Leonard Pitts, that is.
24-hour news cycle conveys power to unworthyOne wonders if Pitts knows that by the mere mention of the crazy Florida preacher's name, he gave said preacher the very power he goes on to decry. I would surely hope he does, but then one never really knows, does one?
By LEONARD PITTS
Miami Herald
Sept. 11, 2010, 3:28PM
By the time you read this, Terry Jones will have burned the Quran.
Or not.
...or, Has Kathy Miller ever heard of the "argument from authority" logical fallacy?
“What used to be a sleepy little board operating under the radar has attracted national and international attention solely because some members of the state board have willfully ignored the advice of teachers and scholars and, instead, politicized the content decisions they are making,” said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, which monitors the State Board of Education and usually ends up on the opposite side from the Liberty Institute.Advice of teachers and scholars. Do these advisers really have that much credibility when they've been shown to be politicizing and modifying the curriculum to reflect their own politically correct ideology? Kevin Baker at The Smallest Minority recently pointed to a five-part essay in which said modification and its flaws vis-a-vis teaching American history was pointed out in stark detail. Here's just one example:
The author of the piece goes on to discuss his learning of "history viewed through the lens of race," and an example of it, the elevation of Crispus Attucks -- one of the colonists killed in the Boston Massacre -- to some sort of mythical figure seemingly because of his race (Attucks was, as you probably learned yourself, partly black), and how the American Revolution section of his history class revolved around Attucks. I'll honestly say I don't remember being taught that Crispus Attucks was "the original American patriot, a noble-minded martyr who almost singlehandedly brought America to independence" -- but I also do not remember being taught the names of the four other individuals who died in the Boston Massacre, either. Attucks' name was the only one I remember being taught. As the author of the piece also says:Editors [at Houghton Mifflin] were put in the hands of revisionist historians, Islamist activists, and diversity counters. … Its eighth-grade history, Creating America, produced by Houghton Mifflin’s McDougal Littell imprint, … identifies ten representative American heroes:
Abigail Adams
Crispus Attucks
Andrew Jackson
Queen Liluokalanai
Abraham Lincoln
Juan Seguin
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
George Washington
Ida B. Wells
Zitkala-Sa
In this popular textbook, to counteract the unfortunately necessary inclusion of the three Dead White Male presidents on the list (Washington, Lincoln and Jackson), the publishers selected an array of second-tier historical figures whose ethnic diversity is beyond reproach — and also ensured that the genders were represented equally as well. And while I have no problem with students learning about Queen Liluokalanai and the rest of the crew, in context, I fear that America’s children are coming away with the impression that these really are the most important people in our nation’s history, and not just a list assembled at random to satisfy multicultural pressure groups.
The Washington Post's Michael Gerson, in today's San Antonio Express-News:
Even Democrats who agree with President Obama's ideology, respect his tenacity and admire his deliberative manner have begun to whisper: Maybe he isn't a very good politician. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who is genetically incapable of whispering, puts it bluntly: “Ironically, the best communicator I ever saw in a campaign has turned out to be not so good at getting out the message as president.”Not so good? On the contrary, the message seems to be loud and clear: "Government knows best, you ignorant rubes, specifically Big Government! Run by Democrats with nothing more than a token minority who's supposed to go along to get along!" What Michael Gerson is describing is Barack Obama's petty narcissist coming out because the message isn't being received as well as he'd like it to be. And surely that was not a surprise to Gerson. Surely he's been paying more attention than that. (Surely, for example, he remembers this.) If he hasn't...well, I guess I shouldn't expect better from the Washington Post, especially considering some of the other columnists that rag has in its editorial stable.
And yeah, I'm sure you know where I'm going with this.
I'm sure the writers of Jason Aldean's "Crazy Town" probably thought they were bringing a fresh new song idea to the table...but how many of you remember this song?
Just a question, about the folks burning the Koran on Saturday: If the pundits would stop talking about it so much, wouldn't that be the best thing that could happen? Everybody talks about it being a nice little recruitment tool for al-Qaeda -- but if fewer people were talking about it, wouldn't that be a good way to marginalize them? I don't get it...
...Mayor Richard Daley, that is, on innumerable counts of violating 18 USC 241 and 18 USC 242 (the civil rights statutes), as Joe Huffman suggested a few years ago. But I suppose his stepping down is progress. Not much, though.
...or, More not-so-random musical observations prompted by hearing a certain song by a certain artist yesterday afternoon at HEB...
Would you like to know just why I turned into a metalhead? Because in the span of just over four decades, mainstream country has gone from "Sing Me Back Home" to Carrie Underwood singing about some dude stealing her happy. I do love me some sugary pop music when it's done right -- witness my fondness for Kelly Clarkson -- but not when it's marketed as "country." And I realize that country music has had its bad songs and good with every time period, but I just can't help but think it's gotten stagnant, if not progressively worse, over the last decade or so. I know that for every George Strait there's been a Lee Greenwood, and that for every Merle Haggard there's been a Barbara Mandrell. And I will admit there are some bright spots in modern country, with traditional-leaning singers like Easton Corbin, Jamey Johnson, Chris Young and Miranda Lambert. But Haggard and Strait got to be superstars of the genre, and I'm not so sure the same is going to be said of the newer traditional singers. I've said before that I don't really need my music tastes validated by everyone else buying the same music I do, but just the same it really bothers me that most of the traditionalists seem to have been relegated to B-list or lower A-list status these days...
Since I don't have anything else for today, and I am trying to be a good blogger and post at least once a day...
Recently one of the topics in the gun blogosphere was another of Bradyite Dennis Henigan's rants in the Huffington Post. In said rant he cited Molly Ivins' famous column (discussed previously here and here) in which she observed (in her own half-witted attempt at snarky humor) that people were seldom killed by cleaning their knives:
Let me start this discussion by pointing out that I am not antigun. I'm proknife. Consider the merits of the knife.
In the first place, you have to catch up with someone in order to stab him. A general substitution of knives for guns would promote physical fitness. We'd turn into a whole nation of great runners. Plus, knives don't ricochet. And people are seldom killed while cleaning their knives.
Willie Johnson was locking up his store Monday night
And someone snuck in and they commenced a fight
His wife Amelia found him lying on the freezer floor
Now this sleepy little town, it ain't sleepy no more
Sheriff Walker holds three local boys in jail
They confessed right down to the last detail
They beat Willie with a bat, he was 70 years old
Then they bought some beer with the six dollars they stole
A letter to the editor in yesterday's San Antonio Express-News:
The Express-News is a reflection of tea party philosophy, and will never be in the same league as the New York Times.Well. I sure as hell hope it's never in the same league as Pravda-on-Hudson, especially considering the sub-mousegun caliber of some of the scribes who have worked there over the years. It would seem that in a way the Express-News at least once upon a time was even better than the NYT, considering the fact that Jayson Blair cribbed from one of its stories.
...the best thing to stop an armed bad guy is an armed good guy?
