Better And Better

If you don't draw yours, I won't draw mine. A police officer, working in the small town that he lives in, focusing on family and shooting and coffee, and occasionally putting some people in jail.

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

It's nice to have creative friends. (By which I doubly exclude both Dan Zimmerman and Robert Farago.)

I have some amazingly talented friends who can write*. Some even get paid for it. Some don't.
I have some amazingly talented friends who can photograph. Some even get paid for it. Some don't.
I have some amazingly talented friends who can sing. (You see where this is going.)
Then there are those who have talents for putting things together creatively into a multimedia fashion that defies labeling. One such friend is my friend the Ambulance Driver. Given that he's published a couple of books and is on a regular speaking tour, and teaches a class of his own invention on Shooter Self-Care, and put together a great fundraiser in Kilted To Kick Cancer-- I think that it's probably okay to let the cat out of the bag to say that Ambulance Driver is Kelly Grayson. Kelly, a fellow admirer of my friend Tamara Keel, took a regular piece of hers and made it a multimedia slide show.

Back around 2006, Tamara, in her love of all things Gun Show/ Fun Show, wrote her own words to "These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things", and posted them on her blog as "The Gun Show Song." She posts it most of the time that she goes to a gun show. I can't even find the first time that she did so, but it's almost a decade ago, and she has posted the words to it maybe a score of times:
Flintlocks and Flop-tops
And Number Three Russians
Black-powder Mausers
From jackbooted Prussians,
Shiny Smith PC's from limited runs
These are a few of my favorite guns.

Socketed bay'nets
On Zulu War rifles,
Engraved, iv'ried Lugers
That make quite an eyefull
Mosin tomato stakes sold by the ton
These are a few of my favorite guns.

Rusty top-breaks!
Smallbore Schuetzens!
And all of Browning's spawn
I just keep on browsing my favorite guns
Until all my money's gone.
Kelly cast around to find someone who could sing the song in as Julie Andrews would, and Squeaky stepped up with her trained voice, and recorded it (and very nicely, too) for him.  Then Kelly put the song to slides on a YouTube video of his own creation, and voila! He had made his Christmas gift to Tamara. She liked it.

See? Creative.

But then Dan Zimmerman and Robert Farago over at that The Truth About Guns website did what they do: they stole the content. No attribution was given. They took credit for Kelly's work and Tamara's writing, and Squeaky's singing, without acknowledging whose innovation had created it.

This is not just rude and classless-- it's thievery. Tamara gets paid to talk about, write about, and shoot guns-- which is what The Gun Show Song is a product of that. Kelly gets paid to produce online content. This is their business, however lovingly they may practice it.

Well, stealing things is what Dan Zimmerman and Robert Farago do. They take content of value, host it on their site (without attribution), and then use it as click bait for their links along the sidebar. It's about profit without creating, for them. Notice that I will NOT link to their site. They can die in the cold, and I'm asking you, gentle reader, NOT to go there. Going to their site runs up their hit count meter, which they make money from with their advertisers' links. When they do it to me (and they have), it's just forgetting to attribute a hobbyist. But when they do it to Tamara and Kelly--- they're taking profit from professionals without giving them their due.

Roberta X put it neatly:
   Dan Zimmerman, widely held to be a longtime intellectual property thief and, I am given to understand, founder of Dead Hooker Magazine, has stolen Tam's "Fun Show Song" and posted the lovely video made as a Christmas present for Tam by Ambulance Driver and Squeaky and posted it over at TTAG, the other sink of iniquity and inequity with which he is associated, utterly without attribution to anyone but himself.

     Other than polite reminders (already issued) and the distant possibility of lawyering up -- Tam's a writer and her stock in trade is the unique groupings of words she creates -- there's not a whole lot that can be done.

