The Arkanssouri Blog.: 07/01/2005 - 08/01/2005

Saturday, July 30, 2005

I know it's tragic and all, but I've got to say it...

God must ... really hate ... Boy Scouts.

Maybe if they weren't a hate group, He'd stop.


Outrageous.





Until Columbine, Westside was the worst school shooting in American history. Now, one of the shooters is about to be set free, able to go on and live his life as if nothing happened.

Too bad he didn't get killed in prison.

I'm HOPING the families of the victims can still go after this little bastard with wrongful death suits.

Energy bill: Expand supply, do little about reducing demand.

Story here.

What the political caste seems to have a problem understanding here is that you can improve fuel economy without mandating changes in the CAFE standards. I'm against mandating fuel economy, but there are other ways to get companies to improve.

My suggestions:

1. Substantial tax breaks for American auto manufacturers that make only autos with a fuel usage of 40 mpg or better.

2. Federal refund for state and local property taxes paid on owner-occupied dwellings with solar, wind, and/or geothermal power.

3. Mandate all new federal buildings have a secondary power supply, using solar, wind or geothermal, and do what you can to encourage states and other governmental entities to do the same.

4. Get Consumer Reports to do a study on those fuel-saving devices, like the Tornado air intake system, Splitfire sparkplugs, and AirHog air filters. When we find out which ones actually work, mandate that all government vehicle fleets use them.

3 and 4 can best be summed up with "Lead by example."

Breyer gets the Souter treatment.

Breyer's property looks like the perfect place to build a park to me. Doesn't it to you, too?

Story here.

For our next project, where does Darth Vader-Ginsburg live?

Probably on a commune somewhere.

Water found on Mars.

It's frozen, but it's definitely water.

Where there's water and sunlight and comet collisions, there's probably life.

In other space news, all science textbooks printed before today have become obsolete with the discovery of a tenth planet.

Now, let's not 4uck up the naming of this one like we did Quaoar, which I don't understand the reason for it not being considered a planet.

Since we've got planets named after the wimpy Greek and Roman gods already, I suggest naming it after one of the Egyptian gods -- Osiris, maybe. Or Anubis. But not Orudis.

Friday, July 29, 2005

I almost certainly won't vote for you, Mister Cheney...

... but PLEASE PLEASE run for President!


Gummint Cheese Special Eminent Domain Edition.

Eminent Domain Political Prisoner.

Man arrested for handing out flyers about eminent domain.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

In some ways it's not surprising...

... that we spent half a century fighting the cold war. Certain ideas get lost in translation.

First, I translated the original text to Russian, where I came up with:


Мы считаем эти истины быть самоочевидными - что все мужчины созданы равными, что они обеспечены их создателем с некоторыми неотъемлемыми правами, которые среди них являются жизнью, свободой, и преследованием счастья.


Then back to English:

We consider these trues to be axiomatic - that all men are created equal, that they are provided with their founder with some inalienable laws which among them are a life, freedom, and prosecution of happiness.


Pursuit = prosecution?

Blogger becomes political prisoner.

[I try not to make a practice of posting entire posts that belong to someone else, but I don't think in this case they'll mind. -- JHH]

RELEASE DATE: July 26, 2005
CONTACT: Mandy DuBois
419-621-0169
419-357-0398
mandydubois@sbcglobal.net
Attention:
BREAKING NEWS

Journalist Silenced!

PORT CLINTON, OH - Sandusky resident, Bryan DuBois, is incarcerated in the
Ottawa County Detention Facility after being indicted for intimidation and
retaliation, after consistently defending himself on his website Erie Voices (erievoices.com). He is unable to respond to the legal attacks because the same prosecutors who he has criticized have set his bond at $40,000 in Ottawa County, and $150,000 in Cuyahoga County, were he was charged with extortion and possession of criminal tools. DuBois claims that the only reason prosecutors care about him is because he has delivered highly effective political speech and allegations of misconduct that the prosecutors are trying to silence. See erievoices.com. Your first amendment rights to free speech depend on it!

