Land of Oz

Dumb Drug War

The semi-subs, known as "self-propelled semi-submersibles," also represent a serious national security threat: Today it's drugs, but tomorrow's cargo could be heavy weaponry, senior defense officials warn.


The above non-attributed quote was pulled from a Christian Science Monitor story about the use of vessels costing $2 million each to smuggle drugs into the USofA. Isn't it becoming really obvious that the drug war is a bust? People have used intoxicants since the dawn of humanity. I've even seen some theories that farming and the civilization it led to came about basically because people needed grain crops to make beer. I suppose after watching someone act up after downing a couple of 40 ouncers make you wonder about civilization, the fact is a lot of people are going to get high no matter what the government says. Many people take the legal route of booze but many also take the illegal route of certain drugs.

And can anyone really explain to me just how marijuana is so much worse than beer? I mean really, a bud is Bud, isn't it? Sure I don't want my doctor operating on me when high on coke or weed, but I wouldn't really be too happy if he drunk either.

So, now we all know that marijuana not only leads to hard drugs, but it can lead to nuclear weapons as well.

Labels: crime, government

Stupid & Lucky

I guess if you have to do stupid stuff, being lucky is a helpful survival trait. This weekend, while doing some home remodeling, I managed to shoot a nail through my finger with an air-powered brad nailer. That was the stupid part. I had just finished giving my wife a quick lesson in how to be careful using the gun, and had in fact let her shoot a couple of nails into some door molding we were putting up.

Later, I tried to brad a small piece of wood to another piece and didn't have them clamped down correctly. I think what happened was that the first brad kicked the wood out and then the gun fired a second brad that went through the finger that had been holding the wood block that was no longer there. I'm guessing that, because later when all was done and I looked at the block, a brad was half-way in it.

Let me tell you, watching a two-inch brad fly through your finger isn't the best of experiences. The lucky part was that the brad seemed to miss all the important bits in my finger. No blood vessels, no bone or tendon seemed to be hit - typing this entry sort of proves that. E's and R's would be difficutlt had that finger been seriously damaged. I did go to the emergency room - at the local Aleda E. Lutz VA Medical Center (which I might add gave me stellar service) to have it looked at. They didn't do much, just a booster tetnus shot.

On the way to the hospital, with my wife driving, I reflected on the idea that the emergency room could probably be better named the stupidity room. From what I've gathered from friends - this is only my second time visiting - the first being a severe case of gastrointestinal something or other. Many visits to the emergency room are the result of doing something stupid. Nailing your finger, breaking an arm falling from a ladder, getting hit in the head with a baseball, eating old potato salad on a warm summer evening - that sort of stuff. Stuff where you get hurt because you did something stupid. The only good about my stupidity, is that it'll make me treat the brad nailer with a little more respect - at least for awhile. Eventually, I'll need to do something stupid again to keep me from getting complacent. Hopefully, I'll be lucky again at the same time.

Labels: government, military, tools

85/.22/2

Here's an interesting screenshot from my my.yahoo page. One article is about an 85 year old woman who was robbed in an elevator and the other is about an 85 year old woman who was almost robbed, but pulled her .22 and held the 17 year old robber at gun point until the police got there. And people wonder about the right to bear arms. 85 years old/.22 pistol/Article 2.

Labels: crime, freedom, government

Me, Me, Me

The latest issue of Time has a cover of President Bush with the tagline of "What Bush Got Right." And as soon as I saw the cover, I got to thinking, rather selfishly since I'm an American, what he got right for ME -- and came up with the initial answer of damn little. Is he personally responsible for the problems. Not really, but it has happened on his watch. Could things have turned out differently had he done his eight years differently? Probably, but then again things may have gotten even worse.

In the last six years, gas has gone from under $1.30 to over $4.00 . My friends have run into an immigration nightmare - they being handicapped by doing the immigration process legally. And not just immigration, but simply a visit to the USofA from a foreign country has become a royal pain in the ass. My house is worth less than I bought it for and I can't sell it even at a loss. My pay hasn't increased in 8 years. The retirement package offered now sucks. It's lost substantial value in the last year or so.

The infrastructure of the USofA is literally crumbling away. Brown outs, water breaks and bridge collapses are an everweekly occurrence. We've got roads here in Michigan that will rattle your teeth when you drive them. Not to mention wheel eating potholes. Mass transit in most places in the USofA is something you can only pray for. We used to be able to take a nice train ride from my home to Toronto. Now that same train ride, between immigration and customs is so unwieldy, that a two hour car ride to a Canadian station is preferable.

Unfortunately, I don't really expect anything better from whoever wins in November. Candidates are so afraid of upsetting anyone, that they no longer satisfy anyone. By the time November gets here, both candidate's platforms will be fundamentally identical.

Labels: government, gripes

Rich Folk

An American woman blinked back tears of joy Tuesday as she cuddled puppies cloned in South Korea from her beloved former pit bull terrier. ... Ra's company [South Korean cloning] originally charged 150,000 dollars to clone Booger. ... But it agreed to come down to 50,000 dollars to celebrate what it calls the first commercial deal for a pet dog.

The price that lady was going to pay would have almost been enough to pay for our new house. It could replace my and my wife's cars six times over. I could go down to the animal shelter and adopt 2,884 dogs, most of whom are probably destined to be killed. My wife and I could take an annual 18 day cruise to Europe every year for the next fifteen years. I could bank it and take me and the neighbors out to dinner every month for a long, long time. I could buy a CD and look at $7500 every year.

And she cloned a pit bull of all things with it.

Labels: gripes

Innocent?

So what - who cares - the government sure doesn't:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. federal agents have been given new powers to seize travelers' laptops and other electronic devices at the border and hold them for unspecified periods the Washington Post reported on Friday. Under recently disclosed Department of Homeland Security policies, such seizures may be carried out without suspicion of wrongdoing, the newspaper said, quoting policies issued on July 16 by two DHS agencies.

Basically the government can do anything to you anytime they want for any or no reason. They can toss you in jail forever with no trial and no evidence and don't even have to tell you why. They can take any electronic device you may own for any reason, or for no reason. You can't even argue, since they won't tell you why they're taking the stuff. They can listen to your phone calls, watch what you do on the Internet and have made sure you can't even sue your ISP if you even knew it.

I'm sure Mr. Orwell is saying, "and you thought it was fiction, didn't you?"

Labels: crime, freedom, government