The Misanthrope – Sunday’s Lighter Side ...Patience

A well adjusted executive is one whose intake of pep pills overbalances his consumption of tranquillizers just enough to leave him sufficient energy for the weekly visit to the psychiatrist.
Arthur Motley (1900 - 1984), business executive

No Patience. I don’t know if it is the pressure I feel from work with constant deadlines combined with the stress of bumper to bumper traffic day in and day out, morning and night or what, but I have no tolerance for much of anything these days. I joke that I have congestive heart failure, which I know is no laughing matter, but summing the energy to do things is at times difficult.

A Simple Oil Change. The service rep at the dealership pissed me off. I made an appointment a week ago to get my oil changed at 9 a.m. I had to park outsides the service area. I walked up to the service rep. He had a couple in there that he was finishing up with; I patiently waited. I walked up to him because he was not going to come to me. I mentioned that I was there for an oil change and he told me just a moment. He came back told me to bring my car up, and I asked how long it would be. He said an hour. An hour for an oil change! I figured I had my newspapers I could deal. I drove the car up and he was starting with someone else and told me just a minute. I walked back to my car and left. That guy is jerk. There is a woman I like dealing with there a bit better. But, it’s the same old story everywhere custom service does not exist. There are too many people to provide adequate service to and companies hire fewer people to deal with the larger number of customers. I will reschedule with the woman and just come in later to the office one morning.

The Gym. Wife suggested I get back to the gym, which I wholeheartedly agree with, but when? I could get there at 5 a.m. before I leave for work, if I rush around I can work it out to be out the door by 6:20 on my way to work. After work, I could go when I get home, but I would have to be lucky and find a vacancy of one of the machines. The last time I did that, a big fat person was the machine next to me chatting on the cell phone barely moving the entire 35 minutes on I was on the machine. They probably went home boasting about the workout they just accomplished. I used to wait until late 8ish or 9 p.m., but I am too tired anymore for that.

B2 On the Road:Lost Luggage

"Samson," by Brian Goggin, located at the Sacramento Airport. More info here.

B2 On the Road:Fancy Digs

The hotel in which I am staying is so fancy they have a black urinal!

--------------------------------------------

Gulliver would be having crazy Lilliput flashbacks were he here with me.



Or maybe my hands are growing. You make the call.

From the Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890 - 1969), U.S. general and president



Washington D.C. – A statement issued today (Friday) by the White House on a bill that gives unprecedented legal immunity to the most reckless gun sellers in America "grossly misrepresents the lawsuits targeted by the bill and insults gun violence victims who are seeking justice in our courts," said Michael D. Barnes, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Here are some of the cases being deemed "frivolous" by the White House:

• Last year, the families of DC area sniper victims won a settlement of over $2 million from the Washington State gun dealer who could not account for the "missing" assault rifle used by the snipers and who "lost" over 200 other guns.
• New Jersey police officers David Lemongello and Ken McGuire won a $1 million settlement against a West Virginia pawnshop that negligently sold 12 semiautomatic handguns for cash to a gun trafficking team, enabling a criminal to obtain the pistol used against them.
• The family of Massachusetts slaying victim Danny Guzman, an innocent bystander shot on Christmas Eve 1999, is pursuing justice against a Massachusetts gun manufacturer that not only negligently hired criminals to work in its plant, but had such irresponsible security practices that it allowed them to walk out of the plant with guns that carried no serial numbers, one of which was used to shoot Guzman.
• And the parents of 14-year-old Anthony Oliver recently filed suit against a Philadelphia gun dealer that supplied a gun trafficker with the gun used to shoot Anthony, along with several other guns.
  

"These innocent Americans were victimized by reckless gun sellers who thought they would never be held accountable for putting guns into dangerous hands," Barnes said. "The issue posed by this legislation is simple: Are President Bush and Congress on the side of these victims asserting their fundamental legal rights as Americans, or are they on the side of irresponsible gun merchants who care nothing about the fatal consequences of their conduct?"

The answer to that question was obvious.

B2 On the Road:What Napa Looks Like

All You Need is Love And Money

Nobody told me there’d be days like these
Strange days indeed -- most peculiar, mama
John Lennon (1940-1980), singer, song writer, Beatle, from the song "Strange Days"

According to a Reuters report, a handwritten lyric sheet for "All You Need is Love" used by John Lennon in 1967 was sold for 600,000 pounds ($1.04 million) at an auction in London on Thursday, organizers said.

