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Contact Me
Tell me how much DC blows.

So, is a mention in Slate enough to get me posting more regularly?

Perhaps.
posted by Jimmy 4:50 AM

ANAGRAMMER

Agity's havin' a good ol time with the Anagram site. Just in case you're curious:

Bradley Gittern = Liberty Dragnet (or Tenderly Grab It)
posted by Jimmy 1:40 PM

LEGISLATE THIS, BEATCH!

Skipper's got an interesting take on things - might it actually be a positive that legislators are piddling around, debating banal issues like banning cell phones at public performances? Excerpt:

[A]s I see it, the more time these folks spend on irrelevant measures (that the police are unlikely to serious enforce), the less time they have to mount a serious attack on individual rights.

Of course, he may be wrong. All of these little stabs at liberty may add up to a gradual downward spiral towards statism. But what if he's right? Perhaps this is a creative strategy for us to bog down government. Take this scenario:

We enlist a mob of conspirators to write their legislators about a number of issues that are simply useless. We have ballot drives for initiatives that do very little. We impede the big-govies by creating endless debates on trivial legislation. In the end, they would be so mired in minutia, they wouldn’t have the time to do any real damage.

This reminds me a bit of the popular 90’s mantra that voters prefer divided government – that gridlock keeps bureaucrats from doing much, which is a good thing. Well, the media doesn’t address this as much now, since the government is less divided than it has been in some time. But that doesn’t mean that this is an outdated concept.

In The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein, the revolutionaries take all of the people who want to tell people how to run their lives and put them in a room with an ineffectual leader to debate how to add new laws. They encourage them to debate meaningless issues. Then, when the windbags are too tired to keep blowing, the real leaders step in and pass a Declaration of Independence.

Probable? No. Possible? Maybe. Skippy may just have a point. Let’s do it.

posted by Jimmy 11:29 AM

FAT CHANCE

Eric Peters with a swell opinion piece in the WaTi on how it is intellectually inconsistent to be for ticketing people for not wearing seatbelts without being for ticketing people for being fat. It does seem sensible that if you are for laws against self-destructive behaviors, you should be against more than just smoking and riding a motorcycle without a helmet. More people die of obesity-related health problems than non-seat-belt-wearing-accidents. So call your Congessmen, nanny-staters, and start your campaign to fine the fat.

posted by Jimmy 8:48 AM

FRIDAY FLETCH

So our friendly neighborhood commonwealth is reigning in its mattress police. You would think code tangerine might make them reconsider the whole concept. But no, they’re simply refocusing the tag cops on black-market mattresses at flea markets and the like.

Reminds me of that scene from Fletch. I’ll post it for your pleasure:

MAN
Get up.
FLETCH
The door was unlocked.
MAN
Lock's busted.
FLETCH
No wonder.
MAN
I work for the landlord. He told
me to watch out for the place.
FLETCH
I commend him on his choice.
MAN
What?
FLETCH
I commend him on his choice
FLETCH
I was supposed to meet Mrs. Cavanaugh.
MAN
Who are you?
FLETCH
Don Corleone. I'm a cousin of Mrs. Cavanaugh's.
FLETCH
Where is she?
MAN
Moved out.
FLETCH
She moved out?
FLETCH
I spoke to her last week. She didn't say anything.
MAN
She moved out.
FLETCH
So you're saying she moved out.
MAN
This morning.
FLETCH
This morning? Christ. We had so much to talk about.
Moe Green is out of the Tropicana, and my sons, Michael
and Fredo, are taking over.
MAN
What did you want under the bed?
FLETCH
Mattress police. There are no tags on the mattress.
I'm going to have to take you downtown. Please give
me your weapon.
MAN
I'm calling the cops. This is for the cops.
FLETCH
I'm her cousin.
MAN
Tell the cops.
FLETCH
Go ahead. Call them. Better tie
your shoelaces first.

posted by Jimmy 8:18 AM

EAT YOUR GREENS

We must protect these lions - especially that one coming towards me. They are in great dangerrrrrrakakk,,,ksk,
posted by Jimmy 9:35 AM

FLEXIBLE AND IMMOVABLE!

Tony Bullock, spokesman for Mayor Williams has a beautiful DCism in the WaTi:

[Y]ou are not going to see our government participate in a government-sponsored voucher program. Once you have moved past that immovable position, we are really flexible about school choice


posted by Jimmy 8:02 AM

HOWITZER, YES. 9MM, NO.

I get a kick out of unintended consequences. As California soldiers are shipped off, they are barred from buying personal backup weapons. Why? Their orders are to ship out sooner than the 10 days of waiting period required for purchasing a handgun.


posted by Jimmy 6:23 AM

JUS AD BELLUM

Poking around on the United States Institute of Peace's site, I found an interesting little section on just war. Putting aside the irony that 2 out of 4 were pro-war on a site with 'peace' in the name, I enjoyed reading it. A morsel from theologian George Hunsinger:

[T]he doctrine of preemption, if activated, portends a descent into international barbarism.
posted by Jimmy 11:26 AM

STUDENT ESSAYS MAKE THE WORLD A SAFER PLACE

Interesting budget item I noticed over at Skippy's place: Bush's FY2004 Budget includes "$17,200,000 for the United States Institute of Peace, which "strengthens the Nation's capacity to promote peaceful resolution of international conflicts," by, among other means, conducting a "national student essay contest." What

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. What else might promote peace? Might there be a cheaper way? A more effective way? HOW ABOUT NOT PREEMPTIVELY BOMBING OTHER COUNTRIES?!?

just a thought.



posted by Jimmy 11:12 AM

ROLL CALL

Good love from the blogroll:

Agity on McCain’s big-gov-love here and here.

Bangy with a sweet idea for the Ivory Coast.

Benny documenting John Kerry’s flip-flop on taxing dividends.

Christie answers an annoying question from an article by J. Garofalo, something I had meant to do but forgot.


posted by Jimmy 5:07 AM

LONG TIME NO BLOG

Will get to binnis soon.
posted by Jimmy 4:50 AM

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