Live free or die?

How does that fit with Clinton and McCain winning in the NH primaries? They would be the two farthest from 'Live free'.

California, at it again

Now this is something. California will require you to have a thermostat with an FM reciever that the goverment can control.

You know it's a matter of years (less than 10) if this gets through in California that it comes to the rest of the country.

Now it's about prices. Won't be long before it's about global warming, and you simply will not have a choice when it comes to the temparature of your home.

This is a little troubling

According to World Net Daily (so take it for what it's worth), a SWAT team intervened in the health care of a child because the father is a 'strict constitutionalist'.

Better bar the door.

NH Republican party does the right thing

They are not partnering with Faux News tomorrow evening for their forum.

The other candidates should take note, step up, and not participate unless Ron Paul is invited.

I'm not holding my breath for that. The last thing John McCain wants is Ron Paul sitting across the table from him.

On a related note, I find it interesting all the Democrats are honest, they all say right up front they want to soak the rich to protect 'the middle class'. The Republicans (save Dr. Paul) lie through their teeth about smaller government, but while in control, grew it faster than the Democrats have since the New Deal.

F(n) = F(n-1) + F(n-2)

This could possibly be the coolest thing I've ever seen. I'm a huge music fan. Tool is one of my favorite bands, and Lateralus is one of my favorite songs.

This video combines Lateralus with images from the Hubble Telescope, and points out the relationship of items in the song with the Fibonacci Number Sequence.

Lateralus sends chills down my spine when I listen to it. This video did that, and brought tears to my eyes as well. This is art in the new age.

Ride the spiral to the end.



Via Reason.

Happy New Year.

Slow day, today. Had the first pizza of the year.

Billick Fired

Today, Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti fired head coach Brian Billick.

Brian Billick was fired as coach of the Baltimore Ravens on Monday, less than a day after his team concluded a disappointing 5-11 season and less than a year after receiving a contract extension through 2010.

Players were told of the dismissal as they packed up their lockers at the team's practice facility.

Only a few weeks ago, Billick proclaimed that he would return in 2008, but Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, who does not speak to the media during the season, made no public statement to that effect.

"I just changed my mind," the owner told The Baltimore Sun on Monday. "I can't explain it to you. It's the toughest decision I've had to make."

Now, I'm not an NFL owner, but to me, this doesn't make any sense. They still have to pay him, and who else is out there looking for a job who can do it better? And I would think you would be able to explain it.

The only thing I think will work out is to promote Rex Ryan to head coach, and hire a young offensive coordinator.

Where ever Coach Billick ends up, I'll pull for him.

Party Time

My blog is 3 today.

Fair and Balanced?

Notsomuch.

Fox News is excluding Ron Paul from their Republican debate. No reason why, he's polling higher than some who are included.

I usually think the media-as-part-of-a-giant-government-conspiracy camp is a little nutty... but I'm starting to think there's more to it than just the FCC and White House approving scripts for ER.

Via The Agitator.

Update: This may not be true. One of the risks of the internet as a news medium is that incorrect information can run wild before a correction even shows up. Still haven't seen a correction in any major news outlet, however, so I'll leave this up. If it turns out to be wrong, I'll post accordingly, with some pithy comment about bloggers or something.

New Jersey, where the government will eventually run your life.

Two unrelated stories in the last few days regarding New Jersey and the overwhelming reach of the state government.

First, all pregnant women will be tested for HIV. Boy, I can't wait for national healthcare, because this is what it looks like.

A bill signed into law Wednesday by the Senate president, Richard J. Codey, in his capacity as acting governor, requires two tests for pregnant women, at the beginning of the pregnancy and again in the third trimester, unless the mother objects. If the mother objects, the objection will be noted and the newborn will then be tested for HIV, with the only exception being on religious grounds. Newborns will also be tested if the woman tests positive.

Then, if you are convicted of a sex crime, the state can limit your use of a computer and the internet.

The law prohibits anyone convicted of using a computer to commit a sex offense from using computers or accessing the Internet for part or all of their parole. It also allows the State Parole Board to impose Internet restrictions on sex offenders who did not use a computer to facilitate their crimes.

The law requires the parolees to allow unannounced examinations of their computer equipment and the installation of monitoring hardware or software. It also would require convicted sex offenders to tell authorities if they have access to a computer or other devices that can access the Internet and obtain written approval to use computers or the Internet.

Wait until they decide we should all be monitored. This makes Maryland look like a Utopia.

WWJD

This story confirms pretty much everything I think about organized religion... it isn't about what they say it's about.

Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests attacked each other with brooms and stones inside the Church of the Nativity as long-standing rivalries erupted in violence during holiday cleaning on Thursday.

The basilica, built over the grotto in Bethlehem where Christians believe Jesus was born, is administered jointly by Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic authorities.

Any perceived encroachment on one group's turf can touch off vicious feuds.

On Thursday, dozens of priests and cleaners were scrubbing the church ahead of the Armenian and Orthodox Christmas, celebrated in early January. Thousands of tourists visited the church this week for Christmas celebrations.

But the clean-up turned ugly after some of the Orthodox faithful stepped inside the Armenian church's section, touching off a scuffle between about 50 Greek Orthodox and 30 Armenians.

Palestinian police, armed with batons and shields, quickly formed a human cordon to separate the two sides so the cleaning could continue, then ordered an Associated Press photographer out of the church.

Four people, some with blood running from their faces, were slightly wounded.

It does remind me a little of trying to get my siblings to clean our house.

Hello

Work has been unreal, nonstop. I haven't had time to do anything but work. I had to go Christmas shopping on Saturday! (Mad props to the Target in White Marsh, though - fully staffed, made shopping on the biggest day of the year a pleasant experience).

I do have some things to say, and hopefully over the next few days, some time to say them.

The real cost of the drug war

Radley Balko (The Agitator) as been covering the Corey Maye case for quite some time (in all honesty, he's a big part of why Maye is no longer on death row). On Monday, he did a really nice job putting a face (several faces, actually) on the cost of the drug war.

Thank this war. The goddamned drug war. It is so incredibly senseless and stupid. And it’ll continue to claim and ruin lives, because too few politicians have the backbone to stand up and say after 30 years, $500 billion, a horrifyingly high prison population, and countless dead innocents, cops, kids, nonviolent offenders, decimated neighborhoods, wasted lives, corrupted cops, and eviscerations of the core freedoms this country was allegedly founded upon, the shit isn’t working. It’ll never work. It never has. It’s a testament to the facade of truth that is politics that no leaders from the two majors parties have in thirty years been able to say this. That maybe, just maybe, we’re doing it wrong. Maybe, just maybe, kicking down doors in the middle of the night and storming in with guns in order to stop people from getting high….isn’t such a good idea. Maybe, just maybe, the idea getting tips from racist, illiterate, drug-addicted informants about which doors, if you kick them down, will lead to drugs? Well maybe that isn’t such a sound policy, either. We can’t even get one of the leading candidates for president to say that. The safe position is always to advocate for more money, more government power, more militarism—and less freedom, less common sense, and less worry about collateral damage. Sensibility, honesty, or compassion? Too risky.

