Barbie and the 2nd Amendment...

This is the coolest, most perverse, disturbing, awsome, kick ass, weird thing I've seen in a while. My neice might be getting one of these in a couple of years.

Note, scroll down past the jeep. Double note, read the article, the bARbie 15 is not for the kids in the photos above it.

Otter

Random Thoughts

Sorry for the lack of posting and updating the site... I've been a combination of really busy, tired, hung over, and in an old movie kick...

Since I haven't seen Kid Handsome for the last couple of days, I'm assuming he's either busy too or he's dead.

I'll try to be better...

In the mean time, here are some random thoughts of mine.

• It's probibably not a good idea that every time I drive down Rt. 32 I flip off the NSA buildings.
  
• The Serenity trailer came out yesterday. Joy is mine.
  
• On a recent trip to the eastern shore (where I always get tickets) I discovered I am a truley dangerouse driver when I cruise at the speed limit. I day dream way to much to be safe. My eyes wander everywhere but in front of me. At 80 to 90 MPH I focus on driving and I am aware of my surroundings. Looks to me like another stupid law having the exact opposite effect it was supposed to have. Never fear though, everywhere BUT the eastern shore I speed.
  
• Audrey Hepburn is the most beautiful woman ever to walk to earth. I think I will attempt to clone her. Is it creepy that I'm in love with a dead woman?
  
• Compared to 90% of new movies I've seen, movies post-'68 suck. Example, Elf.
  
• "All of 'em Frank"
  
• Why is it I pick a new hobby that I simply can't afford to undertake, and that if I do spend the money I'll most liekly end up with a pile of expensive junk and dead.
  
• Did I mention my crush on Audrey Hepburn.

- Otter

Search Warrants...

From Kim Du Toit (and him from this article which deals with a broader issue). What to do when the facists come a calling.

Otter
(who plans to post more and fix the blog soon!)

Texas may have executed an innocent man

Sounds like Texas screwed up (I know that's an understatement, but in this situation, what wouldn't be an understatement).

Kid Handsome

Why is the "Old Guard" always so Pretentious?

I was just reading the linked post over on Instapundit. It struck me, though this is not directly related to the post, that I'm starting to really hate hearing a bunch of know-it-all "professionals" whine about how much better their profession and the people in it were back in the day. They then move on to blame all the new employees coming out of graduate schools and colleges for not being as prepared as these old people were.

Why is it that old professionals (lawyers in this case) always always always bemoan the next up and coming generation of professionals. Somehow they inevitably come to the conclusion that the next generation is not as educated or qualified or ethical or whatever ad nauseum.

First of all it is not a very original thought. Secondly, it's a pretty subjective type of thing. Here's how the researchers always come up with their statistics - they interview the group of professionals who are about to retire. These "heads of major corporations or law firms" unalteringly determine that the new generation is less qualified than that person was.

However, I'm here to tell you that I'm not especially impressed with older lawyers. For one, I know that they did not work as many hours or as hard as young attorneys do now. Moreover, today's techonolgy, while offering a tremendous amount of speed and convenience, also has broadened the amount of information available to each person to such a point that it is almost overwhelming the amount of research that is required to support most legal conclusions. We also write our own briefs and memoranda - we don't dictate it and let someone else type it.

Mostly, my problem with these old professionals is that we see them make tons of "first-year" mistakes. I see that it is them who are guilty of the most ethical violations. They just always seem to justify it by saying that their associate screwed up. Hey old guard, we see everything you do at work - you know why? Because we get there before you arrive and don't leave until long after you are gone.

Kid Handsome

Update on the Virginia Pain Doctor

who I originally posted about here. He got 25 years (he's old) for using his judgment to treat people who suffer from chronic pain. The government, instead of just taking the doctor's license to prescribe narcotics, just sentenced him to die in prison.

That's what happens if you don't intentionally break any laws, but still disagree with the government.

Uncool.

Kid Handsome

More Government Abuse of its Legislative Authority

Are these provisions even constitutional? Some of them are reminiscent of the last episode of Seinfeld. Here is a particularly pleasant provision of the Defending America's Most Vulnerable: Safe Access to Drug Treatment and Child Protection Act of 2004 just passed a House judiciary subcommittee, and now heads to the full committee for a vote next week.

