Travel Broadens the Mind, But . . .

The Arkansas Board of Education voted last week to take over the Little Rock School District because six of its schools are "in distress" (the measurements of which are a little fluky). As you may know, Little Rock schools have been on double secret probation for years now, for various reasons, even though it has good test scores overall, and numerous National Merit Finalists. I'm not exactly in favor of this plan -- it appears to be simply a different set of bureaucrats that just swooshed in and disenfranchised Little Rock voters who just seated a new school board last fall. The Superintendent will be retained and there has been no plan announced to address the distressed schools' issues.

A local (satirical) website, The Rock City Times (subtitled "Arkansas' 2d most unreliable news source"), however, announced a plan earlier this week. Let's see if it will copy and paste:

Little Rock to Begin Bussing Students to Northwest Arkansas Following School Board Takeover

Greg Henderson — January 29, 2015

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Following yesterday’s State Board of Education’s decision to takeover the Little Rock School District, the board now says that beginning in fall students will be bussed from Little Rock to various higher performing schools around Northwest Arkansas.

The Board of Education’s 5-4 decision came after six of the district’s schools were labeled “academically distressed”.  The move to Northwest Arkansas would introduce Little Rock’s 25,000 students to some of the highest performing schools in the state.

“The problem is these schools are underperforming and students are not receiving the quality education that they deserve,” School board spokesperson Roger Waters tells us. “We certainly could fire all the teachers, pump millions of dollars into education for Little Rock, but we feel that would be too dramatic and a possible waste of resources. Especially when we have one of the country’s top performing education regions a little over three hours away.”

Under the plan students would be bussed daily from Little Rock to a selection of schools across Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers, Springdale, and Siloam Springs. Parents will be required to have their children ready for bus pickup at 4 a.m. each morning so that students will arrive by the 8:00 start time. Students are expected to return home by 7:30 each night. Tutoring will be available free of charge during the afternoon commutes.

Most of the existing Little Rock School buildings will be converted into satellite campuses for the upcoming technology park. Meanwhile Central High School is expected to change to a Robert E Lee museum and Forest Park elementary will be the new home of a food truck culinary school.

The board says that it does plan to retain former LRSD superintendent Dexter Suggs along with various faculty members from Little Rock Schools.

“Due to the dramatic increase in bus drivers needed, we have extended driving positions to Dr. Suggs and other principals and faculty at high performing schools,” Waters says. “We believe it represents a unique opportunity for all involved to help grant kids the advanced kids the advanced education opportunities we blindly think they deserve.”

In addition to the schools opening their doors to Little Rock students, the Duggar family has offered to expand their home schooling to accommodate 200 homosexual curious children in need of re-indoctrination.

The Duggars.  Heh.

And the misspellings of "busing" and "bused" make me grit my teeth, but all-in-all this is pretty clever. Unfortunately, I can't rule out something as improbable as this coming from the State. 

Poor kids.

At Loose Ends Here

I'm kind of in a funk. Just kind of antsy for some unknown reason.

And I'm seriously sick and tired of governments getting more and more involved with the minutiae of daily living. Take Dallas, for example.

On New Year's Day, a new ordinance took effect in Dallas that imposes a new "environmental fee" on paper and plastic bags used to transport purchases made at retail stores.  Five cents per bag! The "fee" purports to be a means to reduce litter and the customer is permitted to bring his own reusable bags or purchase them from the merchant. AP reports, "The Dallas rules have sparked some confusion. But officials say the idea is to encourage shoppers to bring their own, reusable bags — thus avoiding the new fees."

I'm sorry, but this sounds like a "nudge" to "encourage" sanctioned behavior and a revenue generator all rolled into one handy-dandy rule. A tax by any other name . . . .

So, I think I'll go along with Calvin in the upcoming year:

Gee, I miss Calvin and Hobbes.

And, I need a hug.

There's a Whole Lot of Back-scratching Going on in DC

Lest you think that government entities don't "talk" to one another out of some misguided desire to maintain citizens' privacy, allow me to share this little tidbit and disabuse you of that Utopian notion.