     But there is one thing.  Cato famously ended every speech he made in the Roman Senate with "Carthage must be destroyed," even if all he was talking about was proclaiming Junior Vestal Day.  The phrase I'd like you to remember and to post all over the Internet is "Dan Zimmerman. Intellectual property thief. Dead Hooker Magazine."  And good morning, search engines! 

Oh, I see that Jennifer has already written a very similar article. Great minds, and all that.
______________________________________
*Okay, when I started hot-linking friends of mine who can write, it didn't really cross my mind that I have a HUGE number of friends who can write, so I gave up pretty early. Don't feel slighted that I didn't link you, friends of mine; I didn't link a LOT of writers.

Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Monday, April 20, 2015

This is what class looks like.

Longtime online pal Marko Kloos is so classy, he even apologizes for being a little rude when he correctly identifies a rude individual.

Winning a Hugo, up to now, has always been very valuable for a science fiction writer.

If you're like many of us, you want to find a magical story that will divert you from the drudgery of reality, without having to wade through the crap. Just give me the good stuff. So, it's incredibly alluring to see that list posted up on the wall of your local book store with the Hugo winners by year. I've been guilty of having perused the list, found a title that I haven't yet read, and pulled it off the shelf and immediately gone to the cash register. It's that simple: I didn't have to read the slush pile.

I know that I'm not the only one. As do smart people like... well, like Marko Kloos.

Marko, however, found himself in a very weird situation. He had written a very compelling page-turner, which would have found itself in the running for a Hugo anyway-- but which was pushed to the short-list by an unsavory person.

Vox Day, AKA Theodore Beale, is not a person I would invite into my home. He is racist. He is misogynistic. He was expelled from the Science Fiction Writer's Association because of his attacks on fellow writers based upon their race and gender. He is bitter. The funny thing is, the man can write. If he weren't so obnoxious, he probably would have won something by now. But there are lines which you cannot cross without having some backlash, and he crossed them. He will never win an award in science fiction.

To make up for this, Beale/Day came up with a scheme: pack the nominations. Campaign on fairness! Your favorite writers have no chance to win, through no fault of their own! Though they have wrought the best stories, their only sin is that they are white males!  The P.C.-minded establishment wants a multicultural field of nominees, at the expense of Quality! Hell, it sounds good. We all just want the best writing. Who cares what color or gender the author is? We all hate reverse discrimination, because it's just another kind of discrimination, right?

When I saw that online pal and best-selling author Larry Correia was being labeled as a racist (!) and misogynist himself, I began to think, Yeah, I can understand why you'd get ticked about these things. Larry's a good man. Larry is not a racist. He may be a conservative, but he's not a woman-hater. Larry's writings depict strong woman characters, multiple cultures in his good guys... anyway, you get the picture.  So Larry's corner started up a little group called the Sad Puppies. And frankly, I was on board.

Then Vox Day starts up the Rabid Puppies. He endorses a group of authors for Hugo nominations, and they get short-listed. Marko Kloos was one of the authors.

For a few days, it was heady times at Castle Frostbite. Think about this: You're nominated for the Hugo --one of the most well-known awards in your profession*-- and word is that you've got a very good chance of winning it. Heinlein won that award. Asimov won that award. Clark. Le Guin. Dick. Niven. Haldeman. Gibson. Card. Those are the giants on whose shoulders you will get to stand. I'm not gonna lie: I'm giddy just knowing a guy who gets to have his name mentioned in the same lists as those people.

The same rocket ship badge that is on every paperback of Stranger In A Strange Land could be on your books.

But then comes the crashing reality, which is that people would associate your nomination with the unsavory person who put your name on a list that he advocated be nominated.

Some stains you can never wash clean of.

So Marko, faced with that situation, quit. He pulled his book Lines Of Departure out of the running.
He took his ball (which he was winning with), and went home to Castle Frostbite.

Drop the mic.