A pawn shop worker fatally shot a 50-year-old customer after the man loaded a handgun from the case with his own ammo, left the store and fired a round at the employee.So much for the anti-gunners' contention that if the bad guy pulls his gun first the good guys might as well not even be armed. And how about that headline? 'Pawn shop worker kills customer'? No bias there, no sir.
The Houston Chronicle reported Sunday that Melvin Clark, a regular customer entered Northwest Pawn Shop on Saturday afternoon and asked to see a pistol. Clark loaded his own ammo into the weapon with the store employee's approval.
Clark left the store, turned and fired at the employee. Officials say the employee returned fire, killing Clark.
...the song mentioned here was not the first George Strait song that the station mentioned in that post did not play. They also blacklisted "Murder On Music Row" from what I remember, due (I think) to their fear that it would alienate the younger audience. Strangely enough, though, KPLX also went after that younger demographic with Willie and Waylon as well as **gritting teeth** Tim and Kenny. One can only guess the reasoning behind that.
Something to the effect that all cultural norms and standards are equally valid and that no culture's norms and standards should be judged by another culture's norms and standards?
The Vatican on Sunday raised the possibility of using behind-the-scenes diplomacy to try to spare the life of an Iranian widow sentenced to be stoned for adultery.Talking to Sabra the other day, I observed how ironic it was that the feminist movement is still so overwhelmingly liberal, considering modern liberals' attitudes towards phenomena such as multiculturalism and cultural relativism -- that is, that they would be aligned with such an ideology considering certain cultures' attitudes toward females. I did this on the heels of telling her about something I saw at work -- a little Mexican boy, couldn't have been any more than about six years old, telling his slightly older sister, "Fuck you!" and his mother not doing anything about it. Sabra had mentioned before to me that the Mexican culture values boys much more than girls, or something to that effect. Because of that, in the Mexican culture males can get away with all sorts of behavior toward females (such as what was mentioned above) at which American feminists would rightly be aghast. Yet said feminists align themselves with an ideology that will tolerate this just because it's another culture's standard. The first comment I saw this story was this:
NOW organization strangely quiet about treatment of women in the Muslim world. Why is that? Is it because they hope Muslims will vote for Democrats?It certainly seems that way, doesn't it?
..
Anti-War Moms are strangely quiet about the escalation of the Afghan war. Why is that? Is it because a Democrat President did it?
..
Can we conclude that issues of life and death take second place to power and money with the Left?
More live recordings from Queensryche...from back in the day:
QUEENSRŸCHE has partnered with Capitol/EMI for the September 28 release of an expanded 20th-anniversary edition of the band's triple platinum-certified breakout album "Empire". The new 2CD and digital packages both include the remastered album, featuring six hit singles, including the #1 smash "Silent Lucidity", as well as 13 bonus tracks, among them 10 previously unreleased live performances recorded in 1990 at London's Hammersmith Odeon.
...
01. ResistanceYes indeed, I bet that live cd is going to kick all sorts of ass. From what I remember, most of the live cuts on the classic Queensryche remasters came from the Building Empires tour and they all sounded great. I was thinking just the other day how great it'd be to have a live cut of "Jet City Woman." Only thing that'd make it better is a live cut of "Anybody Listening" or "NM 156"...
02. Walk In The Shadows
03. Best I Can
04. The Thin Line
05. Jet City Woman
06. Empire
07. Roads To Madness
08. Take Hold Of The Flame
09. Silent Lucidity
10. Hand On Heart
...just not this one:
Does anyone care that criminals, domestic abusers, terrorists and dangerously mentally ill people can get guns in the secondary markets without background checks?I'm guessing the above-quoted blogger doesn't give a shit about the fact that these allegedly dangerous people aren't locked up tighter than Dick's hatband in the first place. This seems to be a common thread among those clamoring for tighter gun laws -- they don't seem to care about the fact that these dangerous people are walking free in the first place. I understand that locking up every single mentally ill person might not be feasible. My wife pointed out as much one day as we were driving, and it is a good point. But as for the rest of them, I don't understand why they all can't be locked away for the good of society...for teh childrenses, even.
From comments to this Paul Krugman column (emphasis mine -- ed.):
If the GOP takes the House and Senate, which will not happen, what will be the FIRST legislative act that they will pass which will immediately make every thing right? What is this secret? What will they do to get businesses to hire, other than cutting taxes, which is in reality just another government bailout?Cutting taxes is a government bailout? Just whose money does this guy think it is? It would seem he thinks it's the government's money to begin with. This is how modern liberals think, folks. This is the extent to which the "progressives" have hijacked liberalism. Such a shame, too, because once upon a time they really did love free markets and everything else that made America great. Now they're just a bunch of borderline Communists.
Not so much, if this story is any indication:
Retama Park begins its 16th season of live racing this evening, but the thoroughbreds won't rescue the Selma racetrack from dire financial straits.
...
Texas track officials are turning to a well-worn idea in hopes of reversing their fortunes: A constitutional amendment to allow slot machines at racetracks.
...
Slot proponents won't get the backing of either candidate for governor. Both Gov. Rick Perry and Bill White oppose expanding gambling.One wonders why Bill White would oppose such a thing, especially given his campaign ads in which he touts the jobs his policies helped create (and the taxes said policies helped keep a lid on) during his tenure as mayor of Houston. Is he really going to try that hard to go after the damn social conservative vote? Is said voting bloc really that strong? I find that difficult to believe. But maybe that's the optimist in me talking and hoping this state isn't in that much trouble. I really didn't think White could count on any of those people to vote for him anyway, but I suppose I could be wrong.
I find myself asking that question once again this morning as I read Leonard Pitts (emphasis mine -- ed.):
(Glenn) Beck was promoting his “Restoring Honor” rally, which was held Saturday at the Lincoln Memorial, 47 years to the day after Martin Luther King famously spoke there. You'll notice he didn't define the “we” he had in mind, but it seems reasonable to suppose Beck was speaking of people like himself: affluent middle-age conservatives possessed of the ability to see socialism and communism in places where it somehow escapes the notice of others.Sure, it seems reasonable...if all you're looking to do is gin up another bitch-and-moan fest about those eeeeevil conservatives. But how about we take Pitts' reasoning here and turn it back at him?
...
We” is celebrities like Harry Belafonte, Marlon Brando and Pernell Roberts of “Bonanza,” lending their names, their wealth and their labor to the cause of freedom.
...or, How could he say this with a straight face?
Backed by the Tea Party Express and Sarah Palin, a little-known conservative lawyer from Alaska became the latest newcomer to the national political stage to take down an incumbent in 2010.What an outrageous insult to the voters of Alaska. Does anyone really think Scott McAdams would not have been slinging his own fair share of mud at Lisa Murkowski had she been his opponent in the general election? We all know that Scott McAdams and his people would likely concede the damn race before they were so magnanimous in it at that point. At any rate I would love to see how they're going to counter Miller's message and whether the countering of that message is going to resonate, especially with the nation's finances in the shape they're in.