One provision would:

"Mandate life in prison for persons 21 years or older convicted a second time of distributing drugs to a person under 18 or convicted a first time after a felony drug conviction has become final."

That's life in Prison folks. The other provisions are just as bad.

Kid Handsome

Only Cops Should Have Guns...

This is pretty funny...

It scares me though to think one of the arguments against me walking around armed is that only the police are qualifed and trained enough to be trusted with weapns.

Otter

Who's your Daddy?

Who ever the government says he is.

I lost a lengthy post on this topic - complete with actual research and everything - so this will have to suffice.

Anyway, our paternity laws are stupid. I'm telling you, reproductive rights is the only issue in this country where men honestly get the shaft from the law.

Discuss.

For what it's worth, Otter has warned me several times to compose my posts in a word document, but I refuse. The thing about living on the edge is that sometimes you fall off.

Kid H.

Something to Make Otter Mad?

Discuss

Kid H.

Hollywood is Dead - There are no new Ideas

Well . . . at least no new ideas that are any good.

Demonstrating my point is: Snakes on a Plane. Who's brand new 20 year-old wife thought up this gem? What's next? Scorpions in the Gondola?

'Nuff said.

Kid H

Instant Punch List

Perhaps it was the reference to Clubber Lang below, or the one to Paris Hilton, or perhaps it was a combination of both, but I got to thinking about what Otter and I call the "Instant Punch List."

The instant punch list is the list of people who you would, upon seeing them, just walk up to and punch them in the mouth. No time for greetings, no screaming or threatening, nothing like that. Rather, when they reach out to shake your hand, you just drill them in the jaw with everything you have.

Below is my top 5 Hollywood/Celebrity punch list:

1. Alec Baldwin - the guy just seems like a jackass. He's clearly a know it all and I'm still waiting for him to move out of the country like he promised when Bush was elected.

2. The lead singer from Creed - I don't even remotely care to look up his name. I know what he looks like and I know that if I see him - bang.

3. Renee Zellweger - I just can't stand her beady eyes and annoying voice. It's nothing personal really, it's just that all her movies annoy me. The same is true of people who like her movies. (As an aside, I forgot to include Nicole Kidman in the Hollywood-beauties-who-are-not-actually-hot. She may have been hot 12 facelifts ago, but now, she is too pasty white, her red hair is fake, and her over-hyped red-carpet crap is starting to piss me off).

4. Fred Durst - I couldn't get away from his crappy music for two years, and when his music finally earned the widespread derision it deserved, I still see him or his name about once a week.

5. Ashton Kuchar - He's a new entry. I'm just tired of his shtick. He isn't funny, Punk'd is annoying, and he's over-exposed. I wonder what he's going to do when That 70's Show finally ends. Maybe he'll make another movie where he plays a dumb guy.

Put your lists in the comments.

Kid Handsome

Ending the Death Tax

I have long been in favor of getting rid of the death tax or as it is actually known, the Estate tax. It just doesn't make any sense to me that the Government should receive your property when you die - I don't sense the logic behind it.

Boortz points out:

"I have to give the Democrats an attaboy here. They've come up with a nifty little rhetorical gimmick to make any attempt to permanently repeal the Death Tax nothing more than pandering to the rich. They're making Paris Hilton the symbol of repeal of the Death Tax. If the Death Tax is repealed Paris Hilton will be able to inherit her share of the Hilton Hotel fortune without forking over half of it to the feds. Never mind the thousands of small farmers, land owners and small business owners who will be victimized by the Death Tax this year .... let's focus on that ridiculous tart Paris Hilton."

My take is that I'm fine with Paris Hilton getting all her millions. Her parents wanted her to have it. Who are the Democrats to say she shouldn't have it? Who would they prefer to have it. I just want someone to explain to me how it is fair that the government gets the benefit of the hard work of a private citizen upon their death (especially since they were taxed in life).

