Hope y'all have a Happy National Hangover Day tomorrow...

Looking back over this year, I will admit I fell far short of my own expectations for myself. I will grant that it’s been difficult adjusting to being a work-from-home mom, but that’s no real excuse when the baby’s slept twelve hour nights on his own since February, and between one and three two-hour naps every day. My house is a disaster, I kept falling behind in my grading, and I haven’t lost but ten pounds of the twenty I gained while I was pregnant.

Not to mention the other ways I haven’t been taking care of myself, my husband, or our budget.

I’m going to try to do better this year. I won’t set huge, sweeping, life-changing resolutions that do nothing but set me up to feel like even more of a failure than I do, though. Baby steps, HH. Baby steps are the way to go.

I resolve to…

…spend 15 minutes per day, in one room per day, picking crap up and putting it away. I will not let clutter pile up on flat surfaces in the living room—I will throw away trash, pay bills as they come in, shelve books as we’re done reading them, hang up coats, and put miscellaneous junk where it belongs. (I don’t think there’s a damn thing I can do about keeping the toys scattered on the floor picked up just yet...) I will not let dishes pile up in the sink and on every flat surface in the kitchen—I will put dishes into the dishwasher as they’re dirtied and run it when it’s full.

…sort through all of the papers we’ve accumulated and throw away the ones that are not necessary to keep. All of them.

…de-clutter that third bedroom over the course of the next three months or so. We’ve got a whole lot of stuff that we need to throw away, give away, and/or put into storage. I’ve got all of the bookcases in there, and can’t get to any of our books! Nor can I get to the bookcases to put away books that have migrated elsewhere.

…remember that I need to take a little time every day to take care of myself so that I can keep taking care of my husband, my son, my house, our budget, and my classes.

…have supper waiting on my husband when he gets home. He’s been working harder than he should—two months ago, his part-time help quit (when they moved her useless ass from full-time to part time), and he’s been running a two person store by himself, working 55-hour weeks, since then. Somehow, even in this rotten economy where nobody can find a job, nobody’s willing to take a part-time job at a payday lending company. I wish I could think of more to do to help take care of him than having supper ready, but I can’t.

…get my son far more used to his maternal grandmother so that my husband and I can have her babysit while we get in some range time! I haven’t been shooting since July, and I’m kinda going nuts! I’m sure my husband is, too.

…put aside more time to keep in contact with friends.

…stop procrastinating grading. I will grade my students’ blogs the Saturday after they’re due, and get the grades for them posted promptly. I will grade their discussion board posts the day after they’re due and post points as I grade them. I will grade 10 papers per day—5 from each class—and get those grades posted and the papers returned the week after they’re handed in. I will keep up with helping my colleague with the bad eyes on getting his grading done the day after his students’ posts are due. Procrastinating only adds to my workload and my stress load. I need to stop it.

I know that there will be times that I won’t be keeping my resolutions to the best of my ability, and that there will be times that I feel totally overwhelmed by what I haven’t done, and how much I need to get done besides what I’ve procrastinated. But as I’ve said in other posts, you haven’t broken your resolutions until you’ve quit trying to keep them. If you stumble a time or two, get back up and keep working on them.

I know I’ll more than likely stumble, but I never give up. I suppose I'm just stubborn, that way.

And this is one reason why I don't let my students use Wikipedia as a source for their research papers.

Rush Limbaugh was hospitalized during his vacation in Hawaii with chest pains yesterday. He's currently resting comfortably.

Wikipedia has pronounced him dead.

Yeah. Their fact checking is about as good as the mainstream media's was with Obama's books.

Me, too.

This guy really likes guns.

Unless we get a Christmas miracle...

*snicker*

What the hell has happened to our independent spirit?

Europeans immigrated to America because they were tired of monarchies and church hierarchies telling them what to do, and how to live their lives. They were tired of depending on others to defend them, and to arbitrarily decide what was right or wrong, and to arbitrarily decide who was worthy of forgiveness or punishment.

For nearly four centuries, that spirit was the driving force behind the lives and decisions of all of this nation's citizens.

No more. People are now refusing to take responsibility for themselves and their families. Want examples? How about the mother of four who called 911 because her 14 year old son wouldn't stop playing Grand Theft Auto? Or the Ohio mother who called the cops on her six year old for shoplifting? Or the Texas woman who called 911 because her husband wouldn't come eat dinner?