In arguably the biggest political upset of the year, Joe Miller claimed the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate when incumbent GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski conceded Tuesday evening.
...
Miller will face Democrat Scott McAdams, a small town mayor, in the November general election. The former commercial fisherman was given little chance against Murkowski, and as of June 30 had raised less than $10,000.
But Democrats figure his chances are better against Miller, and they plan to present him as a moderate, rational alternative.
"Lisa Murkowski is a class act who always put Alaska first," McAdams said in a statement late Tuesday. "By contrast, lawyer Joe Miller ran an unfair, nasty campaign that didn't extend to Lisa Murkowski the respect she deserves."
...that we're going in the other direction.
You know what's just an indescribably sad commentary on American society? That a woman like Elizabeth Gilbert can write a book like Eat, Pray, Love and not be ostracized as the selfish, narcissistic, sociopathic ingrate she shows herself to be. Not only has she not been ostracized, but she has actually been painted as some sort of sympathetic figure; and now her ode to selfishness is a major motion picture starring Julia Roberts. What would the reaction to that book have been if it had been written by a man -- if the damn thing even got published? I guess it just goes to show that whole "equal treatment" thing only goes so far with some people...well, apparently a LOT of people, if the success of Gilbert's book is any indication.
And we're supposed to think that gays getting married is a threat to the institution? All righty then...
...from Arlington, Texas, a referral from the Google search: "why is kscs the only radio station in dallas area playing breath you take by george strait".
Why? Well, I'd wager it's because 95.9 The Ranch doesn't play mainstream country, and 99.5 the Wolf sucks ever since they blew it up back in late '08. How's that?
Only thing I can say to this is, God bless America:
Antoine Dodson's angry, head-shaking TV interview about an attempted rape against his younger sister in her bed has turned into a chart-topping iTunes song and YouTube hit and made the 24-year-old Alabama college student an Internet sensation.
...
Dodson plans to use the money from the "Bed Intruder Song" selling for $1.29 a download and T-shirt sales to move his family out of the Lincoln Park housing project where they say the attack happened. But in an era when a viral video clip can rocket anyone to stardom, some suggest that Dodson and his family are being used and that his online rant plays to racial stereotypes.Wow, I for one never would have expected that. It's only right that Antoine Dodson get the money from the song made out of his TV rant, of course, but I don't know if I'd agree about the "playing to racial stereotypes" thing. We all have different ways of expressing ourselves. If that was a family member of mine that had gotten raped I'd be spewing all kinds of vitriol -- if, of course, said rapist managed to not die of his sucking chest and head wounds. I do hope Mr. Dodson buys himself a good-quality firearm to protect his family with, though -- and stays the hell out of Chicago. (Like I told my wife one night, "I'm sure parts of Chicago are really nice. Of course, I'm sure parts of Tehran are really nice too...")
Blog (and Facebook) friend Mike W. made the observation that the movie based on John Grisham's The Runaway Jury was changed; that is, they changed the company being sued from a tobacco company to a gun manufacturer. I know well that the idea for suing the latter came from the suits against the former, and from what I remember the book was full of anti-tobacco propaganda; however, I still wonder why (if indeed he did) Grisham allowed the filmmakers to make that change. If it'd been my book there wouldn't have been enough money in the world to get me to let them do that.What an ugly change, especially after A Time to Kill. No doubt they'd have made much of the "easy availability" of full-auto M-16s...
...and I do mean bitter...the Rev. Al Sharpton ranting, "This is our day! This is OUR day! And we're NOT gonna let them take that away from us!" when, if Martin Luther King Jr. were still alive, he would have wanted it to be everyone's day, no matter his or her race, color or creed. Would that someone would have asked Sharpton the question Bill Whittle was asking five years ago:
"Have you not met and talked and laughed with people who were funny, decent, upright, honest and honorable of every shade so that the very idea of racial politics should just seem like a desperate and divisive and just plain evil tactic to hold power?"
...and New Orleans still gets all the attention, when points to the east were devastated to much the same extent as that city was by Hurricane Katrina. Several towns along the Mississippi coast -- Bay St. Louis, Waveland, Pass Christian, Long Beach, Gulfport, and Biloxi -- were all heavily damaged. I seem to remember that Waveland, Pass Christian, and Long Beach were almost wiped off the map. But no one's talking about the citizens of those towns and how they're recovering. I wonder why that is. I realize more people were affected in Louisiana, but those three counties along the Mississippi coast are home to almost 400,000 people -- and of course Katrina's devastation didn't stop at those counties' northern boundaries. Don't the stories of the Mississippians' recovery deserve to be told to the nation too?
Welcome, visitors from Walls of the City! Main page is here, pull up a seat and stay a while!
The big straw man Al Sharpton sets up here, that is:
"They have a right to rally. But what they don't have the right do is distort what Dr. King's dream was about," the Rev. Al Sharpton declared Friday. He called the tea party assembly an anti-government action and has organized a counter rally also near the site of King's historic speech.So the tea partiers are anarchists now? I don't mean to say there's anything particularly wrong with anarchism, but I don't understand why Al Sharpton can't at least tell the undistorted truth about what the tea party is about -- SMALLER government, NOT no government at all -- other than, of course, the fact that Sharpton is an inveterate demagogue.
"As an experienced politician, I know that things do not happen by accident. If they happen, somebody planned it. And I say that someone planned to hijack the site and the message of Martin Luther King Jr. in an effort to use it against the very principles of inclusion that we talk about in America," said the Reverend Walter Fauntroy, who marched with King and was by his side during the speech forty-seven years ago.I don't see how Glenn Beck's and Sarah Palin's smaller-government message promotes any value of exclusion. That's quite a message Fauntroy's promoting to American blacks, i.e., "Only a big, powerful, overreaching government can protect you." Talk about inclusion on his part -- that's insulting to damn near everyone, no matter his or her race.
...
"Fast forward now to August 28, 2010, and one has to admit that those who oppose our nation's vaunted ‘universal value of inclusion’ have seized the hallowed ground of the Lincoln Memorial on the 47th anniversary of that watershed moment in time to promote their universal values of exclusion," (Fauntroy) says. "Their purpose is to turn the clock back to a time when, in America, black people and women, and native Americans and non-white immigrants had no rights to jobs and freedom that white men were 'bound to respect.'
...or, Principled?
McCain need not muscle anyone out of the way to play the role for which he is uniquely fitted. He simply needs to set his own course and form his own ad hoc alliances, as he has always done, with a Tom Coburn on the right or a Russ Feingold on the left.One wonders, for example, what principles led John McCain (and Russ Feingold) to come up with that abomination to the Constitution known as campaign finance "reform." You know, the "reform" McCain defended by saying, "I would rather have a clean government than one where quote First Amendment rights are being respected, that has become corrupt. If I had my choice, I’d rather have the clean government." It's all fine and good to be principled, but what if those principles are antithetical to those which the Founding Fathers pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to defend -- and that millions of American soldiers have given so much to defend?
