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Dcoffee's Journal

dcoffee
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04/10/2008 11:05 #43970

Online Payment Suggestions?
Category: web
Hey, I need help on a web development / geek question.

What service would you recommend for online credit card transactions?

Anybody set up online payment accounts? Were you satisfied with the service, reasonable fees? Also doesn't take hours of coding to implement?

I'm working with a non-profit group that wanted to switch to Authorize.net, but their subscription is expiring this month. I'm just finishing up their new website, and I don't like the looks of Authorize.net. The instillation guides and sample codes are mostly from 2004, and they require a bunch of coding and configuring to start up. And all of the sample code says "use at your own risk" which doesn't make me feel good.

Considering "Network for Good", and "Paypal", but my knowledge of this area is slim.

Suggestions are very much appreciated,
dcoffee - 04/10/08 22:58
Thanks everyone, very helpful stuff.
tinypliny - 04/10/08 21:35
I have been happy with google check-out as well as paypal, as a customer. I haven't received any fake spamming/phishing with Google Check-Out as I have with paypal. It could be because the Google service is relatively newer compared to paypal.
jenks - 04/10/08 19:15
fwiw, as a customer, I like paypal...
jason - 04/10/08 11:30
Do you have experience with XML and Web Services? A friend of mine did a PayPal implementation for JetBlue, and I myself have done something similar from a technical standpoint.

Here is the API, if you haven't seen it already:

:::link:::

The way it worked for us, you generate a request through a secure connection, and receive a response back, which you can parse to find the information you are looking for, etc...

04/07/2008 22:43 #43946

one of those days
Category: life
Spring, you know what I'm talking about.

image

I worked outside with the laptop today. Looking forward to many more days of that.

yea, she's soft and fuzzy... I think I just heard Paul sneeze. Sorry Paul.

carolinian - 04/08/08 09:01
She looks very much like the cat I had growing up--long orange fur, bushy tail, slightly persian-esque features. Brings back memories.
theecarey - 04/08/08 00:02
I was just telling a friend today that I know its spring when the cats have relocated to bask in the 'sun spots' they haven't seen in 5 months or so.

yes, spring is in the air!

03/28/2008 09:52 #43812

Iraq Going Badly
Category: war
This has not turned into huge news yet for some reason. So in case you hadn't heard.

The Green Zone in Baghdad has been under rocket attack for the past 4 days. That's where the government and the US offices and Embassies are. It's a fortified city. US personnel have been advised to avoid traveling outside and sleep in reinforced structures.



The southern port city of Basra is basically occupied by Shi'ite militias. The government ordered them to hand over their weapons by today, I'm guessing that's not going to happen.


Bush thinks everything is swell, Sounds more like 1984 doublethink propaganda to me.


Chuck Hagel (R) Talks about Bush being Alice in Wonderland.


This doesn't sound good,
"Military: Troop Strains Putting US at Risk"




The Point, we can't solve other people's problems. If they can't work it out, we can't fix it for them. The Iraq war is now a completely political problem. We can't fix it, but we don't want embarrass ourselves. The Republicans in particular, have a lot riding on this flaming turd, especially with the election coming up.

The Surge brought a temporary lull in violence, but in the meantime we didn't get any progress in the government. All this time, and we haven't built anything that will last. 4,000 deaths, 40,000 wounded us soldiers and 5 years, and 500,000 billion so far.

dcoffee - 03/29/08 00:26
Great points Peter, I like hearing different perspectives like that. You're right on a lot of points like having three separate countries, and the screwed up boundaries. You know Americans have gone through periods where we kill each other too, nobody worked it out for us. Imagine Britain comming over here and trying to break up the civil war, or solve slavery.
Thanks for the updates James, you rock.
metalpeter - 03/28/08 18:09
So I never watch the News but today I did catch some of this story before I went to work. The problem is that when you have people who hate each other and want to fight there is only one way to stop them and that is with a powerful leader like Sadam. You can't really have a country run by the people when certain groups want to kill each other. But yet we are the ones who took out the army and Sadam and now we have no way to fix the problem, oh and the one person who could maybe put things back together was hung. I know the Europeans fucked it up with how they have cut up countries and made the lines wrong. But I think that is really the only thing to do in Iraq and make it 3 seperate states with different laws and leaders that fit that areas view.
james - 03/28/08 13:51
I don't know what this isn't huge news.

Our boy al-Maliki gave the Mahdi army a deadline to disarm. They ignored it. Then the government created a gun-buy-back program, in essence bribing the al-Sadr. Now they have pushed the deadline to April, 8th. Now members of the Iraqi army and police are flocking to al-Sadr.

