Smoking Mom Worries About Noise

 Yup, that’s right.  Mom-to-be Mellisa Williamson is concerned the noise from near-by construction will be harmful to her unborn child.  Apparently the cigarette smoke has already killed off way too many of her brain cells to connect the dots to the obvious.

Stupidity Scores Again

Only in the United States do we issue permits to carry concealed firearms and then file felony charges against a 5th grader for using a steak knife to cut her lunch.  That’s right, a 10 year old girl was suspended for 10 days, arrested and charged with a felony for using a steak knife to cut her lunch (oddly enough, steak).  The school district says they had “no choice”.  Hmm, and they complain that students take no personal responsibility, where would they ever learn this?  Ok, from their parents, but next in line would be a gutless administration that apparently can not interject common sense into any ruling they issue.

Jason Whitlock

Jason Whitlock’s article about Sean Taylor’s death is one of the best opinion articles I have read in a while.  Insightful?  Yes.  True?  Yes.  But still not an article most of America could have written.  The fact is a call that degrades and insists that a group of people do better will only have meaning if someone from that group says it. 

Mortgage Darwin Awards

Apparently the philosophy in the United States is that if one person does something stupid they must take personal responsibility for it, but if a chunk of the population does something stupid, we must all pay.  At least that’s how it seems now.  We all get emails with the latest “Darwin Award” for the person that made the dumbest mistake and paid for it with their life – this is meant to amuse and entertain us.  You hear about a few people who make ridiculous investments and lose everything, and you think, why did they do that?  But when less than 1% of the U.S. population “invests” in sub-prime mortgage loans, apparently we reward them.  According to this article we are working hard to make sure the poor decisions made by a few to over-buy on homes by using sub-prime ARMs are rewarded by freezing their interest rate.  The rest of us saw the disclosures and what would happen when the rates increased, so we took the traditional 15, 30 (and sometimes 40) year fixed rates, knowing that the rate may be higher now, but in the long run would be smarter.  We were right!  But guess what, those that took the poor choice and managed to hang on until now, they will reap the rewards.  How is this any different than the age old ploy used by credit cards.  Dangle a low introductory rate, then jack up the interest rate.  Always aimed at people with less than pristine credit, resulting in disasterous results for many of them.  Now the mortgage industry played the same game, with oddly enough similar results, but instead of saying, “you got into it, you get out of it” we have now apparently decided to reward them, freeze their interest rate and let the other 99% of the mortgage paying population who made the smart decision, be the losers.

Winds Begin To Die Down, Not Criticisms

As I watch the coverage of the California the inevitable began:

1. Global Warming: On the Senate floor, Majority Leader Harry Reid…One of the reasons we have the fires burning in California is because of Global Warming…[audio here via Townhall.com]

2. George Bush: Huffington Post wants to be sure all blame is sent to Bush with as many references to Katrina as possible.

3. Iraq War/Bush: Again, a Senator , (D) Sen-Barbara Boxer blames the Bush administration and the Iraq war. If the National Guard wasn’t stretched so thin, then there would have been twice as much equipment and personal to fight the fire.

The truth is, one of the fires was an act of…arson .

I’m sure there will be evidence that more of the 16 current fires will be linked to arson as well. The current state of things:

5 people killed, 1500 homes destroyed, 665 square miles, 1 million people forced from homes [stats from Fox News]

Prediction: Senators, House Rep’s, and The HuffPo will continue to blame the Bush administration.

This time, unlike Katrina, the competence of the Governor and local authorities is directly linked to number of lives saved.

Pirate Attacks On The Rise

The article, on Fox News, says that pirate attacks have risen by 14% worldwide?

…A total of 198 attacks on
ships were reported between January and September this year, up from
174 in the same period in 2006, the IMB said.

…It said a total of 15 vessels were hijacked, 63 crew kidnapped and three killed. [via Fox News]

How many BAD ‘Jack Sparrow’ impersonators are there in Malaysia?

What is the ratio of ‘Jack Sparro’s’ to ‘Elvis’s’?

198 attacks on a total of 15 vessels?

How often was the SAME ship attacked? Hijacked must be the keyword.

IMB’s recommendation was for ships to stay as far off the shore as possible… Is that because the pirates are on dinghies?

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Top 5 Vaccinations Needed Before Attending A NASCAR Race

The House Homeland Security Committee organized a study of emergency preparedness at large venues. Before sending aides to the races they were advised to be vaccinated.

Top 5 Vaccinations

5. Hepatitis A
4. Hepatitis B
3. Tetanus
2. Diphtheria
1. Influenza

These are common before traveling to a third world country.

I wonder if Rep. Bennie Thompson was vaccinated… before sticking his foot in mouth… he was probably more worried about the other feet that will be inserted in, or elsewhere.