Take the time to read the entire post, it's very moving.

And think about this the next time you hear one of the candidates talking about his faith, and how he exhibits it. I'm pretty sure Jesus would have something to say to us about Corey May and Ron Jones.

Update

Been way too busy. I'll have some things to say shortly.

Get in on it

Spending money on stupid slogans is a global problem, apparently.

But 'Welcome to Scotland' is worth something, right?

No Playoffs this year

After a loss to San Diego, (that's 5 in a row if you are keeping track), the Ravens are out of the playoff hunt.

Very dissapointing given the high expectations this year. So what now?

Boller plays the rest of the year. He needs to get some solid experience with less pressure. He's playing fine so far.

The defense needs to step it up. We are going to lose Rex Ryan in the offseason, this defense needs to be clicking, and right now, they are not (two 30 point games in a row?)

Leave Billick alone. He didn't drop the ball.

Get healthy, and evaluate where we are with talent. Ogden is done, McNair probably is, too. There are others who may not come back next year, and they need to plan for replacements.

Oh, and maybe beat New England. That would be neat.

Support the Troops!

Well, maybe notsomuch.

The U.S. Military is demanding that thousands of wounded service personnel give back signing bonuses because they are unable to serve out their commitments.

To get people to sign up, the military gives enlistment bonuses up to $30,000 in some cases.

Now men and women who have lost arms, legs, eyesight, hearing and can no longer serve are being ordered to pay some of that money back.

One of them is Jordan Fox, a young soldier from the South Hills.

He finds solace in the hundreds of boxes he loads onto a truck in Carnegie. In each box is a care package that will be sent to a man or woman serving in Iraq. It was in his name Operation Pittsburgh Pride was started.

Fox was seriously injured when a roadside bomb blew up his vehicle. He was knocked unconscious. His back was injured and lost all vision in his right eye.

A few months later Fox was sent home. His injuries prohibited him from fulfilling three months of his commitment. A few days ago, he received a letter from the military demanding nearly $3,000 of his signing bonus back.

"I tried to do my best and serve my country. I was unfortunately hurt in the process. Now they're telling me they want their money back," he explained.

It's a slap for Fox's mother, Susan Wardezak, who met with President Bush in Pittsburgh last May. He thanked her for starting Operation Pittsburgh Pride which has sent approximately 4,000 care packages.

He then sent her a letter expressing his concern over her son's injuries, so she cannot understand the U.S. Government's apparent lack of concern over injuries to countless U.S. Soldiers and demands that they return their bonuses.

Here's your nice letter, now please send the money back.

There's no question who is in charge.

Hat tip: The Agitator

A vision of the future in the US

Getting past the immigration scales in New Zealand is tough.

33-30??

Despondent.

How is it we get the offense (well, and some D) to score 30 points, and lose??

Kyle looked pretty good. I think that's good for the future, if they can bring back pretty much the same team again next year, and maybe hold on to the football, next year will be a playoff run.

The only way this year works out is to win out, and I just can't see that happening.

Welcome to the Machine

Get your kids vaccinated, or go to jail.

Scores of grumbling parents facing a threat of jail lined up at a courthouse Saturday to either prove that their school-age kids already had their required vaccinations or see that the youngsters submitted to the needle.

The get-tough policy in the Washington suburbs of Prince George's County was one of the strongest efforts made by any U.S. school system to ensure its youngsters receive their required immunizations.

Two months into the school year, school officials realized that more than 2,000 students in the county still didn't have the vaccinations they were supposed to have before attending class.

So Circuit Court Judge C. Philip Nichols ordered parents in a letter to appear at the courthouse Saturday and either get their children vaccinated on the spot or risk up to 10 days in jail. They could also provide proof of vaccination or an explanation why their kids didn't have them.

By about 8:30 a.m., the line of parents stretched outside the courthouse in the county on the east side of Washington.

Many of them complained that their children already were properly immunized but the school system had misplaced the records. They said efforts to get the paperwork straightened out had been futile.

"It was very intimidating," Territa Wooden of Largo said of the letter. She said she presented the paperwork at the courthouse Saturday and resolved the matter.

"I could be home asleep. My son had his shots," said Veinell Dickens of Upper Marlboro, who also blamed errant paperwork.

Aloma Martin of Fort Washington brought her children, Delontay and Taron, in 10th and 6th grade, for their hepatitis shots. She said she had been trying to get the vaccinations for more than a month, since the school system sent a warning letter. She had an appointment for Monday, but came to the courthouse to be safe.

"It was very heavy handed," she said of the county's action. "From that letter, it sounded like they were going to start putting us in jail."

School officials deemed the court action a success. School system spokesman John White said the number of children lacking vaccinations dropped from 2,300 at the time the judge sent the letter to about 1,100 Friday.

After Saturday's session, 172 more students were brought into compliance, including 101 students who received vaccinations at the courthouse and 71 whose records were updated.

That still left more than 900 students out of compliance with vaccination requirements, White said.

One more argument to get your kids out of government schools. By the way, note the Orwellian use of the word 'compliance'.

Compliance indeed.

Tough?

Think you are tough?

You aren't.

She is.

Now, she's focused on her next hurdle -- returning to school. Doctors have cleared her to start classes Monday. Her mom wants her to do so in a wheelchair. Markwardt, the competitor, won't have it.

"I haven't used the wheelchair since I was in the hospital that day," Markwardt said. "I'm fine on crutches. I'm not going to school in a wheelchair. I'm fighting that wheelchair off."

Impossible!

A survey finds that black Americans feel like they are worse off than they were 5 years ago. I'm sure most of that is the fault of Republicans, but I'm confused by something: how is it that we are still hearing about the plight of black Americans after 40 years of expanding government handouts?
The survey by the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan organization based in Washington, shows that only one in five African Americans asked said life in the United States is better for them than it was five years ago, and only 44 percent of African Americans said they expect their prospects to brighten in the future. The Pew Center says this means that blacks are more pessimistic about progress now than at any time since 1983.

Most white Americans have a different perspective. Whites are nearly twice as likely as blacks to see blacks gaining ground over the past five years, and 56 percent of whites say life will get better for blacks in this country.

And why do they continue to vote for the same freaking people 90% of the time?

Well, it's a nice gesture...

But we didn't need Congress to roll back expanded Federal wiretapping power, we just need to enforce/uphold the Constitution.