I think John Lennon would have gotten a laugh over the fact anything he touches is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, at a minimum. I don’t have a record player, so I can’t go back and listen to his "Double Fantasy" album where he laughs and comments toward the end of one of the songs about Yoko selling a cow for almost $100,000, which he thought was crazy at the time.

The "All You Need Is Love" lyric sheet was used by Lennon during a television performance by the Beatles and could be seen on film footage dropping to the floor after the song was performed, said a spokesman for auctioneers Cooper Owen.

A girl working for the BBC at the time retrieved the manuscript from beneath Lennon's music stand. She provided a letter of authenticity for Thursday's sale.

If I had more money than I knew what to do with, I too would purchase something of Lennon’s, most likely some of his art work.

On The Mark -- Get In Line, Helen

I've been meaning to write this ever since he had his medical check-up. I remember putting down the newspaper a few weeks ago after reading about his medical check-up and saying to myself, "he's going to run for president." It was the way the info was released. It seemed too familiar to me. I haven't even brought this up with The Misanthrope, even though I'm confident he would disagree.

But now that veteran White House reporter, Helen Thomas, has vowed to kill herself if he runs for president, I write in haste.

Dick Cheney will be the republican candidate for president in 2008.

Don't bother with echinacea.

Echinacea, the herbal remedy widely believed to prevent or ease the misery of the common cold, turns out to be no more effective than a placebo, according to a new study by the University of Virginia School of Medicine. [Source]

B2 On the Road:Crazy Naked Guy

I'm not sure that I can add any comment to this photo that would do it justice. Click it if you want to see the whole photo (there's so much more of him to love).

B2 On the Road:Aerial Photography

Flying up the coast of the great state of California... here's what I saw:

On The Mark -- Setting Precedent

I was reading the report this morning about how the White House will not release John Roberts' tax returns. Turns out they had set this policy for judicial nominations in 2001, but didn't bother to tell anyone.

But then it really struck me why John Roberts was nominated. Many people were preparing for a controversial battle for the next Supreme Court justice, but the Roberts nomination seemed to quash that at first because he seemed like such a good candidate (as evidenced by many quotes from right and left). I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but the way he's being presented is very JFKish, with the way his family dresses, the little kids dominating photos, etc.

Anyway, I realize now that, in the true White House strategic planning approach, this isn't about John Roberts. It's about presenting a "safe" candidate to set precedent in the confirmation process, because the White House knows the next one will be much more controversial and difficult (the person they really would like in there now).

By paving the road now, i.e., setting precedent, with John Roberts, it will be harder to challenge the confirmation of a much more controversial candidate.

We've seen this before. It's brilliant.

As I've said before, we need some Democrats who know how to play a good game of chess. Otherwise, they won't know what hit them (again) until it's too late.

White House Gang Disguises Failure

...how do you ask almost 2,000 men and women to die in Iraq? How do you send them to their death for a vengeful mistake?
Paraphrase of John Kerry's famous quote before the Senate subcommittee April 1971. ("...how do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?")

Rather than admit President Bush’s empty tough talk does nothing but inspire further violence, the white house gang offers up a change of course as a slogan change.

At the end of the New York Times article is the paragraph that sums how wrong the white house gang has been and that the entire war effort in Iraq was unnecessary:

Douglas J. Feith, the under secretary of defense for policy, said in an interview that if the nation's efforts were limited to "protecting the homeland and attacking and disrupting terrorist networks, you're on a treadmill that is likely to get faster and faster with time." The key to "ultimately winning the war," he said, "is addressing the ideological part of the war that deals with how the terrorists recruit and indoctrinate new terrorists."

Why the hell did it take so long, so much money and oh so many lives?

B2 On the Road:Blogging from Napa

I'll be in Napa Valley, California for a few days, still blogging for you; I hope to have some interesting Napa-related posts this week. First, some airport advice:

Do not accept any package if you are unaware of its contents.

Good advice at the airport, I guess... but why should the airport be any different from the rest of our lives?

Life is a series of packages -- the contents of which are always unknown to us.

Can you imagine how much this blog would suck if I posted such drivel as this? Lucky for you, I don't have the inclination to do so. Or a better name for the blog (Misanthrope, forgive me) would be "Chicken Soup for the Blogger's Soul" (note to self: big money idea!).

