What is Better?

The nation that prevents people from helping their neighbors or the place that rewards such behavior? To sum up, in Doncaster, GB, three people burned to death while police watched and detained volunteers who wanted to rescue the then-living fire victims! In Colorado Springs, USA, two people were hailed by the fire department as heroes when they saved two people from a burning house. The COSFD is looking for a third person that they would also like to thank publicly.

Okay, what's going on here? What's the difference between these two cultures and governments? I like Great Britain and revel in many aspects of their culture, the culture that spawned the one that I now enjoy and defend. But what happened to them? What happened to the plucky people that stood fast against the Armada, Napoleon, and Hitler? What happened to the place that gave us the SAS and the Royal Lifeboat Service Institution? Take your country back from these bastards who now run it, Great Britain! 

And here in the USA, don't get complacent. How many times have we heard of rising government idiocy here? Look across the Atlantic if you want to see the future, when bravery and service to your fellow man will be forbidden by swarms of police. This is our fate if we do not turn back.

Be brave, help your neighbors, and let nothing stop you. I think I would have tried to brawl with those police to make a gap so the rest could get through. Even if I failed and went to jail, I'd have done the right thing.

READ THE BLOODY THING!

Read this before you criticize the state of Arizona. You want cliff's notes? Sorry, I haven't gotten to it yet.

Back to Work

Not that he ever left, but PO1 Huertas has been cleared. This means that he can continue to do his job, which, by the way, is to protect you by killing or capturing terrorists and others who'd do you harm. Let us hope that his comrades are also cleared. These men are soldiers, not constables. They deal with people who kill Americans. Don't expect them to use kid gloves.

This is a surreal world I find myself in, and I wonder when (not if) the day will come when I get in trouble for doing my job. Until that day... I'll just keep on doing what needs to be done.

For crying out loud: an SUV that rolls over

The Lexus GX 460 is a monster car. It's huge. It's heavy. It's an SUV. So uh... why is ANYONE surprised that it can roll?

This is madness. High ground clearance = higher center of gravity = easier to roll. Duh. So don't drive it like a Mini.

I saw some of videos of what it took to roll that thing on flat pavement. Anyone who drives any SUV, truck, van, or crossover like that gets what's coming to them. I guess it's just that today, in this era of "it's not MY fault", car companies have been forced to save us from our own stupidity. I bet I could kill myself in my own car if I tried hard enough. That is not in any way the fault of VW. It's my fault, and I submit that 99% of people that roll SUVs were doing something they should not have been. I've seen how people drive them, as I said, like Minis. You want a car that doesn't roll? Go buy a Lotus or settle down and drive like a sane person. Leave the makers out of it. That means you too, CR. SUVs roll. Maybe you should just put that in your buying guide OR do a uniform test to see how fast a car can take a cloverleaf before it rolls.

For further reading: A Nice Morning Drive. Man, this guy has some insight into the human mind.

Perish the Thought

I never thought I'd say this, not as long as I live. Everyone, especially you who debated with so energetically in poli-sci so many years ago... I miss President Clinton.

I miss the guy that, while he lacked the balls to do much about it, at least called brutal dictators what they were. I miss the guy that launched cruise missiles instead of appeasements. I miss the guy that was my ideological opponent, but still was somewhat sane in a fiscal sense.

Good 'ol Billy, 42nd president of the USA. I'd trade him in a second for the madman we have now.

R.I.P.