
...and yes, if you click on the above graphic, you go to the Toyota Matrix site. They've given me the creeping willies so well that the least I can do is spot 'em a link.
Books. Bikes. Boomsticks.
“I only regret that I have but one face to palm for my country.”
Determined to find a sunny spot, we headed to the parade route. But before we turned the corner onto Superior Avenue, I noticed quite a few police cars - federal police cars. They read "Department of Homeland Security" on the side. Officers in what appeared to be riot gear were patrolling nearby.Ponder that for a moment: The might and majesty of the Federal Government of the United States of America being used to bust a guy for violating an open container law. The Tenth Amendment might as well not exist these days.
"Uh-oh...is something happening?" I wondered. I realized then that we were outside of the U.S. Court House, right next to my first cousin. In a crowd of thousands, I found myself standing next to family. I was the flowergirl at his wedding and now he's as white haired as my father used to be...we laughed, both surprised at seeing the other. We both said "eejit" as we watched a man get ticketed by the Feds for drinking Guinness on the street.
When the family and I made our move to The Former Republic 18 months ago, U-Haul quoted us ~$3000 for a one-way rental. I got a quote the same day for a one-way TX->CA rental. $250. I laughed merrily on that one.
10. Muslim converts on Easter.
Okay, I can see why this is being watched: A vocal anti-jihadist gets rather publicly baptized by the Pope hisownself. Pretty newsish.
9. China puts out its Tibet version.
We all do want to hear China's rationale for going all Tienanmen on the world's leading exporters of hippie philosophy and general Shirley MacLainery.
8. Pregnant woman tortured to death.
Gruesome, but it definitely has the "If it bleeds, it leads" thing going on in spades.
7. Former radical back in prison.
A clerical error that lets someone out of prison... whoops! ...a whole year early because of a typo is news in anybody's book.
6. Pope celebrates Mass in thunderstorm...
And isn't electrocuted, which I suppose we can take as a good annual evaluation from his boss. Lots of Catholics on the planet, which explains lots of eyeballs for this story.
5. Troops kill shaved militants.
I don't care how prudish you are, you clicked on this headline. You know you did.
4. Man goes on stabbing spree at mall.
He must have noticed the "No Guns Allowed" signs. Definitely news.
3. Richardson: Speech key to support.
A Friend Of Bill's jumping ship to Obama Nation in the middle of the campaign is pretty noteworthy. Lots of eyeballs will follow that.
2. Sailors trapped in sunken ship.
Ongoing drama! Sailors trapped in Davy Jones' locker! Heroic rescue attempts underway! Look!
1. J.K. Rowling: I considered suicide.
But shopping just makes me depressed. The reward for having a perfect lean athletic body is that nobody makes clothes small enough to fit you.I'm trying to feel sympathy here... trying... ... Sorry, Kit, it's just not happening. ;)
People were being advised, by people who operate (by nature of their profession) as authorities in financial matters to enter agreements against their own best interest.
Why is it that everyone thinks the man trying to sell them a $500 TV is a scummy ripoff artist, and the man trying to sell them a $5000 used car is a scummy ripoff artist, but the person trying to sell them a $500,000 mortgage is a financial professional and their bestest buddy?
All Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton had to do to bring several thousand people in Anderson to their feet was mention the word "jobs."I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that part of the problem is that at some time in our past, manufacturing jobs became considered "middle class". It's one thing for a job to provide a "living wage", the term so beloved by the collectivists on the other side of the aisle. It's another thing to think that putting bolts in holes all day should pay enough for a bass boat, two cars, a used Harley, and a time-share in Destin. The mission of WidgetCo is not to finance its employee's children's college educations, folks; its mission is to produce widgets. If you price yourself out of the widget assembly market, then WidgetCo is going to go find people who are willing to make them cheaper. In a free country, this gives you two choices: Accept less money for making widgets, or find a new trade that offers the lush financial rewards you feel that you're worth.
