Sunday, April 29, 2012

"Don't Resist a Robber." Really?

Today's print edition of the WaPo's Loudoun Extra (a whopping 8 pages of mostly non-news) includes a story on what to do in the case of a home invasion.  In the article, Loudoun County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Liz Mills urges residents, "Don't resist a robber.  Your possessions are not worth your life.  Follow the robber's commands but don't offer assistance."

While I agree that your possessions are not worth your life, I completely disagree with the idea that you can trust a burglar to just take your stuff and leave you alone.  It seems like the more frequent result is that the burglars rape, murder or severely injure the residents.  I mean, heck, they aren't there to drop off a plate of cupcakes!  If it were me, I hope I'd fight like a bastard right down to groin kicks and eye scratching - and doing so to my dying breath.  I know I don't want to go down without a fight.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

NoVa: Love It or Hate It?

As a fifth-generation Californian, it took a good long while before I was willing to admit that I preferred living here to LA.  In fact, it took a solid 7 years before before the thought even crossed my mind (coincidentally, they say 7 years is the time it takes for all the cells in your body to be replaced).  That said, there are still some things I really, really hate about it.

Prompted by an article in Northern Virginia Magazine, 40 Reasons We Love NoVa, I decided to put together my own list of some pros and cons of living in northern Virginia.  There are others, and some may seem a bit contradictory, but here they are (below the fold):

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Defending Racism at All Costs

The University of Texas will pay Washington lawyers close to $1 million to defend the admissions preference it gives to white students in a case now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Oh, did I say a preference for white students?  Silly me.  That clearly would be illegal, wouldn't it?

But what's the difference really?  These preferences are nothing more than state-sanctioned racism, every bit as repugnant to the Constitution as segregated schools, beaches and buses. Just like Brown v. Board of Education overturned a century of  "separate but equal," it is time to end "affirmative action" programs that do nothing more than perpetuate racial and ethnic divisions in this country.

More about the case here.  Should be an interesting one, particularly with Justice Kagan recusing herself.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

NOW: The Real Whore

The National Organization for Women, which so fervently demanded the expulsion of Sen. David Vitter after he allegedly hired a prostitute, has said absolutely NOTHING about the Obama Secret Service's prostitution debacle in Columbia. Not a peep. How could that ever be with NOW sooooo very committed to ending violence and discrimination against women, particularly after the position they took on Sen. Vitter?

Could it be because they are really just the Democrats' little whores?

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Harry Reid Defends Junk Mail: We're Doing It for the Seniors

Just when you think the intellectual ability of our congressional leaders could not be any lower, they carve out a new basement.

This time, Harry Reid defend junk mail as a publicservice to senior citizens. From Real Clear Politics:

"I'll come home tonight here to my home in Washington and there'll be some mail there. A lot of it is what some people refer to as junk mail, but for the people who are sending that mail, it's very important," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) said on the Senate floor today. "And when talking about seniors, seniors love getting junk mail. It's sometimes their only way of communicating or feeling like they're part of the real world," he added.

You know, it actually explains a lot. Junk mail must be the only way Reid, 72 years old himself, manages to stay marginally connected to the real world.

Thatcher v. Obama


Great quote from Margaret Thatcher I offer in rebuttal to the class warfare sponsored by Barack Obama and his populist minions:

"There is nothing wrong in people wanting larger incomes. It would seem a worthy objective for men and women to wish to raise the standard of living for their families and to give them greater opportunities than they themselves had. I wish more people would do it. We should then have fewer saying ‘the state must do it.’ What is wrong is that people should want more without giving anything in return. The condition precedent to high wages and high salaries is hard work. This is a quite different and much more stimulating approach than one of keeping down incomes."