One of the conspicuous failings in the last few years has been the absence of a second party making principled decisions on when to support and when to oppose the president. McCain has the best opportunity - and the best credentials - to restore this.
...from none other than Mr. David Codrea:
Let the environmentalcases run things, and before you know it they'll be banning dihydrogen monoxide.Yes, indeed. I don't know why there seems to be such surprise coming from certain quarters, though, considering whom we elected. He came from Chicago, for crying out loud. Why would anyone NOT expect him and his people to get their agenda enacted by a bunch of unelected bureaucrats accountable to no one?
Sabra, Esther (my youngest stepdaughter) and I were at Armadillos for lunch earlier, with the jukebox playing. They had this cd on the jukebox, and someone played a cut from it. Of all the songs they could have played, guess which one they played? (Hint: The only damn CDB song everyone else plays.) I was more than a little nonplussed by that. I didn't get the chance to, but I should have played "In America" or "The Legend of Wooley Swamp." Next time I am there, I think I'll do that...
...or, Kathleen Parker shows her ignorance once again, as she harps on divisions that have been in the American body politic going back to colonial times. One wonders if in her next column she'll bitch about the fact that the sun rises in the east. If Parker had half a brain and knew how to use it she'd have mentioned the fact that Martin Luther King Jr.'s niece will be speaking at the Glenn Beck rally and eschewing a competing rally by professional race-baiter Al Sharpton because she claims Sharpton is just stirring up hate and resentment. She also could have pointed out that no one race has an exclusive claim on MLK's legacy. I guess slamming Sarah Palin was a higher priority. Perhaps I shouldn't have expected better from her, but still I do. Damn me and my standards.
...even if it's from the album that's regarded in some quarters as the band's sellout album.
I've probably said this before, but Metallica's self-titled black album was my introduction to that band; I really like it, but after I got the band's earlier releases I discovered I liked Metallica as a thrash metal band a lot more than I like them as a hard rock band. (I got Load as a gift one year but I could count on one hand the times I've listened to it. Didn't even bother with Reload; nothing I heard off that album appealed to me.) Anyway, I heard "The Unforgiven" making the dinner run earlier; that's always been one of my favorite songs off that album, even if it was a ballad. I really should dig that cd out again...
Also, if you've grown up never doing any hard work, don't expect to excel at it right away (or maybe ever) when you're an (alleged) "adult." Everyone should spend at least a couple of summers hauling hay or watermelons or something so you know what you're getting into.Yes, indeed. I did that for about three summers in junior high school. Never threw it on the trailer, but I did drive the truck pulling the trailer -- and I also cut, raked and baled the hay. And I didn't do those last three on a tractor with an air-conditioned cab, either; but for the small top over the tractor's rollbar, I was fully exposed to the summer heat. I thought it was a blast because I got to drive, but it was hot and dusty as hell. It'll damn sure make you appreciate hard work -- and that office job you get if you're lucky later.
You might already know this, but I am an inveterate channel-surfer, even with the satellite radio. I left my iPod at home yesterday when I went to work and left the satellite radio at home with my wife, so I was left with terrestrial radio. So last night when I was driving home, I came upon Y100 playing Texas music just after 11. I remember hearing the Randy Rogers Band, Pat Green and Roger Creager. Good stuff, right? So I'm thinking, "Well, at least they play some Texas music, even if it is when everybody's asleep." Then I heard the deejay talking about the show...which he said was from 11 to 12 every Sunday night. Wow. One whole hour every week. Way to support the Texas-red dirt scene there, guys.
As if that wasn't bad enough...apparently the program director or whoever programs the music for that show considers 1990s NASHVILLE also-rans Little Texas to be worthy of inclusion on it. You'd think they could and would do better to promote Texas-red dirt music here. I guess they think the Texas music would scare off the tourists, so they play it when the tourists are sleeping off their buzzes. Pardonnez mon francais, but that's just fucking pathetic. (Yeah, Scott, I know I shouldn't expect any better, but I still do...)
Commenter Mongol, in the comments to this post:
If someone trys to panhandle me for "Food Money", I like to offer them $1 for every pack of cigarettes on them and $3 for their MP3 player. I figure that if they are truely hungry, they will jump at the chance. I plan on letting them keep their stuff if they agree to the deal, but I haven't had anybody say yes yet.Dude, that is brilliant! I had never thought of that, though I'm sure if you raised the asking price for the smokes there might be more takers. Many times when I go to the store I look to see how much a pack of smokes costs and I am just amazed -- and quite glad that I do not smoke. There's no way I could drop $20 a day on a cigarette habit. I am also not surprised there have been no takers, considering the fact that the panhandlers obviously have their spending priorities messed up; for the price of a pack of cigs, you could buy yourself a pretty fair meal at pretty much any fast-food restaurant in the land.
...shouldn't be allowed to have kids:
A man shot his pregnant girlfriend before killing himself early Friday as police converged on him at a house northwest of downtown, officers said.
...
After wrestling on the bed, Corona dared her boyfriend to shoot her, prompting him to point the weapon at her, pull the trigger and then leave the house on foot.Were it not for the innocent unborn child, I'd have said it's just too damn bad she didn't die as it would have been more chlorination of the gene pool. Really? Dare your boyfriend to shoot you as you're carrying his child?? Mother of the year material right there, yes sir...
This link at Kevin Baker's place this morning reminded me of this story I read earlier this summer in the San Antonio Express-News:
Fierce competition for public school teaching jobs this summer could be difficult enough without being seen as a second-rate candidate, as those emerging from alternative teacher certification programs are sometimes viewed.I must say that I never understood that. I honestly thought the folks who went through the alt-cert program would have been more valuable with their real-world experience, as opposed to education majors who know just education better than anything else. And I would never cast aspersions on elementary education majors as all being like they were in the above-linked exchange any more than any other major...though I must say it'd be quite frightening to run up on, for example, an aerospace engineering major who had that mindset.
...or, Yet another rant I've had bouncin' around in the ole noggin lately.
I recently read a review of a new song from Carrie Underwood in which the author said Underwood "has much talent." This made me think of something I've been wondering about for a while, namely this: Does your talent really matter if you don't put it to good use?
I hear people talk all the time about how Carrie Underwood is such a greeeeat singer, that she sings like an aaangel. And every time those sentiments are expressed, I think, "Well, even if she does have such a good voice, she throws it away on some really crappy songs." (Honestly, does it get any more banal than "Jesus Take the Wheel"? And it really hasn't gotten much better from there...)
And the same goes for, to cite another example, the '80s hair band Winger. If you'll recall, ex-Winger guitar player Reb Beach not long ago was calling Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett one of the worst guitar players he'd ever heard. As I said in comments here:
'...going from what I've read, I'd say both Kip Winger and Reb Beach both have some major issues going on with not only jealousy, but also insecurity. Winger has been quoted as saying his band was the "'hair band' Dream Theater" and that "Metallica couldn't play what we play." If that's the case, if Winger was so damn good, then why did they just go for the low-hanging fruit with songs like "Seventeen" and "Headed For A Heartbreak"?'
