This is where I rant about all the stuff that pisses me off but that I don't feel like doing a whole page on with research and whatnot...
I'm glad that the U.S. Government has finally solved all of the problems that face it and now has time to take a little boy away from his father. I guess I can understand why the family here wants to keep him here, but his father wants him and his grandparents want him and it seems pretty clear to me that he should go back to him. Unless the U.S. Government wants to turn into the good parent police and pick and choose which parents get to keep which kids.
Update: Elian is back home with his father, like he should be. Rather than trying to protect one boy from having to return to Cuba, maybe we can focus on Cuba as a whole. Perhaps if we allow trade and travel things might improve.
I drive in rush hour traffic every day. And one thing that really pisses me off is when people wait until the last minute to get over into a lane that's backed up. This is not only rude to the people who have been waiting in line it's dangerous to stop in a moving traffic line. These people often drive along the shoulder to shove their way into traffic. Anyway... I keep praying for an 18-wheeler to come along and scrape these people off the road, though I guess being an asshole shouldn't carry the death penalty.
Okay, the Millenium ends at the end of the year 2000. This is a mathematical fact which is derived from the fact that our calender has no year 0. This is not a matter of opinion or debate. Now, I have no problem whatsoever with people having big celebrations for the beginning of the year 2000. I think it's great that the whole world celebrated one day together. In fact, it's great to have two parties, one for the year 2000 and one for the Millennium. My biggest problem is probably with how the press has treated the whole thing. Despite the fact that most major news organizations carried stories that explained the real end of the Millennium, they still wrote articles and lists like the Millennium ended at the end of 1999. So they continually and deliberately and knowingly perpetuated a clear factual error because they thought the people would like it. That really makes me wonder what other "facts" they report to suit the readers. Of course, I already know how bad reporting is having read articles written about things I already know about. I'm just appalled at the magnitude of the problem. Oh well, so much for News and Information and hello infotainment.
You may have noticed that my name is Bolie Williams IV. Many people who write databases for tracking people have fields for first name and last name. Some even have fields for middle name or middle initial. What they almost never has is a field for the number after the name. This may sound trivial, but my father, Bolie Williams III, is alive and well and lives in Houston and works at the same company I work at. I have also shared addresses with him on several occasions. That little, unimportant number is one of the only differences in our identities. Of course, banks could use social security number, but they apparently ignore them, mixing our accounts up with ease (and impunity since I have no recourse that I know of). Anyway, I always put the IV on the end of my name and I get sorted out of order so customer service reps sometimes can't find me among the Williams's... I'm listed at the end, with the other Williams IV's (heh). And now, my wife gets my last name, sometimes, so she's Candice Williams IV. Sheesh.
Update: I recently received an insurance card for my daughter, Laura Rose Williams IV. Sigh.
I'm glad that a bunch of rich guys are now going to get richer in Houston and I'm glad to be able to help them out with my taxes. We're helping build stadiums and giving incentives to teams and owners to move here. All this so that the city of Houston will have all kinds of additional business. Because, of course, sports teams just attract lots of out of town visitors. I mean, everyone goes all over the country to watch teams elsewhere. Yeah, right. If it's so profitable that these guys are willing to saturate us with ads, then let them pay for it. I don't see how this is going to line my pocket. I work in the oil industry which isn't going anywhere whether or not Houston has a football team. My wife is a teacher and the city has been growing just fine without a team and I doubt she'll suddenly get paid more just because we have a football team. In fact, tax money is going to a stadium. If we want more tax money to go to schools, I guess we have to raise taxes or un-fund something else, like Metro or the police. I don't care whether we have a team or not, I just don't want to pay for it with my tax money.
As far as paying for it goes, I keep hearing that we'll not have additional taxes, we'll just use existing money. Oh, gee... that money that was sitting around collecting dust? Or could it have been used for something else... like improving roads or schools? Of course, they'd probably use it to pay for more light rail, but that's a different rant.
Okay, let's build an inflexible, expensive transport system in a city with a very low population density. Forget about those lousy buses that can be rerouted on demand and stop frequently on streets and don't result in rail lines blocking up the city. And the route!? From the medical center to downtown? I guess downtown workers need to be able to get to the doctor and doctors need to be able to head downtown and get to the bank or the post office.
It's all about punishment and revenge. Great. 'Cause you know, killing another person makes it all better. I mean, just watch as the victims come back to life and the survivors' trauma just evaporates. Oh, wait... none of those things happen. Of course, killing criminals makes sense given that our prison system is geared towards (and legally charged with) punishment and not rehabilitation. Why bother helping criminals become productive members of society when we can punish them so we can feel better. Of course, when they get out of prison, they just become criminals again, but who cares? We can just punish them again. And then, eventually, kill them.
My biggest problem with the death penalty is that you can't undo it. Now, if our court system were infallable, then maybe it would be more justifiable. But it's not and people are wrongfully convicted. If you kill them, you can't undo it.
Some of the death row inmates end up rehabilitating themselves, becoming better people who have true remorse and who go on to do good things. But who cares if they've reformed and are better people now. We don't want to forgive, let's get revenge!
So, George, if you never did cocaine, just tell us. If you DID do cocaine, though, then put your money where your mouth is and do the time you so ardently push for others in your war on drugs. You support stiff prison terms for first time offenders and one-time users. You don't support forgiving anyone, yet you think that you should be forgiven your youthful indiscretions? You make me sick. Again, if you come clean, then fine. You're not a hypocrite. But see my above rant on Prison and the Death Penalty.
This leads to another one of my soapboxes. "Zero Tolerance"? Our whole legal system is designed to let guilty people free rather than convict innocent people. Also, zealously jailing every one who does, has, or is caught near drugs just creates more criminals by making more ex-cons and criminals out of people who might otherwise just do some drugs and harm no one. Or who might do drugs once and never again. But, oops! There's the police... it's jail for you. Oh, you have no record, it was just one joint... too bad! What, that murderer got probation? But he wasn't on drugs! Sheesh. And we subsidize tobacco, a drug more addictive than many of the "evil" drugs. I wonder how many of these anti-drugs zealots smoke cigarettes or cigars. Hypocrites! I won't even discuss alcohol... I guess everyone forgot prohibition and how well it worked...
You'll have to forgive the ellipses. I had some extra .'s