In this one-time manufacturing powerhouse, the second of three Indiana cities to which Clinton brought her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday, no issue seemed more important than helping the middle class get back on its feet.
"I don’t blame home run hitters who are devoted to performance enhancing cleats on the fronts of their shoes as long as they use Spaulding baseball gloves."
"[W]e've got enough laws we can't enforce. We don't want to make any more or criminalize legal conduct."Right. Like that's ever stopped the Chicago government before. I wonder if her head spun around and she vomited green pea soup while she was possessed by the ghost of some long-dead Founding Father. Shiva knows she doesn't normally have any particular aversion to making laws.
I was wondering what that tin full of foreign currencies and coins was for, now I know, so I will have some money with value - oops, they changed to the Euro. Nevermind, I am almost broke, again.I hadn't thought about that. Just great. My whole salsa jar full of Deutsche Marks and lire and francs might as well be full of tiddly-winks. Or Confederate money. At least all the kroner and kronor and GBP are still useful for something other than as coasters for very small drinks or leveling the odd piece of furniture.
"Specifically, the appeals court said, the trial court had found that "keeping the children at home deprived them of situations where ... they could develop emotionally in a broader world than the parents' 'cloistered' setting."Call this objection ironic if you will, in light of a certain percentage of home-schoolers' views on the topic of anthropology, but at what point in the evolutionary history of the human race did it become "normal" to warehouse juvenile members of the species away all day with naught but the company of other juveniles of their exact same age? With no younger members to care for and no elders to emulate (save one harried and vastly outnumbered teacher per hour), is it any wonder that most every government kinderwarehouse has descended into an unfunny parody of a William Golding novel?
It would have been funny if it wasn’t so pathetically frickin’ ignorant.What’s next?
“Computers: Not just for hackers anymore.”
“Not all car collectors are getaway drivers or illegal street racers.”
“Once thought to be the exclusive domain of pornographers and blackmail artists, photography is actually a hobby for ordinary people, too.”
1) Which of the following handguns would you consider the best for general self defense?...as though there's a "correct" answer other than "the gun I shoot the best and am most comfortable with carrying."
Single Action Revolver, example: Colt Peacemaker
Double Action Revolver, example: Smith and Wesson Model 29
Double Action Semi-auto, example: Beretta 92F
Single Action Semi-auto, example: Colt 1911
Safe Action Semi-Auto, example: Glock
Action Adventure Hero Auto, example: UFP2000
8) What handgun would you recommend for a woman who wants to protect herself?Oddly enough, 'let the li'l darlin' pick out what she can shoot best' was not an option. Oh, crap! I'm a woman who wants to protect herself! Maybe I've been carrying the wrong gun all along. I sure hope not.
Pocket pistol
Small revolver
Single action semi-auto
Double action semi-auto
Safe action semi-auto
9) What do you feel is the best handgun caliber for general self defense?I had no idea that there was a definitive answer to this question. Just think of the on-line arguments I could win if I knew the right answer to the "Bestest Caliber" question! I'd better submit my answers so I can get the correct ones from the horse's... er, mouth. I hurriedly tick off a random answer to #10 and then try to see how my (and I quote) "Weapons and Tactics Knowledge Stacks Up Against Front Sight Firearms Training Institute's Founder and Director, Four Weapons Combat Master, Dr. Ignatius Piazza". Mouse hand all a-tremble, I click the "view results" button and...
.45 ACP
10mm
.40 S&W
.357 magnum
9mm
.38 Special
.380
.25
.22
1) Alcohol on Sundays: In the Metro Atlanta and Indianapolis areas, you will apparently burn in hell if you are allowed to purchase alcohol for off-premises consumption on a Sunday. Your immortal soul is safe in Knoxville, however, so long as you do so after 10:00AM (don't want the Baptists picking up a sixer on the way to church, I guess.)