What happened to being willing to discipline your own children? What happened to "if you don't come eat what I fix, fix your own damn dinner when you feel like it--I'm going to go stay with my family"?

What happened to that sense of independence that wanted civil authorities to take care of, you know, actual crime, and not our private lives?

And people wonder why the government is allowed to take more and more power unto itself.

I'm glad at least one judge has at least as much sense as God gave chickens.

A few weeks back, a Florida judge ruled that a seventeen year old girl that converted from Islam to Christianity and ran away from home because she feared for her life, had to go home.

That struck me as judicial murder. That judge would have been kinder to put a gun to her head and pull the trigger.

Well, a judge in her native Ohio ruled that, despite her sand nigger father saying that he meant the girl no harm,* she would not have to meet and reconcile with her parents after all. I guess he realized that forcing her back into her home meant that he would be as guilty of her "honor killing" as her male relatives.

Merry Christmas, sweetheart. I hope you survive until your eighteenth birthday, and are legal to get the hell out of Dodge.

*According to their own "holy" book, Muslims are required to lie to unbelievers. Just as they're required to kill those who convert from Islam to another religion.

The parents need to be prosecuted.

A boy in New Jersey was beaten badly enough that he was hospitalized, and has needed reconstructive surgery on his face. He may be blind--they're not sure yet.

The news story doesn't identify the race of either victims or attackers, but I will be willing to bet that, since the victim was an honors student, and was beaten because of an accident, he was black and beaten as much for "acting white" as the accident. And I'd also be willing to bet that the "vicious gang" that beat him close to death is black.

To be perfectly honest, while I believe that the little animals need to be prosecuted, and prosecuted as adults, I also think that their parents should be prosecuted for failing so miserably at being parents that their kids don't know right from wrong.

Update: This story has a picture of the victim. I was wrong about his race, but it's still a hate crime.

An ICBM would fix that.

Bin Laden's family has been found hiding in Iran.

Of course our deadline is being dismissed.

Ahmadinejad knows it's safe to ignore the deadline to prevent sanctions because Dear Leader is so hung up on international opinion that he's going to bend over to take that nuclear missile right up the ass, with or without lube, smile, and say "Thank you sir, may I have another?"

After all, as a world citizen, it's not important to protect the nation that elected him president, right?

Don't give in when you're right.

General Cuculo is rescinding his order to court-martial and jail women who get pregnant on the battlefield (and the men who get them pregnant? That wasn't clear), because of political pressure brought to bear on him by women's groups.

Ironic, that the groups who are so very pro-abortion are against punishing pregnant women for getting pregnant.

I think the general needs to grow enough of a spine to not back down when he's right. Again, it's not that I'm against sex on the battlefield; it's that I'm against the type of carelessness that doesn't take reasonable precautions to preserve battle readiness.

Gah. Indoctrinating kids into a religion like this is...flat evil.

The company that does the Build-a-Bear shops in malls across the country have produced videos that suggest that, if parents don't stop global warming, Christmas will be canceled.

I'm not sure what you could call shit like that except evil. Nasty, evil, vicious attempts to bully parents through making their children cry.

It's as much the parents' fault as the pedophile's, in this case.

I don't remember my mother ever leaving me alone in an exam room with a pediatrician when I was younger. I don't intend to leave my son(s and/or daughters) alone, either--and not just because I'm paranoid.

If I'm not there, how do I know instructions are relayed properly, or that questions that need to be asked are asked?

If it prevents some pervert from raping my kids, all the better.

Though, once they force mandatory Medicaid up our collective ass, do you think the AMA will be assigned a "safe pediatrics offices czar" like we were a "safe schools czar? If so, then I'm betting that this guy will be it, and I will definitely switch from a pediatrician to a family practice, and still won't leave the kids alone during any exams.

Way to go, Senator Harkin!

Your ridiculous claim that the pernicious and open attempts to bribe, bully, or otherwise coerce the votes needed to pass legislation that a majority of this country's productive citizens (as well as almost half of those who aren't productive citizens) don't want passed is "small stuff" is the kind of behavior driving long-time morals-driven Democrats who don't want the country destroyed into the other party.

Well done, sirrah. Well done, indeed. You've gone so far into the idiot category that I'd almost hail you as a bassakwards hero.

Just another incidence of grade inflation.

Dear Leader gives his first year a B+. The Governator out in Kalifohnya gives it an A, for effort.

