March | 2006 | The View from My Chair 2006 March | views of life expressed by a woman using a powerful wheelchair

March, 2006

24: Day Five 9:00 p.m.

March 29, 2006 by Karen of Scottsdale
A lot of strange things happen in the world of 24.
- It’s possible in a matter of eight minutes for someone like Chloe to dig up the activities of a group of people (Audrey, Henderson and Cummings) for the past 18 months. Oddly enough Chloe can get hotel managers, in the middle of the night, to confirm hotel reservations and bills down to actually who stayed in who’s room, still within that eight minutes. Later on Chloe is able to find evidence of a connection between Collette and Henderson in about 10 minutes time. This girl is good with a computer and Internet. Either she is the female techie version of Jack Bauer or she is the mole.
- Terrorists can fool police into giving them free use of their cars. They can even break into a gas company undetected, however, they can’t figure out where the control room is even though they have the schematics.
- Somehow Wayne Palmer is able to retrieve a very large automatic weapon from his coat pocket after having escaped his car crash while being chased by the bad guys.
- The presidential retreat is such a weird place that automatic weapon fire and missiles being launched are ignored by everyone. Not the kind of place I would want to be if I were president.
- Some women have a certain aversion to being touched casually by their employers. Especially if they work for the government.
Those are just a few things that I thought were rather strange about this episode. I’m not even going to touch the whole Audrey and Jack torture and then later kiss-and-make-up scenes. Totally strange.

After last week’s episode I thought that it was the vice president who ordered the hit on Wayne Palmer, but now we know that it was Henderson. So how does Henderson have so many connections at the presidential retreat? It could still be that the vice president is in collusion with Henderson or someone in Secret Service or in the president’s inner circle is in collusion with Henderson. Also, Audrey could still be the mole or somehow involved with the bad guys. And, by the way, I think Jack is still alive although he’s probably a bit burnt around the edges by now. No telling about Bierko. 24 is certainly getting more and more interesting.

Rush Limbaugh interviews Joel Surnow and Howard Gordon from “24.” (read the transcript)

my previous posts
24: Day 5 8:00 p.m.
Jack Bauer Cried
Things I Learn While Watching 24
24 and Star Trek
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Phoenix Protest March

March 24, 2006 by Karen of Scottsdale

Perhaps you heard what happened today in Phoenix? An estimated 15,000 people, the majority of whom were illegal immigrants from Mexico, marched in protest of the House bill regarding illegal immigration. Police had to shut down 24th St., a major thoroughfare in downtown Phoenix, because of the protest marchers. As a result traffic was at a standstill on many streets and businesses along Camelback and 24th St. were basically shut down.

Here’s what I find interesting — they marched to Senator Jon Kyle’s office to protest a House bill. Seems a bit odd to me. Also, this was an illegal march in support of illegal immigrants. They did not have a permit to hold the march. Had they gotten a permit the city of Phoenix officials and police would have been more than happy to accommodate the request, and traffic could have been rerouted ahead of time and businesses could have been alerted to the fact that there would not be access to their business for a specified period of time. So it seems that people who are in support of breaking laws to enter this country are also in support of breaking laws while in this country.

Immigration is wonderful and I fully support people who come here legally. It would seem to me that if this many people from Mexico, who are here illegally, are willing to get together as a group this large and protest, then they ought to be able to do something in their own country to turn the tide of corruption that causes their lives to be miserable. The problem with life in Mexico has nothing to do with a lack of resources and everything to do with corruption at all levels.

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Abdul Rahman — Needs Our Prayers

March 23, 2006 by Karen of Scottsdale

By now most of you have probably heard of this Afghanistan man who is facing the death at the hands of his government because he converted to Christianity 16 years ago. Apparently the man was turned in by his family because he is seeking custody of his children. You can read tons more about this man’s situation at Michelle Malkin’s blog, Fox News, and the National Review online. I sent an e-mail to the Afghan Embassy in Washington, DC expressing my concern for this man’s situation. Here is what I wrote:

Ambassador Jawad,

I wish to express my concern for a citizen of your country, Abdul Rahman, who is facing death at the hands of your government because he has chosen to follow Jesus Christ. This man has made a choice about what religious belief he wishes to follow, which is a fundamental right of all humans, regardless of what country they live in. From what I understand, this man has committed no crime and had lived as a good citizen. Why would Afghanistan choose to put to death such a person?

American blood was shed and American money was given to create and support your current government. To put someone on trial for choosing a religion other than Islam is not what our men and women gave their lives for. This trial must not be permitted to proceed. To put someone on trial for their religious beliefs would give legitimacy to the notion that government has the right to dictate and punish religious choices of citizens. No government has that right! Even the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the fundamental human right of choosing one’s religious beliefs.

In the name of God and of all that is good and right in the world, I plead with you to do something to stop this trial and release this man who has done no wrong.

According to news reports governments around the world including ours are asking the government of Afghanistan to stop this nonsense. There can be no democracy in a country where Islamic law supersedes human rights. Some news reports are stating that Rahman may be declared mentally incompetent to stand trial. If that happens it will be no different than what goes on in other countries such as China. People are declared to be mentally defective because they disagree with the government and they are put away for reprogramming. Totally disgusting!

The sad truth is that Abdul Rahman is one of countless numbers of people around the world who are persecuted on a daily basis for their faith in Christ. These people are not always persecuted directly by the government. In many places they are persecuted by their families and more often than not they are killed for their beliefs by mobs. These people need our prayers.