In other words, Winger might have been good, but from what I've heard they were by and large a joke among the headbangers in their day precisely because of the lowest common denominator songs that made them famous. Winger might have been the "hair band Dream Theater," but they pissed all their talent away on crappy music too. So what does it matter if they WERE talented?
I'm sure readers could probably think of more examples...
My wife, on the problems with modern Nashville "country" music, shortly after I asked her when Richie McDonald got castrated:
"I thought he came that way!"
And then a few minutes later...
"That's what it is. Gary Allan is going around Nashville cutting off everyone's testicles to enlarge his own."
Sounds like a logical explanation to me...
Well, not really. I know the prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment protects all of us, and the price we pay for that is certain murderers not getting exactly what they deserved. As I was telling my lovely wife yesterday, though, it would have been really nice if Peter Cantu (and his partners in crime) were to be put down the same way they killed -- to experience the terror and pain they inflicted on Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena.
But at least Randy Ertman wasn't subjected to another self-righteous harangue from a death penalty opponent this time around. So at least there's that.
...or, Hey, let's be like the Authorized Journalists and not do our research and fact-checking! (http://gunfreezone.net/wordpress/index.php/2010/08/12/why-i-hate-the-nra-not-really-but-lets-jump-in-the-bandwagon-for-a-spell/)
Here we go again with the NRA bashing. Somebody said that somebody in Texas said that the NRA is going to back some representative that they don’t like or belongs to a party or another that does not like and the blogosphere once again is filled with NRA-Sucks posts even though the NRA has not issued yet a single report/support for anybody for the upcoming November elections. But let’s not get the facts get in the way of a well traveled post that can generate thousands of hits, shall we?Oh? Here's a fact:
The announcement yesterday that Chet Edwards received the endorsement of two of the states most prominent groups, the Texas Farm Bureau AGFUND and the National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund has made news throughout the district and is adding to the momentum of Edwards’ reelection campaign.Maybe that post should have read, "Let's not let the facts get in the way of another half-witted poke at those who have legitimate gripes about whom the NRA supports." Or were the Bryan-College Station Eagle and the other papers who reported the NRA endorsement lying?
...
The National Rifle Association and the Texas Farm Bureau unveiled their support for Edwards during a four-city tour through the 17th Congressional District. Their backing could prove useful in the strongly conservative district.”
– Bryan College Station Eagle
...on fans of certain college sports teams.
I don't know why Renee Gork didn't grab an Arkansas hat instead of a Florida hat, but (pardon the term) it's just fucking retarded that she would actually lose her job over shit like that. Dear God, but I'm glad I lead a life so full that I can't find it in me to give a shit about the hat that some sportswriter wears as he (or she) is covering my favorite team.
An unnamed Facebook friend spoke of discussing the meaning of being a Christian and a constitutionalist. His comment to someone else's comment on his status:
Other participants complained that the social conservatives were casting aspersions upon their Christianity.I'd almost be surprised if such didn't happen. It has always struck me that social cons cast aspersions, directly and indirectly, on everyone who doesn't think as they do. It'd be bad enough if that was as far as it went, but then now and then they have to go off and put everyone else's rights in danger just so, for example, gay people can't get married. I am sure the folks who'd want to write a new constitution do comprise a distinct minority, but I wouldn't be surprised if more social conservatives didn't have a problem with at least trying the amendment route before they'd support writing a new constitution.
I was Googling this morning and came upon this. I don't have it yet -- the self-titled EP is the only one of the classic albums from Queensryche that I don't have yet but WANT, but more so now.
Why? Because the remastered & reissued version of it has the Live In Tokyo VHS on it, in its entirety. For some reason I was thinking that Live In Tokyo recording had just live versions of the songs on the self-titled EP. But looking at the track listing I see "Deliverance" on here -- one of my favorite, FAVORITE songs from The Warning, which in turn is my favorite of the classic Queensryche albums. It will be mine, oh yes...it will be mine.
Speaking of The Warning, Albatross, what was your take on that album? Not to detract from the greatness of Mindcrime, but IMO The Warning was the album that showed Queensryche at the top of its game as a prog-metal band...
...but just a start:
The city of Atlanta will pay $4.9 million to the family of Kathryn Johnston, a 92-year-old woman killed in a botched November 2006 drug raid, Mayor Kasim Reed's office announced Monday.As Tam says, though, that doesn't bring Kathryn Johnston back. I am sure that nor is it likely to make TPTB in Atlanta or anywhere else start lobbying at least to rethink the whole War On Some Drugs nonsense and its deleterious effects, and that's just a damn shame.
I only hope there are as many more of him as the Republicans think and hope there are:
To: The Honorable Sen. Harry Reid:One would think there were more of them than the mainstream media would like us to believe, just because of the Democrats' position on abortion all by itself; I don't know for sure, but I've heard that Hispanics are overwhelmingly pro-life and beyond that are very socially conservative. As far as belief in free markets, the right to bear arms and such goes I am not sure. Some days I am really pessimistic, though, especially as I read supposedly conservative pundits like Ruben Navarrette calling a certain segment of Americans "those who love their guns more than they love Mexico." I guess we'll see where the chips fall come November. It'll tell quite the tale, no doubt.
Re: Your question about how any Hispanic can be Republican:
Let me explain. Not only am I a Republican. I'm also a conservative and tea party member and supporter.
...what would have prevented this, right?
Two men were jailed Saturday morning after they killed a southwest-side convenience store manager in an attempted robbery, police said.Car registration and driver licensing. Right? It's just common sense!
One of the men tried to steal from the Chevron near Dairy Ashford and Brant Rock around 10 p.m. Friday. The manager, who was not identified, confronted him, authorities said.
When the fight spilled into the parking lot, the getaway driver ran over the manager, officers said.
Oh, now this is riiiich:
An anonymous, twentysomething blogger is giving Mexicans what they can't get elsewhere — an inside view of their country's raging drug war.Yawn. Ethical considerations? Social responsibilities? Good Lord in heaven, but modern journalists have no shame whatsoever. I fail to see how publishing pictures of the havoc the cartels are wreaking on the streets of Mexico is not a journalistic act. And I have to wonder -- just how socially responsible is it, for example, to publish a list of concealed-carry permit holders, thereby giving criminals a shopping list? You know what I think? I think the journalist groups criticizing this blogger are just pissed off that they're not the ones getting the scoop or the hits. And it's their own damn fault, really. You can call it just one more example of those in charge at the newspapers being behind the curve vis-a-vis their own business model. I'm not surprised that none of Mexico's major media outlets didn't think of it beforehand, because I don't know why the people in charge at said outlets would be any smarter than their American counterparts. But this sniping at the bloggers in general is quite unbecoming of the traditional journalists.
...
Critics say it's free public relations for the cartels.
"Media outlets have social responsibilities and have to serve the public," said Carlos Lauria, of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. "This is being produced by someone who is not doing it from a journalistic perspective. He is doing it without any ethical considerations."
