On Flags

Mike has recently blogged on the recent re-emergence of the perennial attempt to ratify a flag-burning amendment. This time, it might actually make it to the states.

This thing is like a Whack-a-Mole game. Knock one attempt down and another springs up somewhere else. I did a search on a Congressional search engine, and there have been 6 attempts so far this year to get this thing passed.

Mike's analysis knocks it right out of the park. Go read it. This amendment is a ridiculous and pointless measure that will cost millions of dollars in campaigning and publicity that could much better be spent elsewhere, like buying armor for military Humvees. And as a former Boy Scout, it is indeed part of the recommended guidelines on flag care and maintenance to burn it at the end of its life. Take that.

CNN.com - Police: Lions free kidnapped girl - Jun 21, 2005

CNN.com - Police: Lions free kidnapped girl - Jun 21, 2005

The girl's name wasn't Lucy, by any chance?

In Which I Abandon Old Views

When I was growing up, whenever my parents would go to vote, the net result on the elections would be identical to if they had both stayed home and cleaned the refrigerator instead, except that we would still have a dirty refrigerator. Dad would vote Republican, and Mom would vote Democrat. The exceptions to this were school board elections, in which Mom, a public educator, had veto power over Dad's vote, and the biannual congressional election. Every two years, my parents would form an electoral truce and gang up in another futile attempt to vote Tom Delay out of office.

When I turned 18 and became the third voting member of my family, I was listening to Rush Limbaugh on a daily basis. His vitriol and malice had temporarily pickled my brain, and so for a few years, Mom was on the losing side of the family. Then I got a job delivering pizzas for a summer. The way my shifts worked out, I tended to be in the car at the same time the Roger Gray Show was on. Gray is a member of a very rare breed: a moderate talk radio host. Eventually, he was drummed off the air.

I think what turned the tide for me was a caller who phoned into Gray's show one day when I was delivering two large pepperonis and a two-liter of Coke. I don't remember the details, but it dealt with welfare.

Caller: Here's some nonsensical rhetoric about big government that will be completely forgotten in about two minutes.
Gray: Right, and didn't you call about the homeless?
Caller: It's costing too much to support these people. Maybe it would be best just to let them all die.
Gray: No! We're a better country than that.
Caller:

Apparently, people actually thought that way. That was pretty frightening to me, and was the initial push down the long slow slide to the left. I'm not a part of Delay's district anymore, so I can't vote against him. But my brain is freshly rinsed and squeegied, and I don't listen to talk radio anymore.

A Very Short Story

Learned this today:

One day in the 1930s at their regular round table meeting at the Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan, Ernest Hemingway said to William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker and other literary notables attending: "I'll bet each of you ten dollars that I can write a novel in only six words. Place a ten dollar bill in front of you. I'll write the words on this paper and fold it. When you hear the words if any of you disagree with my statement, I'll pay each of you ten dollars. If there are no objections, I take your money." Hemingway collected.

This is the novel: "Baby shoes for sale. Never used."

Typery

A woman asked me the other day if I ever got sick of spending my entire day just typing. "Oh, no," I replied. "All the creative work of design, problem solving, engineering, and providing customer satisfaction just gets in the way of the sheer bliss of typing." I wasn't at my best.

In Defense of Belt Buckles

Yes, I wear a large belt buckle. I bought it from a seller on eBay for eight dollars. It's pewter and has a cast picture of a grizzly bear on it. The belt that it is attached to has lasted longer than any other belt I've owned, except for a hunk of green canvas that was part of my Boy Scout uniform years ago.

My Texanism has grown more and more militant the longer I've been away from it. Yes, I'm proud of being a Texan. It's the only real piece of heritage that I can claim, being descended from a long line of western European mutts, and this piece of bling is one way to express it. I offer no apologies for my belt buckle--it's served me well and continues to hold my pants up day by day.

My Day in Court

I had jury duty yesterday. Here's a summary of the order of events:

8:00: Left my house to walk over to the courthouse. Nice crossing guard lady escorts me across the street.

8:15: Arrival at courthouse. Set off beeper while going through security. I start to remove my belt, knowing that to be the culprit. Security guard stops me and waves me through. Wow, nice that they're taking my word for it now.

8:16: Wait in line.

8:20: Allowed to sit down in marshalling room. Get to watch video hosted by local television personality explaining what an honor it is to be here.

8:30: Nothing happens.

8:45: Nothing happens.

9:00: Jury panel called. Not on the list.

9:15: Nothing happens.

9:30: Reading interrupted (Seabiscuit) to be informed by jury wrangler that nothing is happening.

9:45: Nothing happens.

10:00-12:00: Nothing happens. War Admiral seems to be a formidable opponent.

12:00: Lunch. Meatball sandwich and orange soda procured from pushcart vendor outside the courthouse. Great conversation about former juries, the OJ trial, and possible future book deals.

1:00: Back to work. Once again, security waves me through as I go inside. Feeling safer all the time.

1:15: Nothing happens. Jury wrangler offers to put on video. Selection: Sleepless in Seattle, A League of Their Own, Forrest Gump, and Apollo 13. We decline. Apparently no Tom Hanks fans in the crowd.

1:30-3:00: Nothing happens.

3:00: Allowed to leave. The guy pleaded guilty.

All in all, I got about 150 pages read. A successful day.