Meeeee

Scooter Libby and his ridiculous sentence

So I'm going over the news and notice that Scooter Libby has been sentenced to thirty months.

OK - so he's busted and will have a rough time in the near future.

The problem is that part of his sentence comes from something he wasn't charged with, wasn't a fact admitted to evidence (in fact, the prosecutor specifically fought to keep it from being brought into evidence!), and wasn't established as a criminal act!

So let me see if I understand this correctly...if I get convicted of the crime of...say...stealing cars, and they decide that I've stolen more cars than I've been proven to have stolen, they can enhance my sentence? That's illegal and wrong!

Our country is slipping.

Badly.

To this slippage I say:

"Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the people's liberty's teeth."
-George Washington

"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can excercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it."
-Abraham Lincoln

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
-Abraham Lincoln

"We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution."
-Abraham Lincoln

"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."
-Thomas Jefferson

"Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."
-Thomas Jefferson

Something needs to be done about the garbage we've been seeing of late. My suggestion is to vote out every incumbent in every office in every election until things start working the way they should...AS A WHOLE. I don't give a crap if the incumbent 'tried' to fix things...fix them or get out.

-Bart

Murder, war, and The Bible

The Bible tells us, 'Thou Shalt Not Kill'. I have been told on more than one occasion that the more direct translation is, 'Thou Shalt Not Murder', which is a significantly different word with vastly different meaning than the first. It allows for killing in self defense, in war, and other situations as well.

It is because of that difference, that I have started to think that Mafia style gang wars do not qualify as murder in a Biblical sense. When these laws were written on the stone tablets, groups as small as families and tribes and as large as nations would go to war with each other. If families back then could go to war with each other, can no families today also go to war with each other? I submit that war was accepted as being a declaration of armed hostilities between two recognizable groups, and that functions of violence between them would not amount to murderous behavior. To commute that to modern terms, the current day crime organizations account as a confederation of people that can in fact declare war against each other and also act as a small scale governing body for the members. Furthermore, they can be said to be at war with our current government, as they have differing goals and are regularly in direct conflict with one another.

So, is a gangland killing a murder? I don't think it is in a Biblical sense, though it almost certainly is in a legal sense.

-Bart

Tommy the Soldier

Clearly we've come a long way in our respect and honor of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines, but we're also a bit lacking in our appreciation of them as well. Why are the salaries so pathetic that a corporal with two children qualifies for food stamps? Why are the retirement benefits being squeezed so much that it is detrimental to dedicate twenty or thirty years of your life to the service of one's country? Why are people who are disabled from combat or retired with a medical discharge being granted such pathetic monies for their sacrifice?

It is because of these questions I have that the poem that follows is in fact my favorite poem:

Tommy
By Rudyard Kipling

I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer
The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:
O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away"
But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play
O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me!
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls
But when it comes to fightin', Lord! They’ll shove me in the stalls!
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside"
But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide
The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide
O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.

Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap!
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll
O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.

We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints
While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind"
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind
O it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind.

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please
An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!

My desktop...

I was asked what images I use on my desktop. Well, here they are:

Monitor 1:
























Monitor 2:























Yes - I own the originals for both images. :P

/Sub

My chosen character portrait.

Belkar. :)