For more information on this case please visit www.erievoices.com or contact Jessica Baumgartner at 561-628-6613 or Mandy DuBois at 419-621-0169 or 419-357-0398.




Post here.

Hat tip to Knappster, who suggest those in the blogging community who are financially able should contribute some money to this guy's defense. I'm seeing right now if I can scrounge up some.

In a fit of ideological navel-gazing . . .

Knappster manages to come up with the blog line of the week:


I tried to think of myself as a "classical liberal," but that evokes the image of a guy in a powdered wig, standing on a bench in the House of Commons and yelling "Bloody good, old chap!" or something.



"Dandies And Fops, UNITE!"

Blanche: "I'm too lousy a parent to monitor my kids' Web surfing...

... so I'll get the government to to it for me!"

She's willing to punish adults in the guise of "protecting the children."

If I didn't have my hands full blogwise right now, I'd create a new one named "Senator Bee-yotch Lambert-Lincoln."

Deciding what your kids can and can't see, Senator Lincoln, is YOUR responsibility. Not mine. And not society's. If you refuse to do your job as a parent, don't try to pass the responsibility off onto me.

But if you want a place to begin, start with every site that contains Bible text. Shouldn't there be age-verification and a 25% tax to view all that discussion about incest and pissething against the wall?

MYODB. Live and let live, and all that.

Update: I can't believe I got through the whole post without using the c-word once. But be assured, I was thinking it.

Shuttles grounded.

Stories here and here.

What kind of Mickey Mouse operation are they running over there?

Privatize NASA now.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Quake risk upgraded.

The big un's comin'.

In an article published last month in Geophysical Research Letters, professors Mian Liu and Eric Sandvol conclude that stress was shifted by the earlier quakes to regions of southern Illinois and eastern Arkansas. That means major quakes are more likely to occur now in those places, the researchers say.


Oh, Matty! You rapscallion you!

Why exactly does the Drudge Report have a link to the Drudge Report on the Drudge Report? Isn't that the page you're already on?

To quote an old beer commercial, why ask why?




Some things just are. There is no why.

Size does matter.

Also from this month's Popular Science:

The scientists found that female mosquitofish prefer the well-endowed male. Unfortunately for the males, larger genitalia impede a speedy getaway, making them more likely to be eaten by predators. Sometimes, you just can’t win.


Yeah, I've got that problem too. I'm ALWAYS tripping over it when being chased by predators.

And FYI, PopSci, about 10% of the MALE mosquitofish also prefer the well-endowed male. And 10% of the female mosquitofish wear flannel and work as welders or truck drivers.

My dream mini.





Build your own dream Mini here.

Banana Daiquiris an endangered species?



Popular Science (really good issue this month, btw) has a story this month on the endangeredness of the banana.

Bananas, it turns out, are a requirement if you want to make banana daiquiris.

Anyone know of a good way to horde bananas without them spoiling?

Monday, July 25, 2005

Cooter: Boycott Them Dukes!

Cooter's letter here.

An excerpt:


From all I have seen and heard, the "Dukes" movie is a sleazy insult to all
of us who have cared about the "Dukes of Hazzard" for so long.

You probably know that the creators of this film wanted absolutely
nothing to do with the original members of the cast. Doesn't that seem strange
to you, given how popular our show is right now, and how popular our cast still
is? After all, our huge success for so many years is the reason they are making
the film, and the film, after all, is about us.



Question to anyone who's seen "Revenge of the Sith."


Is it true that at some point in the movie, Obi-Wan says "Only the Sith think in absolutes."?

If so, then I must be a Sithlord, because I believe the following absolute:

It is never okay to rape a three year old.

And isn't the statement "Only the Sith think in absolutes" ITSELF an absolute?

Mr. Lucas, you disappoint me.

