The Rusted Musket

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.

Of course Muslims can build a mosque at ground zero if it tickles their fancy, but in lieu of what happened just down the block doesn’t it kinda feel like a bad joke? Like in the same way a Japanese water park a ship or two over from the remains of the USS Arizona would be?

I don’t believe this is me spewing some sort of anti Muslim cyber bigotry, I’m more inclined to think it’s just some form of common sense pointing out some nonsensical-ness, like calling out a friend who accidentally walks out the door wearing two different patterns of plaid.

For instance, would it be cool if a fringe Christian group flew a plane into, and totally destroyed the Mosque of the Prophet, and then built a church by its remains a few years later? That would seem kinda tasteless, or lacking in style, wouldn’t it? Oh well…

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 like how the Germans do the drunk driving thing, a serious punishment for a serious crime. You get caught once, just once, in a totally blitzed state of being while operating an automobile and your driving days are done until court appearance, license revoked, say goodbye to that privilege you inconsiderate shmuck. It boggles my mind how a person can get inebriated, drive away, maybe cause a life ending accident or not (11,700 alcohol related driving deaths in 2008) and think “as long as I didn‘t hurt anyone” it’s okay. In Wisconsin, it isn’t until you’ve been caught drunk driving for the fourth time that you get served with a felony. I ask, why not the first?!

Look at it this way, driving drunk kills almost as many people as gun related homicides. Its just common sense to bust drunks who don’t kill anyone the same way we’d bust a guy shooting into a crowd that doesn’t kill anyone. A guy shooting into a crowd doesn’t get another chance, why should the drunks…

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….

Freedom of speech isn’t for the faint of heart, nor the timid. It is reserved for those who think for themselves, who depend not on the crafting of thought by others. Some say the Supreme court did, and did not, help the freedom of speech’s cause by giving corporations and special interest groups a free hand concerning the amount of commercials they may make during election cycles. On the surface, yes, the amount of media sway that could potentially be bought by people with ideas I vehemently oppose, does indeed make me uncomfortable. But, the bottom line is that those faceless companies and interest groups aren’t faceless. They are made up of people, real citizens, who have banded together their time, money, and resources in order to get an opinion across.

Just as an individual has the right to say something, so does a group of individuals, my comfort be damned. For freedom of speech isn’t about making making people comfortable, and still less about restricting the flow of commercials during prime time…

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.

I highly recommend this article by The Onion. Normally I don’t take what they say too seriously, but this article has a lot of satirical truth in it. Basically it is talking about how the governmental official don’t trust the citizens that elected them, which is a spin on citizens not trusting the politicians in office.

Its so interesting because its so true. Congress is at a rock bottom approval rate and has been for years, they don’t get a whole lot done and what they do get done is not what people want. They don’t listen to the citizens and just work their own agenda. I rarely hear of someone who likes a politician that is in office, they may agree on some points and disagree on others, but there is rarely that connection, or trust of the official. But maybe the flip is also true, citizens of this nation are a very fickle bunch who want handouts but aren’t willing to pay for them. They want the government to fix all their problems and they want to blame someone when something goes wrong. Its the blame game, I’m sure you played it as a kid. You never say its your fault, you always blame someone else. The sad truth is that most problems our country is facing is the result of collective consent.

For instance, kids doing badly in school is generally two fold. Our school system is broke because it never should have been in the government’s hands in the first place and the government poisons everything it touches, but the other big problem is that parents aren’t involved anymore. People who really shouldn’t have had kids did and they don’t give them the proper attention and care. Who’s fault is it then? The government and their screwed up system, or the parents of their lack of attention? Both I’m sure.

Or how about health care. Why is it so expensive? Well surely some of it has to do with doctors needing very expensive malpractice insurance because people are suing and getting crazy amounts of money way over what they should. Yes the doctor screwed up, yes they should pay for it, but to the tune of millions? I don’t think so. There are many other instances, like people not taking their antibiotics properly causing it to be less effective and requiring more, or different meds. People going in and tying up doctors time for stupid things.

Anyway, the article is very interesting and true in a kind of backwards, kind of way…

Image from The Onion