This is my knife. There are many like it but this one is mine:
...because if you read his letter here (second one down), you will see he doesn't say a word about cutting spending. I guess he's one of those folks who thinks Medicare and Social Security are perfectly sustainable with current levels of spending and projected increases. Of course, with that mentality probably comes a host of other sheep-like tendencies -- which means, of course, that he'll be one of the first to get eaten.
...or, anti-gay marriage argument FAIL, from a corner that's not so surprising:
The decision by a single, openly gay federal judge to strike down the will of 7 million Californians...is judicial vigilantism equal to Roe vs. Wade.One wonders what Cal Thomas would have been saying had the judge struck down a handgun ban endorsed by those same 7 million Californians. This is why I don't really consider myself a conservative or Republican so much anymore; just like the liberals and the Democrats too, they'll only stand up for the civil rights they agree with and make bullshit arguments like "x number of people voted for this!" I see Cal Thomas says Muslims are right about what's wrong with Americans. One wonders if he would endorse the same fate for gays that the Muslim fanatics do. After all, Thomas seems to imply that gay people are an abomination before God -- an opinion shared, no doubt, by those Muslim fanatics Thomas says are on to something when they opine about what's wrong with America. I'd like to think Cal Thomas doesn't want to stone, shoot, hang or behead gays, but it almost sounds like he really wouldn't have any problem with that...
(Holy smokes, it's a JayG-and-Borepatch-a-lanche! Welcome, new people! Main page is here, pull up a seat and stay a while!)
I've been mulling over this post for a couple of weeks, especially since I read this post from Borepatch.
No doubt everyone who has at least a cursory knowledge of rock history knows about the shenanigans of the Parents' Music Resource Center back in the 1980s, and their witch hunt of sorts targeted at certain rock and metal musicians. I was pondering this the last couple of weeks, and thought once again of Iron Maiden.
Maiden was, of course, one of the bands the PMRC accused of promoting Satanism. If I remember right the gang accused the band of promoting Satanism with backmasking, as well as the lyrics to "Number of the Beast." I can't really speak to the backmasking thing, because, well, I never listened to an Iron Maiden record backwards. However, anyone who listens to the song "Number of the Beast" should be able to tell that the song isn't promoting Satanism. For one, the song was written about a man who ran into a satanic ritual in the woods. And for two, he wasn't making that out to be a good thing, as you know if you've heard the song:
This can't go onIn other words, he was wanting to get the hell outta Dodge and tell someone what was going on.
I must inform the law
The curse it lives on in their eyesand
The mariner he wished he'd die
Along with the sea creatures
But they lived on, so did he.
And by the light of the moon
He prays for their beauty not doom
With heart he blesses them
God's creatures all of them too.
Then the spell starts to break
The albatross falls from his neck...
The mariner's bound to tell of his storyIn other words: The mariner sees the beauty of the creatures as a creation of GOD, prays for them, and as a result good things happen to him -- namely, he finds redemption and travels about telling his tale, "teach(ing) God's word...that we must love all things that God made." Does this honestly sound to you like a recording of a band that says Satanism is the way to go?
To tell this tale wherever he goes
To teach God's word by his own example
That we must love all things that God made.
I met a gin-soaked barroom queen in Memphis
She tried to take me upstairs for a ride
One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall
Father, yes son, I want to kill you
Mother...I want to...(fuck you)
How anyone could write this about Rascal Flatts with a straight face is completely beyond me:
The two-hour set featured an eight-piece band and showcased the group's musical diversity, with songs new and old, from From Southern rock (“Bob That Head”) to traditional country (“Mayberry”) to soulful ballads (“Feels Like Today”).I remember hearing those first two songs, and at no point did I think the first one "had a really cool Southern rock vibe to it!" Neither did I think the second one "had a refreshingly traditional country sound to it compared to pretty much all the other bubble-gum pop crap they've been foisting on us for the last ten years." I might have bitched at the time if they were trying to ape the Allman Brothers or Lynyrd Skynyrd, but now I think that actually might have been an improvement. (Fun fact: Skynyrd did a fine cover of Merle Haggard's "Honky Tonk Night Time Man." Also, Haggard's "I Take A Lot Of Pride In What I Am" was played as Ronnie Van Zant was laid to rest.)
...that I'd like Toby Keith even more, even if it's not particularly as an artist?
Q: What song out right now do you wish you had written?When I got my Sirius radio, The Roadhouse got to be the first preset on it, followed by Outlaw Country and Willie's Place. After that it was off to the pop and rock channels; I didn't even bother with the newer country channels, though they do play good songs on Prime Country now and then. I'd love to know how many other new Nashville singers don't listen to country radio...
A: You’re going to stump me on that because every one of my vehicles has satellite radio in them — my motorcycle, my boat, my plane, my cars, my trucks, everything — and they’re all on Roadhouse, which is ’50s, ’60s, ’70s and ’80s country. I haven’t listened to modern radio for maybe five or six years, so I have no idea. I haven’t even listened to myself!
...with legalizing drugs. I am not surprised that there are some who don't get it -- namely the Citizen's Council on Public Safety, who argues that the main problem is the government's loss of monopoly on the use of force. Why do they think the government has lost that monopoly? Where do they think the money for the cartels' weaponry comes from?
And then, of course, there's the old implication from this side of the Rio Grande: "drugs 'r' baaad, hmmkay?" But they think banning the guns will fix everything, even though the lion's share of the cartel's weaponry is highly illegal here...
...raised by this story:
If Valerie Andrews is guilty of what she is accused of -- driving drunk, running from the police and killing four people -- is there any justification for NOT putting her on the fast track to a date with the needle in Huntsville? If she is guilty of that, she is in my opinion little to no better than the murderers and rapists that walk among us. She surely knew of the consequences of her actions and she did what she did anyway, with what strikes me as zero regard for the lives of those around her. Is there any justification for letting people like that continue to breathe, let alone have a chance of once again walking free one day?
...inspired by this story:
• How stupid do you have to be to try to carjack someone in the parking lot of a store that sells self-defense firearms AND ammunition?
• What is it antis always say about the attacker taking your gun and using it against you? It seems that NEVER pans out that way. In fact, you more often see it working the OTHER way. Why is that?
• Would there have been ANY chance of the defender being charged if he did NOT have a Texas CHL?
• Is that moral, right or just? Why should the right of self-defense be limited only to those who have the financial wherewithal to jump through those hoops?
Thoughts?
David Hardy, on the nation's third-largest city:
Chicago -- the city where criminals need not fear the police (and courts).
This requires a bit o' background info, which may be TMI...
Back when I was with the ex-girlfriend (aka Kitty-Eater), she claimed to be so good at fellatio that she could make me climax in five minutes. She made that claim on several occasions; however, I never got to see if she could back it up because, well, she never did. Didn't try even once. I mentioned this to Sabra early on in our relationship, and she said, "If she can make a man come in five minutes, she's not doing it right."
