BOO!

scared ya, didn't I?

Registration never leads to confiscation

O no. Never.

"Xena became an outlaw. . .won a reprieve . . . (she may) never return to Denver . . ."

Git outta town, girl, we don't like your kind.

It's bad enough that I won't willingly consider moving to some place like California or NY because of the gun registration there, but this is simply insane. Worse, in a day-to-day way.

Floridians who don't like thieves need to write a letter

The Select Committee to Protect Private Property Rights
1101 The Capitol
402 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1300

Re: HJR31

Gentlepersons:

I appreciate the good intentions behind the introduction of HJR 31, and am pleased that the Florida Legislature has the good sense to be appalled by Kelo v. New London. However, the amendment as proposed is not tight enough.

Under no circumstances should any government take property from one private party and provide it to another. It doesn’t matter whether the recipient is acquiring the property for development purposes or to create a private haven for the spotted owl or injured pelicans; theft is still theft.

At the risk of sounding facetious: There are many thieves and robbers in the private sector, and the government is forbidden to compete with private enterprise.

On a more serious note, a government’s job is to protect citizens’ rights. The government that usurps its citizens’ rights has rendered itself obsolete.

Please tighten this amendment. Thank you for your time and attention.

Brian Blair, My Hero!

Raise a glass to Brian Blair, Hillsborough County Commissioner. According to the radio, my noble statesmen (countymen?) have informed 'the state' that eminent domain requests will not be considered unless they're for genuine public use, such as roads and schools, and requests for economic development will be right out. You go, Killer Bee!

According to the Orlando Business Journal, Florida's fair legislatures and governor aren't best pleased about Kelo either.

A blog entitled The Matrix Has You, but apparently run by a business called Florida Homestead Services, links to the amendment proposed by the Florida House to tighten definition of public use, but in my view it doesn't go far enough. Under no circumstances should the government transfer property from one private party to another, whether it's for economic development or not. What if the stealing party wants to use it protect spotted owls or something? It's still theft.

The following is from the Orland Business Journal Article, which also states that Florida is among the eight toughest states for eminent domain:

"Locally, the decision and Florida's law could be tested soon in places such as the Home Acres neighborhood near Winter Park, where developer Dan Bellows has bought up 51 acres in the community with the plan to redevelop it into a mixed-use project.

Not everyone in Home Acres, however, wants to be a part of the project, and Bellows has asked the Winter Park City Council to create a Community Redevelopment District and use its power of eminent domain to help with the project.

That would completely transform the blighted area, says Bellows.

The likelihood of the project happening seems slim, though, as city officials are not even sure if they would use eminent domain for such projects.

'I'm not comfortable at all with eminent domain being used for a private development, especially when it runs to the advantage of one developer," says Winter Park Mayor Kip Marchman. "Blight, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, and we need to be careful that any project is truly for a public purpose, meaning literally everybody benefits from it."

If Florida is among the eight toughest states, citizens of 42 states are really screwed. There appears to be nothing standing between the Home Acres folks and the Robber Barons but one mayor's good sense and decency.

Would someone please throw some ice cubes into the Gulf of Mexico?

Tx.

P.E.T.A. = Cat Killers

If you happen to see a PETA member, be sure to remind them that they are responsible for any harm that may come to Allison and Smokey during this hurricane season. Why? Because, due to the machinations of animal rights activists, animals can no longer be shipped with the luggage, in pressurized but not temperature controlled areas. Due to PETA and others of their ilk, it is now more expensive to fly one of my cats than to fly myself. If I must evacuate out of state, I will not be able to afford to take the cats. I'll be leaving them here, in flood zone You-gonna-die-girl, to fend for themselves.

Thanks, PETA. Thanks a fucking lot.

Anybody who has a problem with the above can set up a $1600 escrow account for me, with the funds to be released when a hurricane is Tampa Bay bound.

Florida Tax Holiday, June 1 through June 12!!

Press release here and more details here.

Stock up on those hurricane supplies! No tax on flashlights, lanterns and candles under $20 (including Yankee Candles? o boy!)

Gas cans under $25

Batteries, coolers, ice chests, first aid kits under $30

Radios and tarps under $50.

I didn't see water purifiers on the list, though. O well.

The tax holiday is over June 12th - go shopping now!

& a special "Thanks" to the Honorable Jeb Bush.

That explains a lot!


Rongorongo (Easter Island, C.E. 1800)You are RONGORONGO. You are the script of the
language Rapanui. The language is still spoken,
but no one can read the script. Are you
ideographic? Phonetic? Ideo-phonetic?
Hieroglyphic? A comic strip? Illustrations for
a fairy tale? No one knows.