Pepper and I are doing a re-fi on Moogie's Manor. Our lender set it up to qualify to run through Fannie Mae (and Fannie Mae is not even a real federal government entity, you understand) for secondary market purposes. To make her happy and feed her enormous ego, one must submit some thirty-odd pages of Application to Miss Mae, including one's most recent tax return.

Here's where it starts getting a little complicated.

Due to some investments and partnerships, we always get an extension to file our 1040s until October. This means the last Returns we have on hand at present are for 2012. Not 2013. Fannie Mae was not happy about this. Even though she has nothing to do with collecting taxes, she wanted to talk to her buddies over at the IRS to be sure we had filed an actual Extension and weren't just slacking and failing to file. She scratches her IRS-Bud's back and they scratch something of hers. I mean, the revenue we pump into the IRS is shared by the whole government, right?

Anyway, there's some silly federal rule designed to protect the privacy of we insignificant citizens, and Fannie Mae isn't permitted to talk to Internal Revenue without the citizen's permission. So, she has a handy-dandy form that the citizen "may" sign that says, in essence, "Sure! You gubmint guys chat about me and share anything about me with one another that your nosy little bureaucratic hearts desire! Live it up!"

Let's stop here briefly to reflect upon the fact that Fannie Mae has nothing to do with collecting or disbursing or determining the amount of taxes that anyone pays. Let's further reflect upon the fact that whether you file your tax returns has nothing to do with whether you can re-pay a loan.

Then let's think about the fact that your loan application will be peremptorily rejected if you refuse to authorize Miss Mae to snoop into your IRS records to satisfy her overactive curiosity and/or to give her ammunition to rat your slacking butt out to the IRS. Even though she has zero to do with taxes!

Did we sign it? Well, duh. (But only after a colorful rant about crony government and Big Brother by my roommate.) Just don't let yourself be fooled into believing that there's a functional firewall among government entities that protects we, the people.

And do not get Pepper started on Fannie Mae. He's been mumbling something about a class action lawsuit.

What Happens When They're Out on Their Own?

I must say that our kids are not "helicopter parents." They have had their overly-protective moments, of course, but they definitely don't hover. Heck, The Son even put 6 year-old #3 on a transatlantic flight to Switzerland with a mild concussion in June. (In his defense, however, his wife's Aunt, a medical physician, gave the ok, and flew with them).

But I have seen many, many young parents hover to beat the band, and the various federal and local governments only reinforce and enable that kind of behavior with their overreaching legislation and regulations. So, this cartoon which appeared in our Sunday newspaper tickled my funny bone:

Sad for the kid. I didn't just pat my kids on the head when they got hurt, but I did usually treat any and every injury with a baggie of ice cubes, and maybe a little peroxide. Unless it looked like stitches might be required. Usually. Ice is the Miracle Remedy, after all!

I've often said that you can't legislate good parenting or manners. Perhaps I was mistaken.

Pity the Children

No, not those children, these children:

I would sooooo hate to be a child in this day and age. Not only do they have to be on the constant lookout for perverted strangers and go to school forever and ever, now they are also forbidden tasty treats within the ivy-covered walls of public schools. The USDA has promulgated school breakfast, lunch, and snack regulations under the watchful eye of the First Witch Lady.

The preface on the USDA School Meals webpage tells us:

Through the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act championed by the First Lady and signed by President Obama, USDA made the first major changes in school meals in 15 years, which will help us raise a healthier generation of children.

The new standards align school meals with the latest nutrition science and the real world circumstances of America’s schools. These responsible reforms do what’s right for children’s health in a way that’s achievable in schools across the Nation.

The Act became effective July 1 of this year, leaving schools and Boards of Education scrambling to get around its enabling regulations.

Schools are forbidden to offer "competitive snacks" and "competitive beverages" (food and drink that "compete" with the Agriculture Department's school meal program) that are sugary or fatty, or, apparently, desirable. These competitive foodstuffs are often sold as a means of fundraising for the school through vending machines, school stores, and bake sales.

Wait. BAKE SALES?!?!

Yes. Bake sales.

Even though the regs were modified last spring a bit in response to a tidal wave of complaints, homebaked goodies and fun food are still a no-no in most places. Illinois is tightening its rules about food-centric fundraisers, but many other states are establishing safe havens for them, guaranteeing up to 30 per year per campus. Thank God for common sense.