Makes you proud to be a Missourian, doesn't it?

Here we have the story of Officer Friendly. Or make that Officer Inappropriately Friendly to Animals.

A Chillicothe sheriff's deputy claimed to have met 51-year-old Steven L.
Edlen, the Kahoka chief of police, in an Internet chat room. The deputy was
working undercover posing as an adult woman.

Officials said the chat became sexual in nature and the two arranged a
meeting involving drugs at a Chillicothe motel. Court papers show that Edlen
arrived at the motel with marijuana in his pocket.

Investigators said Edlen had also planned sex acts with an animal, but
instead found an undercover officer waiting for him.

Full story here.
Hat tip to Area 417.

Out of pocket tomorrow.

I have to go to West Plains tomorrow, so no blogging.

Don't worry. I won't drink the water.

The crew of the shuttle Columbia died in vain.


NASA said Sunday it will launch the first space shuttle flight in 2 1/2
years, even if the fuel gauge problem that halted the previous countdown two
weeks ago resurfaces.


NASA is incapable of learning it's lessons. If something happens this time, NASA should be shut down completely and it's administrators brought up on charges of reckless endangerment, if not manslaughter.

And this is a space geek suggesting this.

I'm betting there'll be Senate hearings.


So I see this new commercial yesterday for Burger King's Chicken Fries. It features a band dressed as post-apocalyptic chickens playing some song I don't understand.
At the end, we see the band's name on the backdrop behind them. It is:

COQ ROQ.


How long until the PMRC starts their premenstrual whining?

Pre-emptive note to the conservatives: "Coq" is Spanish for chicken.

That is one of the few things I remember from high school Spanish.

Another thing I remember is that Spanish and Mexican chickens don't say "Cock-a-doodle-doo." They say "Qui-qui-ri-qui."

Who says you don't learn important things in public school?

Friday, July 22, 2005

From our "Why is my navel lint always blue?" department ...

I found this on MSN's homepage today. I have helpfully circled in red the area of interest.



They mean you're hungry, dumbass.

A little fact-checking.

From the Missouri Revised Statutes,Chapter 71, Provisions Relative to All Cities and Towns :

Parking facilities for motor vehicles, certain cities.

71.350. Any incorporated city or town in this state of not more than seven hundred thousand and not less than one thousand population, and any county in this state having a constitutional charter, may rent, lease and improve property, or acquire property by gift, purchase, exchange, or by the exercise of the power of eminent domain over unimproved property in the manner provided by law for the condemnation of land for street or road purposes in such municipality or county, except that nothing herein is construed to limit the right to the use of eminent domain in connection with improved property used for or devoted to commercial purposes; and may construct, install or equip buildings and facilities thereon for parking motor vehicles; and may own, manage, use or operate property and facilities thereon for parking motor vehicles, and make or authorize the making of a charge for the use of property and facilities for such purposes, except that the municipality or county shall not dispense or furnish or allow any lessee or occupant to dispense or furnish, upon or in connection with any property or facility acquired or operated pursuant to this section any product or service other than the parking of motor vehicles.

(L. 1945 V. I p. 392 § 7411a, A.L. 1959 H.B. 328)


Hmmm...

I want one.



You can buy me one here.

Size 4XL.

Gummint Cheese.

No, this isn't a resumption of my cartoon series. It is the following story:

A Cheesy Way To Lure Voters

In Philadelphia they're calling it "The Cheese Caper." A Deputy City Commissioner asked the District Attorney's office to investigate who passed out flyers on primary election day -- May 17 -- promising free cheese to voters for particular candidates. The flyers are topped by a handwritten scrawl, "Come Out + Vote," adding below, "For Who Ever." In type, they say "Free Cheese." The flyers list two candidates, both Democrats, running in an area dominated by the 300-plus-unit Hill Creek housing project. "This guy comes to the polls, votes, and asks us for his free cheese," says Eileen Kleindienst, a Republican judge of elections. Geraldine Hacker, the Republican official who sent Kleindienst's complaint to the DA, thought the food might be from a government nutrition program.