Of course, the President plans to veto the bill, because it doesn't give telecom companies immunity for violating our privacy in the past when the government asked them for information they had no legal right to request.

But hey. They're keeping us safe. Or something.

Alrming Environmental Catastrophe!

Well, not really. Warren Meyer at Coyote Blog has an outstanding post showing an example of how poor the science really is when it comes to Catastrophic Global Warming, and how the media eat it up.

Read up. And if you have the time, check out his video and paper, linked in the post.

Lost to the Bengals

There's still 1:55 left, but I have little hope.

I did realise I could be an NFL coach, as I thought McNair should have been benched at halftime in the Pittsburgh game. Boller's the future, it's time to let him win some games. If he can't cut it now, the Ravens need to make some serious moves at QB in the offseason.

Kudos to the defense. The've been struggling a little, but you can't ask for much better than what they are doing. They didn't drop the ball. Over and over again.

One more reason to hide all your money now

The Maryland legislature is in a special session to decide what taxes to raise in order to close a defecit on a budget that has not been proposed yet.

As part of the tax bills, one proposal is to require the issuer of a gift card or certificate to send the value of that item to the state if it is not redeemed within a year.

I heard this on the radio today, and googled to see if I could find it in the news. I'm shocked that I can't. Nary a mention. It's like the media is in cahoots with the bandits in Annapolis.

One thing I keep saying to people who are complaining: it was no secret that electing the Teflon Leprechan was going to result in much higher spending and increased taxes... he never hid his plans to do so. And he was elected anyway.

Thursday is the new Friday

Had a late afternoon meeting with our financial advisor (the lovely and talented Miss T), then, since we were over at Harbor East, we planned dinner at Pazo with K and her man A.

Fantastic, as usual. One to many martinis, and one to many bottles of wine. Food was awesome. Both couples got the Classic Table for Two. Everything was better than expected, but the empanadas really stood out.

Well, I'm going to bed early

35-0 with just over a minute to go in the first half, 3 lost fumbles and an interception. 3 turnovers by the starting QB (is that more than Boller had in his 2 starts?) That as many touchdowns in one half as the Ravens have all season.

It will take a miracle to get into the playoffs, which is extremely frustrating given this is pretty much the same team that went 13 and 3 last year. Sure, the schedule is a little tougher this year, but there is just no way to justify the lack of execution this year, on both sides of the ball.

Convenient Cheese

My wife just told me we don't have any convenient cheese.

There's a market for someone - make it happen.

Wow!

Ron Paul has raised over $2 million online today.

Grass roots is making a comeback!

Nelly's Echo

In a world where every time I turn on a radio, I'm attacked by the likes of Nickelback and Daughtry (oft I can't tell the two apart, much like you can't tell what dog dropped that pile you just stepped in), it is both encouraging and discouraging to know there are folks out there like Nelly's Echo.

Encouraging, because there are lots of people out there this good, and if you look hard enough, you can find them in your town. Discouraging because they are all playing in tiny bars that hold 50 people, when they could be selling millions of CDs and playing arenas, but for some reason we are all listening to Coldplay.

We saw them at the Austin Grill at the Can Company (not a place known for live original music - who knew?). Joined by our friend K, and our neighbors R and D, had a couple of beverages, but really focused on the guy playing.

Those of you who know me, know this is certainly not normally my cup of tea. However, I can see remarkable talent when it is presented to me, and this guy is the real deal. If this is your cup of tea, pick up his CD, and if you are local, catch a show.

Maybe he'll make it, and music will be better for all of us.

A Smalltimore aside: The bass player is married to the old guitar player for my brother's old band, Unprovoked Moose Attack, which has morphed into The Yellow. They reconnected with J buying a house.

More on the President

This time, some more news on how we got into Iraq.

There are going to be more of these - the administration will not be able to hide them forever.

An Iraqi defector made up his claim that Saddam Hussein had biological weapons, a threat cited by the Bush administration as a key reason for the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, the U.S. news program "60 Minutes" said on Thursday.

Rafid Ahmed Alwan, codenamed "Curve Ball" in intelligence circles, claimed to be a chemical engineering expert but was instead an accused thief and a mediocre student, the program said. He arrived at a German refugee center in 1999.

"To bolster his asylum case and increase his importance, he told officials he was a star chemical engineer who had been in charge of a facility at Djerf al Nadaf that was making mobile biological weapons," "60 Minutes" said in a statement.

Now, somehow, people like me know this wasn't enough, way back when...

But no such weapons have been found and what was supposed to have been a short U.S. engagement in Iraq is now in its fifth year, with more than 3,800 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands Iraqis killed.

"60 Minutes" said it found an arrest warrant for Alwan in relation to a theft from the Babel television production company in Baghdad where he once worked. It said he studied chemical engineering at university but got low marks.

The report, a culmination of a two-year investigation by journalist Bob Simon, is due to be broadcast on the CBS network on Sunday.

"The (then) CIA director George Tenet gave Alwan's information to Secretary of State Colin Powell to use at the U.N. in his speech justifying military action against Iraq," "60 Minutes" said.

That was, the program said, despite a letter from German intelligence officials saying that although Alwan appeared to be believable, there was not evidence to verify his story.

"Through a spokesman, Tenet denies ever seeing the letter," "60 Minutes" said.

"Alwan was caught when CIA interrogators were finally allowed to question him and confronted him with evidence that his story could not be as he described it," the program said.

"Weapons inspectors had examined the plant at Djerf al Nadaf before the fall of Baghdad and found no evidence of biological agents."

No suprises here. Unfortunately, no one will be held accountable other than the dead people in Iraq.

I feel faint.

At first, I thought it was from actually going to the gym today.

Alas, it wasn't that. It was that President Bush actually vetoed a spending bill today.

U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday vetoed a popular bill that would authorize hundreds of water projects across the country, escalating a battle with congressional Democrats over domestic spending.

Bush had long threatened to veto the $23 billion bill, targeted for projects including coastal restoration in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina and improving the Florida Everglades, saying it was too expensive.

Democrats said they would try to override the president's veto as early as next week. The measure passed both houses with more than the two thirds majorities needed to override a presidential veto.

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino called the measure "fiscally irresponsible" and said Bush cast the fifth veto of his presidency before leaving for a trip to South Carolina.

5 entire vetos. Wow. He must have a cramp. And it would figure it's something that passed with enough votes for an override.

And how dare anyone in this administration call something "fiscally irresponsible". This entire Presidency has been fiscally irresponsible.

Colbert

Even in being denied the ability to run for President by the South Carolina Democratic party, Stephen Colbert points out flaws in the system. A system where 15 people get to decide who a state can elect in a primary.

