Saddam Hanged

I’m certainly not the one breaking the news. Does anyone honestly think that things will get better now that old fuzzy face has hung from the gallows? Thought not.

I Miss The Godfather

James Brown, you are missed. Everybody now… scream, grunt, good gosh!

Snow Day

It started snowing last night in New Mexico. And it’s still coming down. Lot’s and lots of the big fluffy stuff. My youngest daughter is still young enough to get absolutely giddy about this circumstance. Good for her. We’ve brought our midget cat along with us. She is of the opnion that snow sucks.

Nifong Gets JACKED UP!

Most of you have probably heard at least something about the Duke lacrosse team and the alleged rape of a paid stripper at a team party. A North Carolina District Attorney, with political aspirations, has been at the center of attempting to try the accused in the court of public opinion. This has involved race baiting (the accused are white and considered “privileged”), lying, rule breaking, and proceeding with the case with weak or no evidence. DNA evidence proved that there was no trace of the accused inside the alleged victim. Andrew Nifong, the DA, told the press that the boys may have used condoms. That was deliberately misleading because Nifong knew that hospital test confirmed that there were no traces of condoms, either. The alleged victim now says that she cannot be sure if she was actually raped. So Nifong drops the rape charges, but leaves the others in place.

Now, Nifong is being charged with four ethics violation charges by the North Carolina bar. This could wind up with Nifong losing his ability to practice law. Good. This has been a flimsy case, at best. And Nifong has been using it, IMO, for political gain and self-aggrandizement. If Nifong is ultimately found guilty of the charges against him and the case against the Duke boys is dropped, Nifong should be required to personally pay for rebuilding the boys lives.

I’m a Texan

It’s hard to determine which win was sweeter. Last weekend, the last place Texans managed to beat the Indianapolis Colts, a team that the Texans have never beaten in their short, five year history. The 27-24 victory, earned with a last second, heart stopping field goal, was a bright spot in an otherwise dull season. So what victory was could be sweeter? 19-10. That was the score of the very first official game that the Texans played. It was against the Dallas Cowboys. And the Texans won. Anyone who knows anything about Texas rivalries knows that the feelings between residents of Houston and Dallas are “robust”, to say the least. I live in the Houston area. At the time of that very first win, I was working for a Dallas-based company. The Monday after the game, I was in Dallas, attending a strategy conference with my fellow executives. When it was my turn to present, I fired up the PowerPoint presentation on my laptop and proudly displayed a spinning Texans logo and the final score (and collected a few bets). But my neighbor is a rabid Colts fan and I have always had to suffer his taunts with every Colts victory, especially the numerous ones against the Texans. Which is sweeter?

Dallas.

Changing Times

I was reading an article online about how a group of day laborers in Houston chased down a stabbing suspect and held him until police arrived. Given that many day laborers in Houston are “undocumented temporary residents” with a built-in distrust of law enforcement, this is pretty significant. While watching the news on TV in the Albuquerque area (a little holiday break), I saw a report about how a homeowner shot and killed a burglar that was caught in the act. My brother-in-law told me that this was the third such incident in the same general area in less than a month. Maybe folks are starting to realize that the police really don’t have any duty or responsibility, as affirmed by numerous court rulings, to protect anyone? You are responsible for your own safety and your own property. When would-be burglars, car-jackers, muggers, attackers, and other slugs think that they stand a good chance of getting killed or caught doing their illegal acts, crime WILL go down.

Top .3%

I keep falling more and more behind, but I’m still in the top .3% of crunchers in the world that are particpating in the SETI@Home distributed computing project. It’s geeky, but I’ve got a one in a bajillion chance of being the one that crunches the signal that discovers ET…

Jeff’s Gun Tips #8

A lot of folks are travelin’ this time of year. And a lot of those folks will be moving around the country, crossing state lines, with state issued concealed carry licenses and permits. I am not a lawyer. But I know that a tried and true maxim is that “ignorance of the law is no excuse”. Assuming that the place you are going through and to recognizes your concealed carry authority and has reciprocity with the state that issued it, you are still bound by the laws and regulations of the place that you are in, not the place that issued your authority. If your state allows you to carry concealed in a bar, but your vacation state prohibits it… don’t do it. This requires a little research before you hit the trail. It’s part of your responsibility.

And don’t assume that, if you get pulled over for being a lead foot on the interstate, the officer or trooper will actually be aware of reciprocity agreements. We have a very long way to go before concealed carry is ubiquitous.

1 Step Forward, 3 Back

I think that I have commented on this before… The Middle East has been fractious and divided since the beginning of history. People have been duking it out over that property in the name of God, money, rights, and more. Just recently, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has ordered the army to resume strikes on Palestinian militants in Gaza after a rocket attack wounded two Israeli teenagers despite a month-long truce. Does this really come as a surprise? The Israelis are also transplanting around 100 families from one Gaza settlement that was “given” back to the Palestinians to anotherin the West Bank (which is an area still being disputed). Joy. There will be no peace in the Middle East, despite any “road map”. Not now, not in our lifetimes, not ever.

Cute Overload

It’s that time of the year. Gotta have one cute blog post. Everyone has probably heard the stories of firefighters being called to rescue wayward cats. It does happen. Well, one cat got freaked out by a little kid and ran away and hid… inside the walls of a house. Firefighters rescued said Kitty using high-tech imaging and a light touch on the drywall.