The woman who wrote the flyers, Hill Creek tenant council President Gerri Robinson, doesn't think she did anything wrong. "The people around here, you can't get them to come out and do nothing unless you're giving them something," she says. Besides, she adds, the flyers worked: The two cases of cottage cheese were gone by day's end.


Everyone has a price. I guess for some, it's cheese.

Your tax dollars not at work, but rather being poured down the toilet.


Missouri liked some license plate numbers so much, they handed out duplicates of them!

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - About 1,500 Missouri motorists are driving around with new license plate numbers that actually belong to someone else.

The Department of Revenue acknowledged Thursday that it printed 20,000 sets of duplicate license plates, 1,502 of which already had been distributed to motorists before officials learned of the mistake July 8.

...

The mistake will cost the state about $55,000 to print new license plates, plus the cost of shipping them to motor vehicle licensing offices and individuals who were given the wrong plates.

Text of my front-pager.

I promised you I'd link to the text of the story, so here it is.

Note that by the end of the story, the reporter decided to change the spelling of my last name.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Gov. appoints eminent domain task force.

Story here.

Scotty beams up.



James Doohan, the actor who played burly engineer Scotty in the original Star Trek, has joined Bones and Gene Roddenberry in the final frontier.

He was 85. One of his children is five years old. That means he was eighty when she was born.

That Romulan ale must do something for human virility.

Text of my letter to the Missouri Municipal League.

Subject: Information about Thayer MO.

I'm hoping you guys can help me confirm something the mayor of Thayer told me. He said he got his information from the Missouri Municipal League, so I'm thinking you guys would be the ones to check with to see if his information is accurate.

He said that Thayer is a fourth-class city and that a fourth-class city cannot exercise the power of eminent domain. Is this true?

And if so, can such a city enact an ordinance restricting it's own use of eminent domain?

Thanks in advance for your help.
John Hutchison, Blogmaster
The Arkanssouri Blog.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

OMF'nG!

I've obtained a copy of tomorrow's South Missourian News. Not only did they print the text of my speech in their letters to the editor, but THIS is the lead story on the front page, complete with end-of-the-world typeface:




It's not up on the South Missourian News site yet (which I guess is to be expected since it's tomorrow's paper) but once they post it (if not before) I'll show you the text of the story about me. Or you can just click on the picture and you should be able to read it, although that might be a good way to give yourself a headache.

Somebody is DEFINITELY up to something here. How else do you explain a simple request to the city council being the freakin' lead story on the front page?

And no, even Sympathetic Insider is not above suspicion.

family


family
Originally uploaded by Arkanssouri.
Jesus grew up in a family where His mother was married to a man other than His Father.

Jesus turned out okay.

As for Jeffrey, well . . .

Except that she's not.


I found this page today while submitting a comment to CNN's Inside Politics.

Judy Woodruff's been gone since June. And the time for the program is 3:30 - 5:00 PM Eastern.

So much for the 24-hour news networks giving you up-to-date information.

Something's Up.

I got a call yesterday from the South Missourian News, wanting my permission to print the text of my letter to the Thayer City Council.

Why now? Isn't it a moot point? If they print it now, doesn't it make me look silly, considering that by now the mayor has already said Thayer can't use eminent domain?

I emailed the newspaper on July 6th giving them a heads up that I'd be making the request to the council, and attached a copy of the speech, in case they wanted to cover it.

The meeting was July 12th. Wouldn't the time to do this story be then?

But now is not then. Now is eight days past then. Now is two weekly editions of the paper past then.

Somebody's up to something. I warned Sympathetic Insider that someone was up to something yesterday. Now I've just gotta figure out who, is up to what. The only way I could explore that is by giving my permission.

The John Roberts Scenario.