Which Indecipherable Script Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Headdress tip to The Politburo Diktat

'Twas a dark and scarey night

cuz dey ain't no street lights in this town

There are two types of street lighting available to unincorporated Hillsborough County residents: Area lights, which are privately placed, owned, and paid for; and Street lights, placed on county property, maintained by the county, and paid for with your tax dollars.

To get an Area Light, call TECO, 813 635-1500, and schedule an appointment.

Caveats:

• Two year contract required
• Minimum charge of $10 per month, added to your electric bill
• Light must be placed on your private property, not on the easement/devil's strip/parkway
• A large truck (about the size of a dump truck) must be able to access the property.
  

To get a Street Light, work with the Hillsborough County Street Lighting Program, telephone 813 272-1551.

Caveats:

• Street Lighting must be done to the entire subdivision
• Petition required; a majority of homeowners must sign it. See website for details
• Your property taxes will increase by an unknown amount. A study must be done; number & type of street lights determined, etc. County could not provide a minimum or maximum dollar figure.
• In the February following petition signature, the street light request will go before a public hearing. If approved, "street lights could be installed the following year." (emphasis added) Or, presumably, they could not be installed the following year.
  

In short, if you feel the need for better lighting, start with TECO and see if an area light does the trick. If yes, fine. If not, start the street light petition process. By the time it goes through, your TECO contract will have expired.

How to install a catflap in a steel door

Step 1: Get a Dremel.

Step 2: Get a Cut-off wheel and a grinding stone. Grab a steak knife from the kitchen.

Step 3: Sketch the template outline on the door in accordance with the instructions.

Step 4: Cut down the outline you have drawn, using the Dremel and cut-off wheel, just through the steel. Wear safety glasses for this, really. The sparks fly!

Step 5: Pry out the steel. It's just an outer lining. Take the steak knife and carve out the foam inside the door. Smooth the steel edges with the grinding stone.

Step 6: Cut out the other steel lining with the cut-off wheel. Smooth out with the grinding stone.

Step 7: Shove the cat through the hole a few times.

Step 8: Follow the instructions for putting up the door. Here, you will need a metal-cutting drill bit and probably a regular drill, or maybe an attachment for the Dremel. Anyway, my bit wouldn't fit my Dremel. Do not drill into the foam; you only want to pierce the steel. Your cat should catch on to using the door right away, if it's been through the open hole a few times. If your cat is dumb, like one of mine is, put them on one side of the door, and food on the other. Go shopping. By the time you get back, your cat will have figured it out.

The above is the wrong, Persnickety way to do it, but darn it it worked. The right way is to draw your outline, use your metal bit and electric drill to drill holes clear through the door in each corner of the outline. Then, using a jig saw and metal-cutting blade, insert the blade into one of the holes and cut out the door hole clean through, following merrily along the outline. Power tools and $10 blades notwithstanding, I lacked the physical strength to control the saw, particularly when it cut through the steel, encountered the soft foam, then hit hard steel again. I actually broke the saw blade off inside the door. The right way is probably the quicker way, for those with the muscle. But the right way is the wrong way if it's not personally possible.

Cheers!

P.S. You may have another bit of difficulty with the wood at the bottom of the door, or the door panels. The bottom two inches of my door is wood. My cat flap just barely fit. Ideally, the bottom of the cat flap should be at the same height as the bottom of your standing cat's belly. You might want to do a little measuring - of the cat, the door, and the various available cat flaps, before you start carving holes in anything.

Crazy Kids

Well, I'm back.

Der kinder is married now, and I guess that means he's officially all grown up. May God bless and guide him and his bride, and grant them a long and happy life together.

It was quite a ceremony. They memorized their vows and said them without prompting from the priest, with no 'repeat after me' stuff from the priest. Their feeling was that their love should be strong enough that it needed no prompting. They're both musicians, and played some of their own wedding music.

You should have seen them - him in his tux at the piano, her in her wedding dress with the flute. Nerves of steel, I'm tellin' ya.

After they exchanged rings, they both just looked at their hands for a bit, with the rings on them, like 'Gosh, it's really real.' Then he wasn't sure how to kiss her without stepping on her dress.

May the good Lord bless you and keep you, my children. May He make His sun to shine upon you.

One Team, One Fight, One Focus!!