The rest of America? If you look at the graph at the bottom of this story, the Presidential Job Approval says that he's got about a 46%. Without curving the grade, that's an F by anyone's standards.

With his continuing efforts to unload mandatory Medicaid upon us, even going so far as to give up a Hawaiian vacation until the bill is passed, I'm completely unsurprised that the nation considers him a failure in his oath to defend this country and its constitution.

Doublespeak and Doublethink in Widespread Use!

That's made clear by this headline:

Obama: We Can't Treat Tax Dollars Like "Monopoly Money"

I believe he's got the wrong definition of "can't," here.

Since when is being on a coffee break more important than saving someone's life?

These guys need to be fired and brought up on charges as soon as they're found.

Mandatory Medicaid isn't going to fix shit behavior like that. I wouldn't doubt but it might make it worse, in some places with some people.

Somebody needs to actually read their bible before stepping up to their pulpit.

I mean, seriously? What part of "Thou shalt not steal" does this guy not understand?

Wow. Talk about a traditionally feminine tactic.

Those wonderful people at Rock the Vote who've been making efforts to brainwash our young adults into voting for bread and circuses are going one step further than urging them to vote for candidates that favor bigger and bigger government: they're telling their audiences not to sleep with those who oppose mandatory Medicaid.

Women have used this tactic for centuries to get what they want. Perhaps the earliest written record of this tactic is in the ancient Greek comedy Lysistrata, the plot of which revolves around Athenian women refusing sex to their husbands to try to stop a long war (no sex equals no babies equals no new sons to be trained to fight), with the Spartan women joining in the effort with the Athenians. Women that don't fear being beaten and raped by their husbands (i.e., in marriages unique to civilized nations like ours and the fading nations in Europe) routinely withhold sex to either get something they want, or to punish a behavior they don't like (like their husbands being on the right side of an argument).

To be frank, I find this more dishonest than the practice of prostitution, law, or even politics.

Why, indeed.

With the government defining what is and is not sufficient coverage, and planning to fine those who have insufficient coverage (and the plan that my husband and I have is insufficient, by the government's definition), and planning to fine those who don't purchase coverage, it's no secret why people are going to be required to have insurance. For a while, at least, the fines the feds rake in over this will cover mandatory Medicaid for the rest.

Way to slander the opposition.

Senator Whitehouse has his head farther up his ass than most of the shitwit congresscritters. In an age where YouTube keeps showing these asswipes for who they are (and keeps the video archived where it's easily found), he slanders pretty much two-thirds of the American public (that being the percentage of the citizenry that opposes mandatory Medicaid). "During a floor speech, he excoriated Senate GOP members for up holding the pending health care bill and accused their supporters of being birthers and fanatics in right-wing militia and Aryan support groups."

There's a transcript and video link of the good senator's name-calling in the story link.

I think I like this guy. Can we import him?

The Czech president agrees with Britain: Anthropogenic Global Warming Environmental Activism is a religion, not a science.

I seriously want to see Cap and Trade legislation kicked out of the government's hands on account that it's a violation of the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..." Passing laws linked to global climate shift--which has been called a religion by many who understand how science actually works--requires those who don't worship at the same altar to...worship at the same altar regardless.

With a super-majority of the country's voters dead set against it,...

...of course it was "seedy Chicago politics" that got the votes our Dear Leader ordered. I mean,what else could have gotten mandatory Medicaid through the House and the Senate?

The Blue-Dog Democrats have just found out that their party leadership makes offers they just can't refuse, especially when coupled with the caliber of bribes Nelson took.

Chicago politics' style very obviously dates back to Prohibition-era gangs.

You might be a gun nut if...

...after the conclusion of a successful date, when the lady asks if you've got protection with you, you reach into your glove box and pull out safety glasses and earplugs.

Someone who should practice what he preaches.

You might be a gun nut if...

...your first impulse upon beginning to date a sweet, petite young lady is "Well, I've got something that will knock her on her ass."

...you mentally size dowel rods by caliber.

...your favorite color is blued.

...you reach for the hearing protection in the middle of the night before getting up to walk the floor with your screaming, colicky baby.

I've been experimenting, and I think I like it.

About ten or so years ago, while I was in college, my other half bought me a funny little button pin from a little used bookstore. What was on it--C.P.A. (for Certified Public Assassin)--sparked an idea for a story. I wasn't sure if it would be a short story or novel. I tried several times to find the right way to write the character.