I also mentioned to Sabra that the ex also would never kiss me with tongue because she thought it was nasty, to which Sabra said, "If she's not gonna let you stick your tongue in her mouth, she sure as hell won't let you stick your dick in it." Which explained it all, really.
Anyway, I told you all that to tell you this...
My wife, on the Kenny Rogers song "Ruby (Don't Take Your Love To Town)":
"That song sucks like Kitty-Eater claimed to."
Yeah. Yeah, it sure does. ;-)
...or, does Anita Richardson really believe that?
Stephen Richardson's temper had gotten him in trouble before, his wife said.
There were occasional fights, verbal skirmishes, lost jobs and arrests — including one for hitting her.
...
Maybe looking at the possibility of never coming home will give him time to really think, she said, about exactly what his temper and anger has caused.Uh-huh. And maybe I will have barbecued unicorn for dinner tomorrow. You know, I've had people make gestures at me while I was driving too, but I knew better than to follow them and escalate the situation. It almost surprises me that Stephen Richardson hasn't killed anyone before now. Such a shame he himself hadn't been put down like the feral vermin he showed himself to be before he did kill.
...or, Things I'd like to say to the ex-girlfriend (previously mentioned here, here, and peripherally here) who tried to friend me on Facebook AGAIN...
"Woman, take a damn hint. I defriended you on Facebook after we broke up for a REASON. I'm not so mad at you anymore; what's done is done. But I still don't want anything to do with you, even if I DID move 300 miles away. You were the one who effectively broke up with me. (I'm glad you did too, because your doing that freed me to find a woman who's orders of magnitude better than you could ever be, in every way. I thank God damn near every day that I didn't end up marrying you, because it would have meant being condemned to a lifetime of -- among other things -- bad sex, worse music and (speaking of which) 'You need to turn that to something we both like.' You sure as hell didn't have any problem subjecting me to that hip-hop shit. I don't know why you couldn't deal with it when I was playing the heavy metal.) I thought I made it pretty clear that I didn't want to stay friends. And you know I had damn good reasons for that too, with you taking, taking and taking from me and never giving anything back (literally AND figuratively). I'm glad for you that you finally figured out what you really wanted out of life, but leave me the hell out of it already."
...or, Leonard Pitts once again does not get it:
Blogger Andrew Breitbart was so desperate to push a narrative of the NAACP as a hotbed of anti-white bias that he posted an excerpt of Sherrod's speech to that organization as “proof” she was a racist without caring if she was.
You know what I'd love to see? A discussion of how the Mexican people's right to keep and bear arms having largely been denied is affecting freedom of the press in Mexico. I realize that the drug traffickers are getting arms from other nations that aren't even available commercially in the United States, but somehow I get the feeling that if Mexican media outlets were able to form their own little militias and start shooting back, things would be a lot different. Thoughts?
...or, I'd like to take the handle of that damn pan and beat some people down for their fucking nerve...
I'm used to panhandlers, yes. I encountered them every now and then back in Southeast Texas. Perhaps I should have known the number of times I'd be approached by them would increase when I moved to the big city, but I was still taken aback by it, especially lately; at the closest H-E-B, it seems I have gotten approached by someone about four times out of every five that I have been there. One incident earlier this week triggered my ire:
Panhandler: "Do you have a couple dollars?"
Me: "No."
Panhandler:"Come on, can't we work something out? I come to your house and do your lawn?"
Oh yes. I will give a complete stranger directions to my home! I DID in fact fall off the turnip truck yesterday! Who the hell do these assholes think they are? Yeah, I realize they may be falling on hard times, but do they think everyone they come up to has that money to spare? It's one thing to ask, but after I say no, dammit that should be IT. Would that I could do that again. I know exactly what I'd say.
"Don't fucking ask me again, what the fuck is wrong with you? Don't you fucking think I have a family to feed too?"
I know very well that Jesus said, "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me," but who's to say that "the least of these" is anybody but my pregnant wife and three stepdaughters? I may drive a semi-new truck, but it's NOBODY'S place to assume that I have money to give away just because of that. More and more I understand my wife's aversion to people in general...
...or, Sometimes I think I get off on the pain...
I made the lunch run just now, to this little barbecue joint on New Braunfels Avenue just north of IH-10. And once again, I left the Sirius receiver at home and surfed. I need to get out of that habit. I heard a Y100 promo that went, "We play the best country," followed by a snippet of Kid Rock's "All Summer Long." I thought to myself, all righty then, as I went on to KZEP and Bad Company...
And backing out of the place to bring home lunch, once again on Y100, I heard Jason Aldean's "Crazy Town" (thought the melody sounded like "She's Country," and that's a commentary all its own -- people think GEORGE STRAIT records the same song over and over? What the hell ever, y'all.) in which he describes Nashville as "Hollywood with a touch of twang." And I thought that summed up the problem with modern country in a nutshell, though I'm sure the songwriters probably meant it as a compliment. So back to KISS 99.5 it went. Lord knows Sirius isn't perfect, but it's still a fat lot better than terrestrial. I'd have to agree with TFG's comment here, though I do love the headbangers:
"This town don't know from country music -- it's headbangers and Nashville. Kind of like hell would be."
...at least, according to one letter-writer in today's Houston Chronicle:
The Bushes, not the Kennedys, are the royal family of the United States.Really? I don't recall any of the Bushes being romanticized by the media the way the Kennedys have been. Everybody and his brother knows about the JFK administration and that general era being painted as an "American Camelot" of sorts. The Kennedy mystique and the media musings of "what might have been" were only amplified by Bobby Kennedy's assassination; it's arguable that had neither Jack nor Bobby been cut down in the prime of their careers, we might well have seen three or even four Kennedy presidents. Of course I'd hate to think Americans would have been so starstruck as to have elected a piece of human detritus like Teddy, but I am well aware that could have happened -- perhaps even in spite of Chappaquiddick. Thank the good Lord above that it didn't, though.
...that at least some interests and concerns transcend skin color, especially in this day and age. It's also good to see an organization that represents black-owned businesses not reflexively support what the president (with the backing of Congress) wants to do just because he's a black Democrat. One might even call that progress, even though we still have a long, long way to go.
ROTFLMAO at this comment from jdruse, in the comments to this post:
Bono peaked with Cher, it's all been downhill from there (including the tree).I bow to your rapier wit, dude!
...of those damned American gun shows, right? I mean, surely the Mexican prison guards are not really to blame, huh?
...or, The pussification of terrestrial country radio continues.
I should preface this by saying I don't make it a habit to listen to San Antonio country radio. I'd heard enough complaints from Sabra about about KJ97 and Y100 that I figured it'd be best to stay away from them. It'd take a lot for me to be pulled away from the satellite radio anyway, though KISS 99.5 is actually a pretty good rock station and I've really gotten to like KKYX...
