Robert Aragon, a candidate for Chair of the Bernalillo Democratic Party, is part of Mayor Marty's team. I got a personal taste of how Marty & Company (MartCo) works last Thursday night and needless to say they wouldn't have bothered grabbing Ward and Precinct chairs and the votes that come with them if they didn't see value in electing Aragon. Is the plan to turn us into the Marty Party?

So, we are now headed to the the County Convention next month where Aragon has a good chance of getting elected. Once enthroned we will see what he does. One thing you can bet is that Diane & Company will be watching his every move.

To me the bigger issue is how this sets the Democratic Party up for a two year grudge match between Diane and Mary with the prize being the Gov's Office and the State Party structure as its initial battle field. The race for Bernalillo County Chair is Marty's first strike. Diane will respond.

Lots are at stake in the next Governor's race - something often forgotten, especially by the Democrats, is the 2010 census. As a result of those numbers the State Legislature will start fighting about the shape of Congressional districts around 2012. Its critical that the next Governor be a Democrat to make sure that CD1 doesn't continue to favor the Republicans.

If last Thursday night was any indication, the Diane - Marty war is already going strong.

Yes, Novell is a Linux Company!

From LinuxToday:

March 18, 2007
BrainShare: The Heart of Novell

For the first time, I decided to attend Novell's BrainShare conference. In the past I have been resistant to attending single-vendor sponsored shows, because once you attend one, you'd better get yourself to others, if only to avoid bias. I was able to get clearance for both BrainShare and Red Hat's Summit in May, so I figured I'd achieved my balance.

The reason I wanted to attend BrainShare this year, specifically, was to find out for myself if Novell was really a Linux company, or if they were just talking the talk.

Imagine my complete and utter surprise when I discovered I didn't need to actually attend the show to learn the answer.

It happened like this: the flight to Salt Lake City this afternoon was full--very--and so there were three of us in our little row, me on the aisle, a gentleman from Maryland in the middle, and a lady from Utah at the window. Seasoned travelers will know that in this situation, it's going to either be hours of uncomfortable silence, or some conversation to pass the time.

The lady at the window was one of those chatty folks, so it quickly went that way for my row-mates. But though I tried to add something to their conversation, it quickly seemed that they were not interested in talking to me. I didn't really take this personally, since I was looking forward to reading a book I'd brought and listening to a new U2 CD my kids gave me.

During the course of the flight, I picked up snippets of their conversation and learned he was a networking engineer also coming to BrainShare. He explained to the woman what he did--deployed enterprise desktops for corporations. If he mentioned "Linux," I didn't hear him over the music and the noise of the plane.

I meant to ask him during the flight about his work as a Novell vendor, but there was never an opening. (They talked a lot.)

Finally, the plane landed, and as I was starting to get my things gathered, the young man reached into this laptop bag and pulled out an Novell Linux Desktop CD. As he gave it to her, he explained what it was and why it might help her in running her small business. Just like that.

It wasn't a planned thing, just a spontaneous moment. He didn't know who I was, because I'd never really gotten a chance to input anything to their chat. He just did it.

And then I was left thinking; if this is an independent contractor who works with Novell, and he's handing out Linux CDs to people on planes, then maybe there is something Novell is doing as a culture to foster this kind of spontaneous outreach. Maybe Novell is indeed a Linux company at its heart.

Not all of my questions were answered, but that was a big one I wanted settled for my own sake. I didn'y even have to get off the plane.

Tomorrow: Bruce Perens vs. Ron Hovsepian in a cage match battle royale! Or, maybe just jousting press conferences.

I've been working with Novell for about 2 years now and know that Novell is indeed a Linux Company. They are risking all on Linux - if Suse & Linux prospers they will survive - if it fails they are toast.

If I call Novell and tell 'em I'm headed to a meeting and want to hand out some DVD's of SLES10 and SLED10 they will overnight me dozens of nicely packaged sets just to spread the news. If I'm teaching a Unix/Linux class their only question is how many sets do I need.

Watch what Novell does, talk to its people and you will find that they are indeed a Linux Company and in my humble opinion, they are The Premier Linux Company on the planet today.

By-the-by, when you go to the Red Hat show - ask 'em why you can't easily download iso's of RHEL5 or even RHEL4 from their site. Its dead easy to get iso's from Novell but try and get them from Red Hat. Prepare to have a chat with a sales being that wants to know what you are up to!

I have always thought one aspect of being a Linux Company is that you are open - open to ideas, open to letting folks know what you are doing. open to supporting universal standards, and open to giving back to the broader Linux community. Compare Novell to Red Hat and you may ask yourself a new question - is Red Hat a Linux Company?