Supreme Court nominee John Roberts may be a sacrificial lamb to appease the conservatives. Bush may have nominated him knowing he is so conservative that Senate liberals would do everything they can to Bork him.

If the nomination goes down in flames, Bush can then go to the conservatives and say "I tried."

Then nominate his buddy Alberto Gonzales.

From our "Better Late Than Never" Department...

... July 20th's edition of CNN's Inside Politics brought us this little exchange in their segment called "Strategy Session":

Characters:
Dana Bash, host du jour.
Terry Holt, Republican strategist.
Jack Valenti, former aide to President Johnson.



Terry Holt: "...in the case of the biggest scandal in the last twenty years
in the White House, Bill Clinton actually did break the law, and we don't know
that that happened in this case."

Jack Valenti: "I think you carried it just a little bit too far
there..."

TH: "...obstruction of justice..."

JV: "Nonetheless, but the Senate looked at the information. They
looked at all the facts, and they decided that he did not break the law.
Otherwise, he would have been impeached."



Now, it's not surprising that Jack Valenti would claim that Bill Clinton was not impeached. He IS, after all, one of Clinton's sheep. The thing that is surprising (or SHOULD be surprising, anyway) is that neither Terry Holt nor Dana Bash challenged him. Does anyone at CNN know the difference between impeachment and removal from office?

For the record, Bill Clinton was impeached on two charges, one for perjury, one for obstruction of justice.

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

I'm easily amused.

Yo no soy marinado. Soy capitán.

means

I am not marinated; I am the captain.

Unfortunately, the captain of the Exxon Valdez could not say that.

I submitted a 2nd "We Are Not Afraid."


So far, I haven't seen either of my submissions come up.

Hyundai's one of the land thieves.

Story here.

I've just added them to The List.

Monday, July 18, 2005

Jewel's been dethroned.

For a long time, Jewel's song "Intuition" held onto the title of "Worst. Song. Ever."

But now it's been dethroned.

By Jessica Simpson's cover of "These Boots Are Made For Walking."

I just heard it on the car stereo.

My ears are bleeding.

Online lite-brite.


Do your own here.


Hat tip to Kevin, who hat-tips Rob, who hat-tips Better Living Through Blogging, who hat-tips Brykmantra.

Original here.

Brain fart or cascading malfunction due to mental illness(es)?

Yesterday I'm at the restaurant. The waitress brings me a large glass of unsweet tea. I set it down next to the ashtray and reach for the Sweet-N-Low.

I tear open the two packages of Sweet-N-Low and begin pouring them into the tea.

Except it's not the tea I'm pouring them into.

It's the ashtray.

They are half empty before I realize what I am doing. And yes, I was looking the whole time.

This is the problem with having a (self-diagnosed) mental illness -- you don't know when a goof is a brain fart like everyone has and when it's a symptom of a progressively-worsening disease.

In the end, I don't guess it matters, since I have no health insurance and couldn't do anything about it if it IS a new manifestation of my brain errors.

I just wish my brain problems would either go away or get bad enough that I no longer have the ability to notice them. They are embarrassing.

Blogdream.

I had my first dream about blogging Saturday night. Some guy had sent me a bill for 14 cents for (get this) linking to one of his articles.

I wish I remembered his name; I'd like to google him and see if he's a real person.

werenotafraid.com


Submit your own "I Am Not Afraid" here.

Friday, July 15, 2005

Be aware of these.






It IS Cow Awareness Day, after all.
Who comes up with these things, anyway?
(In the case of National Dairy Goat Awareness Week, it was the Gipper.)

Is that a euphemism?


Is that a euphemism?
Originally uploaded by Arkanssouri.
"Weenie Wraps"?

From my days as a supermodel . . .

I ran across these pics in an old box of photos yesterday. Yeah, the picture quality is not good, but what you have to keep in mind is that these were scanned off of these weird transparency things (Think picture-sized slides). I had to put a white sheet of paper behind them to get anything but blobs, and still had to fiddle with the picture properties. I did what I could.