The most humor in a quote so far today, at least:

But executive council members were apparently more swayed by a letter from Donald L. Fowler. The former state and national party chairman wrote that Colbert had failed to register with the Federal Election Commission, to maintain a campaign staff in South Carolina and to meet other requirements to establish a viable campaign.

"He seeks to make a travesty of our primary," one that could even taint the value of a victory by a mainstream candidate there, Fowler wrote.

Dude, you so didn't need any help making a travesty of your primary.

And another tidbit that's a little troubling:

Colbert told his audience Wednesday that the Republicans' $35,000 entry fee was too expensive for his campaign -- which was trying to remain under a $5,000 federal limit -- and that he would not file for the GOP primary

That's $35,000 just to run in one state!

The smell of freedom

This is the second Drew Carey film from Reason TV.

Are we protecting children, or are we controlling behavior?

It's a legitimate question, given the SCOTUS review of a child porn law. The DOJ says that ads selling 'child porn' hurt children, even if the photographs are fake.

Challengers to the law, including the National Coalition Against Censorship and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, counter that it sweeps too broadly. They say it threatens the marketing of Lolita and other fictional depictions of adolescent sex.

At stake is Congress' latest attempt to prohibit sexual content on the Internet. Backed by 28 states, U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement stresses the need to curtail the marketing of child porn to protect the children abused to create it.

Clement, who will argue the case today, stressed in a written filing that because of the Internet "the distribution of child pornography has expanded exponentially." He said even fraudulent offers to buy or sell child porn feed the market.

This may be so, but isn't it an important distinction between controlling the behavior of some wierdo looking at teh internets versus the person who abuses a child for profit? Without a doubt, the latter is a crime. But is the former? If so, against whom?

Now, given most child porn scenarios, I think one can make the case the veiwer or purchaser of (real) child porn where a (real) child was forced to perform is indeed party to the crime, as they have directly or indirectly paid the actual person doing the forcing. But what about a cartoon? A drawing? A digital image? A book?

I don't see how, with no victim, there can be a crime. Frankly, in my opinion, not real child porn could actually keep kids safe from people who would otherwise want the real thing. Further, the sweeping nature of such laws can end up having troubling consequenses, depending on who is doing the interpreting and enforcing. Is a 15 year old girl doing a little dance for her 16 year old boyfriend, or taking racy photos, really a crime?

We need to keep the focus on the victims, and stopping the real crimes.

People who can think: 1. WHO: 0

Agoraphilia has an outstanding explanation of errors in 'scoring', when it comes to the WHO and ranking health care.

Nevertheless, the resulting composite scores are not sensible. Because the five component factors were measured on different scales to begin with, the WHO researchers had no choice but to scale them to make them comparable. When they scaled them, they used the approach described above: they measured a country’s factor score as the percentage of the distance between the lowest-scoring and highest-scoring countries for that factor.

As a result, a factor could have an exaggerated effect on the composite health performance scores if the raw scores for that factor were bunched more tightly than were other factors. If, for instance, if financial fairness ranged from 0.5 to 10.0 on the fairness scale, countries with fairness of 0.5 would be treated as having a fairness of 0. Essentially, a country that is somewhat fair would get treated as not fair at all. (This is assuming the raw fairness measure is meaningful to begin with, which I suspect it is not.)

It doesn't take much thinking to recognize this. Apply this thinking to a number of issues, and you'll find lots and lots of meaningless or questionable conclusions.

If you are keeping track...

Security contractors in Iraq are immune from the laws of Iraq. Because that's how you spread freedom, or something.

Security contractors have immunity from Iraqi law under a provision put into place in the early days of the U.S.-led occupation in Iraq.

This comes to light as 17 civillians were killed by a security force. Certainly no one at this point (well, no one who is talking, anyway) if the killings were justified, but we do know now that the security force was given immunity by the state department.

Congratulations Jeff Gordon

As much as it pains me to say it, Jeff Gordon has wrapped up his 6th points championship in NASCAR's top series. He has a 439 point lead over second place Jimmie Johnson, and as long as Gordon starts each of the next 3 races (which he will, due to NASCAR's provisional qualifying process), Johnson can not make that gap up even if he wins each race. (One can only make up 135 points per race).

The Magic of Prices

Milton Freidman on pencils, prices, and peace.

It's worth 3 minutes of your life to watch it.




Hat tip: Cafe Hayek

Early Optimism

In most cases, I consider myself an optimist. I know things will turn out well for me, and I always think in terms of the best case scenario vs. the worst case.

Except when it comes to the United States electorate. People who were so befuddled they believed Saddam had something to do with the terror attacks on 9/11, who think cell phones should be illegal on planes because they are annoying, who continue to elect representatives whose primary goal is to get as much money from the Federal teat sent back to their districts.

Charles Burris has a more optimistic take. He thinks the revolution has begun, the catalyst being the Ron Paul presidential bid.

I'm a huge Ron Paul fan, and I'm ecstatic his run is starting conversations like this one. But I don't give the US electorate nearly that much credit. Far too many people are guided by what they see on the tee vee, what they read in Rolling Stone or Newsweek, and their local newspaper. There are still people, lots of people, who equate health insurance with health care. Who think stem cell research was banned by the President, who simply don't understand why what they like about Ron Paul doesn't mesh at all with their statist positions on other subjects.

I hope I'm wrong, that the revolution really has started. But if it has, it's moving awfully slowly. We need to find more ways to move it along.

I wasted an afternoon for that?

A freaking 19-14 loss to the Bills?

There's a big difference between 4-3 and 5-2 when you look at the rest of the schedule. The Ravens are going to have to beat some teams that you might not expect to even get into the playoffs.

Frustrating when you look at how good they were last season.

And how the hell does a professional football player get EXHAUSTED after having to run 70 yards? Who is responsible for their conditioning?

One more example of a choice

Fungible is a neat word.

The important part is the information about the SCHIP recipient, who clearly has a choice to make, and for some reason, lots of people think I (and they) should be forced to subsidize this person's choices.

Not having health insurance in most instances is a choice. I'm all for helping people who can't afford health CARE, and will do it voluntarily. But I won't volunteer to pay for health insurance for someone who chooses a low paying job to chase their dream; do you think you should have to buy health insurance for some guy in a bar band who quits his day job, when that day job provided insurance as a benefit?

Me either.

I'd vote for him.

We need more people like this running for office, not less.

Via Permdude

Something to consider

Jacob Sullum at Reason brings up an interesting point in a post about the clowns over at the CSPI.

I could point out that 920 calories for breakfast is not necessarily out of line with the government's own recommendations for male teenagers and physically active men, or that Hardee's "does offer some low-calorie options, including roast beef and chicken sandwiches." But I am most struck by the fact that quotes from activists like Hurley are now obligatory in articles about new menu items at restaurant chains. Even from the perspective of "obesity epidemic" doomsayers, this seems like a strange state of affairs. After all, stories about the plunging prices of big-screen TVs, the hot new video game, or the latest labor-saving device do not typically include critics bemoaning the implications for calorie expenditure. Should they?