After I read John Ringo's The Last Centurion, I think I found it. I'm also doing a bit of a blog to go with it, just to help me get the character right in my head before I write the actual book. The blog is Molly McGuire's Mumbles and Mutters. The first post, introducing the character and her life, is here.

Y'all can go read if you want.

I am shocked, just shocked!

I can't believe that criminals would use the Cap and Trade over in Europe as nothing more than a fraudulent money making scheme! That would be like saying that the early Catholic church sold the good works of its monks and priests to rich sinners to allow them to keep sinning!

Oh, wait...that's what the medieval indulgences were. Never mind...

What do people over there expect?

When you let criminals start getting away with shit like this, and prohibit victims from being able to protect themselves, crime will flourish. The law-abiding will get hurt. Those who are willing to break the law will prey on those who aren't.

That's one of the main reasons our founders passed the second amendment: so that we, the people, can protect ourselves and our God-given, Constitutionally-protected rights from all of the criminal class, including the very ones now sitting in D.C., working to take those rights away from us.

Well, duh.

Studies have shown that kids from noisy, chaotic homes that lack clear routines and rules aren't as smart as children from quieter homes.

I don't know why money had to be spent to determine that--I noticed that, even though my sister and I were from a home with a single mother, and had an abusive male genetic donor, and even though we lived far below the poverty level, both she and I were a lot quieter, and did a lot better in school than most of our peers (who often had two working parents who were always in and out, didn't often spend time with their kids, didn't have or enforce rules, and didn't have set routines). We may have lived in fear that the state government and child illfare services would step in and remove us from Mom's home and care, but we had clear rules that carried consequences, peace and quiet, routines, and a whole lot of love (even if that did mean that Mom didn't work. At all.).

And if you compared me to my peers that were in the same socioeconomic standing, the gap in intelligence measured by raw test scores was even larger. Then again, most of those peers had at least one alcoholic parent, some had one abusive parent, and some had only one parent that worked two jobs.

Woo-hoo!

I just finished entering grades. Starting today, I've got four weeks off!

Once you pay the Danegeld...

Long ago, in the nation that eventually gave birth to an empire so large the sun never set upon it, a king was faced with a dilemma: his land was being raided, his people killed, and whatever wealth they had with them stolen. There were two culprits, the Vikings from the north, and the Danes from the south.

The Vikings never made any demands or offers--they just burned, murdered, raped, and pillaged (not necessarily in that order). The Danes, on the other hand, sent messengers to the king with an offer: pay us tribute, and we will leave your shores.

The king bowed to their demand. And paid. The next year, he was forced to pay a little more. And a little more.

His successor stopped the payments. When the Danes sent to him with the same demand, he turned them away, saying "Once you pay the Danegeld [the tribute-bribe to keep them from killing the people], you're never rid of the Dane." And then he drove both Vikings and Danes away, at least for his reign.

Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson stood against mandatory Medicaid. And then those who wish to rape and pillage this nation's economy and enslave her people threatened his state: the closing of the Offutt military base in Nebraska would destroy about 10,000 jobs in a state with a relatively small population. The Danes in our own government offered to keep the base open if he'd just go along and give them what they want.

Well, he's decided to pay the Danegeld. The next thing they demand of him will go against his personal morals a little more. And then a little more. They'll know that they can force him to do their will, so long as they leave his little kingdom alone. He'll never be rid of the Dane.

I think the general has the right idea, in this case.

Getting pregnant on the battlefield in Iraq has been added to the list of court martial offenses. This isn't an army-wide policy, just one set up by General Cuculo for troops directly under his command.

I agree that slipping like that should be a court-martial offense. Both parties should know enough about sex to know that unprotected sex leads to babies. They ought to be responsible enough to take reasonable preventative measures: ladies, get the implant or the shot or something. You're the ones that have to take the full brunt of the consequences. Gents, don't assume she's safe to screw--before you tap her, wrap your tallywacker.

A lack of those basic precautions that any responsible individual would take should be grounds for court-martial. But for screwing in the first place? No, not so much.

See, these people are out on the front lines. They're going through battles, with the fear of death riding on their shoulders. Once the battle's over, the oldest human response to surviving is intense need for sex. It's why whores used to set up camps near soldiers' camps. I don't think trying to squash that human response is going to work--in fact, I think it could well lead to worse PTSD than soldiers would otherwise face.

