Month: January 2008

Contributed by: filbert Wednesday, January 16 2008 @ 04:50 PM CST

Seen at Classical Values[*1] :

Gun control is to prevent self defense.

Drug control is to prevent self medication.

All the rest is obfuscation.

I am inclined to agree . . .

Actually, I think both drugs and guns, legal or otherwise, are bad.  The problem is, NOT having drugs or guns when the bad guys have them (guns) or our frail bodies are prone to disease (drugs) is even worse.

The only difference I can see is that the right to keep and bear arms is in the U.S. Constitution, while the right to self-medicate isn’t explicit (if you squint real hard, you can see it in the Ninth and Tenth Amendments:

Amendment IX.
The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Too bad that most people believe that the Bill of Rights only contains seven amendments:  I, III, IV, V, VI, VII, and VIII.  And most folks have a very, very hazy notion as to what’s in those.

Contributed by: filbert Wednesday, January 16 2008 @ 09:18 AM CST

From Reuters and Yahoo News[*1] :

RICHMOND, Va. – It’s one thing to dangle fuzzy dice from a rear view mirror, but decorating a trailer hitch with a large pair of rubber testicles might be a bit much in Virginia.

State Del. Lionel Spruill introduced a bill Tuesday to ban displaying replicas of human genitalia on vehicles, calling it a safety issue because it could distract other drivers.

Under his measure, displaying the ornamentation on a motor vehicle would be a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum fine of $250.

I’ll admit I find balls on a pickup truck pretty tasteless . . . but illegal?!?

Contributed by: filbert Wednesday, January 16 2008 @ 09:15 AM CST

The G.A.O. reports[*1] (via Yahoo News):

“U.S. officials and experts report that U.S. sanctions have specific impacts on Iran; however, the extent of such impacts is difficult to determine,” said the report by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, which was obtained by Reuters late on Tuesday.

“Other evidence raises questions about the extent of reported economic impacts,” it added.

The report by the investigative arm of Congress comes as the Bush administration is pushing for a third round of U.N Security Council sanctions against Iran and planned talks with major powers in Berlin next week to iron out differences on those punitive measures.

Hmm.  So . . . sanctions would have worked with Iraq if only they’d been given more time, but sanctions are of questionable utility against Iran.  Anybody having trouble following the “narrative” here?

Contributed by: filbert Wednesday, January 16 2008 @ 09:07 AM CST

The racist hate-mongers of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference threaten to “shut down” Kansas City[*1] .

Charles Steele Jr., president and chief executive officer of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said Tuesday that the organization would make its point economically if Frances Semler, a member of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, remained on the park board.

Steele said that Mayor Mark Funkhouser’s appointment of Semler, an opponent of illegal immigration, was part of a pattern of racial insensitivity.

“We are asking all civil rights organizations to stay out of Kansas City. We are going to shut you down,” Steele said. “… We will take all the monies away from here. … Nobody should come to Kansas City.”

The boycott would include marches, Steele said, but beyond that, “I believe in the element of surprise.”

I dunno, but bald threats do not strike me as a particularly Christian approach to conflict resolution.

So, you ask, what is the intolerable atrocity for which these good Christians want to shut down a city?

Here it is:  one member of the municipal parks board thinks that people who come into this country should follow the law in order to do so.  This is enough to bring the SCLC to decidedly un-Christian thoughts.

Yeah, there’s racial insensitivity going on here, and if Mr. Steele wants to start rooting it out, he should start with a good long look at the guy in the mirror.

Contributed by: filbert Tuesday, January 15 2008 @ 12:05 PM CST

Oprah Winfrey getting her own TV network[*1] :

Discovery Communications and Winfrey announced a deal Tuesday where the Discovery Health network will be turned over to Winfrey next year, becoming OWN — the Oprah Winfrey Network.

What happened to Oh!  Or was it Oxygen?

Ah!  NBC-Universal bought it[*2] last October from The Oprah for a cool $925 million.

Contributed by: filbert Tuesday, January 15 2008 @ 11:34 AM CST

His media schedule for today[*1] :

WHAT: Fred Thompson Participates in Live Television Interview with Megyn Kelly on FOX News Channel’s America’s Newsroom
WHEN: 10:10 am ET
WHERE: FOX News Channel.

WHAT: Fred Thompson Participates in Live Radio Interview on The Glenn Beck Program
WHEN: 11:05 am ET
WHERE: Syndicated Nationally
NOTE: Listen live[*2] .

WHAT: Fred Thompson Participates in Live Radio Interview with Keven Cohen on The Afternoon Drive
WHEN: 3:05 pm ET
WHERE: WVOC, Columbia, SC
NOTE: Listen live[*2] .

WHAT: Fred Thompson Participates in Live Interview with Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes on FOX News Channel’s Hannity & Colmes
WHEN: 10:00 pm ET
WHERE: FOX News Channel.
NOTE: Senator Thompson will appear between 10:00-10:30 pm ET.

Here’s Fred’s bus tour schedule [*3] for today:

Yup, that Fred Thompson.  I kinda like what he says, but I’ve heard that he doesn’t have the fire in the belly, and that he’s kinda lazy.  But tell ya what, you go out and do eight different public appearances in one day, starting at 8 a.m. and ending some time after 10:30 p.m. and find out what “lazy” means.

Contributed by: filbert Tuesday, January 15 2008 @ 11:30 AM CST

Cue the X-Files music[*1] :

Machinist Ricky Sorrells said friends made fun of him when he told them he saw a flat, metallic object hovering about 300 feet over a pasture behind his Dublin home. But he decided to come forward after reading similar accounts in the Stephenville Empire-Tribune.

“You hear about big bass or big buck in the area, but this is a different deal,” Sorrells said. “It feels good to hear that other people saw something, because that means I’m not crazy.”

Sorrells said he has seen the object several times. He said he watched it through his rifle’s telescopic lens and described it as very large and without seams, nuts or bolts.

Quick, somebody send a reality TV show crew out to Texas!

Contributed by: filbert Tuesday, January 15 2008 @ 11:26 AM CST

As if they didn’t have enough problems, Big Entertainment is starting to cancel writers’ contracts for developing next year’s TV series[*1] :

January is usually the beginning of pilot season, when networks order new scripted shows. But the strike leaves networks without a pool of comedy and drama scripts from which to choose.
. . .
“I didn’t see it coming,” Barbara Hall, a writer and producer whose credits include former CBS series “Joan of Arcadia” and “Judging Amy,” told the Times, which said ABC executives gave her the news Friday. “I am not entirely sure what their strategy is, all I know was that I was a casualty of it.”

What it means, Ms. Hall, is that the networks have figured out that they can make more money with reality TV shows, game shows, and sports than they can with dramas and sitcoms.  Sucks to be you, eh?