He'll write more. And we'll get to read it. But when he takes the awards, it will be on his terms, and not via some shady deal co-opted by a shady jerk.  Hey, Vox? Marko was never your kind of people.
______________________
*Though, apparently, not really as critically-judged as you might hope. "Hugo Award nominees and winners are chosen by supporting or attending members of the annual World Science Fiction Convention, or Worldcon..." LawDog writes on his disappointment about the process.

Labels: , , , , , , ,

Friday, April 19, 2013

Let's rise above it.

Probable social media page of Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev:
 http://vk.com/id160300242
While I'm angry at him and want him caught, I'm embarrassed at most of the words of my countrymen, here.

Labels: , , ,

Friday, December 14, 2012

Vultures.

CNN and Slate are both putting up the name of the coward who walked through a Connecticut school, murdering children. They're linking to his Facebook page. They're putting up his picture.

And they do this because they know that people will wonder what the face of such a monster looks like.

I'll tell you what he looks like: he looks like you and me. He just lost his grasp on humanity, and turned evil.

I beg you, friends: don't go look.

Every time someone clicks to go to these sites, then the vultures who linked to the stories, with Tweets and stories and teasers of his name and what he did-- they feel validated. The end justifies the means. Their job is to get people to come to their site. They did it. Good job!

Ever think of the cost, though? 

It would be an unusual reader here who didn't know the names of the murderers at Columbine.   In the months that followed that massacre, the names and pictures of K. and H. were splashed across the media like so much blood. That's notoriety. To a demented mind considering going out in a blaze of... something... that's star power, right there. Who remembers the names of the victims, though?

Enough of this. End this.

Condemn those who spread the names of the murderers for the salacious sake of "news." Don't visit the sites with these stories. Refuse to breathe their names on your blog, or in public.

Stop feeding the monsters.

Labels: , , , , , , ,

Thursday, March 01, 2012

The passing of conservatives.

My conservative friends often think that I'm a damned liberal, and my liberal friends either think that I'm an uber-conservative fascist pig, or that I'm a bag of self-contradictions.
Let me make this clear: I don't take my stance to be contrary, or to "stand out and be different." I would LOVE to be able to side with a great big majority.

But right now, the two majorities are:
--people who think that it's more fair, and even intellectual, to distribute everything but rights.
--people who think that we should not distribute the wealth, but still should assert control over others' rights.

I've said all this before.
Lately, I've been thinking how great it would be to see an openly atheist or agnostic candidate run for President. I think all of the discussions about a candidate's fitness to lead, based upon his religion, are bollocks. Given that I want the President not to impose his religion upon the nation, I'd prefer him or she to keep their yap shut on the issue. The same goes with information about his marriage.

Let's do this, shall we? Let's get to reducing the interference that the government has in our lives, and reducing the expenditures. Let's just drop the social issues for a bit, shall we?

And while we're at it (and Republicans, I'm talking to you, because even though you're screwed beyond belief with your mix of social interference and laissez-faire party planks, you're still the only big party willing to attempt to be the Grownups in the room, so I lean faintly in your direction.), let's quit listening to idiots like Rush Limbaugh, who had me at "why should I pay?" (a legit question) but lost me at "lemme see you nekkid."

Oh, and finally, as a person who leans TEA Party and Libertarian, I propose that we mourn the untimely passing of Andrew Breitbart. He raised interesting points, and flew in the faces even of a lot of Conservatives. He challenged the status quo. His passing diminishes the exchange.

Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Monday, November 07, 2011

Cowards all.

If you don't do something to stop an adult from abusing children, when you have full knowledge of it? You're a coward.

When you read the findings of fact by the grand jury investigation against former Penn State coach Gerald Sandusky, you see a pattern: Again and again and again, adults caught the guy sexually forcing himself upon young boys, and they did nothing.   In at least two of the instances listed, adult men actually personally observed the retired coach engaged in sexual assaults of a prepubescent or adolescent boy, and they walked away.  I wonder how they felt later about doing nothing to interrupt the activity?