2) Where To Buy: In Atlanta, hard liquor was available only at liquor stores, who also sold beer, mixers, chips, smokes, and whatnot. In Indy, you can get your whiskey at Kroger, or the CVS for that matter. In Knoxville, anything above an alcohol content of 6% (this includes wine and big beers) is only available at liquor stores, which are not allowed to sell anything but beverages with greater than 6% ABV; no chips, no mixers, no smokes, no newspapers, not bupkis.
The breach occurred before the FBI enacted broad new reforms in March 2007 to prevent future lapses, FBI Director Robert Mueller said.Translation: We're big kids now and we don't do that any more. That was back when we were just little kids.
And it was caused, in part, by banks, telecommunication companies and other private businesses giving the FBI more personal client data than was requested.Plus, it was the other kids' fault, too. Everyone was doing it. We didn't really want to; they made us.
The new audit, which examines use of national security letters issued in 2006, "will identify issues similar to those in the report issued last March," Mueller told senators. The privacy abuse "predates the reforms we now have in place," he said....and we'll never do it again. Honest!
"We are committed to ensuring that we not only get this right, but maintain the vital trust of the American people,"
I was curious – I wanted to know who these women were and what motivated them to pick up a gun. I wanted to know how they handled their difference at a mostly male shooting range, police precinct, or military base. Where did they get their training? What kinds of guns did they shoot? Even the clothing they wore and the types of carrying cases they chose interested me. Why were they entering, in many cases, troubled waters where "no women allowed" signs were posted in most people's minds?
He was not rich when he started. Big deal. He still has more money than he personally needs.Needs? I wasn't aware that freedom was a needs-based condition. How many bullets do you need in your magazines? How many guns do you need to own? How fast does your car need to go? Do you really need that fast of a CPU in your PC? Part of the magic of this nation is that need doesn't enter into our economy, else Ben & Jerry's and Hagen Dazs would be Tango Uniform inside of a week.
Despite the hatred of welfare so often found amongst conservatives, there are indeed some people who truly need it.We only guarantee the pursuit of happiness here. Catching it is up to you.
Why does it hurt that this man pay a vastly larger share of the costsWhy should we endorse using the guns of the state to extort a larger percentage of money from this person, simply because he has the audacity to have it, and we think it could be better spent elswhere? Down that line of thinking lies all sorts of nastiness, from the confiscation of farms from the kulaks to the looting of Foot Locker stores during urban riots.
when his wealth is made possible by our consumer environment and our money which is all created on a collective basis.I don't know about you, but I'm not part of any "collective". Nothing gets done on a "collective basis"; there are only bazillions of individual human beings who make individual decisions to drive a Ford or eat at Burger King. I recall my purchases of various Microsoft products fairly well, and am quite sure that I was not under the control of the Hive Mind or ordered to purchase them by the State.
I believe something like 70% of all money in this nation is controlled by less than 1% of the population. That pisses me off.I don't care if 70% of the cash in this land was controlled by one guy. More power to him! Look, prosperity is not a finite item like a Domino's pizza, whereby if Bill Gates has eight slices of pepperoni and extra cheese, then you and I have to eat the cardboard box; prosperity, wealth, capital, money, value is something that is created by effort, inspiration, intelligence, and sometimes pure dumb luck.
Capitolism works by our government producing a system and a currency, and then we use that system to divide up labor so we can get more done.I'll leave you with a quote from noted hardcore conservative thinker, Hank Thoreau:
Yet this government never of itself furthered any enterprise, but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way. It does not keep the country free. It does not settle the West. It does not educate. The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished; and it would have done somewhat more, if the government had not sometimes got in its way. For government is an expedient, by which men would fain succeed in letting one another alone; and, as has been said, when it is most expedient, the governed are most let alone by it. Trade and commerce, if they were not made of india-rubber, would never manage to bounce over obstacles which legislators are continually putting in their way; and if one were to judge these men wholly by the effects of their actions and not partly by their intentions, they would deserve to be classed and punished with those mischievous persons who put obstructions on the railroads.