Our president is handling this like he is the economy. Our goals in Iraq are in deep shit but we are getting a glowing report from president Bush despite all indications the opposite is true.

Excellent post. Thank you.

03/27/2008 12:39 #43806

My Superdelagate Letter
Category: political
We now know that it is almost imposable for Clinton to win the nomination through democratic means. She would have to get around 70% in all the remaining states. And asside from a "political meteor" hitting Obama, this is not going to happen. But she seems not to notice or care, and it's likely that her candidacy will just go more and more negative as this thing drags on. Her only hope is that the 800 superdelegates at the Convention will appoint her as the winner, and ignore the voters who worked so hard to make their opinions known. This undemocratic attitude really rubs me the wrong way. If votes don't matter there is no hope for this country.

More people are saying that the Clintons don't care how much they damage Obama or the party, Clinton wouldn't mind a McCain presidency cause she could run again in 2012. Not saying it's true, she's just making weird choices and statements.

Read an article yesterday, Clinton Donors write Scathing Letter to Pelosi
Kind of bothered me they were insisting the Superdelegates give Clinton the nomination, like they have the right.

Another good Article by David Brooks in the NY Times "The Long Defeat"


Not obeying the will of the voters really bothers me, so I decided to write a letter to Speaker Pelosi, Harry Reid, and the DNC. I faxed it to Reid and Pelosi, emailed to the DNC.

My Letter

Speaker Pelosi, Harry Reid, Howard Dean, et all

If the Democratic Party overturns the vote of the public and chooses Hillary Clinton during the convention, at best you will alienate a generation and validate their cynicism about American Politics. But the damage will likely go well beyond that. Hundreds of thousands of Democrats and Independents will stay home, others like myself will vote for a third party, and many more will vote for John McCain.

The truth is, Americans believe in the principles of the Democratic Party, but they don't believe in the politicians or the political system. This is why we have horrible voter turnout, even in presidential elections. If you can inspire people to get off the couch and vote, Democrats will win elections year after year.

If you don't take the opinion of the voters seriously, they will not trust you, and they will not vote for you. To win an election you need votes more than anything else. If you begin the presidential election with the candidate who did not receive the most votes, you will be at an enormous disadvantage, and the mistrust of the voters will carry on for years to come.

The Democratic Party needs somebody who can champion our principles, and get results, someone who is more trustworthy and convincing than the right wing. An eloquent person who can speak in terms that Americans identify with. Someone from a working class background who we can relate to and respect.

A candidate who inspires people will always get results, because once you convince the public that something is the right thing to do, politicians have no choice but to go along or lose their seat. You need a better salesman at the bully pulpit, someone who believes deeply in the values of the party, and clearly puts the good of the country above themselves

My story. I switched my party affiliation to Democrat, just so I could vote in the primaries. This time in history, and this election are so important that I needed to make my opinion known. In New York State voters must switch a year in advance, I took that step and I voted for Barack Obama. I'm also a small business owner, and a member of the Chamber of Commerce. I read the news, and have a BA in Political Science. I'm not quiet about my opinions, I vote every single year, even in local elections. There are lots of people like me, potential Democrats who need some reassurance that you will not let us down.

The people have voted, and we will continue to vote for the candidate we prefer. Do not ignore our votes in the primaries, or you will not get our vote in the general election, or in future elections.

Dcoffee


dcoffee - 03/27/08 20:18
Funny I just checked my email and MoveOn.org got pissed off about the same thing today. The letter from Clinton Donors to Nancy Pelosi. They put it this way;
"Clinton-supporting big Democratic donors are Threatening to stop supporting Democrats in Congress because Nancy Pelosi said that the people, not the superdelegates, should decide the Presidential nomination.
It's the worst kind of insider politicsâ€" billionaires bullying our elected leaders into ignoring the will of the voters."


joshua - 03/27/08 15:24
Nah - Ron Paul is finished.
dcoffee - 03/27/08 14:31
Sitting out! whoa not a good term. voting third party is one of the most bad-ass things you can do! I always vote third party, even if I vote for a Democrat it's usually on the Working Families line.

Anyone else wondering if Ron Paul is going to make a Libertarian run?
janelle - 03/27/08 14:08
Cynthia McKinney??? Really? I need to start following my own party more closely. If she gets the nomination, looks like I'll be one of those people sitting out on this election.
mrmike - 03/27/08 14:08
I agree with you Josh. Hillary has been almost "Sybil-esque" in taking on whatever personality to get the night's soundbite. Lying about the Bosnian trip repeatedly is just the latest tidbit.