Anyway, the problem with the Estate Tax is that it doesn't generate very much revenue for the government, and the people it hurts are not the extremely wealthy. Rather, the people it hurts are people whose wealth is tied up in land - like farmers - or in their small businesses.

New Look

As you can see, we changed the look of Scaggsville (it was looking too much like a Columbia site - crappy Columbia). I like it, I think it is a much cleaner look, and posts roll off the page more slowly.

Soon we will fix and expand our blog-roll, learn how to post pictures, and generally improve the site's content.

Thanks,

Kid H

FYI

Just my opinion...

In a a fight...
Mr. T < Clubber Lang < B. A. Baracus

Otter...

Campus Diversity

Evan Coyne Maloney has a great post about gender diversity on college campuses. Generally, I stay away from this issue because it is not of particular importance to me. However, this post hit me just right because it was my experience in College that when I did wish to support a cause or advocate a particular action, I was unable to do so because the "Club" and/or "Student Organization" that was supposed to support all student viewpoints did not agree with my viewpoint.

Anyway, you should checkout "Brain Terminal" regularly (especially when he video-blogs). It's awesome.

Kid Handsome

Police and Government Overreach

A nice post on the Constitutional damage being done by overzealous legislators and organizations like MADD. Essentially, DUI and DWI laws are so "voter friendly" that elected officials are willing to do anything to support them. It's not about the constitution, it's about generating revenue and sticking drivers with the maximum possible penalties.

My view is that the government is going to keep lowering the BAC levels (which are already calculated on an aggregate - not an individual basis) and upping enforcement until they get well past the point that DUI's have any meaning. I mean, pretty soon, if everyone has a couple of DUI's, the receipt of a DUI will lose its social and professional stigma. Getting a DUI will no longer cost you your job or the respect of your peers (I argue that it has already reached that point).

Further, motorists who get .08 - .16 aren't really the problem.

Finally, if you are interested in this topic, check out DUI Blog. It's pretty cool.

Kid Handsome

Good News on the Privacy Front

North Dakota has made those little black boxes that companies now put in cars - the exclusive property of the owner (which makes sense, since the owner did buy the car). Even better, the representative who introduced the bill took it even further. Read the linked article.

Oh and three cheers for Ray Holmberg.

Link via Insty

Kid Handsome

Here is why the Patriot Act and the Govt. Generally is out of control

Read this article about how the police turned a suicide note into a terror investigation.

Don't forget this one about a man who tried to use two-dollar bills at Best Buy, must be a counterfieter.

Why can we not make a serious effort to limit the authority of the government without being labeled paranoid? It's not as if overreach by law enforcement is a new thing, and it sure as hell isn't rare . . . so?

Kid Handsome

I would've given the Cops the Finger

. . . or something like that.

Hat Tip: Neal Boortz

Kid Handsome

Was it Kurt Cobain who said . . .

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.

Oddly, this was like the third most popular quote in my high school yearbook behind . . . "Do your best, let God take care of the rest," and "If you see someone without a smile, give them yours."

Anyway, I have no comment on the legality of what the school in this article did, but I think it's a pretty silly waste of $60k in taxpayer money. But, you know, our streets are safer now . . . somehow.

Kid Handsome

Dare We Dream?

TSA is slated for dismantling. Why do I believe that they will just slink into the background and become far more dangerous?

Link via Instapundit.

Kid Handsome

Debate over the PATRIOT ACT

I am pro-America and I support efforts to stop terrorism. However, I have always been opposed to the PATRIOT act. I think it is too broad and does not do much of anything to stop terrorists. Above, I linked to an interesting article from Julian Sanchez of Reason Magazine.

Here's an excerpt from the article that sums up some of my feelings on the issue:

What's striking is how weak the case for the PATRIOT Act's vital necessity as an anti-terror measure appears even when we focus on the Department of Justice's handpicked examples, as provided in their "Report from the Field." Law enforcement's proud displays of PATRIOT's effectiveness involve drug interdiction, computer hackings, child pornography, gambling, and a variety of other crimes notable for not being terrorism.

