The Rusted Musket

If anyone out there had any doubt as to the size of the cluster funk the civilian trail of 9/11 terrorist Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali is going to be just take a second to absorb this interview of one of the attorneys representing him. Watch as the attorney wiggles around on whether the folks in the twin towers were murdered or not. Honestly, there’s a possibility that the trial might be thrown out and this thug freed within the first five minutes because we never read him his Miranda rights…

According to this article the University system of California is raising college rates by more than 30%, which means that college costs have more than doubled in the last decade. Really makes you wonder what happened and where all the money goes. One student had this to say: “I think it’s outrageous,” Moody said of the fee increase. “They’ve already cut out a lot of our majors and programs. I’d rather they cut some of their (administrator) salaries.”  and I totally agree. Why don’t they cut the excessive teacher benefits and pay? I’ve often thought of going to teach for a State University because they get it easy… TAs do a lot of the work and they get summers off, great benefits and a rather high wage to boot… Sound like a bum’s dream job (okay I’m being a little harsh, but teacher’s wages are never looked at and/or reduced instead they cut programs and raise costs).

Just when I thought the California government couldn’t get more stupid I read this… The gist of the story is that the divinely inspired CA government is dictating down to a T what people can and can’t do. Now you can’t buy “power hungry” TVs (well not effective till Jan 2011). Most TVs are actually under the 2011 limit, but wait it gets better, they have to be even more efficient by 2013, which means you can basically kiss Plasmas and many LCDs goodbye, hello LED TVs… This crap legislation is just that, crap, what the hell are these people thinking? Fix your economy and build more powerplants. Don’t force people to do things like this. This is setting a scary precedent, I mean what is next? Probably cars I’m guessing, you won’t be able to drive a car longer than 60 inches or something like that, or they will all have to use CLFs, or buy solar panels for your house.

I’m just speechless about this… Some of the comments on the article are very worth reading, like one person comparing this to the book 1984….

So I just got a email today from the guys over at Front Sight and Ignatius gave his opinion of the Fort Hood shooting. Let me just say that I love his title: “The Swiss and Israelis Must Think We’re Idiots…” Ah, the Swiss and the Israelis, something like this is highly unlikely to happen in their countries…

He has some good insight and questions, I recommend reading his post… It is pretty sad when 13 soldiers die in a military base. This is the military, they should have been ARMED, they are soldiers after all. It is just mind boggling that something like this could happen at a army base. Can’t they trust their soldiers enough to at least allow them to carry pistols around base? How else are they going to get used to handling a gun? Like Ignatius I am pissed that something like this could happen and I think the blame lies mostly with whoever the idiot was that decided our soldiers couldn’t/shouldn’t be armed.

I’m glad to see the DC “Sniper” on death row, his ruthless killing should be harshly punished. Whats interesting in that article is that death penalty opponents are planning protests because they think that life imprisonment without parole is safe and punishment enough. I disagree; murderers, especially mass murderers like this guy, deserve to die for their crimes, why should he  get to live out the rest of his live when his victims didn’t get that chance? Also why should tax payers pay to feed and house this man for the rest of his life?

Kudos to Obama for taking the time to meet with each family that was affected by the Fort Hood shooting. Its so easy to criticize politicians, and rightly so in many cases, but it is refreshing to see one taking the time to honor our soldiers.

When election time roles around what is everyone talking about? Its generally not the issues at hand, I mean sure they might think about them a bit on their own but other than a minority of people who love discussing politics people don’t pay a ton of attention to the current issues that the politicians are supposed to resolve. So then what do they pay attention to? The party and the candidates is who. It really comes down to whether you are voting for the corrupt business loving Republicans or the socialist money grubbing Democrats. Their current figurehead is important in the decision because, contrary to popular sayings looks, promises, speeches, lies, they all matter.

Its funny that we’ve come down to this as a nation, are you blue or are you red? If I vote Republican people will generally think one way of me, whether good or bad, if I vote Democrat they will think another, whether good or bad, but it really comes down to these two parties. Whatever happened to the third party, or even a fourth (God forbid that people should have to think that much), why can’t we have real choice? I don’t want the two parties one of which is usually just as bad as the other, maybe just a little more in line with my beliefs/politics. I wouldn’t mind voting a few Libertarians into office, or Constitutional party members. Heck its even pretty cool when Independents get in.

So I guess what I’m trying to get across is, don’t vote down party lines, vote for the person that is honest, that will listen to the people that voted him/her in and that stands for what you stand for. They don’t have to be Democratic or Republican, and I wish that fewer of those were voted in so that we could get some perspective in office.

Stay tuned for a post about terms in office…. 

Americans wonder should we leave or should we stay in Afghanistan? We discover or rediscover the answer to this question every year or so. Afghans in the meantime wait on us to decide. This year is no different and the result of America’s decision will decide whether Afghans continue to live under Karzai corruption or slip back into Taliban Sharia Law. I’m glad I’m in the country that gets to decide how things will go but I think if I was an Afghan I could tell you which one I’d prefer; definitely bungling democracy over totalitarian religious law any day of the week but you can read here to get some feedback from real Afghans. The fact of the matter is I’m no Afghan and I don’t think of Afghan interests, I think of American interests. I have a hard time thinking of humanity as one broad brotherhood (though I love the concept) in which we sacrifice on behalf of our Afghan brothers and sisters. I don’t want us to sacrifice any more for them strangers, can’t we spend the money we’re spending on them for healthcare instead;) On the other hand, this broad brotherhood concept could work in our favor someday. For instance, what if the roles were reversed and one morning we woke up and found ourselves in a situation similar to the Afghans under Taliban control, but instead of the Taliban, it was fanatic Christian strongmen killing and ruling us. We’d want the flawed but benevolent help of the (remember this is fiction) powerful Afghan government, or anyone else for that matter, to help break the chains that bind, wouldn’t we.

Funny to think, if those tables were turned and it was us wondering which faction to cozy up to while foreign people in foreign lands decided how long their foreign troops would be sticking around to help keep the more powerful than us zealot douche bags in check. Pro or con, a season of that would do wonders for the perspective…