Update on the In-Laws

In the past I've shared stories about my in-laws and computers, pictures of my in-laws' medicine cabinets, and general in-laws-related-news. Today I'm pleased to share a photo of my father-in-law at the barbeque, using... well, he's never been able to hold on to real barbeque tools, and usually makes do with whatever he has around.

Sometimes it's a machete left over from Vietnam, sometimes gardening tools (as above), sometimes a dog toy... whatever he finds on the patio.

Oh No, Not Another – Birthday

Although it is generally known, I think it’s about time to announce that I was born at a very early age.
Groucho Marx (1895–1977), comic actor

Whoever said time marches on should be rewarded with the world’s most understated phrase – it’s in a constant sprint. The tireless (and greedy?) Mick Jagger turns 62 today. The Rolling Stones have been playing for audiences since the early ‘60s and only one band member had died Brian Jones, and another, Bill Wyman, retired. Mick Taylor who replaced Jones quit because Jagger would not share song-writing credits.


Sorry Mick, no present from me, I have already contributed far too much to the band's bank account. Happy birthday nonetheless.

On The Mark -- Life or Death: Who Did You Vote For?

I read a couple articles this weekend about a documentary filmmaker who was being held captive in various prisons in Iraq by the U.S. It was a mistake that got worse by the day. He holds dual citizenship -- U.S. and Iran. He was in Iraq working on a documentary when his cab was pulled over at a checkpoint. The U.S. military found timing devices in the trunk that are typically used by insurgents to detonate bombs.

It was a horror story, especially the ordeal he went through when it was concluded that he didn't have anything to do with the devices in the trunk (the cab driver was the guilty party). While I felt sorry for him, I also understood (to some degree) why the military wanted to make sure they did a thorough investigation, although some of their tactics showed they hadn't learned many lessons from the Abu Grahib fiasco.

But here's the part that pushed me over the edge. While being interviewed by FBI agents he was asked: Who did you vote for in the last presidential election? Totalitarianism, anybody? Why should it matter who he voted for? He was brave enough to tell them he voted for Kerry. (Would you have done the same?)

If that doesn't send a shiver down your spine...

Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word

An apology? Bah! Disgusting! Cowardly! Beneath the dignity of any gentleman, however wrong he might be.
Baroness Orczy (1865–1947), novelist, playwright

Bill Clinton apologized the other day for not intervening in Rwanda to stop the genocide of Tutsis and moderate Hutus. He placed a wreath at the museum commemorating victims of the 100-day massacre.

Meanwhile, President Bush has yet to apologize for taking the country to war under false pretense and ending the lives of almost 2,000 soldiers. Yet, only now are people realizing that Bush and his gang might be a little vengeful and corrupt.

What I would not give to have Clinton as president again. I guess the next best choice will be Hillary.

The Misanthrope -- Sunday's Lighter Side

Pictures are for entertainment, messages should be delivered by Western Union.
Samuel Goldwyn (1882–1974), film producer

Movie Going is an Expensive Hassle. Hollywood moviemakers and theater owners are crying that ticket sales are down. It’s a no brainer really. Prices continue to climb and the product continues to decline. Hollywood does not cease in its efforts to cater to a younger audience because they like the fact that they return to the see the same movie a few times. Note to Hollywood, the kids who keep returning have friends who work at the theater and let them in for free.

I only occasionally go to the show and when I go, I wait a couple weeks for the initial crowds to subside. Or, I will go to the Arclight Theatre in Hollywood to the early show on a Sunday, which could be 11 a.m., but everyone out there is still sleeping or afraid to be seen going out so early, god forbid someone think they had nothing to do the night before.

I did see the new Batman at the Universal City Walk IMAX when I was on vacation. What a mistake! The movie and the theater were wonderful, but parking was $10 with a $5 rebate when you purchase your ticket that costs $15. I didn't even look at the snackbar. The crowds and noise at City Walk were enough to make me an agoraphobic for life.

Four reasons why ticket sales are down and there may be more: one, who wants to pay to see commercials? Theater owners continue to sell ad space before you even get to the previews. Two, people are too rude and inconsiderate of others. I certainly don’t want the film narrated for me. And, this is not just young people; seniors are the worst for yakking during the movies. Three, ticket prices are just too expensive for a crappy movie, forget if one has to hire a babysitter, or pay parking. Four, snacks are excessively overpriced. Let’s face it, we are not a captive audience such as those trapped in an airport or amusement park.

Finally, time is just too valuable to spend at the theater. I would much rather stay home and read or putter than go the movies and spend $20 just to get in, when I can rent a DVD for $4.