["Cottage Food Laws" have been promulgated in a majority of the states that allow the sale of certain food items that were prepared in a non-commercial, unlicensed kitchen. Bake sale donations arguably fall within their purview, even if the laws were originally designed primarily for farmers' market vendors. (Arkansas' Cottage Law is in that category, but I'll bet one could argue that it applies to bake sales, too).]

"Doing what's right for children's health." Egad. We may be getting ready to witness a mass exercise in civil disobedience the likes of which have never been seen.

Do you suppose the kids still get to read Thoreau?

They can have my brownie when they pry it out of my cold, dead hands.

Police Beat -- A Dilemma in Mom Jeans (or perhaps something a little more provocative)

Saturday's Democrat-Gazette reported the arrest of the 34 year-old mother of four (ages 8, 9, 13, and 14) on Friday morning. It seems she had sent the 9 year-old from the Motel 6 where they were staying on an errand  to the grocery store, "unsupervised."

The young man was picked up by police as he crossed at a busy intersection about a half-mile from the motel.

The mother was charged with "second-degree endangering the welfare of a minor." She told police that she "didn't realize [she] couldn't send her 9-year-old to Kroger by himself."

Okay. I may sound a little harsh here, but, I didn't realize you couldn't do that either. I know times were different when I was a kid, but we walked all over God's green Earth at that age.  Heck, Pepper was even hunting by himself at that age. With loaded firearms! (Of course, he lived out in the country then, so hunting/discharging a weapon was okay, and he was "supervised" by his trusty beagle.)

How about if you send your kid to the neighborhood pool or playground on foot? Could you wind up in the pokey for that? How about letting him walk to school? Is it the purpose of the trip or the distance from Mom that criminalizes the dispatching of a youngster without supervision? Does it really matter? Should it?

And, yes, I certainly understand that there are bad people out there who would harm a wandering kid. That's why you teach children about stranger-danger and have a "safe word." And one has to wonder why mom-of-the-year chose the 9 year-old rather than the 13 or 14-year-old.  But . . .

I'm really not liking these times in which we are living.

(Of course, the facts that the mother was wanted on outstanding warrants for unpaid fines and contempt, and that she lived in an "interesting" part of North Little Rock in a motel, might have contributed to her arrest, so I'll cut the NLRPD a little slack. Nonetheless, we now have four more kids in "the system," one more single parent behind bars, and a very slippery precedent. It's genuinely complicated.)

I'm shaking my head, both in agreement and WTF.

Our Friends Abroad

From today's Inbox (. . . as slightly edited to correct some grammar and punctuation issues.  Sorry.  I couldn't help myself.):


As you know America is the first country to send aid when others are in trouble.  Neighbors helping neighbors, right?  So, just look at the list below of all those who have offered to help us in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

I think it is highly appropriate that we send THANKS to all of the countries that have reciprocated for our help with their disasters, misgivings, social turmoil, & poverty, by returning the favor and sending monetary and physical help to the United States of America after Sandy ravaged our East Coast leaving deaths, homelessness, and utter chaos in its wake. Listed below is a roster of the Countries and World Wide Organizations that are giving us gracious assistance. Please assist me in Thanking these entities by passing on this email so people from all over America can join in and THANK our neighbors ... in whom we have invested BILLIONS!!!! 1. Yeah. I hope this is exaggerated. A lot of countries helped New Orleans after Katrina -- even the Vatican.  I guess the global economic crisis affects benevolence. Perhaps our smug president hasn't gotten the idea across that we're slipping into third-world-nation-status.  He'd better work on that during his current romp through Asia if we're to be the beneficiary of foreign aid anytime soon. Meanwhile, indulge me in a little bird-walking here.  There's been another mishap in the Gulf -- an oil rig was consumed by fire; at least one man is dead and another remains missing.  My deepest and most sincere sympathy goes out to the families.  And I expect oil production to be curtailed any minute now. Solyn-dra!  Solyn-dra!

