Hassan Al-Rubaie is a public-safety communications technician for the regional 911 network who's a "Rock Band" expert and takes pride in being a gentleman. He's a huge Prince fan and a runner with a weakness for Salma Hayek and all things paisley.
If you want to build a big pretty modern building, then there are plenty of places around the city that type of building would actually fit in and for probably less money than it would cost on the Plaza. Regardless of the neighborhood, people never want new construction that doesn't fit the rest of the area. Maybe it's time for some local investors to buy out Highwoods so that we can protect one of our crown jewels.
I of course understand why people are so sensitive about this issue, but banning the building of a temple of worship is not the answer. Like everyone else has said, September 11th was about Islamic fundamentalist terrorists attacking us, not Islam. People have always feared what they don’t understand and unfortunately a good portion of the US doesn’t understand Islam. Honestly, if we don’t allow it to be built, then the terrorists have won. We can’t let the actions of misguided individuals change the basic ideals of our country; freedom, justice and liberty for all.
Let's not forget that most of us here in this country have ancestors that were immigrants to this country, and were not the native people of the land. You always hear people complaining about illegal immigrant workers, but honestly, they often happily do jobs that most American's would turn down their nose at. I just don't feel like this is a road we should go down, I don’t see what good will come of it.
Funding for 9-1-1 in the state of Missouri continues to be an issue that a lot of people are unaware of. There are a lot of reasons why this is occurring and one of them is because Missouri is the only state in the US that doesn’t have a tax on wireless devices to support 9-1-1. I of course won’t call any other states out by name, but I’d like to think that we’re more progressive than at least some of the other 49 states. Our generation is more technology driven and mobile than those before us, thus a good number of us have ditched our landline phones in favor of just having a wireless device. As more and more people do this though, there is less and less money to pay for a service that we all hope we never need, but a service we expect to be there when we do. In 2005, calls from wireless devices made up 44% of all 9-1-1 calls in the Greater KC region, in 2009 that number was 63%. Come on Missouri, “Show Me” that you care about 9-1-1.
I have to admit, I have seen some yard signs the last month or so, but didn’t realize that there was an election next week. I’m not going to vote just to vote, so having said that if I can get up to speed on the issues and the candidates then yes, otherwise I’ll be sitting this one out.
I don’t personally agree with the Tea Party’s political views or opinions, but one of the great things about this country is that I don’t have to. Of course I think that there might be some racist Tea Party members, just like there are some racist members of our general society. I don’t think this makes the organization as a whole a racist one, just like I don’t think our society as a whole is a racist one either. A friend’s husband recently had a post on his blog that racism doesn’t exist in America anymore; I guess he should turn on his TV.
I’ve actually made a strong effort not to text while driving in my personal and professional lives. I will reply while at a stoplight, but I don’t while I’m actually driving. I’m on the road a lot for work, and I do need to stay on top of things while I’m out and about. One solution I’ve found to that problem is I have downloaded a program to read my texts and emails to me while I’m on the road. Some might argue that even having messages read to you is a distraction as well, but it’s no worse than listening to the radio in my opinion.
There is unfortunately no easy answer to this dilemma. Like most other people, I have several family members and friends currently serving in our military, and I’d love for it to all be over and have everyone come home, but it’s just not that simple. The Afghans are a strong people and are not afraid of a fight. The Soviet Union found that out the hard way after invading and then leaving the country ten years later with their tail between their legs. Sadly this tenacity applies to those who want us there, as well as those who don’t. It may take longer than we want, but hopefully we will be able to get them on stable ground in a more timely fashion so that our troops can come home. Now the rest of the region is a whole different story…
I actually have several company cell phones as well as a company vehicle and I know that at any time any of my actions with any of those items are up for review. The public safety nature of my position actually puts me under in more scrutiny than some other industries since all of our records are public domain. I think that all employers anticipate some kind of personal use of cell phones, laptops, etc., but it's also common sense not to be grossly misusing and doing things using these company owned assets that you wouldn't want your boss to know about. We often have to remind people in the IT industry, “No, that’s not your computer, that’s the company’s’ computer.”
I historically have made an effort to go to BP stations when filling up my company vehicle as it is the recommended fuel for the vehicle. I did second guess continuing to do that when this tragedy began to unfold, but I have small business owners in my family and I know what kind of impact that can have on their livelihood. The environmental and political ramifications of this crisis will linger for quite some time I’m sure, but I’m only hurting a local business owner by not frequenting their establishments.
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