The few uses of PATRIOT to foil ostensible terrorist plots aren't particularly impressive either—certainly in none of those cases does it seem as though the delay that greater judicial oversight might've imposed would've been an insuperable obstacle. DOJ cites the likes of the Lackawanna Six or the "Virginia Jihad" group, also known as the "paintball terrorists." In other words, as Slate's Dahlia Lithwick puts it "disaffected bozos who watch cheesy training videos, admire their fine Gold's Gym selves in the mirror, and try to take grandiose trips abroad."

Indeed. Further, it continues the government's attacks on the 4th Amendment.

I think we don't need most (if any) of the provisions in the law. It was knee-jerk legislation that was understandable when it was enacted the month after Sept. 11 - but it was a bad law then, and it's a bad law now.

Kid Handsome

Hippies and Rednecks - Kindred Spirits?

They are according to Jesse Walker in the linked article above. Being from the South, and I mean the real South, not the fake south that is Maryland*, I can tell you that most of the "Hippies" down there used to be rednecks - or at least were spawned from traditionally redneck families.

Anyway, the basic link between the two groups - according to the article - is the anti-authoritarian aspect of each group.

* I don't even have to get past the sweet-tea discussion before MD is ruled out. Trust me, I could take out the big guns, so I don't want any Maryland is the south whining.

Old but good news....

This is kind of old, but I think it’s important enough that my posting laziness is no excuse to miss.

“Shopkeepers return fire on drive-by-gunmen”

I like this story for 3 reasons.

1) Those with serious copper and lead deficiencies got the medicine they needed.
2) It shows that the Iraqis really do want to move on and get on with their lives. Terrorist activities are no longer tolerated.
3) Guns in the hands of civilians are once again used to defend life and property.

Otter

The Minutemen Project (regarding Immigration)

Neal Boortz sends us to the above link. By now, we should all know about the controversy involving the Minutemen - a group of U.S. Citizens patrolling the U.S./Mexico border in order to prevent some of the widespread immigration of illegal aliens. Apparently they've captured their first group ("Captured" is actually a misnomer. The reality is that they are a spot and report group).

The U.S. Border patrol doesn't like them, which is just about enough for me to support the project fully. Illegal immigration is a problem - a big one. However, you liberals can take your foot out of the stirrup, no need to mount your high horse. I am not a xenophobe or an isolationist. I simply think our entire outlook needs to be reformed.

What has happened is that we have passed strict laws making legal immigration too difficult for most (oddly, it most impacts the learned foreign labor market, who can't really improve their station by working for illegal wages in the U.S.). Therefore, the only way to get past the system is to ignore it - and millions have ignored it. Making it worse, Mexico's crappy/corrupt government benefits from the billions of illegal dollars that illegal immigration brings its way, and recognizes that it will probably lose power if real immigration reform is ever established. So it encourages a system of keeping immigration into the U.S. illegal, while reaping the benefits of the dollars that are sent into Mexico.

What I want to see happen is for the United States to make immigration easier. I'm not suggesting that we make citizenship requirements easier. I just think it makes sense to encourage people who want to work to come over to the United States. It would do several things: 1) It would immediately improve the Mexican economy and allow NAFTA to work - and correspondingly, reduce the desire to emigrate from Mexico; 2). It would make enforcement of the border easier, as we would have some pretty good assurances that anyone who crossed illegally deserves deportation; 3). It would allow people to come to the United States and provide skilled labor as well as unskilled labor. Right now it is hard for an illegal immigrant to get a job providing skilled labor because it exposes them and the companies who hire them heightened scrutiny; 4). I referenced it above, but it would actually put some teeth back into our border patrols. Right now, the problems with illegal immigration are demoralizingly bad. 5). It would attract skilled professional employees from Europe, Asia and Africa.

My belief is that loosening immigration laws would also eventually increase manufacturing and the GDP in the U.S. Sure, there might be a short-term lessening of wages, but the reality is that there is already so much cheap illegal labor in the U.S. (that is not taxed for the most part) that any such effects would be minimal. The prevalence of cheap labor (hopefully combined with tax reform) would keep companies from re-chartering in different countries and encourage them to keep their manufacturing in the U.S.