Some called his organization. Some talked it over with their own co-workers. Some talked to the university (where some of the actions took place).  The first case reported was from back in 1994. 

Sandusky had started a program called The Second Mile, which took at-risk kids in. He had a lot of access to kids of that age. No one knows how many children he victimized over the years.

If you find out that someone is being hurt, and you do nothing to stop it, then* you're a coward.

Be better than that, please.

_____________________________________
*regardless of the fact that failure to report the abuse is in itself a violation of the law...

Labels: , , ,

Friday, August 05, 2011

We can't trust until we've unearthed the corruption.

Thanks for nothing, NOLA P.D.

You've helped create a national distrust of police that affects me every day that I work.

While the five New Orleans Police Department officers convicted today weren't found guilty of murder, they were found guilty of improper actions resulting in the unwarranted deaths of citizens, and the cover-up of the shootings on the Danziger Bridge.

I live a few hours west of New Orleans, and regularly am told that I simply have to visit the place. For the culture. For the food. For the history.

Y'all can keep that stuff. I'm not voluntarily going to a place where, when you're in trouble, you don't dare call the cops, because you're afraid that they're crooks, too.

Having never been to New Orleans, I have thus never left anything there, and have no reason to go there. From what I can see, it is our nation's greatest shame. Why didn't we just quit the town, after the hurricane?

Labels: , , ,

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

When disaster strikes, you're on your own.

Staghounds tells the story of how the Norwegian massacre could go, if we taught our kids to respond and think.

If it has to be your last act, stop the threat.

Labels: , , ,

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

TANSTAAFL

Longtime internet friend Larry Correia writes his hilariously on-point reactions to a Yahoo article about people who are getting out of paying their mortgages due to their own misplaced values, and are spun as heroes for it.

I laughed out loud. Seriously.

Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Whither went your Barbara Walters interviews, Moammar?

I remember when I saw Barbara Walters doing interview with Mu'ammar Qaddafi* back in 1989. I was disgusted with it in a general sort of way. Barbara seemed so sympathetic about the tribulations that Col. Gadafi had gone through when his mansion was bombed by F-111F's back in 1986.

I was disgusted because Gadafi, a terrorist underwriter, had survived the retaliation for a bombing of our troops. I was disgusted that Walters was being so amiable and deferential to this terrorist, who was responsible for the Berlin bombing, the downing of an airliner over Lockerbie, and at least one fatal hijacking. Plus, had anyone actually seen this guy in the same room with Gene Simmons? I had my suspicions.**

Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi eventually accepted responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing, and made reparations. He was beginning to be accepted back into the international community.

And then came the uprisings in Tunisia, and Egypt. Suddenly, North Africa became a zone of people charged with the idea of liberation. After Egypt's coup, the people in Libya began to look at a ruler of 42 years as not being precisely "democratic."

Remember how some of us were a little ambivalent about Egypt's revolt?

Well, compared to Libya, Egypt looked like Canada. In Egypt, the troops refused to fire on the protestors. In fact, the government was turned over to the military there. In Libya, the troops have been mowing down protestors. Bad idea. We're getting reports of pro-Gadhafi forces gassing the protestors with poison gas. Bad idea.

So it was that yesterday, Libya's deputy ambassador to the U.N. stepped down and declared Muammar Khaddafi to be a "mad man." That's pretty bad.

But then later in the day, during open session on the floor of the U.N., amidst the dry verbage of international negotiation, Ambassador Mohamed Shalgham, Gadhafi's head Ambassador to the U.N. slammed Gadhafi's regime. He threw diplomacy to the wind, and said of his own government:

"They are asking for their rights. They did not throw a single stone and they were
killed. I tell my brother Gaddhafi: Leave the Libyans alone."
Colonel Mister Gadhafi? You're done. The guy whom you hand-picked to represent your government to the world has said that you are not legitimate.

Pack your bags, Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi. It's time to split.

