Man, we have a real live police-car chase being broadcast live on the morning news. On the Capital Beltway. The guy has rammed at least one car, the hood is bent up, smoke is trailing profusely from the back. News helicopters are on the case.
I feel like I’m in El Lay.
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I’m watching the news and weather during my pre-work departure coffee hour. The weather guy was just on, and used a term I have never heard: freezing fog. I’m not sure what to expect on the commute, but “freezing fog” mentioned in the same sentence as “black ice” can’t be a good thing.
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The Maryland state legislature continues to distinguish itself with inane legislative proposals. This time, the law in question would ban display of fake male genitalia from the bumper hitches of SUVs, pickups, and cars. Yep, says so right here:
Maryland Del. LeRoy E. Myers Jr. to truckers: If you’ve got ‘em, you don’t need to flaunt ‘em.As the General Assembly debates global warming and the death penalty, Myers (R-Washington) has something else on his mind: the outsized plastic testicles that truckers dangle from the trailer hitches of their pickups.
Of all the problems facing Maryland, LeRoy wants to clean up displays on personally-owned vehicles he finds offensive:
His bill would prohibit motorists from displaying anything resembling or depicting “anatomically correct” or “less than completely and opaquely covered” human or animal genitals, human buttocks or female breasts. The offense would carry a penalty.
A picture of the Venus deMilo would probably qualify. But LeRoy’s heart is in the right place, and his motives are pure:
“So let’s clean up what our children are seeing on our roads.”
For the children. Yep, that justifies any excess, any trampling of property rights, free speech, and numerous other liberties.
I wouldn’t display such things from my vehicle; I find them tacky. But I’d chuckle if I saw ‘em on the road. To see the plastic stindeens that frosted LeRoy’s presumably real ones, check here.
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Technorati Tags: LeRoyMyers, maryland, yournutz
SWMBO rarely makes any requests to view shows on teevee. She did, however, want to watch last night’s Academy Awards. I sat and watched with her until my bedtime, which was thankfully around 10 PM.
As I saw it, the movies broke down roughly this way for me, a non-movie person if there ever was one: I’d never heard of 75% of them, and of the 25% I had heard of, I had no interest in any of them.
I didn’t see the award for a PowerPoint presentation to a former US Vice President either. I guess I’m hopelessly out of touch.
-k-
Technorati Tags: academyawards
Brush snow off the LNB. Do not neglect snow that has caked up on the parabolic part of the dish. After just returning from my 5th trip out to tend the dish, I have figured this out. Slow learning is better than no learning at all.
-k-
Technorati Tags: directv
From local ABC affiliate WJLA Channel 7 Weather:
What was thought might be a mostly freezing rain event for the DC area has turned into the most significant snow of the season. Winter storm warnings extend through early tomorrow as snowfall totals of 2 to 5 inches and in some area up to 10 inches are expected. A changeover to sleet, freezing rain, and eventually all rain should occur later today as milder air arrives from the south. Indeed, tomorrow is expected to see highs in the 40s under mostly cloudy skies.
Looks to be a scraping or shoveling event. In either case, I’ll need the liniment.
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Update: I’ve had to take the broom to brush off the LNB on the satellite dish twice in the last two tours. From the pixelation I’m currently seeing, the third time can’t be far off.
The DirecTV NASCAR HotPass driver channels for tomorrow’s Auto Club 500 From California Speedway are as follows:
Looks like 799 for me tomorrow.
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In the Maryland State Legislature, Democratic Delegate Joseline Pena-Melnyk has introduced a measure that would sieze the remaining cash on unused gift cards, and divert that money into the state’s educational system.
Read that again. Yep, she wants to take the balances on gift cards which have been unused for four or more years, sieze the funds, and transfer the proceeds to the state’s educational budget. During her presentation of the bill:
She argued that companies are unfairly keeping money paid for gift cards and gift certificates.
Unfair? If I run a business, and you pay me fifty bucks in advance for goods or services; I’m obligated to honor your deposit. If you never return to claim those goods and services, that money is now mine. How am I unfairly keeping it? According to this astute legislator:
Pena-Melnyk calls it “enrichment for the companies.”
I call it being a dumbass consumer, who is unable to spend free money. And, Ms Pena-Melnyk, profit is not a dirty word, though it apparently is to you.
How is the state going to track the unused portions of gift cards? That’s right, by forcing businesses to do the state’s dirty work, and file annual reports on unused balances meeting the criteria. This unnecessarily adds to administrative costs for business.
Finally,
It’s also unclear whether the state would have to advertise before seizing money from each gift card, as is the custom for other abandoned property taken by the government.
Government in action: spend a buck to collect 10 cents. I have ample confidence in the Maryland government to do just that. Congratulations, Maryland, as a true-blue “Year of the Chickenshit” participant.
As much as Northern Virginia sucks, at least it isn’t Maryland. Hmmm, there may be a slogan in there someplace.
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Technorati Tags: maryland, Pena-Melnyk, yearofthechickenshit
I wanted to post this on February 22, but sometimes general hecticness and pointless flailings related to life get in the way.
This post about George Washington from Cato@Liberty popped up in my feed reader. Here’s a snippet:
George Washington was the man who established the American republic. He led the revolutionary army against the British Empire, he served as the first president, and most importantly he stepped down from power….
[Washington] held “republican” values – that is, he believed in a republic of free citizens, with a government based on consent and established to protect the rights of life, liberty, and property.
And another:
Give the last word to Washington’s great adversary, King George III. The king asked his American painter, Benjamin West, what Washington would do after winning independence. West replied, “They say he will return to his farm.”
“If he does that,” the incredulous monarch said, “he will be the greatest man in the world.”
I think it ironic that the very people we would love to have in office are the same people who serve a brief stint, contribute, and return to a normal life.
There are no such leaders today, and it’s our loss.
-k-
H/T: Constitution.org, for the graphic.
Technorati Tags: georgewashington