You're Secondary in Your Children's Hearts, American Parents

The Young President arrived in New Orleans on Wednesday to snarl traffic, raise campaign funds, and to define his position on government's role in our lives during a speech he delivered to the Urban League convention. He actually uttered the words in quotations. The AP reports:

Obama's message was comprehensive, but he ultimately did not promise anything specific. He spoke of community policing strategies and mental health centers, or programs that steer people away into safe activities instead of gang violence, of ensuring that parents and teachers step in to fill a hole in a child's heart "that government alone cannot fill."

Parents should step up to fill a hole in their children's hearts that government alone cannot fill?!?!" Seriously?!?! Did those words come from the mouth of Barack Obama or Hugo Chavez? Oh. That's what I thought. To repeat the obvious, we simply cannot give this guy a second, lame duck term in the White House.

Next Up fom the Enumerated Taxation Power --

Makes sense to me.

*sigh*

The Imperial Carrot and Stick

I'm about to lose it. 

First, the Obama administration announces that it simply won't answer the phone when Arizona law enforcement calls ICE to check on someone's immigration status.  ICE will only investigate the status of the folks they pick?!?!?! The Executive Branch has been thumbing its collective nose at we, the People, waaaaay too much lately.  Not to mention at the Supreme Court.

Then some Senatorial twit from New Jersey proposes doing a Mayor Bloomberg on the rest of the country by having the federal government study whether large, sugary drinks contribute to obesity, and whether they should be banned.  WTF?!?!?!?!  Busybody Extraordinaire, Senator Frank Lautenberg, said:

"We owe it to our kids and our country to learn more about what is causing this plague. We need to know what impact sugary drinks have on obesity and if proposals that encourage Americans to drink fewer high-sugar drinks will reduce obesity."

Proposals that encourage Americans to drink fewer high-sugar drinks?!?!  When did I wake up to find myself living in George Orwell's mind?

And, just what might one of these encouraging "proposals" be?  Can you say, taxes?  Yep. Another bleeping tax is coming down the pike.

I'm afraid I'm about to morph into some wild-eyed survivalist who believes that anarchy is the way to go.  Yeah, that's the ticket.

This has been a day in which every facet of the federal government has shown its ugliest face and put its most imperial foot forward.  Thinking about tomorrow is suddenly very, very scary.

Maybe the federal government should ban thinking.

I think I'll go have a Diet Coke.

Just Call Him Mayor Mary Poppins

But, he probably wouldn't prescribe more than a half-teaspoon of sugar substitute to help the medicine go down.



I have never been so glad not to be a resident of the Big Apple.  I suppose after his off-the-wall insistence that no soft drinks larger than 16 oz be sold in NYC, the next target for Mayor Bloomberg will be bun-length hot dogs.  You know -- if you eat hot dogs that are regular length instead of super-sized bun-length hot dogs, you won't ingest as much salt and fat, so we're from the government and we're here to make help you moderate your salt and fat consumption!

I always held my cigarettes up to the place where I'd cracked the window, even when there was no one else in the car, because I remembered being trapped in the smoke-filled backseat while both parents puffed away. I've been a non-smoker since 1987, and these days I don't particularly care for sucking up someone else's smoke, but I think banning smoking outdoors in parks or beaches is just way too heavy-handed.  It's now a primary violation (meaning the driver can be pulled over simply for smoking, even if he's in compliance with all other traffic laws) in Arkansas for adults to smoke in their own cars if they're transporting a passenger under the age of 14.  A primary violation!!!  Hell, failing to wear seatbelts isn't even a primary violation!  And I'm happy about that.

We're reaching a tipping point.  I just hope we stand up to some of these Big Brotherisms before we find ourselves bent over, kissing our individual liberties goodbye.

Like Jim Treacher at The Daily Caller, I kinda go along with the first New Yorker interviewed below about the new NYC sugary drink regulation:



Sheesh.

And He Even Used a Hammer That Resembles the One on the Soviet Flag!

UPDATE!  Linked at IMAO, with High Praise!

Back in 2010, a 26 year-old middle school assistant football coach wrote a country song, critical of the Young President.  It's actually quite good! 

I researched the song today, along with its ensuing kerfuffle, and found Michelle Malkin's report, published contemporaneously with what transpired.