_________________________________________
* You will notice that I'll be using a variety of spellings for this guy. Why not? Everyone else does.

** Which really isn't fair to the KISS frontman. He's turned out to be a huge supporter of U.S. troops.

Labels: , ,

Thursday, September 09, 2010

Idjits on all sides.

Terry Jones, down in Florida*, plans to burn a big stack of Korans (Qur'ans) on Saturday, September 11, 2010.

This man purports to be a pastor. Apparently, he meets the definition, as he's created a spectacle in two churches, now. (The last one kicked him out for being sticky-fingered with the till.)

Makes you want to go check again what it takes to get bona fides to become a person of the cloth.

This man claims that Islam is the religion of Satan, and will prove that his own religion (a brand of Christianity) is the true religion of Love, by burning the holy books of the other brand of religion.

This bears attention: He claims his brand is better, but needs to burn the instruction books of the other brand, to make his case?

This also bears attention: Most pastors get their divinity degrees through hard study. Several graduate students that I attended Graduate Statistics with were getting their divinity degrees, and they had enormous stacks of books with them. (The Kindle is catching on fast among them.)

If this guy is a legit scholar of religion as he claims to be, he's had to do some reading in his time. What true scholar of anything is a book-burner? Most pastors that I know keep copies of other holy books in their office for reference.

So it's gratifying to see people point out that, while our First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects Mr. Jones' rights to freedom of religion and free speech, he's a fool to do this, and by extension makes our nation look foolish.

This story lists a lot of folk who say as much.


But they lost me at Angelina Jolie. (Dance, monkey!)

EDIT: The foolish pastor has since said that he will cancel the burning, and since then, has said that he doesn't plan to cancel the burning.
_____________________
*Oh, you can bet they're proud he moved in.

Labels: , ,

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Irritating, that.

This year, Toyota aired a big ad campaign admitting that they screwed up big-time. Well, they did-- they installed a whole mess of faulty throttle controllers. Well, a few.

But that needed recalling. The device that controls your engine's power output should work. Absolutely.

But this business of the car with the messed-up throttles being unstoppable is proven to be poppycock. Even if your brakes wouldn't stop the horrendous power of the engine propelling the car, simply shifting to neutral would stop the power from getting to the wheels. Turning off the engine would stop the power from getting to the wheels. ("But that cuts the power steering!" Oh, grow up! A moving car is steerable in a straight line without power steering. )

But the fact is, the brakes DO stop the car. Car & Driver found that, with the throttle wide open and the brakes stomped at 70 mph, the Camry stops shorter than a Ford Taurus with the throttle closed.

Then we come to the single most famous case of the throttle sticking, which now looks like simple fraud in the worst light, and gross driver error in the best light. The problem wasn't the hardware in the Prius-- it was the software between the driver's ears. He's either inept, or a swindler, or, possibly, both.

But if you still are terrified of your Toyota, and don't trust 'em, I'll take one off your hands. Especially if you've got a Tundra that's been threatening to kick in your front door, eat the children, and crap on your rug. I've got a deck to build.

_______________________
Hat tip to Les Jones.

Labels: , , , , , ,

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

David Benke.

When it is Go Time, you must have your decision made, already.

David Benke, a math teacher and track coach, had several points to his advantage yesterday when a crazy man* was shooting children at a Littleton high school: he could run, and he could think, and he had at some point made up his mind to do what needed doing. In this story at CNN, Mr. Benke mentions being conscious of how long it took the guy to rack a round in after each shot. He launched his 6'5" frame into the guy, disarmed him, and held him. Yeah, yeah, others helped, and that's good. But who shall bell the cat? Who's first?

Why, it's the person who already decided before it all came down. If you will keep it in your head that you are a sheepdog rather than a sheep, then you are a lot closer to winning than some might think, even when apparently "unarmed."