I have several more from the same photo shoot as this one. Maybe someday when I'm not running low on flickr upload rations, I'll show you some more.

This one, where I'm shirtless, took the most work to even be visible.

You didn't know I used to be a supermodel, did you?

YES, they really are me!

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Bastille Day!


Today is Bastille Day!
What do the Village People have to do with Bastille Day, you ask?
In college, one of my friends, during a particularly dry romantic spell, decided that if he didn't have sex by Bastille Day, he was going to become bisexual to double his chances of getting a date.

Astute observation of the week.

Fundamentally, there is no difference between how eminent domain is practiced in America and how Robert Mugabe practices it in the "public interest" in Harare, Zimbabwe, to clear the capital of urban "blight," except that there is much more property here to bulldoze and hand over to political cronies than in Harare.


Full article here.

More eminent domain absurdity.

A simple "Closed for Business" or "Moving" sign would not do. Greg Lehman wanted people to know why he had to move his tattoo business, so he scrawled in black spray paint the words "eminent domain" and its definition all over his white East Side building.
...
But Lehman's very public civics lesson was short-lived as the city on Wednesday painted the soon-to-be-razed building. It is unclear how much the city spent cleaning up a building that will be demolished within weeks, but Lehman approved the cleanup after receiving a letter indicating that a city inspector would look into a complaint about graffiti at the property.



Full story here.

Eye On The Mysticists.

Pope Benny issues a fatwa on Harry Potter.

and

Billy Graham's daughter auditions for COPS and the Jerry Springer Show.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. - Evangelist Billy Graham's daughter was arrested
and charged with domestic abuse after witnesses told police she choked her
husband in a parking lot, authorities said.



These are the theocrats the Republicans want in charge?

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Keep your fingers crossed.



Story here.

"And then the proctologist went right up IN there!"

The Meeting.

The Mayor said he had been in contact with the state of Missouri and that Thayer is a fourth-class city and apparently fourth-class cities don't have the power to exercise eminent domain.

Of course, he COULD have picked up the phone (my number was on the letter to the council) and told me this ahead of time, saving everyone a bunch of time and saving me an embarrassing panic attack.

But he didn't.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Article E-Mailed From TheDay.com

At 7/12/2005 10:11:32 AM an article was sent to you from TheDay.com website by John Hutchison.

Click Here to view article

Kelo not over?

The Day newspaper and www.theday.com. Your News. Your Way. Your Day. For home delivery call (800)542-3354 or visit https://campus.theday.com/frm_subscribe.aspx

"Reinventing the Wheel"?

The Club for Growth noticed my little post on the Club for Property and asked why such a thing is needed when we already have a Club for Growth.

Here's a simple example -- the Kelo case. Here we have advocates for Growth at odds with advocates for Property. When growth and property are in conflict, on which side will the Club for Growth ally themselves?

We know on which side a Club for Property would stand.

Well tonight's the night . . .

... that I'm going to propose an ordinance banning eminent domain to the Thayer City Council.

Unfortunately, this seems to be shaping up to be one of those days when my thoughts go ping-ponging around the inside of my head. I hope I can keep my head together long enough to deliver the request and not go all ping-pongy on them.

Wish me luck.

Monday, July 11, 2005

Club For Property.

I think what the property rights people need to do is follow the model of the Club for Growth -- pool their resources and support the opponents of those who side with the Land Thieves.

Unfortunately, I don't even know where to begin to set up such an organization.

Outrageous.

Not only can the government take your property to give it to a private party, it doesn't even have to tell you about it until it's over.

Are we SURE the capitalists won the Cold War?

I'm adding Passaic NJ to Land Rustlers. Contact that city and tell them what you think, and whether or not you'll be doing business with any company in that particular city.