The young coach sent a video of his song via email to everyone in his personal address book, which included several parents of students in his school. Enough of them complained to the school that the head coach was compelled to fire the aspiring songwriter for engaging in politically incorrect conduct, or some other such trumped-up personnel manual violation.  I somehow missed it when the video first hit cyberspace, but, having received it today in my in-box, I'm joining the cause to make it viral again.  Here's another spot to see it, and here's the -- appropriately titled -- "When You're Holding a Hammer (Everything Looks Like a Nail"):



I like it!  Can't you just envision the Line Dance?  Maybe Michelle could wear her "skinny jeans" and dance to it at a fundraiser in Nashville!

You'll probably see this again closer to November.

Your Government Scam du Jour

All I have to say about this is:  Holy.  Crap.


We are doomed.

Sharing the Wealth 101

That's kind of a scary face, too!

Feed the Children?

First authorized in 2010 by President Barack Obama, financed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and administered by the Louisiana Department of Education, a new program has been initiated in New Orleans that provides evening meals to local school children from low-income families. The balanced meals are prepared by Second Harvest and served at seven sites, including three after-school programs, in "at risk" areas at a cost of $2.72 per meal.  A recent article in the Times-Picayune describes the program which hopes to serve 1,200 children by the end of the school year.

The article also recounts a few troubling things, some of which concern me a little bit, too.

Don't get me wrong -- I have no problem contributing to the nutrition of children and families in need.  The private sector does a pretty good job of addressing the problem -- Second Harvest is among that number, and we have regularly contributed to help it stay afloat.  We did the same for Potluck while living in Little Rock.  Public schools have done fairly well with breakfast and lunch programs, too, with glaring exceptions such as the recent North Carolina Nazi Food Police, and the ketchup-as-vegetable debacle, among other things. And, I understand and recognize that there is genuine hunger out there, even in these United States.  But . . . .

But.  One of the children featured in the article, 9 year-old Lawrence, is said to have a full belly at 6:00 when his mother picks him up now from his after-school program instead of a growling one.  An active 9 year-old boy could be hungry at 6:00 in the evening?  Well, duh!

Did Lawrence's family not have enough money to buy food and prepare it at home?  The article suggests that the family was perfectly capable of feeding itself:

Sometimes his dad would be cooking a pot of something at home.  If his father was working late at Lowe's, they might grab fast food.

But, now there's no nightly rush to feed Lawrence.  Between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m., he and the 50 other children at the North Rampart Community Center sit down and eat a healthy meal, complete with fresh fruit.

There's no need to tend to one's child's needs.  The government will see to that.  And, the government will determine what, where, and when the children will eat.

And, what about the impact of this program on families?  Even a principal at one of the schools was concerned about detracting from family time around the dinner table engendered by the program.  She abandoned that concern, however, when she realized that few families at her school actually shared evening meals at home together, "recounting overheard conversations between students and parents, debating whether to stop at McDonald's or Burger King on the way home."

What?!? They couldn't sit down together at a fast food joint and have a family meal?  Or take the fast food home and share it along with conversation about their day?  Fast food every day isn't the best way to eat, but it's certainly a way when time is short.

So, it appears that the overarching concern here is not actual, debilitating hunger, or the significance of the nuclear family -- it  appears to be all about what goes into the family's mouth.  And government needs to make that decision.  And the taxpayer needs to foot the bill.

Not only does the government have an aching need to tell us what to eat, this program also models to children that they can rely on the government to tend to their "needs," wherever.  That same concerned principal who was won over to the feeding program noticed that at least one-third of the students take the meals home.  There is speculation that maybe the meal is taken home to eat with the family, or to give to Grandma, or for Dad's lunch at work the next day. 

Huh?!?

The meals are intended for children, to help them be better prepared to learn by not suffering from the effects of poor nutrition.  And those children see those meals going to adults elsewhere?  What does this teach them?  How are they being conditioned to rely on the government as they age?

What does it teach them about following rules?  Or about gaming the system.

Another well-intentioned Progressive plan gone awry.

I'm beyond angry -- I'm afraid. I'm just afraid.