Denzel Washington was visiting BAMC (Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas) earlier this month. BAMC is where soldiers who have been med-evac'd from the combat zone via Germany come to the US to be hospitalized, especially burn victims. At Fort Sam Houston they have facilities called Fisher Houses. The Fisher House is basically aplace where soldier's families can stay (at little charge or no charge) while their soldier is recovering at BAMC. Even though Fort Sam Houston has more than one Fisher House, you can easily imagine that they are all "filled to the brim" almost constantly. While Denzel Washington was visiting patients in BAMC, they gave him a tour of one fo the installation's Fisher Houses. During the tour, he asked how much one of these Fisher Houes cost to build. When he received the answer, he got out his check book and wrote out a check for the full amount, right there "on-the-spot." The soldiers in BAMC were amazed to hear this story, and they want to "get the word out" to the American public because it warmed their hearts. I hope that you too will spread this "good news" story. May God bless Denzel Washington and good-hearted people like him.

Update: or maybe not quite.

Name of newsletter/people removed because hey, we can all mistakes and it's my blog and I'll do what I want to.

Nar nee Nar nee boo boo.

I have the best kid in the whole darn world.

So der kinder is getting married on the 15th. Apparently there's some sort of mother-and-son dance which the bride requires, so der kinder called to discuss songs we could both stand, that weren't too long. Said he wistfully: "I kind of wish we could use Puberty Love.

Me too, kiddo, me too.

Why are comments disappearing, and where do they go?

Da Agony of Defeat

Persnickety is a Giant Bee that shoots Laser Beams, carries a Samurai Sword, is Radioactive, and Tunnels Underground. Strength: 3 Agility: 8 Intelligence: 7 To see if your Giant Battle Monster can defeat Persnickety, enter your name and choose an attack: fights Persnickety using Strength Agility Intelligence

You'd think a sword-wielding bee would stand a pretty good chance in a fight, but Bthe Backroad whupped me with the weather.

Ah, the Good Old Days

Jeff at Alphecca posts on schlock Sci-Fi movies, and goodness but I feel nostalgic now. His commenters mention two movies that will forever be dear to my heart: The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai and Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.

My son would usually have friends over for New Year's Eve. It worked out well - other parents could go do the New Year's Eve thing, the kids generally had a pretty good time, and so did I.

We'd watch these two movies on New Year's Eve - at least 3 or 4 years in a row. & we'd play Killer Tomatoes all year long. The boys would curl into a ball and roll around on the floor saying 'greeble greeble' until I sang Puberty Love at them; whereupon they'd gasp and choke and stretch out on the floor.

I could nearly always get them to mind by singing Puberty Love. It even worked when they acted up in public, although I did receive a few weird looks.

sigh.

Does anyone want to play Killer Tomatoes with me? You be the tomato, and I'll be the radio.

Come on, baby , light my fire

Eric lit a fire under my apathetic arse with a pass-it-on blog challenge he received from Ghost of a Flea. I had to blow the dust off my list of passwords to access my blog, and no. way. can I match the Erudite Eric, but what the hey.

"Following this is a list of different occupations. You must select at least five of them. You may add more if you like to your list before you pass it on (after you select five of the items as it was passed to you). Of the five you selected, you are to finish each phrase with what you would do as a member of that profession. Then pass it on to three other bloggers. OF COURSE you all without blogs are welcome to play along in comments!"


If I could be an IRS Commissioner...I would audit Bill and Hillary Clinton, because turn-about is fair play. Then I'd audit every congress critter who voted for silly pork programs (all of 'em, I think!) Then I'd figure out what percentages of your tax go to idiotic programs like the NEA, and I'd let you all know just exactly how much of your money goes where.

Then I'd break for a nice cup of tea. On your tax dollar.

If I could be a scientist...ouch ... this is what I wanted to be when I grew up, but circumstances forbade. I ended up with weird allergies and basically, working around the most commonly used solvents could kill me so I had to change directions. Almost killed myself when I was little, playing Mad Scientist in the basement. No, you really should not mix bleach and clorox. It's not just one of those goofy things parents say.

Lessee, where was I? O yeah. If I could be a scientist, I'd be an organic chemist, working in an analytical job where they give you an unknown and you have to figure out what it is. That's my idea of a good time. Can you imagine getting paid to play with puzzles all day long?

If I could be a bonnie pirate... I would sail the seven seas on stormy scarey nights and in gentle sunny breeze, I'd touch all ports of land, know all manner and type of man, dance upon the sand, hold a starfish in my hand, call the deep my home and forever, ever, roam.

Plus, I could have lots of black powder weapons, which would be really cool.

If I could be a painter... I would paint Absurd!, a painting I can see in my mind but lack the talent to execute. I see a trendy bar with a dock on the Anclote River. On the dock, a heavily made-up woman eyeballs a pelican with a fish in his mouth. The angle is woman-profile and pelican-head on. I'm not sure if the woman is older 'mutton dressed as lamb' or younger, with a bejeweled belly hanging out between her low-riders and crop top.
& I would be such a good painter I'd earn my own way. Then I'd go visit the NEA parasites and say 'na na nanaa na.'