Saturday, July 09, 2005

Godhatesshrimp.com

Check it out here.

The sad thing is, I know a guy for whom this isn't a parody.

Okay, maybe this belongs over on fluffypuppies.blogspot.com . . .


. . . but c'mon, how am I supposed to resist something like THIS?

Am I my perfect match?

What does it mean when Yahoo sends me my own personals profile, telling me what a good match I am for me?

Another of my friends has a blog now.

Check out This Tiny Life.

Friday, July 08, 2005

Sam and Jeff


Sam and Jeff
Originally uploaded by SamSF.
I meant I'll quit right after this one.

But hey, Mr. Hanna. It's better than wondering what kind of cheese I am.

John,
emmental and proud.

New York subwaystation


New York subwaystation
Originally uploaded by Ed Mokum.
Okay, I'm getting a little out of hand.

I'll quit.

Milk


Milk
Originally uploaded by pleonasm.

Meat


Meat
Originally uploaded by pleonasm.

Arkanssouri joins the five-digit club.

No, that's not a reference to onanism.

Sometime yesterday, our Bravenet hit counter passed 10,000 hits.

So why does trafficestimate.com say this about the site:

RESULTS:
www.arkanssouri.blogspot.com
Estimate 41,956,000 visits in the previous 30 days.

?

And how do I get a hit counter that reflects THEIR number?

Thursday, July 07, 2005

Comment spammer doesn't like the taste of his own medicine.

Story here.


No banners. No pop-ups. No kidding.
Make My Way your home on the Web - http://www.myway.com

Terror hits the Mother Country.

- President George W. Bush, Sept. 20, 2001.



God save our gracious Queen,
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen!
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us;
God save the Queen!

O Lord our God arise,
Scatter her enemies
And make them fall;
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Thee our hopes we fix,
God save us all!

Thy choicest gifts in store
On her be pleased to pour;
Long may she reign;
May she defend our laws,
And ever give us cause
To sing with heart and voice,
God save the Queen!

Not in this land alone,
But be God's mercies known,
From shore to shore!
Lord make the nations see,
That men should brothers be,
And form one family,
The wide world over.

From every latent foe,
From the assassins blow,
God save the Queen!
O'er her thine arm extend,
For Britain's sake defend,
Our mother, prince, and friend,
God save the Queen!

Lord grant that Marshal Wade
May by thy mighty aid
Victory bring.
May he sedition hush,
And like a torrent rush,
Rebellious Scots to crush.
God save the Queen!

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Rousing the rabble.

I'm scheduled to speak the the Thayer City Council at 7:00 PM July 12th, where I will deliver the following request.



Good evening, Councilmembers.

First, I'd like to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is John Hutchison and I've been living here in Thayer for five years. I am a full-time caregiver for my mother, and we jointly own a house.

The reason I've requested time at this meeting is this -- as you know, last month the United States Supreme Court drastically expanded the power of local governments to take property from private owners through eminent domain in the Kelo case. Now, not only can private property be seized to build a park or a road, but also to give to another, more wealthy property owner to increase property taxes paid on the property.

This is just wrong.

One of the few options we have left to protect property rights is through local government action. You have the unique opportunity to strengthen the rights of property owners within the city limits of Thayer. So I am asking you either to enact an ordinance yourselves, or to place it on the ballot for the next regularly-scheduled election.

I have gone over several suggestions with a fine-toothed comb, and have come to the conclusion that the simplest is the best. If enacted, the ordinance would read:

The City of Thayer shall not initiate eminent domain proceedings against any property.

Now, it may be that you as the City Council do not intend to exercise this power anyway, in which case you would not be giving up anything with this ordinance. But consider this, at some point in the future, there will be different Councilmembers. You have the opportunity to help them stay on the straight and narrow and respect the property rights of future generations.