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Kudos to Our Local Starbucks

March 21, 2006 by Karen of Scottsdale

It’s cool and a little drizzly today which makes for perfect hot chocolate weather. About 20 minutes ago Norm asked me if I would like something to drink as he was going to go out to get some liquid refreshment. Of course I had asked for hot chocolate. Norm walked in the door a few minutes ago carrying 2 cups of hot chocolate and informed me that he forgot his wallet. He didn’t realize he forgot his wallet until after he ordered the hot chocolate at the Starbucks drive-through window. He told the woman at the window that he forgot his wallet and would return shortly to pay for and collect the hot chocolate. That’s when she said, “we can afford to give away a couple of hot chocolates.” Norm assured her he would return with the money and she said don’t worry about it. How cool is that!

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24: Day 5 8:00 – 9:00 p.m.

March 20, 2006 by Karen of Scottsdale

I have to admit this episode was rather boring up until halfway through when the totally unexpected happens! That’s why I like the show.

Just when you think Jack Bauer is going to betray national security in order to get information on the terrorists just to satisfy his own personal vendetta and prevent the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in LA, you realize that he can be trusted after all. Yes, he got Chloe in some pretty hot water, but in the end he had things under control because he knew what we didn’t — he’s obviously got some cool virus program that will destroy a memory card when you are about to upload information from your PDA. Too cool!

And how about Chloe? She was pretty clever in knocking over that guy’s coffee knowing that he was a pretty boy and would immediately run to the bathroom to clean his clothes.

The German spy guy doesn’t want to trust Jack Bauer anymore, but I think he’s got a problem already because he’s in love with Collette. Not really a good spy if you fall in love with the person you are working undercover to expose. I wonder how many names he memorized off the wet list before it exploded in his PDA?

So David Palmer’s brother calls Aaron, the Secret Service guy, and tells them they have to meet. Aaron says he can arrange a secret meeting for the two of them. But later we see that the vice president is informed of Palmer’s presence at the gate and allows him to enter the compound supposedly not knowing why he is there. Then we see that Palmer gets hit, but manages to escape. So who ordered the hit? Aaron is seen looking at his watch which makes me wonder if he is wondering if Palmer is about ready to arrive or is he wondering if they have taken Palmer out? Surely Aaron would not harm President Palmer’s brother? But we do know that the vice president cannot be trusted because he has ulterior motives. President Logan is such a wuss for following along with the vice president’s plan to order a curfew and establish martial law in LA. Everybody knows that bad guys never obey curfew and obviously they are not being caught by those who are watching the streets.

And now for the kicker… is Audrey a mole? Is Collette correct when she says that Audrey is her source from DOD for the schematics? I just finished watching Day one of 24 last week where Nina, whom Jack Bauer had a one-time fling with, turned out to be the mole at CTU and killed Jack’s wife. Since I haven’t seen all of Day 2, 3, or 4, I don’t know if this is a typical senario used by the writers of 24. I somehow think that Audrey is probably being set up by somebody at DOD, but I could be wrong. Certainly we see from previews for next week’s episode that Jack is going to push her to the limit to discover the truth. If she isn’t the mole, then I have to wonder if her encounter with Jack’s interrogation methods will cause her to rethink her desire to rekindle their relationship. Hmm… maybe Jack should be taking a closer look at Chloe?

24 certainly keeps you guessing and you never know what’s going to happen next.

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Bubba, Junior and the Blond

March 20, 2006 by Karen of Scottsdale

Engineers Bubba and Junior were standing at the base of a flagpole looking up. A blonde lady walked by and asked what they were doing. “We’re supposed to find a height of the flagpole,” said Bubba, “but we don’t have a ladder.” The woman took a wrench from her purse, loosened a few bolts, and laid the pole down. Then she took a tape measure from her pocket, took a measurement and announced, “18 feet, 6 inches,” and walked away. Junior shook his head and laughed. “Ain’t that just like a dumb blonde? We ask for the height, and she gives us the length.

Bubba and Junior are currently doing government work supervising the reconstruction of those New Orleans levees.

Thanks Mom for the joke! (Don’t know who wrote it so I can’t give credit where credit is due.)

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Rainy Sunday

March 19, 2006 by Karen of Scottsdale

It’s raining again this morning and I am so happy! My cats are wanting to be held and cuddled because they are cold so they are jumping up and down on my desk as I’m working on the computer composing this post. Unfortunately for them I cannot hold them because I am dressed for church and don’t want to get cat fur all over me. This morning we are auditioning a potential new pastor who is from Ohio. We are praying that we will find the pastor that God wants for our church community. Off to church we go with an umbrella!

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Sudoku

March 19, 2006 by Karen of Scottsdale

Have you heard of this? My father’s been telling me about it for a couple of months since he has become hooked on these puzzles. Yesterday I took the plunge and decided to take a look at what Sudoku is all about. At first I thought this was a math puzzle so I really wasn’t that interested. But now that I have explored it I have learned that it’s basically a logic based placement puzzle. You can read more about it at Wikipedia.

What I like about this game is that I can play it on a piece of paper anywhere. It seems that so many of the games I enjoy are computer games, which really defeats the purpose of having some recreation time because I’m on my computer all day anyways. Now I have found something I can do off the computer. Sudoku-puzzles.net allows you to choose your level of difficulty, play online , or be able to print up to four puzzles on a page. Yesterday, I did my first one and it took me about 20 minutes so I did a second one and that took me only 10 minutes. Of course that was that at the easy level. Last night I decided to try the medium level and I am still working on that one. I was almost finished and then I realized that I goofed up somewhere and had to start backtracking to find my mistake. Now I am hooked. Thanks Dad!

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