I've never really thought about that, but the nanny statists always seem to only go after one side of things - fast food bad, cheap TVs OK; online poker and slot machines bad, state run lottery good.

Maybe we shouldn't give them any ideas.

Stuff I'm spinning

Clutch - Blast Tyrant

Van Morrison - Moondance

Van Halen - Van Halen

Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos.

An Ulterior Motive?

After having experienced quite a bit of air travel over the past few weeks, this article rung quite true.

Hat tip: Ron Smith at WBAL

4-2

In true Ravens' fasion, it's been a little ugly, but I'll take it.

I did like the way Boller played, he's looked good this year, and I'd rather have him in the game than a questionable McNair. I also was pleased to see some shots down the field, and even though 5 field goals in a game isn't thrilling football, they are playing to win the game with solid defense and no mistakes on offense. As long as that happens, it will be a good year.

Aloha!

Back to the grind today, after an almost 2 week trip to Napa and Hawaii. Great time, and we needed the break.

I should be back to posting regularly shortly.

Sideways

Just in case you were wondering, the TSA will confiscate your corkscrew when you go through security at the San Francisco Airport, and you can't take a bottle of wine through, either.

You can, however, buy both at a store once you are past 'security'.

That's how you stay safe from terrorists. The hell with the 4th amendment, we're talking safety, here.

Curt Warner almost ruined my Sunday

But he didn't.

2-1 is a good start, although things could get a little rough coming up. I'm a little concerned with how easily Warner tore up the Ravens' D, but encouraged by how good Kyle Boller looked.

And how is Warner NOT a starting QB?

Cops on Cops

I've seen this website mentioned on a couple of Libertarian blogs. Something else... apparently, if you are a cop, and you get stopped for a traffic violation, the cop who stopped you is an asshole.

They are so drunk with power, that they brag of violating the laws they enforce, and have a problem when other cops enforce them.

Too bad these brave individuals don't post their own names and badge numbers.

Meh.

Been busy as can be, with work and other stuff. Lots to say, no time to say it.

Hopefully I'll post a bunch over the next few days... there will certianly be a break during the first two weeks of October.

1-1

I didn't see the Ravens Jets game, but I liked seeing the result.

Take a breath...

It's been a very busy couple of weeks. We were on the Canton Home and Garden Tour on Saturday, so we had lots of stuff to get done to have 400 guests come through the house. Big thanks to our friends, family, and volunteers who helped make sure everything in the house stayed in the house.

On top of that, work has been busy. Up until last week, training was going well, but I didn't get to the gym last week... I should be back to normal tomorrow.

6 Turnovers = Loss

What a dismal showing from an execution perspective for the Ravens on Monday... yet they hung in there with solid defense and special teams, and still had a shot to win, in spite of SIX turnovers.

That actually was encouraging.

Yet again, we start the season flat with a bunch of injuries. I don't think many of these injuries were conditioning related, but I still question Billick's treatment of training camp.

But he's not the one who dropped the ball.

Renaissance Man

I'm sitting in my living room, blogging on my Blackberry, drinking a fantastic Australian Shiraz, reading my Wall Street Journal, listening to Black Sabbath's 'Paranoid' on my Sonos.

You simply can not be this cool.

As long as the right people are in charge, everything will be fine.

There's a great post at CoyoteBlog on some confusion at the NOW website.

Apparently, they want your laws off their bodies, but want government run heathcare.

Seems to me, those two goals are incompatible. Government run healthcare means the government can tell you what you do (and what care you get) with your body.

Peace Sells

Through tht eprocess of burning all of my CDs to an NAS (for the Sonos), I'm rediscovering some great old stuff.

What I'm spinning today while getting things done around the house (Mrs. Stagg isn't home):

Megadeth - Peace Sells...But Who's Buying

I'm suprised not only how well this stands the test of time from a musical standpoint, but the lyrics are applicable today just as they were 21 years ago (I'm getting old). Frankly, this is still better than the pop/metal crap you hear on 'rock' radio these days.

Live - Mental Jewelry

While not the usual heavy shit I usually like, I still dig these guys (and again, 100 times better than what you get now). This 1991 album has a couple of killer tracks on it.

Whitesnake - Slide it in

Really, what else needs to be said. Grab a shot of whiskey, a beer, and a pack of Marlboros, and check out the blondes in tight acid washed jeans.

Dream Theater - Awake

1994. Just awesome. How can anyone not like this.

Hatebreed - Perserverance

This was in my training rotation for a long time. Really not groundbreaking mucisianship, but good to get you angry. In a positive way.

Asking the right questions

The headline: 47 Million Americans Without Health Insurance, Census Report.

Wow. That sounds bad.

But no one asks the following questions:

1) How many of those 47 million choose to self insure?
2) How many of those 47 million choose to not purchase health insurance, and instead opt for cable TV, the NFL package, and HBO?
3) Why should I have to provide health insurance by force to these people who have chosen to not have it?

Shouldn't we at least have the first two down before we decide this is good or bad news?

I trust strippers more than the majority of the US population

And you should, too.

I've always said to train where the strippers train. Here's one more reason to pay attention to what they are doing when they are away from the pole.

Seriously?

Life imitating a story straight out of The Onion, Administrators at Payne Junior High suspend a 13 year old for drawing a gun.

Not drwaing as in pulling out of a holster, but drawing as in with a pencil on paper.

Lines in the Sand

Saw Dream Theater last night. Unreal.

Simply the best rock band on the planet.

But all I hear on the radio is Nickelback. I'll never get it.

Not a cheap war.

I love the internet. Without the internet, this video wouldn't be foating around.


Too bad it wasn't floating around 3 years ago. Maybe we could have voted these maniacs out of office. These are the people killing your children. In 2003, what made the additional 3000 US troops lives worth it, given the rest of his predictions were absolutely true?

Via The Agitator.

Real Bigots

The 'Black Community' is questioning Barack Obama's "blackness".

With puzzlement and a touch of humor, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama weighed in Friday on a question posed by some in the black community about whether he's ''black enough'' to represent them in the White House.

Speaking to a packed ballroom at the National Association of Black Journalists convention here, Obama said he found the question curious because it appeared to go deeper than his brown skin or his record as a U.S. senator from Illinois or a member of that state's legislature.

''It's not my track record. It's not that I can't give a pretty good speech; from what I've heard I can preach once in a while,'' he told the audience. ``What it really does lay bare, I think, in part: We're still locked into the notion that somehow if you appeal to white folks then there must be something wrong.''