There was a time when eminent domain was a necessary evil. People didn't like it, but were willing to tolerate it as long as it was for true public use and was not abused. With last month's ruling, however, that time has passed. The door to abuse has swung wide open for land to be seized for Pfizer instead of parks. You can stop this from happening here.

Thank you for your time and your consideration of this matter.


Anyone have any suggestions for improvements?

Saturday, July 02, 2005

Something is infinitely wrong with this concept.

Spring Break in Sturkie Arkansas

Seven things to know about Spring Break in Sturkie Arkansas.

1. College-age men and women flocked to the beach to seek fun in the sun as well as love and romance.

2. What is Spring Break without risking life and limb for good stories to keep from Mom and Dad? Nothing but an extended lunch hour, that's what.

3. Well-to-do female students would travel to all male schools in the efforts to mix the sexes and to cure the rigors of academic life.

4. We don't care what is Spring Break.

5. Some Drink themselves into unconsciousness opening themselves up to the calls of the god of earthly pleasures.

6. Fake tanning is very unhealthy, so hit a makeup counter and ask about the best in sunless tanning options. You can't get burned, and your skin will always be thankful for "Spring Break-Sturkie!"

7. Celebrate the return of spring by drinking and dancing in honor of the Dionysus (Greek) and Bacchus (Roman).



Web page here.

One does not build sandcastles in the Antarctic. One does not go swimming in the Painted Desert. And one does not flock to the beach in Sturkie, Arkansas.

Oh My!

I was commenting on my friend Mr. Whited's post on a fisking, making a smartass comment about a shirt I saw once that said "Gone Fisting."

And I ran across this.

I want one.

Congratulations Oakland CA! Your city has just been named

to the Landrustlers Wiki, for engaging in eminent domain to steal people's property!

I can't speak for the rest of the private property rights crowd, but needless to say, *I* won't be spending any money in Oakland, not even buying anything from companies BASED in Oakland.



=======================
Take a look at my blogs. They are:
http://arkanssouri.blogspot.com/
and
http://soulnanners.blogspot.com/


No banners. No pop-ups. No kidding.
Make My Way your home on the Web - http://www.myway.com

Go Fourth and Multipy.

See you all Tuesday.

Sister site to Landthieves.

http://landrustlers.wikispaces.org/

Friday, July 01, 2005

It's not Rehnquist.



Sandy, not Willie, retires.

This page was forwarded to you from the My Way Web site (www.myway.com)

From:John the Blogmaster.

URL:

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050701/D8B2LG5G0.html

Pssst! President Bush! Ron Paul! Nominate Ron Paul! Or maybe Zell Miller.

No, not Zell Miller. Ron Paul! Ron Paul! Maybe Grover Norquist.

No, not Grover Norquist. Ron Paul! Ron Paul!


New London city council meeting.

Tuesday, the New London city council is to have its first meeting since the Kelo decision.

Here is a list of the New London city council members. Let them know how you feel about the decision, whether you would be more likely or less likely to send any of your dollars to New London because of it, etc. Maybe there still time to get them to abandon this evil course of action.

Jason Catala
476 Ocean Ave
New London, CT 06320-4520
Map here.
Phone:(860)447-3848
Email: Jason_CatalaBOE@yahoo.com

Margaret Mary Curtin
314 Ocean Avenue
New London, CT 06320
Map here.
Phone: (860) 443-0373
Email: pegcurtin@snet.net

Gerard J. Gaynor
310 Montauk Ave
New London, CT 06320-4722
Map here.
Phone: (860)443-6346
Email: Gjgdeacon@aol.com

Robert Pero
35 Dart St
New London, CT 06320
Map here.
Phone: (860)447-2723
Email: pero6_98@yahoo.com

Elizabeth Sabilia
415 Pequot Ave
New London, CT 06320
Map here.
Phone: (860)437-8013
Email: Sabilia@sdwllc.com





[Update: It seems the Castle Coalition has the same idea. They also give the Mayor and developer, but they don't give you maps to their houses! :)]

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