Justice Kagan Sullies the Supreme Court Bench. Badly.

Article III, sec. 1, of the U.S. Constitution establishes the federal judiciary.  The requirements aren't much -- one needn't even be a lawyer to qualify as a federal judge.  There are only two simple requirements:

The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behavior, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services a Compensation which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.

So, to become and remain a federal judge (or Justice) for life, one need only (1) behave him/herself and (2) get paid.

In my opinion, if she continues to refuse to recuse herself from the Obamacare case, Justice Elena Kagan will meet only one of those two simple requisites for service in the federal judiciary.

In her role as Solicitor General, Kagan became so inextricably intertwined in efforts to pass the Act that she cannot possibly be able to remain impartial in hearing arguments against, and deciding on, its constitutionality. Because such an appearance of impropriety falls well shy short of "Good Behavior," Justice Kagan should be Impeached, convicted by the Senate, and removed from the bench.

Yes.  I contend that such egregious behavior amounts to nothing less than "high crimes and misdemeanors."  The woman clearly perjured herself during her confirmation hearings by denying any participation in the Obamacare process, and her threatened participation in the Obamacare case is an oozing blemish on the face of the Supreme Court. 

Where's the Clearasil?!?!

It's a Good Thing the Grass is Dormant . . .

After a long holiday weekend with friends and family, and after dealing with construction management hell, and after successfully avoiding retail establishments on Black Friday -- and after the Hogs gave that little squeaker to the Tiggers -- Pepper and I made it back to New Orleans yesterday afternoon in plenty of time to unpack and thaw something from the freezer before the Saints/Giants kickoff.  And, what a lovely victory that was, but I digress.

So, this morning I walked Pepper out to the truck in the cold air, carrying his coffee mug, when he asked, "Why is this open?" pointing to the hasp that keeps our back gate secure.  I replied, "And where is the [dog leash] clip?" that we use to keep it locked.

I knew that I double-checked the gate before we left for Little Rock because I went out back to do just that after I had double-checked one of the back doors and found it unlocked.

Pepper stepped out onto the sidewalk and spied the clip in the flowerbed.

Great.

He said, "Can you tell if anything's missing?"  And I replied, "You mean like the lawn mower?"

And we just stared, for several moments, at the suddenly very empty spot where the mower used to sit.  Then we fanned out to try to discern whether anything else was missing.  Generator?  Present.  Porsche?  Present, locked, and intact.  Chainsaw?  Present and accounted for.  It seems that just the lawn mower went on walkabout. Or rollabout.

Crap, nonetheless.

So, Pepper shook his head, climbed into the truck, and headed downtown.

I went inside to file the police report.

Remember when Moogie mounted the Neighborhood Watch sign way back in 2009?

Before our neighborhood was able to call itself officially a Neighborhood Watch area, worthy of displaying the signs, a certain number of residents had to undergo a series of weekly trainings about observation, crime-fighting resources, etc.  One little tidbit I found particularly valuable was the training Officer's explanation of the Non-emergency Police number.  His admonition to use that number when merely reporting something suspicious or minor, so that we wouldn't tie up the emergency 911 operators, struck me as important enough that I programmed the number into my cell phone (along with the FBI's and the DEA's!) right then and there.

Today, I'm not so sure why they bother to maintain separate numbers.

The same people answer the non-emergency number as the emergency 911 number. 

Now I understand why one reads about people getting busy signals, or being put on hold, when calling 911.  Even so, the nice Non-Emergency-911 lady said she could take my call and send over some uniformed officers.

Of course, when I asked one of the officers (who responded within 15 minutes, by the way!) why that was the case and explained that I didn't want to tie up the line in case someone had a real emergency, he told me that you wouldn't believe why some people call 911.  One of his favorites was the mother who wanted the police summoned to tell her teenage daughter that she couldn't go out dressed "like that."  Sheesh.

Anyway, the officers asked me a bunch of questions and talked to one another in code about how they would classify this incident since our garage is open-air on the sides and wouldn't totally support a classification of breaking and entering or burglary.  P.S., Crime statistics are very important in Orleans Parish.  I told them I'd be happy to settle for a little Criminal Trespass and Theft of Property valued at less than $500.00, because I doubted whether we'd ever see the mower again.