88 Dead in Egyptian Terror Attack

I know it's Saturday, but isn't obvious that the big media outlets spent more time on the 50 dead in London than the 88 dead in Egypt? Read more here.

Ex CIA Officers Rip Bush

Ratfink: (noun) slang. A person regarded as contemptible, obnoxious, or otherwise undesirable.

This wonderful Associated Press article further highlights that Karl Rove should be fired. It was one of the most e-mail stories according to Yahoo News.

Former U.S. intelligence officers criticized President Bush on Friday for not disciplining Karl Rove in connection with the leak of the name of a CIA officer, saying Bush's lack of action has jeopardized national security.

"I wouldn't be here this morning if President Bush had done the one thing required of him as commander in chief — protect and defend the Constitution," said Larry Johnson, a former CIA analyst. "The minute that Valerie Plame's identity was outed, he should have delivered a strict and strong message to his employees."

Of course, Bush will never fire his loyal employee, but the heat should stay turned up on this sleazy gang of white house administrators.

Karl's free and Judith Miller continues to sit in jail. Seventeen days by my count.

The power of Christ compels you!

To the lady on my train (you know who you are):

Congratulations on your relationship with Jesus! From your appearance I might have assumed that you and the [alleged] Messiah were on the outs; certainly a woman who had a personal connection with God would dress a bit nattier, don't you think?

But no -- you may not dress the part, but you proclaim your faith so loudly and repeatedly that it must be true: Jesus is your personal savior, and more power to you. Or him.

I didn't have the chance earlier to discuss this topic at greater length with you, so let me take this opportunity to be more clear: please enjoy Jesus responsibly.

Jesus may be your favorite diety, but he's really not my cup of tea. And though I'm pleased to live in a country where everyone ostensibly gets to believe as they wish, I don't need to spend my hour-long commute listening to you sing praises and hymns to the glory of this guy.

And when I politely ask you to tone it down a little and let the rest of us go to hell in peace, I don't want to hear how you're doing holy work by being witness of Christ's love. I don't want to hear that when the spirit takes you, you can't hold it in.

Here's a tip: if you're looking for Jesus, try a church.

Please allow those of us who are misguided enough to believe in something other than your beliefs to go our merry ways without having to suffer through your tone-deaf halleluyahs.

God bless.

On The Mark -- He/She Who Hesitates...

I was talking to The Misanthrope yesterday and I mentioned that in Great Britain we'll probably see some fighting in the streets if the bombings continue. I was actually talking about the skinheads there and other possible vigilante groups who will take the law into their own hands if they lose patience.

Then I woke up this morning to see that the London police had shot and killed a suspected suicide bomber. Good. If you're walking around in the middle of summer in a heavy coat (and I hate to say it, you fit the profile), acting suspicious, and not standing down when ordered by the police, then you risk being shot.

We live in a scary time, and it's getting scarier. If the police don't do it, then vigilantes eventually will. Then we will have chaos.

As my dad always told me -- if you hesitate, you lose.

Guerilla Gorilla:Think of the children!

It's Friday, and that's means it's time for Guerilla Gorilla.

Guerilla Gorilla was on freeway this week and saw something make him mad. Very mad. And sad. [grunt]

Here what Guerilla Gorilla saw: young human child, maybe five year old, sitting in front seat of car. Human children not supposed to ride in front seat -- dangerous.

Human child was not in booster seat. Booster seat required by law for all children under six year old or sixty pounds -- even Guerilla Gorilla know this!

Human child was not wearing seatbelt. Seatbelt is not just good idea; seatbelt is the law!

Car was late-model gold-color Toyota Celica! That not illegal or unsafe; that just a bad idea.

Why this adult human not know how to make child safe? Why so many others on roads do same to other children? This silverback know that children are most precious thing we have, and it frustrating to see so many humans not be safer with theirs. That why we gorillas have babies ride on stomach when we brachiate thrrough treetops. Yes, Guerilla Gorilla knows word "brachiate." [grunt]

Vanity Fair Guilty

A guilty conscience needs no accuser.
Anonymous

Reuters reported that Roman Polanski won his libel case against Vanity Fair on Friday, ending a trial in which he gave video evidence from Paris to avoid extradition to America where he is wanted for having sex with a girl aged 13.