I thought we were shooting for color blindness? Why is it ok for the 'black community' to question someone's 'blackness'. Can you imagine the uproar if the 'white community' considered someone's 'whiteness'.

Congratulations.

To Barry Bonds, who may be the greatest player in baseball history.

Your Government in action

We really don't make this stuff up.

The letter instructs me to send the city a check for $7 ($30 if the animal is "unaltered", $17 if it's been more than 45 days since the rabies shot) along with "a copy of the current rabies vaccination certificate." All this may seem reasonable, in light of the threat that rabies poses to people and other animals, but it makes little sense to me. The city knows I have a cat (three, actually) only because I took him to the vet and had him vaccinated. So in what sense is the city monitoring compliance when it tells me to send a check and a copy of the vaccination certificate? It already knows my cat is vaccinated; it says so in the first sentence of the letter.

"This is a huge victory in hairstyles"

This is freaking hilarious.





Via Rob the Bouncer

Lebanese Taverna

This week was restaurant week in Baltimore. Unfortunately, we were only able to take advantage of it one night - Saturday - at Lebanese Taverna.

Other than at the Prime Rib, our restaurant week experiences in the past have been positive. Always freshly made, just like you ordered off the menu, often things we wouldn't otherwise try.

Lebanese Taverna was a bit of a dissapointment. As an appetizer, had Shrimp Arak, which tasted to me like thawed shrimp out of a bag, cooked with butter. OK, but not fantastic. J had grape leaves, which had obviously been pre made and pre plated (the plate was ice cold), and just weren't very good. We both chose Sharhat Ghanam (sliced grilled lamb), which was very much like what you would get at a banquet where they make 200 at a time. It was OK, but not great. The house wine (red or white) was OK, but I don't even know what it was.

Dessert was Creme Caramel, which was good.

Service was dissapointing, through little fault of the waiter. He had too many tables, and was struggling to keep up, even when most were ordering off the fixed menu. The building is cool - the bar area is really cool, but the room is way too loud and a bit cramped. It was also not as clean as I like to see.

Given all the raves we've heard, we are going to give them another chance at some point, but based on our experience last night, there are lots of much better places to go, and life is too short.

Overall: Food - 5 out of 10, Service - 6 out of 10, Ambiance - 7 out of 10.

Someone's talking tough on terrorism

Barack Obama. Yup. Now, I'm not really a fan, but I think it's about time someone said something about attacking a country that actually has something to do with helping those who attacked the US.

And, frankly, I don't care what they think.

Question

Listening to the induction ceremony for Cal Ripken Jr. this weekend, a question occurred to me:

How does everyone assume Mark McGuire used illegal anabolic steroids, but Cal Ripken didn't?

And why would the hall of fame care, given neither of them broke any baseball rules?

I hope Bonds destroys the record, so there's no question.

Prediction

In honor of the beginning of Ravens training camp, I would like to present my virtually meaningless, pretty much uneducated, and mostly just a shot in the dark prediction for this year:

12 - 4

AFC North Champs

How the government really works

Don Boudreaux explains the real politics of prohibition in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

The most important thing to know:

So, if the history of alcohol prohibition is a guide, drug prohibition will not end merely because there are many sound, sensible and humane reasons to end it. Instead, it will end only if and when Congress gets desperate for another revenue source.

It's sad, but what the government decides you can and can not do has little to do with anything other than revenue. Gambling is exactly the same.

How you can tell for sure the American public is stupid

Daughtry has a record deal, and has sold 3 MILLION copies of their first album.

Who listens to this shit? I heard it on the radio the other day, it's like they rip off 3 other awful bands (Nickelback being the most obvious), and don't even do it well.

I hate pop music.

Must be nice.

A man's boss tells him to kidnap a man, take him to a ditch, and shoot him. The victim dies, and the shooters plant a gun near him to cover up the crime.

One of the shooters' punishment: he loses his job.

That's what happens if you are a Marine, and your victim is an Iraqi.

Charged with killing an Iraqi civilian, Marine Trent Thomas backed out of a plea agreement calling for a 12-year sentence to face a court-martial that could have put him in prison for life. He said Friday that it wasn't a gamble, but a leap of faith.

"God can do anything but fail," the 25-year-old from Madison, Ill., said shortly after a jury decided against giving him any prison time for kidnapping and conspiring to murder. "It didn't matter whether I took the 12-year deal or went to court. God's willing for me to get out."

Thomas, who spent 14 months in the brig awaiting trial, was reduced in rank from corporal to private and given a bad-conduct discharge. He could have received life in prison without parole for the crimes he was convicted of Wednesday, and one of the counts he was acquitted of, aggravated murder, carried a mandatory life sentence.

A jury of three officers and six enlisted Marines deliberated for less than an hour Friday before returning its decision.

Prosecutors had recommended Thomas be sentenced to 15 years in prison with a dishonorable discharge, reduction in rank and a fine for his role in the April 2006 killing of the retired Iraqi policeman in the village of Hamdania.

Thomas was among seven Marines and a Navy corpsman accused of snatching 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad from his house, marching him to a nearby ditch and shooting him after they botched an attempt to capture a suspected insurgent.

Prosecutors said squad members tried to cover up the killing by planting a shovel and AK-47 by Awad's body to make it look like he was an insurgent planting a bomb.

"I believe we did what we needed to do to save Marines' lives," Thomas said outside court, while declining to discuss the details of what happened that night. "I think anybody who understands what war is or what combat is understands."

Thomas' attorneys argued that their client was only following orders from his squad leader and asked that he be returned to active duty.

"We failed him as a Marine Corps, because under good leadership, this Marine would not be here today," Maj. Haytham Faraj told the court. "Consider where the responsibility lies."

Thomas had agreed in January to plead guilty in the case, but withdrew the guilty pleas on the eve of sentencing in February. His attorney, Victor Kelley, said that pretrial agreement had called for 12 years in prison.

Words don't convey how disgusted I am.

Some questions, answered

USA Today worries that the lighter unbanning on airplanes is an issue, because lighters might still be dangerous.

The TSA has a very helpful Qand A on the subject, but USA today has some questions only a smart person can answer. Lucky for you, I'm smart.

When and how was it decided (and who decided) that lighters were no longer a "significant threat"? Less a threat than 4 ounces of shampoo or toothpaste or breast milk? Help us out here, TSA.

Lighers never were a significant threat. They were banned in response to someone using matches to light his shoe, so naturally, they banned lighters, but not matches. This is what happens when you Must Do Something, you just come up with something to do.

• What's the deal with smokers? Why do they continue to pack lighters in carry-ons, knowing they'll be taken? Willfulness? Constitutional issues? Nicotine-induced amnesia? Or is it just addiction? (Are screeners also confiscating heroin-junkies' "rigs"?)