I remarked that whoever did it had to know enough about us to figure out that we were leaving town -- Bouie went with us to Little Rock; his big voice has chased many a miscreant away from the yard. -- and how to reach over the gate to unlatch the clip.  He said his best guess was that it was done by some crackhead who regularly strolled the neighborhood looking for jobs cutting grass to support his habit and eat.  I'd say that's probably pretty close to hitting it right on the nose.  And pretty creepy.

So, after the officers did much talking on the radio (while in possession of my drivers license. ???) and filling out paperwork and consulting with other cops, I now have in my possession an official "NOPD Form 26" telling me that I may acquire an official Police Report in 14 -21 "working days,"  for a fee. 

So, if it's not bad enough that you've been robbed already, the City sticks it to you again if you want to file an insurance claim which, in this case, would just be a worthless effort.

By the way, it must have been a slow crime day in the Crescent City -- they sent 2 squad cars and 4 policemen to investigate a stolen lawn mower.

And that picture at the top?  That shiny new padlock is today's MVP -- Most Valuable Purchase! In the sack is a length of chain for the front gate (and another padlock) since it's now cold enough to shrink the metal to where the tongue in the lock won't stay engaged. If the worthless, self-entitled miscreants want to get in again, they're going to have to work for it.

*sigh*

History Repeating . . . ?

I wish I had received the email earlier this month that today sent me searching for something I found at PatriotThoughts.com.

We commemorated the 66th anniversary of Victory in the Pacific and the end of WWII earlier this month.  August 6th or 10th would probably have been more appropriate dates to ruminate on the decision to use nuclear weapons against a civilian population in order to save that civilian population.

The photographs and narrative on Patriot Thoughts are indeed thought provoking.  The Enola Gay, Bockscar, Little Boy and Fat Man; Hiroshima and Nagasaki; Saipan and the Banzai Cliff. 

The incomprehensible mindset of the Japanese people of the mid-Twentieth Century.

Tiny Tinian Island, is described as "a flat green dot in the vastness of Pacific blue."  The very idea that a place that today looks like this:

was the starting block for this:

and this:

is, in itself, a stunning notion that sends the mind into a self-examining do-loop.

What the science of History has been able to extrapolate from an unbiased, dispassionate distance is this: the utter and total destruction of Japan's major cities led to the metamorphosis of her culture; led to a nation that today is capable of creating this:

We've seen the rise and fall of great peoples -- and great cities -- throughout human recollection.  Even recently, and very close to home. 

When New Orleans drowned, her rotten-to-the-core, inadequate public education system crumbled along with her.  Today, that education system is among the fastest-improving systems in the state.  Perhaps, wiping the slate clean and having little to build upon save that which is buried beneath our feet, is what gives rise to legitimate human progress.  Civilizations are built upon civilizations.

What does that truth suggest about our Nation during the first term of Barack Hussein Obama?  Are we crumbling as a people, looking to rise from our own ashes?  Will it take that to get us back on track to being the world's Superpower?  Or, are we sliding toward a penniless and wretched decline as just another cog in the global machine?  Is that really what the Progressive movement desires?  Can it possibly be?

Perhaps August 21st is just as good a day as the 6th or 10th to wax philosophical on the destruction of a once great nation -- whether, as Rome, caused by rotting from within like a gangrene, or as Hiroshima and Nagasaki, by nuclear holocaust.  

Would that I had some answers.

We're a Little Out of Control Out There . . .

Sometimes I think this world has gone completely over the edge.  Locally, first there was the discriminatory City permit required to keep an intact animal (renewable annually, but easily "overlooked"); then there was the discriminatory City Bark dog park fiasco that keeps poor Bouie on the outside looking in because he's still attached to his family jewels.  Both regulations nominally claim to protect people and other animals by keeping vicious dogs under wraps, but in effect, the regs push the overreaching policy of getting all pets spayed or neutered.  The dog park's regs push that policy by excluding intact animals from the yuppie canine haven.  Poor Bouie.