The film director was awarded 50,000 pounds (approximately $100,000 U.S. dollars) in damages. He went to court in London to sue the magazine's publishers over an article in July 2002 alleging he had tried to seduce a woman in a New York restaurant while on his way to his slain wife's funeral in August 1969.

Vanity Fair had conceded the article was inaccurate, saying the incident actually took place several weeks after Sharon Tate's murder by followers of the Charles Manson clan, but had maintained the gist of the contested passage in the article was true.

London Reminds Me of Jerusalem

London was rocked by more bombs in its Underground subway system today, in very similar circumstances to those of two weeks ago. It’s no surprise that there’s only so much one can do to protect such a system – there are so many points of entrance and egress, and so many people on the system at any one time. But Londoners will no doubt continue to use the Tube, because they have no other option other than to soldier on; it reminds me of the year my wife and I lived in Jerusalem.

We arrived in June 1995, my wife about to start her first year of rabbinic school at Hebrew Union College. The very next month, on July 24, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew up a crowded bus in Tel Aviv and killed six Israelis and wounded 28. Our families expressed concern, but we reassured them – after all, we reasoned; these things happen in Israel sometimes, and it was in Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem.

In August, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew up a bus in Jerusalem and killed five people, including Jewish Theological Seminary students Sara Duker and Matthew Eisenfeld, and wounded more than 100 people. This was harder to distance ourselves from. It was our city, a bus that we rode on, on a street we traveled every day; among the dead were Americans that were in Jerusalem for exactly the same reason that my wife was. At this point, the American consulate started suggesting that Americans should leave Israel and head back home.

So why did we stay? Israel was our home, temporary though it might have been. We were scared – certainly -- but not ready to abandon our lives in deference to the terrorists. We did change our routines a little: we stopped taking buses unless absolutely necessary (taxi drivers rejoiced). We kept our eyes open a little wider… in fact, most of Israel was doing the same thing. We stayed and we continued to live our lives.

September and October were filled with news of agreements and accords between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat, but in November Rabin was killed by a right-wing Israeli law student (may his name be blotted out) at a Tel Aviv peace rally.

In February of 1996, in two separate attacks, Palestinian suicide bombers blew up a bus in Jerusalem and a soldiers’ hitchhiking post in the coastal city of Ashkelon; twenty-three Israelis were killed, as well as two Americans and a Palestinian. More than eighty people were wounded. Later that month, an Arab-American drove a rental car into a Jerusalem bus stop and killed one Israeli, wounding twenty-three.

It didn’t stop.

On March 3, a bus bomb in Jerusalem killed 19 people, including the bomber -- the third such suicide attack in eight days. The next day a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a Tel Aviv shopping center, killing thirteen people. On March 21 a suicide bomber killed himself and three Israeli women in Tel Aviv.

And yet we stayed. We refused to let these monsters dictate where we would live, or how we would live. Giving in to terrorists only sends the message that such atrocities are the only way to get what they want.

Israel’s election campaign that spring was dominated by slogans about security and peace. Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu was elected Prime Minister, closely beating Prime Minister Shimon Peres. Some painted this as a victory for hawks over doves, and a message to those who would threaten Israel.

In June, we celebrated Israel’s independence day and the 3000th anniversary of Jerusalem, leaving Israel for the United States soon after. The violence did not stop while we were there, and neither did it end when we left, but we had our year in Israel, and we were not scared away. People died, lives changed, but the struggle for a safe peace continued then, as it does today.

More Terror in London

Explosions struck three London Underground stations and a bus at midday Thursday in a chilling but less deadly replay of the suicide bombings that killed 56 people two weeks ago. Only one person was reported wounded, but the lunch-hour explosions caused major disruption in the capital and were hauntingly similar to the July 7 bombings by four attackers.

It's frighteining to discover that London is still susceptible to what amounts to the same exact attack as the one just two weeks ago -- I've read that there was very little that can be done to improve security in a multi-entrance system such as the Underground (or our subway system, for that matter), but it still surprises and shocks me that this could happen again,

LINK UPDATE

Yahoo has some info, but the better source right now is BoingBoing.

Mutts Comic Tributes

Patrick McDonnell's "Mutts" is a great comic -- I particularly enjoy his tributes to more famous artwork. There's a gallery of such work here.

Gay Marriage Legalized

The focal point of all reforms should be human liberation, and the respect for human value and human rights. The free development of each individual is the basis for all social progress.
Xu Wenli, Chinese dissident

Why do we have to be such a backwards country when it comes to social issues?