The article points out that over 11 MILLION lighters were confiscated last year. I flew several times last year, each time with a lighter. Only lost one. Why? Because airport screening is a joke. Smokers who travel regularly know that it's easy to make it through screening with your lighter. So you pack it, take some matches just in case, and you'll probably get to your destination with your Bic. In my case, my wife and I also made it to our destination with a screwdriver and a canister of mace (which was attached to my wife's keychain IN PLAIN VIEW).

• Why is breast milk not a threat? (See below)

It never was.

Bend it like Beckham

I'm a soccer fan. I don't watch much US soccer, mostly because compared to international play, it's just second rate. I was uninterested in all the hoopla about David Beckham coming to play in the states, again, I don't follow MLS, and most of the hype had to do with his celebrity, not his skill.

Mike DeCourcy in the Sporting News has a nice commentary on Beckham, and why the media, specifically the sports media, might be well served to pay a little more attention to the sportsmanship instead of the celebrity.

The celebrity will get old, quick.

One small win against tyrrany

A US appeals court in DC ruled that detainees at Gitmo can indeed see the evidence the Goverment has.

Your government has 385 people locked up with no charges and no trials. For 5 years.

That's why we have a Constitution. How this administration keeps getting away with ignoring it; well, that's something the American Sheeple need to take responsibility for, isn't it?

Why did the neocon cross the road

Andrew Sullivan has a post up to collect neocon jokes.

This should be great stuff.

Meet the New Boss...

Hit and Run finds, well, nothing new.

Over Under

The Benoit toxicology came out. We'll ignore all the alcohol, and instead focus on the illegal stuff.

I'm now taking bets on the over under on how long it is before someone proposes new anti-steroid legislation.*

* Not really, because that would be illegal. I never do anything illegal.

Good Times!

Had a great time last night. J and I, along with our friends K, A, and K went to see the Bacon Brothers outside at the Western Park at the Inner Harbor, then stayed for a screening of 'Diner'. Even a quick shower didn't dampen our spirits (K had a sheet big enough for all of us to huddle under.)

Just sitting outside with a margarita watching a band backed by the Baltimore skyline was a treat, and made me love living in the city just a bit more. I may never go back to the 'burbs.

Training

A couple of weeks ago, I was challenged to overcome bodybuilding mythology that beginners shoudl use bodypart splits. This was the impetus I needed to get back to things.

My training for the next 8 weeks will be primarily to bring my GPP up to par; I need to get in shape. I'll use a very basic routine ripped off from Mark Rippetoe, plus some cardio and stuff.

Workout A:
Squat 3x5
OH Press 3x5
Bent Row 3x5
15 minutes of whatever

Workout B:
Squat 3x5
Bench Press 3x5
Deadlift 1x5
Chin 3 x as many as I can do
15 minutes of whatever.

I'll post updates here, but I'll probably post workouts on the Jacked Libertarian.

Positive reviews

Made a purchase yeaterday of a Buffalo Linkstation 500G NAS. I'm not a technical wiz, and was a little concerned that it didn't really come with much of a manual.

10 minutes later, it was hooked up and I was saving files to it. Easy as pie to set up. I haven't messed with any configuation stuff yet, but I don't really know that I'll need to.

Also downloaded Mediamonkey to rip my CDs to the NAS in flac (lossless) format. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to get the album art (and get that to work with sonos), but that's also easy as pie to use. I still need to test the conversion from flac to mp3 to get things on my new 8G Sandisk Sansa.

I love toys.

Oh, by the way, another plug for Sonos. It took me about a minute on their forums to find the solution to the album art issue. It's still the coolest thing ever.

Steroids are sexier than wine.

Straight shootin, and it's refreshing they let him on. But the idiots still want to blame teh steroids. (He makes a great point that no one cares that there was alcohol in the house.) I love how they cut him off at the end - talk about credibility.

Steroids didn't kill anyone. "Roid rage" is a bunch of crap. Come on.

How many stupid people run for President?

At least one.

Mitt Romney, in a fit of what can, at best, be described as incredible stupidity, recounts a story about lashing his dog (in a carrier) to the roof of his car for a cross country trip. Apparently, this story is supposed to demonstrate his ability to remain calm under stress.

Now that I think for a minute, I guess this is a good skill to have: the ability to remain calm when you do something stupid and your dog shits all over your car, or say, you invade Iraq and your plan shits all over your car...

Anyway.

There is a response - Dogs Against Romney.

It's healthy to laugh at stupid people.

Congratulations, Mr. Romney, on being the idiot of the day.

Me gusta cervesa

Anther one of those 'my life is great' kind of nights. Went to an open house at a new, really cool project calle Tailros Row. Each of 5 houses has commercial space on the first level, for either a work/live kind of deal, or you can rent it out, or use it as part of your house.

Hooked up there with another Realtor friend, R. We decided to meet his girl T, along with two friends of theirs at Arcos, someplace I've wanted to go for a while.

had a couple of Dos Equis waiting for everyone and waiting for a table. Everyone else had margaritas, all approved. This place is a little North on Broadway, and is on the edge of some rough areas.

The atmosphere at this place is unbelievable. We ate outside, which is all brick, with cool wood deatails. We started out with chips and salsa and guac. The guacamole is some of the best I've had. Dinner was OK, Carne Asada, but nothing special. Atmosphere - 9 out of 10. Food - 5 out of 10. Service was a little too relaxed.

All in all, a great night though.

A Layman's Guide to Anthropogenic (Man-Made) Global Warming

This is fantastic stuff. Read it all when you have time, and dare to challenge the global warming religion.

Apparently, they didn't like the taste

Yet another giant goverment program that's a failure. Shocking.

But an Associated Press review of scientific studies examining 57 such programs found mostly failure. Just four showed any real success in changing the way kids eat - or any promise as weapons against the growing epidemic of childhood obesity.

"Any person looking at the published literature about these programs would have to conclude that they are generally not working," said Dr. Tom Baranowski, a pediatrics professor at Houston's Baylor College of Medicine who studies behavioral nutrition.

The results have been disappointing, to say the least:

_Last year a major federal pilot program offering free fruits and vegetables to school children showed fifth graders became less willing to eat them than they had been at the start. Apparently they didn't like the taste.

_In Pennsylvania, researchers went so far as to give prizes to school children who ate fruits and vegetables. That worked while the prizes were offered, but when the researchers came back seven months later the kids had reverted to their original eating habits: soda and chips.

_In studies where children tell researchers they are eating better or exercising more, there is usually no change in blood pressure, body size or cholesterol measures; they want to eat better, they might even think they are, but they're not.

Unfortunately, doctors don't really seem to get it, either:

The forces that make kids fat "are really strong and hard to fight with just a program in school," said Dr. Philip Zeitler, a pediatric endocrinologist and researcher who sees "a steady stream" of obese children struggling with diabetes and other potentially fatal medical problems at The Children's Hospital in Denver.