Besides. Soldiers who won't fuck won't fight.

Determinism and Learned Helplessness

“…we enslave people in poverty because we give people everything, we make it easy for them to live in poverty and at the same time -- it's the combination of the two -- at the same time the leaders will say, ‘You can't make it, you can't make it.’…”—Glenn Beck

I was raised in the kind of poverty that Beck was talking about. My mother raised my sister and me on nothing more than a miniscule amount of child support and a couple hundred dollars of food stamps every month. And even then, she was constantly under the threat of having that taken away if she dared get a job to try to support us, not to mention the threat that the state government, which had retained legal custody of my sister and me after a bitter custody fight in which we were abused by our male genetic donor (though it wasn’t even investigated by the county we lived in, much less proven), coming in to take us out of our home if Mom stepped out of line.

When I was twelve, my male genetic donor* (who I will not refer to as Dad), lost all rights to visitations, except for those supervised by an agent of the local child illfare service—who sided with mgd.* This agent, as well as the child illfare agent in charge of our case, began telling me about then that, as long as I lived with Mom, I couldn’t get a job without having our family benefits cut by the same amount as the money I made. I don’t know if it was true or not, but I believed it then.

Like any kid in such a terrible situation, I decided that, if Mom wasn’t going to work to support our family, I certainly wasn’t willing to earn money that would be taken from me to make up for what the government so generously gave us.

If I’d stayed in the path that the child illfare and income redistributionist pukes had set my feet upon, I’d be just another mindless drone voting to put more slop in the trough. Like I said in another Friday Philosophy post a while back, I chose differently.

It just took me about five years to realize that I could.

Between the time mgd* lost visitation rights and the time I met the best counselor I’d ever had, I became more and more bitter. I felt helpless, and decided that, if nothing I could do could change my circumstances, then I’d just do nothing. It was easier. However, when I was seventeen, the juvenile courts appointed a new counselor to my sister and me. That counselor diagnosed me with a condition I’d never heard of: depression caused by learned helplessness.

I mean, I knew I was depressed. I even knew why—or thought I did. I thought I was depressed because I was stuck. That counselor, may the blessings of God always follow him all the days of his life, taught me that I wasn’t stuck (or at least, soon wouldn’t be), that I’d only been told I was by people in authority over me, and frightened and browbeat into believing it.

Much like the American people—specifically inner city blacks who vote Democrat—have been told that they’re stuck, there’s nothing they can do about it, and have been browbeat and frightened into believing that the only way they can help themselves is to keep voting for those who keep telling them they’re stuck: the Democrats.

Witness the lines outside government offices for handouts in the Great Government Mortgage Payment Program: when asked why they were standing in line, the people (always black) said that they were there for the money. The Obama money. The money that their savior had promised them. They didn’t know where it was coming from, or why it was coming. They just knew it was there for them. Because they were there for it. Because Obama promised it to them. No, they didn’t have to do anything for it—there was nothing they could do, other than stand in line and wait for it. Because they were poor. And black. And the government said so.

Beck is entirely correct. As was Franklin with his take on the matter. These people are still slaves.

And it is disgusting the way their masters have them believing in their own helplessness.

The definition of insanity.*

They're beating on the economy with baseball bats and somehow are surprised when it consistently hemorrhages jobs? They really are insane.

*The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. The progressive Dhimmicrats have raised taxes and regulations, and raised taxes and regulations, and raised taxes and regulations every time they've been in power since the turn of the century, and all it's resulted in is Depression after recession. Yet, still they do it. Because it's got to work sometime, right?

Straining at a gnat to deep-throat a camel.

I hate to say it, but really. As important as defeating mandatory Medicaid is, if we're overrun by Islamofacists, it'll be a bit of a moot point.

At least the funding for the soldiers actually passed, despite the near-treasonous attempts by the Republican party to use the war funding bill to force delay on the mandatory Medicaid bill until after Christmas. Stupid bastards--if they'd succeeded, the Democrats wouldn't have been the only ones at fault for murdering soldiers.

It doesn't matter what they do, they're screwed.

I think that, despite the despicable attempt to force through mandatory Medicaid on Christmas Eve, it's very likely that they won't succeed, despite even more despicable attempts at intimidation. They're facing opposition from both sides: from within their party (moderates in particular) and partisans as much as from the rest of us, even if the reasons are different.