The other day I made a run to Bill Miller's and HEB and left my satellite radio at the house, so I was left with terrestrial. So I surfed, as I am wont to do, and came up on Y100 playing the Zac Brown Band's "Toes," which as far as mainstream country songs go is pretty edgy, with the line about the dude having his "ass in the sand" and "roll(ing) a big fat one." But what do I hear when they get to that first line?
"I got my toes in the water, toes in the clay."
And radio programmers (and supposedly audiences) had a problem with the word "ass" here but two summers ago had no problem with the blatant sexual overtones in Rascal Flatts' "Bob That Head"? What the hell is wrong with people?
A letter in today's Express-News:
In his article “Republican political wave could hit rocky shore” (Other Views, July 18), Michael Gerson takes time out to throw some eggs at libertarianism. His comments are quite inaccurate.Many people who throw eggs at libertarians do indeed take liberties with the truth about the libertarian philosophy. Almost to a man and woman, they paint libertarians as, well, anarchists -- as if anarchism and libertarianism were one and the same. I know well why they do it, but you'd think if their position was so strong, they wouldn't have to resort to lies.
Damned if I can find a link to it, but in the print edition of the San Antonio Express-News I read a news analysis from the Washington Post on the Shirley Sherrod affair. Said analysis characterized Andrew Breitbart as someone who had a "casual relationship with the truth" -- without a single shred of evidence to back up said characterization. It's like they think they still have any credibility outside the ruling class. Amazing.
I saw this comment at The 9513 a couple of weeks ago, re: Dierks Bentley's cover of the U2 song "Pride (In The Name Of Love)":
“the Joshua Tree” is probably in the Top 5 (10?) albums of all time, any genre....and I had to say, "Really? As good as, say, Waylon Jennings' Honky Tonk Heroes, Metallica's Master of Puppets or Queensryche's Operation: Mindcrime (or even The Warning if you Queensryche fans are feelin' froggy)?"
...or, Yeah, Leonard, let's do that:
Let's admit War on Drugs a failure
Wow, so much for updating once a day, eh? You're lucky i you get fresh content once a week now! I am still here and missing that reliable Internet connection, but I think I have found a semi-acceptable substitute for now. (And the flip side of that is that I have gotten behind on my blog READING as well...) So look for more posts here. Perhaps not once a day, maybe, but I will do the best I can.
Texas LEO Matt G:
Apparently, it's ludicrous, in the mind of a N.Y.T. editor, to conceive of a situation when an armed family member would be a more effective response to a real threat than calling a police officer to your location, away from the thousand-odd other persons that he's charged with protecting.Sure it's ludicrous to them. It has been posited in many corners of the Web that there are two Americas, and the New York Times' position on armed self-defense is yet more proof of that. I will freely admit that growing up in rural east Texas I was imbued with certain opinions and sensibilities that are completely foreign to those who work at the NYT (and those who take seriously the opinions of its editorial board). One wonders what those people would say to the fact that it was someone with a badge who called the NYT's position for the bullshit that it is, especially considering that he's far from the only rank-and-file LEO who supports the RKBA.
Not long ago, I posited, after reading an E.J. Dionne column:
...it strikes me that E.J. Dionne thinks that democratically elected officials' decisions should ultimately be the last word...Seriously, does he not know what the function is of the judicial branch of government?Well, with this morning's column, he shows once again that he either does not know or care about said function, as he seems to praise Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's remarks that she would be deferential to Congress when casting her vote in cases before the court. I don't see why Elena Kagan apparently doesn't think everything is "clear-cut." Sure seems like it to me -- either it is or is not faithful to the Bill of Rights and/or conducive to liberty as the Founders envisioned it. Oliver Wendell Holmes might well have "insisted that if the people wanted it, it was their right to go hang themselves," but what about when the people wanted to force people to hang themselves who wanted to keep on living? I suppose that might count as one of those more extreme cases, but at any rate, you see what the deference of the liberal wing of the court to elected officials has meant in recent years. It has meant the liberals on the Supreme Court have deferred to:
• those who took land from a private citizen to give to a public entity because the public entity's use of the land supposedly benefited the public more;I'm guessing that E.J. Dionne, Elena Kagan and their ilk wouldn't see those cases as "extreme," even though it's been argued here and there that if you don't have the right to your property and the right to defend yourself, you really don't have any rights at all. Apparently "progressives" think that's just fine as long as elected officials decide it.
• those who denied their citizens the right to protect themselves with firearms in their own homes; and
• those who denied certain organizations their constitutional rights to free speech.
...how the American Revolution started:
On this 4th of July we are remembering those lost in IL & IN during the Benjamin Smith Shooting Spree Support gun controlYes, indeed. Forget the fact that the first shots in the American Revolution were fired because British troops came to seize arms and gunpowder from the colonists. Not that I'm surprised that they're depressed -- I mean, with two defeats at the highest court in the land in the last couple of years, wouldn't you be too? -- but I still thought it was rather ironic that they would say "Support gun control," considering the Redcoats' attempted disarmament of the people was one of the bigger issues to factor in the Revolutionary War.
I don't understand how the writer of this letter (last one on the page) gets from this...
Well, San Antonio, after reading so many letters in this newspaper that bicyclists have no rights, that they deserve to be mowed over and that $1 million for a safe bike trail is a waste of money, I have finally decided: that is how it's gonna be.to this:
I guess I have two choices now: Move to a friendly, healthy city or sell my bike and start eating more hamburgers, tacos and ice cream. Thanks for nothing!It sucks that he got hit, but I don't understand why he can't find another way to exercise. Why does it have to be a choice between bicycling and letting yourself go? I've heard a lot of people say bicycle riders are self-righteous pricks. I can certainly see why they would be labeled as such, if this writer's attitude is any indication.
I saw this comment at the 9513, regarding one Eric Church:
I don’t understand most of the hostility thrown toward this guy.Well, for one, how about this? If you have to market yourself as an "outlaw" country singer as Church does, um, BY DEFINITION YOU ARE NOT AN OUTLAW. I realize it's an image as much as anything, but the thing about that is that people like Waylon, Willie, et al. did not market themselves as Outlaws. The term and its accompanying image, from what I read, have their origins with music journalist Hazel Smith. To the extent the '70s "outlaw" singers marketed themselves as outlaws, they did it mainly with their music and not with macho bravado posturing. Of course you know a lot of them also lived fast and high; Waylon's "Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out Of Hand" was based on a true story, from what I recall. The closest Eric Church has gotten to that is insisting on real wine glasses when he's on tour, so that whole "outlaw" thing comes off as a bit fake, to say the least. And we haven't even gotten to the music itself. I've heard one song from Eric Church. I'll admit it. The name of the song was "Hell On The Heart," and he sounded like a Keith Urban clone in it so I pretty much wrote him off after that. So yeah, I totally get the hate.
here, to add to all the others:
CPS spokeswoman Mary Walker said a caseworker monitoring Hernandez noticed improvement and never saw any signs of abuse by the last visit at the end of April.(And just last night, I was telling Sabra that you see the results of CPS fuckups just like this on the front pages of this state's major metro dailies on what seems like an almost-daily basis...)