If I could be a TV-Chat Show host... I'd ask:

Sean Penn - so, just how many oil vouchers did you get from Saddam Hussein?

Whoopi Goldberg - Ms. Goldberg, you have publicly stated that 'Communism is not so bad.' Do you still hold that opinion, and if so, may I have half your assets?

Sony Executives - Sir (or madam as the case may be), through its advertising, your company actively encourages young people to play extremely offensive and unpalatable music quite loudly. This is harmful to the hearing and spiritual health of young people; hard on the environment; and it causes older people and people of taste to despise the younger and cruder. How in the sam hill do you manage to look at yourself in mirror without throwing up? What arrangements has Sony made to deal with the inevitable lawsuits you can expect to see in 5 to 10 years, as people begin to experience hearing loss due to the very loud bass your stereos spew out and push as a desired feature? Or, as an executive with a golden parchute, is this something you simply don't worry your pretty little head about?

Wow - I'm up to five already! . . must . . stop . . .

Oh, just one more:

If I could be a linguist, I would pluck out the effing tongue of the next person to use 'authentic' in the snooty, condescending, elitist artsty-phartsy manner of Nina Gilden Seavey.

"Will country music allow them to be who they're meant to be?"

What the F?!? Who in the h does little Ms. Seavey think she is, determining who other people are 'meant to be?' Arrogant bitch. What? Am I not permitted eggrolls and tacos unless I can point to chinese and mexican roots? Does my scottish/german/english heritage condemn me to saurkraut, haggis and warm beer because Ms. Seavery determines my cultural heritage 'meant it be'?

SNOOT! INEFFABLE SNOOT!

faugh . .

Ahem. 'kay, I'm done.

Inka Bink
A bottle of Ink
The cork fell out and now
Robert at the Back Road has to do this, because his posts have all been way too technical for me, and James and Dave because I want to see what a gun guy can do with a candlestick.

The list is long enough, guess I won't add any more.

If I could be a farmer...
If I could be a musician...
If I could be a doctor...
If I could be a painter...
If I could be a gardener...
If I could be a missionary...
If I could be a chef...
If I could be an architect...
If I could be a linguist...
If I could be a psychologist...
If I could be a librarian...
If I could be an athlete...
If I could be a lawyer...
If I could be an innkeeper...
If I could be a professor...
If I could be a writer...
If I could be a backup dancer...
If I could be a llama-rider...
If I could be a bonnie pirate...
If I could be a midget stripper...
If I could be a proctologist...
If I could be a TV-Chat Show host...
If I could be an actor...
If I could be a judge...
If I could be a Jedi...
If I could be a butcher . . .
If I could be a baker...
If I could be a candlestick maker...
If I could be an IRS Commissioner...
If I could be an Indian Chief...

It's a fun exercise -

If I had a hundred dollars to spend, or maybe a little bit more

Happy Spring!

BiPartisan Tyrant Act of 2002 - FEC seeks comments

Federal Election Commission Released Proposed Rules Regulating Internet Use In Campaign Financing

The Federal Election Commission released for public comment proposed rules regulating paid political advertising on the Internet.

The Commission proposed the rules in response to the federal District Court opinion in Shays v. Federal Election Commission, in which the court held that the Commission had no authority under federal campaign finance law to deliberately exclude the Internet from the scope of its campaign finance rules. According to news reports, a draft of the proposed rules presented to the Commission would have regulated political weblogs, but the Commission scaled back the rules in response to public outcry.

The proposed rules are available here.

The above information comes from Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner LLP. They periodically send out a newsletter on 'technology and Internet law recent developments.'

From the same source, also on bloggers:

Regardless Of Status of Bloggers As Journalists, Trade Secret Owner Is Entitled To Discovery Directed At Source Of Online Disclosures

Apple Computer is entitled to discovery directed at an e-mail service provider for a Web site that published confidential information regarding its product introduction plans. Apple Computer, Inc. v. Doe 1, No. 1-04-CV-032178 (Cal. Super. Ct. Santa Clara Cty March 11, 2005). The court found that the computer company had made out a prima facie case that the published nformation was protected under state civil and criminal trade secret protection law, and that it took "adequate steps by way of internal investigation" before seeking
discovery from external sources. The court concluded that California trade secret law applied to the disclosures, regardless of whether the anonymous parties that disclosed the information were journalists, bloggers or anyone else."

The opinion is available at
www.brownraysman.com/InternetLawUpdate/AppleVDoe1.pdf

You're next.

Annual Easter Joke

Q. What do you get when you pour boiling water down a rabbit hole?