For several weeks I've managed to post content-specific articles without once resorting to "blog meat" specifically. (For the uninitiated, the term "Blog Meat" refers to an article which contains a lot of links to articles and events which I find generally interesting, but doesn't necessarily have a single cohesive theme.)
This is the kind of article which is typical of diary-type Web Logs ("blogs"), and I usually consider it a lazy way of blogging for people who don't really have anything to say. But for someone who spends as much time as I do using the internet as a primary information source, its tempting. Very tempting.
Tonite we have a mish-mash of articles I found interesting, incidental information that I would share, and stuff I just want to say.
Let's get started:
House Approves Move to Outlaw Flag Burning
I don't like this.
Sure, I'm a conservative kinda guy, but the idea of putting some weirdo in jail because he burns a flag in the streets just strikes me as wrong.
Sure, I was in the army. I fought for causes my country thought were right ... in Vietnam we fought the "Domino Theory" , to keep other countries from falling to "Godless Communism". What I thought we were fighting for, though, was to prevent other countries from falling to oppressive governments.
This business of making a holy icon out of the national flag goes too far when it results in jail-time. The ACLU is not my favorite people, but they serve to make us really THINK about what we're doing. They say flag-burning is protected under the First Amendment, and in this case I think they're right.
If you want to burn a flag, that's your business. I do suggest that you don't come to MY house, tear down MY flag and try to burn it in MY street, because I'll kick your ass. But that's just me, exercising My First Amendment freedom of expression. I don't need no stinkin' Constitutional Amendment. I got your amendment right here, pal.
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The other day I mentioned Pro-Gun Bloggers in the PNW. One of the people I mentioned was Rivrdog. He was kind enough to write back and tell me that I missed the fact that he has more than one blog going, and he specifically mentioned Paratus, which he typifies as "The How-To and Why-For of Preparation for Conflict".
Being a curious kinda guy who uses the Internet to learn things I never knew before, I moseyed over (moseyed ... is that a real word? Well, it is now) to Paratus and started reading.
I'm not done reading. This guy has threads to threads, and they're so darn well-written that I can't finish one before I switch to the next. I'm like a kid in a candy shop when the counter-man steps out for a smoke; I grab a handful of this, and before I can head out the door I see some other goodie and I go back for a handful of that. The analogy breaks down (as all analogies must) when I realize that I don't have do drop any of THIS to get some of THAT ... it's all there, just waiting for me to get around tuit. Basically, it's SHTF (translation: "Shit Hits The Fan") stuff that we don't really expect to ever need, but ain't it kewl to know this stuff?
Makes me want to type faster, so I can get back and see what else he has to say.
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Fight or Pay your Parking Ticket
What a concept. A website that promises ... no, GUARANTEES! ... it can prevent you from having to pay your parking ticket.
I'm not silly enough to provide the information they require to thoroughly research this website. But if you get a parking ticket, I strongly encourage you to use this website to fight it, and send me a report on how much you saved by fighting it 'their way' vs just paying the freakin' ticket.
As the DemocRats are so fond of saying ... Move On!
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Speaking of DemocRats, Dick Durbin now has a new nickname: Dick Turban.
While I think his original comment was
If these politicos don't quit fighting for bragging rights, and start working together, you and I will suffer the consequences. This BS is tearing the country apart. We can't afford such dissension.
The closest we have ever come to a 'popular' war was WWII, where our country was clearly attacked by an aggressor nation. Now we have been attacked, but the aggressors can't clearly be clearly associated with a national entity. (Afghanistan was an easy target, but getting rid of the Taliban obviously didn't remove the threat.)
Where we go to counterpunch? How do we respond? How can we put pressure on the people who attacked us?
I didn't like it when Bush attacked the political leadership of Iraq, but I think I understood what he was doing, and why.
He (Bush) moved the focus of conflict from the American soil, and goaded the Islamist Extremists to attack us on THEIR ground, where every American who was a target was armed and trained. We've suffered grevious casualties ... every American killed is a tragedy, but we've lived through that before ... and the CIA may be right when they say that IRAQ has become a training ground for terrorists.
Fine. Bring 'em on. We have seen that we will have to fight them somewhere. Better in Kabul than in Kansas City. We've suffered casualties before in the fight against aggression. We don't like it, but sometimes it is necessary.
In the meantime, getting back to Dick Durbin, we have a bunch of terrorists in Guantanamo who are NOT fighting us. Good place for 'em, I think.
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Finally, for the coup de gras ...
Family: Bush's America killed loved one
A 53-year-old Arizona man died this month due to the stress of "the stolen election of 2000 and living with right-winged Americans," according to a death notice published by his family.
Corwyn William Zimbleman, of Tucson, was an accomplished artist, the notice said, and an "avid atheist, he studied the bible [sic] and religion with more fervor than most Christians."
The notice then reads:
He had strong political opinions and followed Amy Goodman's radio broadcast "Democracy Now." Alas the stolen election of 2000 and living with right-winged Americans finally brought him to his early demise. Stress from living in this unjust country brought about several heart attacks rendering him disabled.
I have so MANY punch-lines here, I'm bleeding out of my mouth from biting my tongue.
Why should I inflict such pain on myself? Here's a list of possible responses, you choose the one that works for you:
- He has gone to a better place; there are no right-wingers where he's going ... either way.
- It's WORKING!
- If only we could get rid of the Far Right, this would be a perfect socialist country
- My nose precedes me by 15 minutes. (Sorry, that's a quote from Cyrano de Bergerac)
- If you thought Bush was bad, how did you survive Reagan?
- When did obituaries become a political forum?
- Is this a Leftist-thing?
- We hope that his bible studies prepared him for his Final Exam.
- Maybe Amy Goodwin's listeners will pray for him. Oh, wait, that's not gonna work.
- One down, 58,999,999 to go.
In another politically charged death notice, the family of 71-year-old Sally Baron, who died in 2003, reflected her apparent disregard for the president.
The Aug. 21, 2003, notice in the Capital Times of Madison, Wis., stated:
Memorials in her honor can be made to any organization working for the removal of President Bush.An article in the Capital Times the same day as Baron's death notice said her children had no question she would approve.
"She thought he was a liar," Baron's daughter, Maureen Bettilyon, said of the president. "I think his personality, just standing there with that smirk on his face, and acting like he's this holy Christian, that's what really got her."
Joe Baron said his mother "just didn't trust that a big corporate guy was going to be doing what was best for her. She just really didn't trust him."
Well, you know, these "holy Christians" are ... wait a minute, he's "a big corporate guy".
Was he 'a big corporate/Christian guy' to her, or what? Did she object more that he was a "Christian guy' or that he was a 'big corporate' guy, whatever that means.
Apparently, even her own children didn't know her.
Are you surprised?
Neither am I.
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