There are some things worse than dying. I'm glad that David Benke didn't get hurt, but he would still have been a role model if he hadn't been successful in his attempt to stop the attempted murderer.

You are the first responder. Act accordingly.
___________________________
*Whose name I'll not bother mentioning here. He gets no glamour from me.

Labels: , , , , , , ,

Thursday, February 18, 2010

To those of you have had just plain had it:

I've always said that I support your right to check out by yourself. That's fine. But please realize that, if you're planning to make an event with your final act, you might very well be sending support to the very cause that you're railing against.

Probably, Mr. Stack has made a fair run at casting every person who loudly rants against our federal tax system as a crazy person.

There are other ways to lodge your protests, people. If your plan involves causing an explosion that may kill someone you don't know, can't see, and never met, then you, sir, are the Bad Guy.

Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Thursday, August 21, 2008

No surprise, there.

Hong Kong doesn't want Gary Glitter, either.

But the U.K. does:
"It's important that Glitter comes back here and that he's carefullyrisk-assessed here in the UK, where we can do that," said Zoe Hilton. "It's important that we stop him traveling overseas again where he is a known risk of abusing children."
Why? So y'all can give him another whopping four months in jail? I mean, I admire that the U.K. is willing to take on their own responsibility to the extent that they'll allow a frickin' child molester back into their nations, but good Lord; the man has been risk-assessed, but you won't do what needs doing over there, beyond letting your citizens spork him to death mild irritation.

Hell, if he came to the U.S., we have Cranky lady literature professors who will do what needs doing, even.

Labels: , , ,

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

What the hell good is it, being one of the last Communist nations...

...if you can't shoot convicted child-molesters on sight, after they've been convicted by your government?!???

Labels: , , ,

Saturday, August 02, 2008

Sadly, this isn't worthy of national news.

When I went to iGoogle this morning, I found that one of the three top stories that they put up as being newsworthy was this one, about the bond revocation of a convicted child molester.

Last year, Aaron Mohanlal, a Florida school teacher, was convicted of having spent the previous two years sexually assaulting one of his students.

Mohanlal, of course, appealed. While the case was on appeal, he put up some property as collateral for bond, to assure that he would not abscond. In order to assure that Due Process Of Law is served, he can avoid serving his convicted punishment by posting sufficient bond.

The appellate process is a worthy thing to have in our criminal justice system. It assures that improper court decisions do not stand. Courts do need oversight, to be sure. They are composed of humans, and humans make mistakes. Exculpatory evidence might have been ignored. Clear violations of rights may have gone unchallenged. Due process might not have been followed. Convictions in such instances might be thrown out.

In this instance, the teacher brought his student home to have sex. He sexually assaulted the student in a supply closet in the classroom. He bought the young student a cell phone so that he could have phone sex with the child. He was convicted of thirteen counts.

If his appeal --which might last up to two years-- failed, he would serve a 43 year prison sentence. As he is 41 now, that would amount to a life sentence if he served it all. He put up family land as collateral for the $610,000 bond set.

There's been some furor. The victim and his family are upset that he's out, even while wearing a GPS tracking device and surrendering his passport. Understandably, they are upset.

The judge, acting on evidence (a pending forclosure) that the property put up as collatoral does not (and did not) have the value represented to secure the bond, revoked Mohanlal's bond and ordered Mohanlal incarcerated in lieu of bond, pending his appeal. Mohanlal's spirited defense attorney challenged the trial judge's jurisdiction to do that, apparently claiming that it would now be the appellate court's venue to revoke bond. That challenge has thus far borne no fruit.

All of this is a real-life drama for the victim and his family, and for the convicted actor and his family, and for the community of Port St. Lucie, FL. The repercussions are serious.

But it's not national news. It's business as usual.

Like politics and sausage, you may appreciate criminal justice, but you don't want to see it made.

Labels: , , , ,

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Bad night to be hammer-murderers.

You know, the sooner we implement sensible carpentry tool control, the sooner we'll have peace in our time.