Kid Handsome

Interesting Article on the Diversity Blogging Debate

Here's an interesting article from the National Review Online about the recent criticism on the lack of diversity amongst political bloggers. Apparently, most of the "Alpha" bloggers are white and male. I have no theories as to why that is, but I can say that I'm not really sure I care. People will read what they want, when they want. If it appears that there is ever a huge void with respect to a certain area, I'm sure it will be filled.

I would note, that most of the "Diary-type" blogs I read are by women. I wonder if that is because most women, who are also bloggers, just happen to be more interested in more localized issues - those issues that impact they and their children directly, or are more interested in educating and entertaining their readers on topics that have nothing to do with politics. On some level, I think that may be the answer. I think the vast majority of the population still does not read blogs for news or entertainment. Perhaps because blogging still reaches a relatively small number of people, we simply don't have as diverse a cross-section. Obviously, there is no shortage of talented female writers on this here interweb. You can find them anywhere, and some even comment on this site.

There is also no shortage of talented female "News and Opinion" writers on this here Interweb. I would note thatI also read Michelle Malkin, Ann Althouse, A Small Victory, Joanne Jacobs, Kate, and many other women who are "News Bloggers."

Kid Handsome

Next Pope...

I was going to write about this too...though not from Malkin... but KH beat me to it... Anyway, I think this article is slightly better for discussing the potential next Pope.

Otter

An Update on My Coulter Post Below (Sort of)

In my post yesterday, I expressed my lack of amazement that Anne Coulter had been heckled at her performance (really, isn't that what it is?) at the University of Kansas.

Well, apparently, someone attacked Pat Buchannan yesterday during his question and answer portion of his speaking engagement yesterday. He was doused with Salad Dressing (why, I don't know - perhaps by the ease of delivery).

Seriously folks. I know that Buchannan and Coulter and the rest of their ilk may frustrate you, but the answer to them is more speech - not assault. If you heckle or cause a disturbance in any way, you will and should be tossed from the event. If you don't like what they say, write it on your blog or write something to your newspaper. Heck, buy a billboard or start your own T.V. station, but isn't it a fair bit stupid to call someone intolerant while you are in the process of being WAY MORE INTOLERANT?

Anyway, Un-apologetic Atheist has a good post here on why the Coulter event might have warranted some more news coverage.

Kid Handsome

Who will be the Next Pope?

In the wake of Michelle Malkin linked to this article, which speculates about who might be next to gain the Papacy. I'm not Catholic, but I'm interested nonetheless.

Here's an interesting excerpt from the linked article - read it all:

Much has been written about the possibility that the next pope could be black. In this context, the name of Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria is often mentioned.

But as one Vatican expert in Rome once noted: "If even such a modern country as the United States has not had a black President yet, how can you expect a deeply conservative body like the Church to elect a black pope?"

I'm not sure Race matters in the Biblical sense, but I wonder if the Church will make a political move in order to convert more Africans, Asians or Latinos. For what it's worth, if they do make this kind of move, I bet the new Pope will be an Asian. I say this because they already have a pretty good hold on the Latino population, but see a huge growth area in Asian countries.

Assuming I'm correct, I wonder what this will do the the religious conflicts that are currently plaguing places like China and Indonesia and their large Muslim populations.

Anyway, though I'm not Catholic, I do hold this Pope in high regard and wish him nothing but the best.

Kid Handsome

More on Traffic Cameras

I'm a pretty regular reader of The Agitator, and he does a pretty thorough job of explaining my problems with traffic cameras red-light and speeding cameras. He has a great summary here of the problems that are created by this government scam to generate revenues. Clearly, this issue is not about safety - not that I want the government to ensure my safety in the first place (except for from foreign governments).

He also provides this post, showing how the cameras don't really make us any safer in the first place. These things are just revenue generators. Read both posts and let me know who I have to smack around to keep these things off my streets.

For what it's worth, the biggest problem with the Government revenue generation in the realm of traffic is really the insurance companies whose rates are tied to what I term Driver Style Considerations as opposed to actual accidents. You might be a better driver at 85 mph than I am at 55 mph - why should you be penalized for that?

Kid Handsome