Defend Your Family, Spend Life in Prison

Via the Fidoguns newsgroup on yahoo, Roy Telleson forwarded a link to a JPFO article and a link to a GOA page. On of my Senatorettes, Diane Feinstein, has introduced another poorly thought out piece of "feel good" legislation. Supposedly an anti-crime, anti-gang measure, this legislation could send a family (yes, the whole family) to prison if one of them uses a gun to defend themselves if they are all together as a group. Read the GOA link and write your Senator, provided he or she has half a brain.

Hmmmmm...I'm not sure "Senator" & "half a brain" belong in the same sentence.

Turnabout is Fair Play

Via my friend Paul Nixon on the Fidoguns newsgroup at yahoogroups we see a press release that a developer is submitting an application to have Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter's home & land seized through eminent domain to be used as a hotel, which would generate additional tax revenue for the township, as was the justification in the Kelo vs New London case decision rendered by the court on Friday 6/24/05.

Let's see how this plays out, and what attention it gets from the national media.

A Modest Proposal

I read a filler in this morning’s paper which referenced hurricanes. That brought back to mind something from a year or two ago. It seems a congresscritterette is of the opinion that the current naming system for hurricanes is too euro-centric. I don’t recall exactly who this particular congresscritterette was, but I am sure she was from the “Whatever you do is racist but I can’t be racist since I’m a woman of color” wing of the Demoncrat party.

Since we recently began a new hurricane season (June 1) I’ve decided maybe we should honor her request, but with a twist. All of the given names (first names) of the 535 members of the U.S. Congress shall be listed and sorted by computer and ranked from 1 to 535. In case of the same given name a middle name shall be used. If there are still duplicates we’ll number them like the Popes.

The random rankings by the computer will be the hurricane names for the upcoming season. The first hurricane will no longer be Alice, Alfred or Abilgale, but could be Maxine, Fortney or William.

Why, you ask? It’s simple. Hurricane: high winds. Congress: hot air. Hurricane: rain. Congress: all wet. Hurricane: brings sudden havoc & destruction. Congress: brings havoc & destruction to the lives of the American People through stupid laws passed hurriedly.

That’s my modest proposal for today.

Edit @ 7:30PM: If you read my Friday post about the Court decision on Eminent Domain, you can go to Dave Markowitz's "Blog O'stuff" and see how the vultures are already circling. If you didn't read my Friday post, scroll down and read it, then go check Dave's post from today.

Your Home is Your Castle......NOT!!!!!!!!!!

The Supreme Court has ruled. And put the final dagger in the Fifth Amendment. Courts long ago stripped away the right to refuse self-incrimination and now they have declared your property under attack also. In a case in New London, CT, the court has ruled that the city can take private property under eminent domain and pass it on to private developers for redevelopment.

What will happen because of this case? Probably nothing. We're talking 15 people here who have so far refused to sell to the city. Only 1 (that I have read about) has stated he will fight all the way and even fight the bulldozers when they show up. Since the vast majority of the people in the U.S. don't live in an area where their property would be targeted for redevelopment (so they think) they will all either shake their heads and say the court got it wrong (conservatives) or argue that since it is (nebulously) for the public good it was a correct decision (liberals).

Is this the final nail in the coffin of individual property rights? Will this be the case that starts to awaken some to the fact we are not as free as most seem to think we are? That we actually live under an illusion of freedom?

Dumb Crooks in the News

Today was an interesting one for dumb crooks/would be job applicants. While getting ready for work this morning I heard on the news of a man who went into a pizza parlor, filled out a job application and then robbed the establishment. It turned out he had entered his real information on the application. Then in today's paper I saw a story about a pair of thieves who went to a company, filled out applications and stole a woman's purse while there. When they were called back for a "2nd interview" the police were waiting to interview them. They confessed to the theft.

Where are the Willie Suttons of today? If you recall, he was the one who when asked why he robbed banks responded with "Because that's where the money is!"

Will we be paying with Yuan?

The Chinese oil company CNOOC has made a bid to Purchase Unocal. They claim it would make no difference to us here as the oil & gas products will still be sold here. I don't buy it (pardon the pun). They are purchasing Unocal because of the oil & gas reserves the company has, many in Asian oilfields. China has a growing need for oil to fuel it's economic growth. In addition, I don't feel it is a good idea to have a company from a hostile foreign country in control of a strategic asset such as Unocal. It will be interesting to watch this play out. The CNOOC bid was not a great deal higher than Chevron's. That makes me wonder if they are expecting Chevron to up their offer, or if they are throwing out a bid to make the US Government take a stand. If the CNOOC bid is denied by the US regulators, the Chinese will make a lot of noise over it. It could be that their bid, while making sense in light of their needs, is more about playing politics than buying an oil company.

"May you live in interesting times"
-old Chinese curse

VoIP here I come

I had been debating whether or not to give Voice Over Internet Protocol a try. After paying $100 for my phone service last month, I decided it was time. I signed up for service through Vonage. $24.99/mo to make calls anywhere in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico. The router came today, and I realized I have no (zip, zero, nada) outlets left. So it will be off tomorrow for a larger surge protector with more outlets. I'll let you know what I think of it after I've had a chance to check it out.

The Fairfield Inn Responds

You may have seen my previous post in which the fairfiled Inn at DFW North failed to honor my "guaranteed" reservation for a smoking room. I did write a letter of complaint to the Marriott Corporation, detailing what happened and how I felt insulted that while they require me to guarantee performance by giving them a credit card number to bill if I don't show up, there is no reciprocal guarantee that the room I have reserved will be there for me. The general manager of the Fairfield responded, with the usual apology. She threw some extra points into my account to move me closer to a free night and offered me a discounted room on my next trip. She even said she had arranged a room at a different hotel in Las Colinas (if I wanted to stay in Las Colinas I would have booked a room there) but could reach me on my cell (probably because I was on the phone with Marriott customer no-service). She never did address the issue of how it is that they expect their customers to guarantee performance, but have no obligation to do so themselves. On the flip end of that trip was a stay at a Courtyard by Marriott that was an experience in itself. Those experiences were also in the letter to Marriott, but there has been no response from that hotel. On my last couple trips I have stayed at Best Western hotels and have been very satisfied. I guess I know (and I bet you do too) who will be getting my business from now on.

WOW! And Thank You

I know I've been neglecting this blog lately, but it has been out of necessity, not choice. Life has just been too busy. I have had a lot going on at work, am taking some courses to upgrade a professional license and taking a course to get a new license. My work blog takes time, too. To top it all off, I try and have a little bit of a life when I can.

Imagine my surprise when I saw that there have now been 100 unique visitors to my blog. Not 100 in one day (although that would be nice) but 100 total. Not just page views, either. If I am reading the sitemeter report correctly, it is 100 unique visitors.

Whoda thunk it?

Thanks.