It's interesting watching them run out of things to talk about. After almost a year of campaigning before the primary season began, both are grasping at straws and Hillary especially is saying whatever (Witness yesterday's hopping on the Rev Wright bandwagon) happens to suit that day.
dcoffee - 03/27/08 13:51
I'm toying with the idea that the Clintons want revenge on the Republicans for how they tortured and impeached Bill when he was in office.

I think once we got to the general debates Clinton supporters would end up voting for Obama, when him and McCain are next to each other, they'll see the difference.
Some of Limbaugh's republicans might have voted for Clinton instead of McCain, but they can stay home instead, not sure.
A lot of Obama supporters on the other hand, especially if there's an undemocratic convention upset, they will stay home or vote third party. We're talking about a couple hundred thousand refusing to vote for the lesser of two evils in every state, I'm just making that number up, but there would be a huge turnout difference. Watch, if Obama is the nominee, record breaking turnout numbers.
Cynthia McKinney is probably going to be the Green Party nominee too, she would definitely take a chunk of the vote against Hillary.
joshua - 03/27/08 13:19
What is said about Hillary Clinton is true. She is willing to do whatever it takes, and if that means fracturing the party even more than it already is and making the Convention unworkable, then so be it. She and Bill think they have a divine right to be back in the White House, are watching a dream slip away right before their eyes - bottom line, they are pissed off. Even the surrogate Clintonoids are angry - Carville is a disgrace for calling Richardson "Judas."

More and more information is coming out suggesting that if Obama wins, Clinton supporters will vote McCain, and if Clinton wins, Obama supporters will either stay home or vote third party. Based on the Democrat on Democrat vitriol I've read and heard over the past few months I am not surprised if this would turn out to be the case. All partisanship aside, I'm astonished at the infighting the Democrats are doing.

Honestly, if I were a betting man I would put my dough on this ending a tad ugly.

03/19/2008 21:51 #43732

War 5 Years, Numbers & Analysis
Category: war
As you may know, today is the 5th anniversary of the war in Iraq. 5 years, and so little to show for it.

Somebody once wrote that it's easier to fool somebody into accepting a Big Lie. We all commit small lies, but when it comes to life and death, it's hard for us to believe somebody would trick us, and lie about something that serious. Something like war.

America was fooled on purpose.
I tried to stop it.
And as time goes on there is more and more evidence like the Downing street Memo, which tell us that the "reasons" for the war, were nothing but excuses.
WMD, links to terrorists, nuclear weapons, "We don't want the Smoking Gun to be a mushroom cloud". All of it, just for the sake of Fear. This was not an investigation. The goal was always war. A better goal for a democratic nation would be justice, order and stability.

The congress and the press failed us. They believed the Whitehouse, instead of scholars and generals. They followed the herd, instead of getting a second opinion.

Today, there are no good options in Iraq. We leave, and Iraq falls apart. We stay, and America falls apart.

We have nothing good to show for ourselves after 5 years.

National Debt, international hatred, economic crisis...
These are deep wounds, serious problems, that we willfully brought upon ourselves.
And the fact that we've gotten rid of some punk dictator, and trained a couple thousand Iraqis to manage their country again doesn't make me feel better about it.

Fuck the War.


War Numbers,



Timeline before the war 2001-2003, How this all started.
Remember this.
First Ultimatum: We demanded Saddam let Weapons Inspectors in or face war. Saddam let them in by November 2002. Iraq is stubborn at first, but making concessions and actively disarming.
March 2003, Hans Blix is in Iraq looking for WMD, publishes the first Weapons Inspection report, Things going well, cooperation.
Dispite progress Bush strangely "advises" UN Inspectors to leave the country in the middle of their work. Next day...

Second Ultimatum: Saddam Leave the Country, and take your two sons with you in 48 hours, or else we bomb you. (this impossible request, on live TV, is what realy led to war. Saddam agreed to inspections, so Bush just raised the bar to an impossable height)

I challenge you to go back and read some of this. We lived through it, but in retrospect we can see just how bogus these claims were.
September-November 2002 is interesting, that's when Bush speaks to the UN, the US Congress passes the Authorization to use force in Iraq, and Saddam Lets the UN Inspectors into the country.
Also interesting the just before the war after about March 7 2003, Check out some of the news articles published then, it feels like 1984.

Bush in his own words


Timeline of the War 2003-2008
Just browse through this timeline, it highlights some of the major news with photos and gives details. you'll be amazed at all the stuff the you haven't thought about in a while.