I have a glimmer of hope, for a change, that the government put in place of the people, by the people, and for the people, won't be able to ass-rape the super-majority that doesn't want them to pass this bill.

"Veering towards farce?"

Seriously, they're saying the Global Warming Holy See in Copenhagen is only veering towards farce? They don't define a meeting on global warming getting hit by record cold temperatures (which keep dropping) and blizzards in a nation that has a maritime climate as farcical? What do they define as a farce?

Umm...does this mean we can file a first amendment suit to get the environmentalistas out of the government?

I mean, the first amendment does specifically state that congress shall make no laws either forbidding, or more importantly in this case, compelling the establishment of a state religion. And currently, two things are obvious:

1. That belief in man-caused global warming is a religion.

2. That the high priests of that religion, Environmentalism, is attempting to compel, through "green-friendly" legislation, the entire nation to worship at Gaia's altar, whether they will or no.

Wrong way to go about it.

Iran has "test-fired" an upgraded version of its most advanced missile. It's got a range that would let it reach Israel, and parts of Europe,* and the "test" is supposed to frighten the civilized world out of sanctions and/or attacks to prevent Iran from going nuclear.

What I suspect this "test" will accomplish is to provoke Israel into going in and taking out Iran's newly-acquired nuclear power plants,** as well as any technology that might permit them to rebuild them, or any military technology that might allow them to strike Israel. In other words, their attempt at deterrence from attacking is likely to turn into more of a motivator to attack.

*Boy, the former USSR satellites that our Dear Leader screwed over on the missile defense shield system must be pretty pissed at us, right now. So much for being the one to restore our reputation overseas.

**Not so ironically, the reason our Dear Leader screwed over some of our staunchest European allies is because Russia, the very nation that provided Iran with its nuclear technology, protested the missile defense shield being set up in Poland and the Ukraine. Russia claimed to believe that the missile defense shield was being put in place to defend against them attacking and re-taking their former, now independent territories. Given that Iran seems to be becoming a puppet state in the new Cold War, that claim now makes sense.

Yet another instance of shoddy emergency medical care.

This time, in Australia. Not because of socialized medicine--or, at least, not directly. No, this was entirely due to bureaucratic nonsense.

And here I thought the federal government was going to bankrupt if SPENDING wasn't reigned in.

But, no. Our Dear Leader says that it's health care costs that will bankrupt the federal government, and that only if mandatory Medicaid (which would increase costs, and decrease the effectiveness of even the current system) isn't passed.

All right. There is no way the retard in the White House is going to read this, but I'm going to lay out a few things that would cut federal spending on health care.

1. Pass legislation that requires states to permit citizens to shop for health insurance nationwide, without minimum coverages required on plans. Not everyone needs (or can afford) the Bugatti Veyron of health insurance. Some of us are quite happy with the tiny little high-deductable, catastrophe-only Honda Civic plans.

2. Pass legislation that sets a cap on "pain and suffering" awards in malpractice suits. I don't have a problem with incompetent doctors or hospitals replacing lost income, and/or paying for continued treatments; however, I do not think that a parent who has lost a child through a doctor's negligence can put a value on that baby's life (which has a value far beyond money).

3. Warn the states that in 1 year, the federal government is getting out of providing free health care to the indigent, that it's the states' responsibility, and they need to get systems in place within that year. I'll even accept the federal government partially funding it: hand a set dollar amount (even adjustable by population) over to the states, with the warning that this is all they get for the year, and get the federal government out of the charity business.

4. Offer federal income tax credits to those who purchase their own insurance plans. I don't care whether or not this is paired with taxing as income insurance plans that are provided through work, just give those of us who are responsible enough to have a plan regardless a bit of a break.

These four simple steps will save the federal government a significant chunk of money that I'm sure the administration would prefer to spend elsewhere. What it doesn't do is shove us that much further toward a fully totalitarian government-controlled society--which is why my solutions would never be seriously entertained.

Get the government (all governments) out of consenting adults' bedrooms!

A British woman and her husband are in trouble--again--for having noisy sex. Apparently, they're loud enough that neighbors have called the cops on them several times. Except, over there, "disturbing the peace" is called "anti-social behavior."

I don't know that I've ever heard of American cops being called on a couple having noisy sex. I've heard people complain about neighbors having noisy sex, but haven't ever heard of complaints filed. Maybe it only happens in England, where you're not supposed to be noisy in any circumstance, and especially not in enjoying sex with your spouse.