What does he tell them?

"Oh God, I haven't figured out anything that I know is going to work," he said. "I'm not aware of any medical model that is very successful in helping these kids. Sure, we try to help them, but I can't take credit for the ones who do manage to change."

Tell them to get off the couch, sell the freaking Nintendo, buy a soccer ball, and get their kids outside. Tell them to quit feeding their kids just peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches on Wonderbread - give them some meat, some veggies, and some fun stuff they like.

Sometimes there is a time and place for a 'when I was a kid' story. Here's one. My mom is a hell of a cook. She's from a Southern family, and there were lots of meals in my house that were fried in Crisco. Every dinner had potatoes. Not a worry about fat content.

But every dinner also had a vegatable. There was always fresh fruit in the house. We drank our milk.

I lived on sweet (with real sugar) tea, sodas, cakes, cookies, and potatochips, too. And when I graduated from high school, I was 5 feet 11 inches, and weighed a whopping 135 pounds.

Why?

Because I went outside and played. Because when I turned 16, I got a job where I was on my feet. Because I was active. Not a star athlete, not necessarily even a good one. But I was out doing stuff.

This isn't difficult to understand, and it isn't difficult to fix. And goodness knows, we don't need another government program to 'help'.

Idiot of the Day

The states of Minnesota, Arizona, and Tennesee

Keeping us safe from the scourge of inexpensive flags not made in the USA. Or, maybe, polititians are protecting someone who gave them some money.

Sandy Van Leiu, chairman of the Flag Manufacturers Association of America, said the imports are cause for concern even though U.S. companies still dominate the flag market.

"That door is going to keep opening," said Van Leiu, a sixth-generation executive at the family-owned Annin & Co., a 160-year-old business that supplies retailers like Wal-Mart. "It starts small, then it gets big. You're just opening Pandora's box."

To help consumers identify the origin of their flags, the association created a certification program two years ago that bestows a seal-of-approval logo to flags made with domestic fibers and labor.

Whether Minnesota's law violates international trade agreements — and whether anything would be done about it — is an open question.

Under World Trade Organization standards, the U.S. government can't treat foreign products less favorably than those produced within its boundaries, said Peter Morici, a business professor at the University of Maryland and the former chief economist for the U.S. International Trade Commission. How the rules apply to states is debatable, he said.

Morici said a foreign business harmed by the law would have to get its government to take action against the U.S. government. Robert Litan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank, said while the likelihood of Minnesota's law sparking a dispute is slim the symbolic message is hard to miss.

"It's symptomatic of an anti-foreign bias moving through the country right now. It would not surprise me if other states copied it," Litan said. "It's hard to oppose politically."

When the bill was debated this spring, some legislators argued it sent the wrong message to close Minnesota's borders to foreign-produced flags.

"That flag should be made throughout the world because it is our message to the world that there is hope for freedom and justice," Republican Rep. Dan Severson said at the time.

The law's sponsor, Democratic Rep. Tom Rukavina, said the flag deserves extra protection. To celebrate his legislative victory, he plans to hand out 1,000 miniature flags at Fourth of July parades in his district.

"The biggest honor that you can give the flag is that it be made by American workers in the United States of America," he said. "Nothing is more embarrassing to me than a plastic flag made in China. This replica of freedom we so respect should be made in this country."

The new law doesn't spell out a penalty for violators. In Minnesota, the default punishment for prohibited acts is a misdemeanor offense, carrying up to a $1,000 fine and 90 days in jail.

I blame rock music.

Tipper probably should have done a better job, huh?

Of course, if my father made me drive a Prius, I'd smoke weed, too.

Happy 4th of July!

The 4th is always a day of mixed emotions for me. On the one hand, we get to celebrate with vigor the ideals on which our country was founded - Liberty being first and foremost.

Then, I think about what we are now.

It isn't at all what we were shooting for.

Dave just gets it.

Dave Tate, from Elite Fitness Systems, rants a bit about getting lean in his training log.

Read it a couple of times. It's the truth.

This struck a chord with me today. I've been eating like shit for the better part of two years, and haven't been training regularly. I was smoking again. I drink too much. Not just strength stopped being a priority, my health did.

Over the course of the past month or so, I've had some people close to me get very, very bad health news, and I've been dealing with something that could end up being pretty serious, too. Dave's little rant is one more thing helping me put it back together.

Cheatin'

If you follow NASCAR, you know by now that Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon's (Hendrick) teams were caught working 'in a gray area' before qualifying for the race last weekend. Penalties were handed down today. Each team loses 100 points and $100K, and each crew chief is suspended for 6 weeks.

woo.

Soe each team loses $100k, which is meaningless. 100 points? In the new playoff format, meaningless. Crew chief suspensions, in an era of easy wireless communication, meaningless. They'll both be in a hotel room down the road with a 2 way and a laptop.

If NASCAR wants to show it's serious about cheating, they need to start sending teams home, or suspending teams for races. Knauss (the crew chief for the #48) has been caught a number of times. This time, they should have not allowed that team to race on Sunday.

Then the sponsors will get involved and put a stop to cheating.

Health care crisis

Take a gander at this post. Great stuff - as usual, when someone says it better than I can, just link to it.

Update

Sorry for the gaps in posts, I've been distracted lately with some other stuff.

The good news: I've been inspired to get back to training, via a bit of a challenge. I'll post more about it later.

Hysterical

Although I wouldn't be suprised to see this get a government grant.

Do not cross the state. Obey the state.

Clap at a graduation, you better say you're sorry. Otherwise, the kid you clapped for might not get her diploma.

School officials withheld the diplomas because they said the cheering violated a school policy aimed at restoring graduation decorum. Officials told the five female students and their parents Friday that they would hand over diplomas if they received apologies -- even anonymously.

Following the meeting, Assistant Superintendent Joel Estes declined to comment to reporters.

The students' family members said Peoria attorney Jeffrey Green contacted the group Friday after hearing about the case. He plans to send a letter to school officials this week, seeking an apology and the denied diplomas.

The case may go to court if the diplomas aren't delivered, but the students and their parents say they won't seek punitive damages.

Honors student Caisha Gayles said she just wants to get her diploma and move on.

"It's just dumb. It's petty," Gayles said.

The students denied the diplomas say school officials wanted them to track down the cheering culprits. They say that is impossible, because they don't know who might have cheered in the crowd of about 2,000 people.

It's dumb all right. But it's just one more signal, one more sign that no one will recognize about how far we've gone astray. Statists, you realize this is what you want, yes?

Via Catallarchy

On marriage

Coyote Blog explains home improvment and marriage.

Boy he's refreshing

Lets hope he keeps at it.