Stop Frame

Bah + Humbug It's just a fact of life and it is time to face up to it: I don't like Christmas. I dislike the season. I don't like the fake cheer. I loathe the shopping. I despise the entire commercial facade. And it's too friggin' cold and wet to go riding! I. Don't. Like. It. Not, any of it. I am Scrooge, I am The Grinch. Look not upon my pre-Christmas countenance (spl?), thou shalt be turned to stone. There are personal reasons behind much of this. The ex merrily decided she wanted Kat for both of the weekends leading up to The Day, and then also wanted her for The Day. "Mine mine mine, she's all mine!" was the tone. Maybe she's suddenly realizing that the USAF enlistment she so studiously worked for Kat to sign means 1) this is the final Christmas with her daughter and 2) there is the very real possibility that her one and only daughter will be going In Harm's Way. Well, duh; it's the military. They kill people and break things, that...

To Keep and Bear Arms The US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, San Francisco, ruled today that there is no individual right to keep and bear arms. Their ruling will affect cases in nine western states and is in near-direct opposition to a ruling out of the US circuit court in New Orleans that says yes there is such a right. No doubt the fight will rise to the US Supreme Court, forcing that group to confront the 2nd Amendment. For myself, I think it's a silly decision. Backed by lots of argument in support of the ruling, but not a lot of substance from the opposition. Such is the nature of things. Eugene Volokh got quoted in a news piece about it. No doubt he'll have something more to say on his own Blog . Guns, especially handguns, are a lousy way to actually kill someone, but they're wonderful for self-defense. Not so very long ago, the statistics were that only 11% of the bullets fired by "the bad guys" actually hit a target. Police were better; they hit 20% of th...

Testing... Nope, you don't have a drop of english blood in your body. In fact, you're probably American ;) Y'know that little island next to France? Y'know...Europe? No? Ohwell. We love you really - have a cucumber sandwich! How British are you? this quiz was made by alanna And I thought I was doing so well, too....

Practitioners of a religion of peace Open Season : A bombing and a failed missile attack on a civilian plane point to a widening war without rules. It was the day before Chanukah, the Jewish festival of lights, and the Paradise Hotel off the coast of Kenya was packed with Israeli vacationers. Justine Mundu, a watchman, had been on duty for two and a half hours when a green Mitsubishi Pajero made a screeching turn into the main gate. The crash shattered the car bomb’s windshield, but its occupants just “drove on,” Mundu said. “Three seconds later I heard the explosion.” Another witness, David Kilonzi, said, “I saw the hotel roof blown off.” Moments after the blast, some witnesses also reported seeing a light aircraft fly over the hotel, dropping clusters of small bombs that incinerated some remaining rooms on the seaward side. The Israeli-owned hotel was soon a smoking ruin--a bright orange inferno set against the deep blue Indian Ocean, the white sand and rustling green palms. Don'...