Canada legalized gay marriage, yesterday (Wednesday) becoming the fourth nation to grant full legal rights to same-sex couples. Canada follows Netherlands, Belgium and Spain.

Meanwhile, our President Bush uses the issue to successfully create a divide in the country. This seems such a basic right that to deny it is truly a prejudice that reflects poorly on our society today. Don’t try and blame this on the bible because the “good” book approves of slavery too – unless a master beats him so that he loses an eye or teeth, in which case Exodus 21 states the slave must be freed.

Canada’s progress on social issues is further illustrating just how socially backwards we are in the United States. This bill passed despite strong opposition from Conservatives and religious leaders.

The new law grants same-sex couples legal rights equal to those in traditional unions between a man and a woman, something already legal in eight of Canada's 10 provinces and in two of its three territories.

It seems like common sense, but we know what an oxymoron that is.

Beam him up.

We'll miss you, Scotty.

Creepy and Wrong

Creepy


Wrong


For the last time: if it's happening to your back, it's not a facial.

Bush Not Completely Trustworthy

A state of dispersed attention seems to offer certain advantages. It may be compared to a sport like hang gliding. In distraction we are suspended, we hover, we reserve our opinions.
Saul Bellow (1915 -- 2005), novelist

Hello Mr and Mrs America, from border to border and coast to coast and all the ships at sea, what the hell has taken you so long!

Finally, one thing we can be thankful to Karl Rove about, according to Associated Press, Americans have growing doubts about President Bush's honesty and his effectiveness. The new poll by the Pew Research Center, shows people are uneasy with the war in Iraq, uncertain about the economy and nervous about the terrorist threat.

The story states that 49 percent of those polled, said they believe the president is trustworthy, while almost as many, 46 percent said he is not. Bush was at 62 percent on this measure in a September 2003 Pew poll and at 56 percent in a Gallup poll in April. One of Bush's strong suits throughout his presidency has been the perception by a majority of people that he is honest.

The slide in trust in Bush comes at a time the White House is answering questions about top aide Karl Rove's involvement in the public leak of the identity of a CIA operative.

So what does Bush do? Time to name a Supreme Court Justice nominee to cool the heat in the White House press room.

Reporter Sits in Jail

Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever.
Nadine Gordimer, South African author

Isn’t it ironic or just plain sad that the one person with strong ethics in the Valerie Plame Wilson case sits in jail?

While the sleazy tactics of Karl Rove and the Bush gang are allowed to go unabated and in fact rewarded, Judith Miller sits in jail. This looks more like China’s justice system than a democracy.

What a shame.

There is an article in Editor & Publisher worth reading.

Blackmail for Weapons

The NRA's rhetoric about jackbooted federal thugs coming to enforce the gun laws helped inspire, frankly, lunatics like Timothy McVeigh - which is why President George Herbert Walker Bush resigned his membership in the NRA. The NRA's leadership is, in fact, a clear and present danger to the safety of the rest of us in the United States.
Michael D. Barnes, Founder and CEO of Barnes Design Group, P.C. which is a Christian "Church Architectural Firm" specializing in church design, master planning and liturgical consulting.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) is moving its convention of lethal weapons from Columbus, Ohio because the city’s elected council outlawed the sale or possession of semiautomatic rifles with pistol grips and detachable magazines.

The NRA, which probably at one time was a worthwhile organization teaching people to use guns for hunting safely. Now seems to me to have transmogrified into some sort of organization for extremists and mercenaries, otherwise why do you need semiautomatic rifles for hunting or protection.

Ideally every city in every county throughout the United States should ban the above mentioned weapons and others as well. Force the NRA to have secret meetings. This organization has taken the Second Amendment and twisted its meaning The Second Amendment states: "A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." The NRA ignores the first, crucial, half of the Second Amendment - the words referring to a "well-regulated militia."

When the U.S. Constitution was adopted, each of the states had its own "militia" - a military force composed of ordinary citizens serving as part-time soldiers. Now, the NRA wants every nut job to have access to weapons, and unfortunately too many politicians cave in to this crazed cult of gun worshipers.

Trophies are delicious.

Trophies must be extremely tasty. They must be, because how else do you explain the spate of trophy-kissing going around. I noticed this phenomenon first when Christie Kerr won a golf tournament and was caught smooching the almost obscene-looking trophy:



Then I found out that it wasn't just the shape of this particular trophy; many athletes find their trophies to be so alluring that they can't resist a little lip action.