Articles

Buffalo News Article


UK Article, inside Iraq


War Hurting the American Economy

War and the Working Class



Share your Thoughts, Links, and News Articles below.


dcoffee - 03/20/08 18:25
Another link, Quotes from the Iraq War Sales Pitch
:::link:::
Cost, Casualties, time, troops, cakewalk
dcoffee - 03/20/08 13:30
Great New Documentary
Leading to War: See Where the Truth Lies :::link:::
Lots of video clips from the sales pitch for war.

One more thought. Right before the war, the UN Inspectors were in Iraq looking for weapons. The US kicked them out before they were done. Why not let them collect new evidence, and finish their work, before deciding if there was an imminent threat that justified invasion?
The Bush administration wanted to invade, and they knew there was no justification. They had private reasons for war, WMD and terrorism were only excuses that would never be proven, but they sounded good to a public terrified by 911.
dcoffee - 03/20/08 12:47
To Clarify,
When this president went to war he trusted Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Condi Rice. These people are not qualified to predict anything about the Middle East, except where the oil is.
Before going to war you should get the opinion of people who have actually lived there (wow what a concept), Diplomats and ambassadors who have negotiated with leaders in the Middle East. Scholars who spend their lives studying a region, visiting, researching and analyzing trends.

The problem during the lead up to this war, the media, Congress and the Executive branch neglected the opinion of scholars, diplomats, ambassadors, experts, and generals. They didn't want to listen, because the vast majority of experts were saying Bush was full of shit, they were resigning in protest, publishing books and articles, and otherwise trying to speak out, but America didn't listen. We still haven't accepted our failure.

If I knew this was bullshit, and I was just some college student at a state school, why couldn't congress figure it out?
joshua - 03/20/08 12:05
I think academics are useful as advisers but NEVER on actual policy making. Academics just aren't equipped for politics, nor can they make military decisions.

James you don't need to defend your humanities education! Without the humanities human culture would be a blank page.
james - 03/20/08 11:18
Jason, experts on a region are very often professors, Humanities professors. An English professor has not helped the president make a decision on international affairs since Clinton deployed an armada of sestinas to Bosnia.

Just wanted to stick up for my useless humanities education.
jason - 03/20/08 09:56
As always, I appreciate the post. See the thing is for me, I absolutely MUST distinguish between what is real, not real, cold hard fact, or simply supposition. As Carl Sagan said, and I use this quote all the time, extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. I take this attitude whether the claim is that Iran has a nuke, or whether the claim is that we were fooled on purpose.

Generals are the military equivalent of top corporate executives. Some of the motivations are the same. They also have different opinions about how a task can be accomplished. They are not monolithic. The biggest complaint I heard from Generals back in the beginning was that the politically motivated "light footprint" idea was nonsense, and that you needed a real force to get the job done right. Looking back it is hard to disagree.

Now, as far as scholars are concerned, I wonder what scholars you mean. If a sitting President were to take their cues on National Security, War and Peace from some random Humanities professor, or media studies professor, or English professor, I would say without a doubt they are a damned fool, and embarrassingly unfit to be our CIC. Now, if you were to ask an expert on the region for information on the pulse of the area, and what exactly their concerns are, what the cultural challenges are, if that's what you meant, then I would agree.

Of course, it is obvious to everyone that the aftermath has been handled abysmally, and was ill considered. All this money and blood and I can't say exactly what we've bought. One thing I can guarantee you is that the committed anti-war types who want an instant pullout, and impeachment, will never ever get what they want. That road leads only to a dead end. As I've said before, we are stuck eating our shit sandwich, and have to develop a smart plan to get the hell out without rendering useless everything we've done to this point. That is what you will get from a President Obama.

One last thing, I have to say this, I have an extremely cynical view of Liberal Elites like those at The Nation. They don't understand the military, they do not want to understand the military, other than as a humanitarian org, and a working class, Union, blue collar guy like my father would NEVER be allowed into their circles or little soirees. They think of people like my Dad as little people to be taken care of, to have things decided for them by the Elites. No, no, no. Fuck that. Sorry, just a little rantish side thought there.
dcoffee - 03/20/08 08:57
Axis of Evil, one down two to go.
paul - 03/19/08 22:29
I don't know what you are talking about. I feel so much safer without Saddam's finger on the nuclear weapons, right?
james - 03/19/08 22:24
They grow up so fast. One day you are participaiting in a 'die in' and then BAM it is five years later and you have run out of inconvenient spots to pretend you are dead.