winsor

Please - bush league. You sure are a sensitive guy. Next time, before you assume someone is trying to pull a fast one on you, try to understand that maybe it's a real valid question and not a personal attack aimed at you. You said: "Long story short, the statutes either have no practical effect, or to the extent they conceivably might, they're already effectively null and void, due to the principle of federal preemption." So I'll ask again, does this mean that the state of Kansas is wrong and the federal government can in fact do whatever it wants regardless of state law? Per the case of U.S.A. vs. C.S.A., it sure would seem that way.

When I was in grad school, I lived in a neighborhood that was sorely affected by the Cocaine Wars of the late '80s. It went from yuppie gentrification to a war zone (a neighbor was shot in front of my house in a drive-by). My truck was broken into about once a week, and they generally just dug around in the glove compartment and left the door open. I pondered how a rigged high-end audio system might change the equation, and concluded it was a really bad policy. For one thing, there seemed to be an effectively infinite number of people looking to finance drugs and what have you. Given the cost of putting a new decoy into the truck every week, it was cheaper to leave the door unlocked and let them search it as necessary. Then you have the indiscriminate nature of the deterrent. You are likely to have someone pull the "stereo," thus arming it, and then stash it at their aunt's house where it would go bang at a prayer meeting. The last straw is personal safety. You don't want to be around a deterrent device that could be triggered with you in range. If you get t-boned in traffic, getting coated with dye or bear spray (or worse) would hardly improve the experience. The solution I took was to move. I find it much more effective to actively avoid the kind of people given to larceny. One advantage of being amongst haves rather than have-nots is that, when they steal, the haves use a suit and a briefcase rather than a cudgel. They also reserve their larceny for comparatively huge sums, and can be trusted with lesser amounts. BSBD, Winsor

One of the problems that comes with using civilians as the eyes and ears of the powers that be was demonstrated by Operation Phoenix during the Southeast Asian War Games. It seems someone had the bright idea of paying villagers to finger VietCong, after which Special Ops types would sneak in in the middle of the night and neutralize them. When all was said and done, it turns out that people correctly determined that ratting out insurgents was not a very good career move, but that other scores could be settled handily by using the snake eaters to do the dirty work. Competition for a love interest? Gee, I think he spent time in Hanoi for training. A neighbor is making life difficult, competing for limited business? He probably is the guy who has been rigging booby traps in the area. And so forth. Most of the people I know who have the skillset to pose a threat if they were so inclined are the most trustworthy people you would ever want to meet. Like Martial Arts Masters, they are as skilled at avoiding trouble as they are at ending it if it starts. If I knew someone who was, for real, seeking to cause mayhem, I could make a call to someone who would be able to address the threat without having to wade through a mass of uninformed reports. Luckily enough, I do not spend time around the kind of people that make that scenario a likelihood. BSBD, Winsor

I had just left the hospital, where I went to say goodbye to Paul, when my cell phone rang. My brother said to make a beeline to another hospital where my sister had just given birth. Every year now, on the way to the twins' birthday party, I think of that short drive between the end of one life and the beginning of two others. Paul was a Mensch, and he is sorely missed. BSBD, Winsor

How come no option of "sell surplus Sarin to Syrian government and turn a profit for once?"

If you want to wear a white hat, you have to follow the rules. I have zero sympathy for the sonofabitch, but submit that the only valid approach is to let due process run its course. This is to say, give him a scrupulously fair trial and hang him. BSBD, Winsor

It turns out that Hagel, himself, was twice awarded the "I Forgot To Duck Medal."

Saudi. Therefore. Some kind of WOG, at any rate.

Interesting. So who would be an ultimate fuckwit? In the Jon Stewart interview with Admiral General Aladeen (Sasha Baron Cohen), when asked with whom he was tight now that Muammar Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein and Idi Amin were gone, the Dictator's unhesitating response was "Rick Santorum." I think that rather nailed it.

I shudder at the prospect of the veep coming into power. Obama may be a clueless charismatic, but Biden is a penultimate fuckwit coming and going. I also cringe at the prospect of the CIC coming to a noble end, and thus being beatified like Jack the Zipper. BSBD, Winsor

Look what they did to Rosie O'Donnell. spoons turn you into a lesbian damn whodathunkit I was thinking more along the lines of spoons being a tool whereby someone could shovel sufficient food into their mouth to become fat and disgusting. She's a lesbian?

Look what they did to Rosie O'Donnell.

Reminds me of the old saw. Q: How do you say "fuck you" in Yiddish? A: "Trust me."

"Round up the usual suspects."

This pisses me off! If 14 year olds get pregnant, they should have babies by golly! How else will they learn responsibility? I think having a baby is a superb object lesson. What better way to learn that actions have consequences than to have 9 months to ponder the result of an impulsive act? And if it was rape? Well, society can sure use the offspring of decisive men who know what they want and take it! Do we want children sired by the kind of "men" who defer to the opinions of little girls? I think not. Also, since it is physically impossible for a girl to get pregnant unless she really wants it, then she was just playing hard to get anyway. Have I covered most of the reasons why birth control for youngsters is bad? If not, I'll try to come up with some more.

Marijuana is bad. If you smoke marijuana, your babies will be born naked. Everyone who smokes marijuana will die. Eventually.

FWIW, I know a bunch of spooks, and the term has nothing to do with ethnicity here.

Christianity is a white washed pagan religion. Cousin Jesus was not a Christian; he was an observant Jew, as were those who followed him before he was executed by Pagan Europeans. What we know as Christianity today is based on heavily redacted accounts, edited to appeal to the selfsame Pagan Europeans who killed him. I am not impressed by people who claim to adore the one individual, and yet seek to persecute the rest of his family. Having people wandering around with little execution devices whereby Europeans killed quite a few Jews is about as charming as was the practice of wearing little jewelry Guillotines during the French Revolution. The Pagan aspects of any of the "Christian" holidays are their most redeeming qualities. When Christians are well fed (on traif), drunk and merry, they are at their best. When they are drunk and mean and carrying torches and pitchforks, the can be just a little scary. Happy Ishtar. Winsor

Less than zero.

The Vernal Equinox is a good time for all. Feasting on treif to celebrate the Return of the Magic Jewish Zombie is truly sublime. BSBD, Winsor

Good luck with that when we're talking genetics. "We're all Devo!"

Oh, I don't think Obama's relative competence has any impact on the fact that Bush is an absolute idiot. Is Obama a complete disaster? Most assuredly. Was Bush's administration FUBAR? Unquestionably. Which of the two is worse? It's kind of like trying to decide whether cat shit or dog shit is more repellent. At the end of the day, it really does not make a whole lot of difference. If each side is trying to get the most incompetent cretin into office, I'd say it is a tie. BSBD, Winsor

----------------------------------------------------------- DEVELOPING: Two teenage boys were arrested Friday in the shocking shooting death of an infant, killed in the stroller his mother was pushing. One suspect is a 17-year-old boy, who is considered an adult under Georgia criminal law. The other suspect is 14. Another case to support keeping abortion safe and legal until the fetus can vote. These two should be removed from the gene pool stat.

My irony meter is broken.

There's MILLIONS of them. There are easily ten times as many gods as there are leprechauns.