Saturday, October 11, 2008

To Please or Not to Plead

A state judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed by the ACLU. The suit questioned how the state is removing convicted felons from the voter rolls. I'm not sure which is the worse part about this: the convicted felons who sued before even trying to register (they didn't know if their crime disqualified them from voting) or the judge for throwing the case out when clearly there is a need for a better idea about which crimes are disqualifying.

Monday, October 6, 2008

To be, or Are They Already?

The Birmingham News ran an op-ed Sunday about Alabama's hate crimes law. The article was critical of Alabama for not having yet adding homosexuals and transgender people to the list of groups to be protected against hate violence.

I can see adding protections for homosexuals, since I can see how homosexuality is biologically based. I'm not so sure about transgender people.

"Transgender" usually refers to individuals who are born "male" or "female" but who do not believe that classification really fits them. As Wikipedia puts it, transgender people are those "who were assigned a sex, usually at birth and based on their genitals, but who feel that this is a false or incomplete description of themselves."

As we have learned through experiences with homosexuals and bisexuals, gender and sexual orientation are two separate issues. I find it difficult to afford enhanced protections for a group based upon their perceived sense of their own gender.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Put a Check in the Mail (again)!

Since the federal government feels it can afford to give big banks the $700 billion bailout package, it seems that it could spend another $100 billion and give us common taxpayers another modest economic stimulus check.

Vice is Ugly Work (but somebody's gotta do it)

Does the Montgomery Police Department have enough ugly officers (see here and here) to effectively work the vice squad?

Saturday, October 4, 2008

McCain/Biden 2008!

I think that would be a solid ticket.

Before you mention their differences of opinion, just remember that Biden has already let his positions be reshaped so that he could run with Obama.

Lap dancers, Coke, potato chips, fleas!

So we know ...

... Coke can kill sperm and even the AIDS virus.

... dog fleas jump higher than cat fleas.

... anything that can be tangled will get tangled.

... we'll eat stale chips if we think they are crunchy.

... lap dancers make more money when they are most fertile.

I'll leave it to someone else to ask whether or not U.S. taxpayer money went to any of this research!

Friday, October 3, 2008

Talking Points Palin

I watched the debate between Biden and Palin last night as I bet you did too. My take? Palin came across to me as that girl from high school or college in debate class who was too ernest in making the points in her speech. Worse - she was so head up to make her talking points that she chose to avoid many of the questions put to her by the moderator. I guess her and McCain's strategy for last night was to get her parroting the campaign's buzz words with hopes of pushing the right buttons of the viewers.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Trickling Along

I was listening to a report on the radio program "Marketplace". They were discussing the effect that U.S. economic situation is having on "remittances" to Mexico. "Remittances" refers to the money that Mexicans working in the U.S. send back to Mexico.

The report first stated that remittances had dropped 12.5%. Then, the reporter stated that remittances had dried up to a "trickle".

Somehow, I don't get the image of a "trickle" when I picture a river or stream flowing at 81.5% of capacity.