The Rusted Musket

This was too good to pass up…

Large cities are constantly adding more and more cameras. Most of the time they go in intersections to “reduce” traffic violations by allowing the police to remotely send you tickets. Lovely… There is a lot of controversy over cameras like that because of invasion of privacy concerns. Chicago has a very large network of cameras and is always looking to expand them. Funny thing is that despite the city having 10k+ cameras all networked together, Chicago is still a country leader in murders… Lot of good those cameras are doing…

My beef with them though is the privacy thing. Who really wants all their actions caught on video whether sketchy or not? It is just a disturbing trend if you ask me. More and more technology and methods are being utilized to assist in catching a few criminals all while the law abiding citizen is treated more and more like a criminal, with more and more freedoms reduced. The full body scans at airports for instance. Airplane security is important, but there is a time to draw the line and that scanner is it. Don’t let the local, state and federal government take your freedoms away! It may not seem like much but little by little it is being whittled away.

Was looking at headlines on DrudgeReport.com and came across a eye catching headline: “LA unveils $578M school, costliest in the nation”
I couldn’t resist clicking the link and reading the article because skyrocketing school costs is a interest of mine.

The gist of it is that LA just finished building a 4,200 student k-12 school on the site of a historic hotel. It cost $578M and was designed to create a more creative artistic environment… But lets go back to the cost… $578M…. That is enough money to build several highrise condos, or pay down some of the State debt, or build 10 regular schools… Instead the money is spent on one building, a true example of the excessive spending that our education system does.

No matter how buttered up a building is its not going to get a better graduating rate out of students, not until there is some accountability among school staff and performance based metrics. Quit laying off young teachers just because they haven’t been there for long, lay off or fire the bad teachers. California with their massive debt can’t afford to be building schools like this and they certainly can’t afford mediocre performance among their education staff.

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.

You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

You cannot build character and courage by taking away people’s initiative and independence.

You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.

~ Abraham Lincoln

Supposedly by Lincoln, but I’ve seen it claimed otherwise. Doesn’t matter in my opinion since it is a great quote in anycase.

I guess it is inevitable that I write about this since it has been such a big issue the last few months. At first I didn’t say anything because accidents happen and it seemed to be getting taken care of (I’m talking the first couple weeks here). But now, now it has been months with massive amounts of oil spilled and damage to the ecosystem that will take years to repair.

Who is to blame here? You, me, Obama, BP, Transocean? Maybe a bit of all. You and me for demanding greater and greater amounts of oil for lower prices and forcing corners to be cut. Obama for really dropping the ball on a federal response. I’m a big proponent of small government, but even if the government is small they would still dedicate resources and time to fix issues like this, which have far reaching effects. Obama was instead dragging his feet and not acknowledging this as a real problem. Was it politics? Stupidity? Bad advisors? Who knows… Maybe he just didn’t care. I just don’t get why he didn’t accept help from other countries that have the equipment and experience in cleaning up oil spills….

BP is so easy to blame in this since they were operating the rig. At first I would have defended them because accidents do happen and it isn’t always someone’s fault (thus the term accident). They also seemed to be taking responsibility and trying to fix the mess. But now, this has gone on for way to long. I understand that it isn’t simple to just patch it up, but come on, a company that brings in billions of dollars takes three months to plug a oil well? Where was the planning for worst case scenario?

I don’t really care whose fault it is at this point. Why? Because it was most surely a accident and probably not a case of negligence. The issue at hand is the poor response, particularly by the Feds.

I love Star Wars so I find this pretty hilarious!

This is so disturbingly true…. As a IT Professional I usually don’t fix other peoples’ computers. Most of the time they want it for free and I will then forever be tied to their computer… The thing is, I would never ask a doctor to fix me for free, or a carpenter to build a table for just the cost of materials… Its a strange double standard.

Chicago is well known for its crime; they got the mafia and plenty of gangs and other criminals to boot. But they are also known for very restrictive gun control laws. They are one of two cities to ban handguns (well was one of two, DC’s ban on handguns was struck down), and being in Illinois there is no conceal carry permits available. So basically, if you are a law abiding citizen you are rather restricted on what you can do to defend yourself. You can get a shotgun or rifle and certain types or pistols. But you must be careful, because if you use it you could be the one going to jail and not the criminal.

Anyway, I ran across this article and it is the most compelling evidence I have seen in recent memory that plainly shows that gun control laws don’t work, and innocent citizens get hurt because of the laws. If some of these people had the means and training to defend themselves it might have turned out different.
It is just a scary story, 54 people shot over one weekend in a city of 3 million? Crazyness….

This is kind of old news, but its too interesting to pass up:

How does a person get to this point? I mean its like 6am and this lady is very drunk, driving at the airport… Crazy enough she gets away with barely a scratch despite her car pretty much blowing up…

Well it looks like Washington DC has slightly better gun laws now, meaning you can acually legally own one now. But it is a difficult and restrictive process. I really feel that the people’s right to defend themselves is infringed upon all in the name of “public safety.” Ironic since criminals don’t care if its legal for them to own guns or not as they will still use them on helpless residents.

In order for a law abiding citizen to get a gun they have to be fingerprinted, photographed, job history is checked out, there is a test, a five hour class including one hour on a gun range (there isn’t any in the city). The class has to be taught by a police certified instructor (which there probably isn’t many) and then after the citizen is approved and they actually get the gun, they then have to go in to the police station and get the gun’s ballistics registered (which by the way doesn’t work, matching a bullet and a gun is nearly impossible). The registration expires after 3 years and must be renewed or the owner faces fines and confiscation of the gun.

Talk about restrictive bull! The law abiding residents, who just want to protect themselves, are treated like common criminals! I really hope these laws get loosened because they are rather unconstitutional. I doubt that the founding fathers meant for people to have to jump through all these hoops and treated like a criminal simply to own a firearm.