Today I read about a new policy in effect at a New Hampshire apartment complex: if you wish to keep a pet there, you must submit a sample of its DNA.  Why?  To give the complex the basis to utilize "PooPrints" -- a procedure that allows unscooped poop to be tested and matched with the perpetrator who produced said unscooped poop.  Then the complex will fine the holy bejeebers out of the perpetrator's owner, with a second offense leading to eviction.

The primary goal of the policy is obviously to encourage pet owners to clean up after their pets and therefore help prevent unpleasant encounters between human shoes and dog poop.  That's not necessarily a bad thing (I remember when Pepper asked one irresponsible dog walker whose dog always chose our yard for his comfort station what he would think about Pepper following him home and leaving a few of our baby's used diapers on his lawn).  And, PooPrints could help locate lost pets who had been swabbed.

But then one of the entrepreneurs at BioPet Vet Lab (the developer and operator of PooPrints) went a little too far in trying to sell the program -- he brought environmental impact into the mix:

"It's a huge problem with growing environmental impact," Mayer said of the waste. The PooPrints website estimates a single pet creates 276 pounds of waste per year. "We want people to be responsible and not leave things behind. Down the drain means it's going into your lakes, rivers and streams," he added.

That's a little over the top.  Where does Mr. Mayer think scooped poop goes?  Into the landfill, usually in a non-biodegradable plastic bag!

Why can't these one-issue do-gooders keep it real and not try to fabricate theories to make left-leaning tree-huggers swoon.  Sheesh.

Anyway, what do you think?  Reasonable policy, or not-so-subtle attempt at behavior modification?

Of Big Brother and Postage Stamps

So, I just ordered stamps for wedding invitations online from the USPS website.  I've been procrastinating a bit because I just dread the idea of dealing with government-related websites, but it's better than standing in the interminably slow lines at the actual Post Office substation.

This is the first time I've ordered stamps online -- it's just so easy to buy them at the ATM, but Younger Daughter wanted "specialized" wedding ring and cake stamps, so I suckered in and went to the website.

It's not the easiest site to navigate, in all honesty.  But, I finally found Items 574240 and 574140, entered the quantity, and expected the shipping or payment screen to pop up.  But, no!  A "sign in or register" screen popped up.  With no option to order simply as "guest" without registering.

I hate websites like that.  I mean, who wants to register at five hundred thirty-seven thousand websites and keep up with five-hundred thirty-seven thousand passwords and usernames?!?!

So, being the wonderful mother I am, I registered so my baby could get her cute stamps, using the password "USPS3sucks," and not allowing it to remember my credit card info or send me exciting emails about new products and services from my postal service.  Then, I clicked "continue" expecting the shipping or payment screen to pop up.  But, no!  A "you must acknowledge our privacy policy" screen popped up.  A rather pushy "you must acknowledge our privacy policy" screen.  This is what it said (italics mine):

"The information you supply will be used to provide you online registration capability for Internet-based services, and to provide those services. Please be aware that this service is voluntary, but that requested information is required to provide the service. Collection of information for this service is authorized by 39 U.S.C. 401, 403, and 404. We do not disclose your personal information to anyone, except in accordance with the Privacy Act.


Authorized disclosures include limited circumstances such as the following:
(a) in a legal proceeding in which the USPS is a party or has an interest, or pursuant to federal court order;
(b) to a congressional office at your request;
(c) to an independent certified public accountant during an official audit of USPS finances;
(d) to an authorized credit bureau or other government agency for purposes of identity verification;
(e) to a Postal Service contractor, such as a technology or service provider, if the disclosure is necessary to fulfill an agency function;
(f) to a payee or financial institution for billing payment; and
(g) to a government law enforcement agency pursuant to a federal warrant.

For information about additional protections we provide you, please visit our privacy policy via the link below."

And the referenced link is kinda hard to locate, too.

So, in essence, it's purely optional ("voluntary") for you to provide the information requested by the website, but you won't get your stamps unless you do.  And they won't share any of your info unless one of Uncle Sam's other nieces or nephews asks for it.  Or unless the USPS really screws up and lands in litigation.

Holy.  Crap.

Now they really know where to find me! 

I'm thinking I should have stood in line at the substation.