Labels: , ,

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Bait and switch

"But those aren't the terms that I was promised," I said pointedly into the phone.

I was short of sleep, having just gotten up from 5 hours of day sleep after working 15 hours. My wife needed me to confirm with Spirit Cruise Lines what date we were going to go on our first little cruise. The woman had just given me two dates that were not on the list of dates that we had submitted as being available, from Galveston, TX. She also said that the only rooms available were luxury sea-view staterooms with substantial price upgrades. "Can you find another way?"

"The certificate that you signed says 'subject to availability,' sir," came the snotty reply. I dreamed of a device or magical power that would let me take hold of that tongue through the phone line. Okay, I'll admit it-- I was cranky.

In my sweetest, most reasonable, "Let's Solve This Together" voice, I asked, "Can I get you to send me a copy of that certificate, then, please? I fear that this trip may not be possible."

My scanner is in storage. And, no, I didn't run down the street to make a copy. Sue me. I'm a bad record keeper. I didn't have a copy of The Certificate. I wanted to read the text on this almighty document, that apparently countermanded what I had been told verbally by Silverleaf people.

"Sir, I can't resend the certificate."

"You can't resend the certificate? Or you can't rescind the certificate?" I asked.

"What?!?" she was clearly not happy with me. Well, I suppose that the feeling was becoming mutual.

However, I pushed on. "Did you mean that you cannot "resend"-- R-E-S-E-N-D-- the certificate, or that you cannot "rescind"--R-E-S-C-I-N-D-- the certificate?" I enunciated very carefully for her. You know, like you would to, say, a retarded chihuahua. Which is hard of hearing. (I was cranky.)

"Sir, I'm quite sure that you understand the conversation that we're having right now," she said, peevishly.

"Actually, no, I'm not. That's why I'm asking you to clarify, so that I, the customer, can get the full picture. Now, back to the predicate. 'Rescind,' or 'Resend?' The way you pronounce the word, it's a homonym. And, as with "raise" and "raze," these two words have vastly different meanings. Well, not as different as raise/raze-- that's one's just ridiculous. Now, I can understand that a phone person might not have the power to revoke a contract, but to be denied the power to even forward me a copy of it, which almost seems the more likely thing that you're saying, makes little sense to me."

"I can't send you another copy," she said testily. Almost as if she felt insulted. "Look, if these dates won't work, I can refund the money that you've put down."

"Aha! In fact, the powers do apparently fall along counter-intuitive lines," I said. "Very well, may I speak to a supervisor?"

"All complaints must be made in writing," she said. "And the supervisors can't be reached by phone."

"Wow. It's good that y'all have planned for success," I said. "But whoever said anything about a complaint?"

"Well, I just figured..."

"Indeed."

I hung up. I really should have gotten some coffee in me before attempting that call.

Labels: , ,

Friday, June 27, 2008

Drama queens

Following the Heller decision, there have been some wild claims made by some rather, uh, strident gun control advocates. Note all of the media attention that they've been getting. It reminds me a little of 1995, when Texas passed the first Concealed Handgun License law in the history of the state. Claims of impending violent encounters were made so often, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the sales of boat shoes went up, to keep people from slipping in the coming river of blood in the streets.

A river, of course, which never came.

Here's an odd concept to chew on: that Sarah Brady, Chuck Schumer, Richard Bradey, Diane Feinstein, and their ilk are now hoping that the rate of murders goes up in D.C., to bolster their position.

Here, we have a very few seconds of really spectacular footage, as Chicago Mayor Richard Bradey learns of the outcome of the Heller decision, and comes to realize what this means for his similar Chicago handgun restriction.


And here, you can watch Diane Feinstein as she, too, realizes what this ultimately will mean, for the fate of the citizens of San Francisco.

"My God! They'll all be... free!"

Labels: , , ,

Add to Technorati Favorites
.