Analog TV Worked Just Fine, Thanks

Caved in an bought a digital TV today only to get it home and find out that it picked up about half as many channels as my old TV with the converter box. Well I already put the old one in the attic and I guess I'll leave it there. I'll return the new one tomorrow. Couldn't get either to work with VCR to record. Broadcast TV is just the latest thing that the government has screwed up...not sure whether to blame the NRA, the ACLU, OctoMom, Obama, Bush, LBJ, illegal aliens, space aliens, organized labor, Tea Baggers, fluoride in the water, or possibly North Korea. Hhrumph!

NRA Bullies the TN GOP House

The NRA lobbyists were invited to bully legislators in the GOP caucus lest any should oppose guns in bars. Aside from the fact that this is a horrible piece of legislation, the idea that Representatives elected by the people are more inclined to listen to a bunch of hired guns just stinks.

The basics of politics are (a) it takes wads of cash to get elected, (b) being elect-able is not the same as having the ability to govern, and (c) the conglomeration of junk attached to a lot of bills means having to throw out some babies along with bathwater all too often.

This week the British Parliamentary elections produced split results the likes of which have not been seen for decades. The result will very likely be a coalition government unlike anything the US has ever seen and of a nature which the UK rarely sees. It will be interesting to watch. Conservative party leader David Cameron has said the system is broken. Indeed it is. And on both sides of the Atlantic.

Third parties in the US have rarely achieve much beyond the notoriety of being a spoiler. Given the vitriolic demonization of partisanship in our country and given the notorious influence on both sides of special interests, from NRA to ACLU and a lot of alphabet in between, I think that many people in the US will now be disgusted enough to seek alternatives. The day of the two party system will, hopefully, pass.

We ID Over Age 3

So if you're like me you probably have more than one form of ID on your person when you leave the house. In my wallet is a driver's license, a handgun carry permit, a voter's registration card, a student ID, a work ID, a library card, a Blockbuster card, membership card to three museum and a public radio station, a TABC server permit, my Kroger discount card, my health insurance card, a couple of debit cards and a charge card, my blood bank donor card, and a few more odds & ends with my name on them.

I'll bet that you have a little card in your car as I do in mine which serves as proof of insurance. So you have a license plate on your car? Yep. If you carry luggage to the airport, do you have little luggage ID tags?

If you buy beer in a grocery store or a glass of wine in a restaurant you may be asked to show some ID. If you board an airplane, you will get to show ID several times.

So if I got to Arizona and get pulled over for speeding and the officer asks to see my papers, I'll say "Sure, happy to help, how many pieces of ID would you like to see and how much time do you have?" I have no problem with that. It's not like the US of A wants to draft me anymore, all I get asked for is some ID. Is that too much of a burden. I think not.

The phrase "illegal alien" contains one key word "illegal." I have tremendous respect for people who want to work and come here to do so. The fact that people try to blow up airplanes and otherwise attack our country is also worthy of consideration. How much easier is it for a terrorist to walk across some lonesome stretch of border in Arizona (or Maine) that to bluff his or her way through Logan Airport or LaGuardia or Reagan National? A porous border and a law enforcement system with gaping holes is a great danger to us all.

So I'm fine with showing my ID anytime. Good job Arizona! I'm with you.

Frustration of the Body Snatchers

Who is more helpless than the dead? Sounds a bit silly I guess, but when you think about it, who is more vile than someone who would desecrate a grave or a corpse? Such things happen. Perhaps that is why friends and family take such elaborate pains with funerals. In antiquity consider the remnant of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae who chose to die rather than give up the corpse of slain leader Leonidas. Consider the horror with which Priam and all of Troy watch as Achilles dragged dead Hector around and around the city walls.

Now consider Mary Magdalene's sobbing at the tomb on Easter morning when she saw the body of Jesus gone and asked the stranger (angel) who had taken it.

Happily there was no graverobber or fiend at work in this instance!