I don't think that American cops would investigate a disturbing the peace call on a couple having sex, even if it were called in. Maybe a (mistaken) domestic violence call, but not disturbing the peace. Not yet, anyway. Let's fight to keep it that way.

Not a good reason to assault your wife, dude.

Not that there's any good reason for a man to lay violent hands on a woman (short of stopping her from laying violent hands on him), but damn, dude. Getting mad at your wife because she won't help you shovel snow? You damn well better have never refused to help her with the dishes and such.

And had this happened in the Midwest...

...chances are, the homeowner who was shot by home-invasion robbers would have at least wounded the criminals.

But, since it happened in Los Angeles, and the homeowner was likely a law-abiding citizen, he was likely unarmed. Which permitted those who already were contemptuous of the law, and armed, to shoot not only him, but his dog, and to get away from pursuit.

Here in the Midwest, said criminals would likely have chosen not to break in while the homeowner was home, because they wouldn't be sure if he was armed or not (criminals are typically lazy cowards who don't want to work to hard, or put themselves in too much danger, in pursuit of money). And, if they had, they likely would have either been killed or wounded long before they could have shot his little dog, too.

(By the way, dogs are warning systems, not weapons. If the dog shot was a guard dog, and the homeowner could own a gun and chose not to because he had the guard dog, the homeowner was an idiot. You simply don't take a knife--or worse, teeth--to a gunfight.)

Just another illustration of why I'm glad both hospitals in my town are not county hospitals.

A woman went to the emergency room in Las Vegas with preterm labor. She was ignored, went home, and gave birth, where her baby died. Her lawyer is trying to get criminal charges laid--criminal negligence leading to involuntary manslaughter, specifically.

Her lawyer is doing it because "he doesn't trust the Clark County district attorney to prosecute because the public hospital is owned by the county."

This will happen more and more often, in more and more places, with less and less done about it, should our Dear Leader force mandatory Medicaid up our collective national ass. Premature babies are expensive to save, you know, and those resources could better be used to suck up to welfare recipients who vote Democrat.

Well, he's right, for once.

Dear Leader says we're on the precipice of health care reform. For perhaps the first time in his presidency, he's right:

• If they don't pass it, their own loony lefty communist cunning linguists will boot them out of office.
• If they do pass it, the vast majority of the rest of us will boot them out of office.

There is a super-majority in this country that is sane enough not to want socialized medicine, because of stories from our neighbors to the north who come down here for emergency heart bypass surgery. There is a super-majority of health care givers who oppose socialized medicine because of horror stories told by other health care workers in nationalized systems in nations like Britain.

There are reasons why we, as a nation, spend more on health care than any other nation in the world. Do we really want to be forced by the government to spend less on our health care at the cost of losing providers and quality of care?

You might be a gun nut...

My husband got to giggling as we were doing our family grocery shopping last weekend. When I got him to quiet down enough to tell me what was so funny, he told me that he came up with a few "You Might Be A Redneck"-type jokes for gun nuts.

They made me laugh, if anything, harder than they did him. I don't remember them all, so I'll post the one that made me laugh the hardest, and add more as they come.

You might be a gun nut if...when your wife tells you to find the lube in the bedroom, you have a split-second (or longer) moment of confusion whether she meant the K-Y Jelly or the Hoppe's 3-in-1 you've got in your nightstand.

Thank GOD the semester's over.

All I have to do at this point is to enter final grades in the computer system. Yep, now we professors have to do what used to be the registrar's office's job. Not that they're getting paid less. Or any of them laid off. Nope, that ain't gonna happen. See, they're admin. They're inherently more valuable than the actual people who do what colleges are supposed to be doing, and teaching the students. Because, you know, qualified professors are so much easier to find than brainless morons who won't think to question anything that makes their individual jobs easier, no matter how much extra crap it piles on the teachers.

Don't get me wrong: I have nothing against support staff that actually enables professors and students to do their individual jobs better--the professors to teach and the students to learn. What I have issues with are those who generate paperwork to prove that their job is too important to downsize, but foists the actual work they were hired to do off onto the departmental staff and faculty.

Unfortunately, these are the ones that tend to work in the higher levels of admin. Which reminds me that these people are likely where they are because of the Dilbert Principle of Management.