Tag Outlawed and Ethanol's Effect on the Brown Cloud

Here are two articles that I do not have time to elaborate on right now, but still want to share:

First, a little blurb about a Colorado Springs school banning tag because it's too competitive. What kind of kids are we raising these days?

And second, an article about how the environmentally sensitive, no make that crappy, "E10" ethanolated gasoline may actually be hurting the atmosphere more than it is helping. Sounds like another case of the environmental wackos imposing their "solutions" on everyone without really knowing what it will effect.

I'll try to expand on these later.

Taking Voer!

Durring a discussion about what kind of type face would be appropriate for certain kinds of advertising, the following occured:

Melissa: the gowns, they are taking voer!

Matt: taking voer, nice

that's a fun word to say

"voer"

too bad it doesnt mean anything

Melissa: lol

Sent at 1:00 PM on Monday

Melissa: too bad

Sent at 1:09 PM on Monday

Melissa: add one letter and it becomes voyer tho...

An Open Letter to Congress, re: Alberto Gonzalez

Dear Congressional Democrats,

With regards to your recent treatment of Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, did you pass Civics class in high school? Or did you figure that you could skip out on that one since the current 18% Congressional approval rating must mean that you are, and always have been, smarter than everyone else?

Just for review, Mr Gonzalez was appointed to his position of Attorney General by President George W Bush, who is head of the Executive branch of the Federal government. Therefore, he works for George Bush. The eight other attorney’s who were fired were Federal Prosecutors, also appointed by George Bush, making him their boss as well. From this, we can infer that both Mr Gonzalez and the fired prosecutors both work in the Executive branch of the U.S. Government and answer to the President of the United States, serving "at the pleasure of the President." From there, it is not a difficult leap to say that, since they work for the President, they can be fired by the President. As far as I know of, there is no tenure system or bargaining union in place to protect the jobs of political appointment.

As for those of you who insist that Mr Gonzalez should have been more independent from the president and act accordingly, not follow the president's orders, need to recall that the Attorney General, even though he works in the court system, is not in the Judicial branch of government, and is therefore not subject to the checks and balances inherent in our separate branches of government.

You should be ashamed of your treatment of Mr Gonzalez and your treatment of the Bush Administration in general. The Attorney General did nothing wrong, immoral, or illegal. He acted according to his duties and his job description.

As far as the democrats in the U.S. Congress, if you would spend a little more time doing your job, which is legislating, and a little less time trying to sabotage George W Bush, your approval rating just might sneak above 20%. That is, until the public remembers that you don't accomplish anything that amounts to more than poorly disguised income redistribution when you do do your jobs.

Signed,

Matthew Thompson

Fort Collins, CO

Finally Friday!

This week, I spent 14.4 hours (that's 864 minutes!) in my work truck since 5 o'clock a.m. Monday morning.

How do I know that? Because of the only neat feature that this base-model 2005 Chevy pick-up has: an hour-meter!

I also drove about 650 miles in that time.

Any way you look at it, that is way too damn long for one week. And I'm just gonna have to do it again next week. And the week after. And...

BTW, the Picassa "BlogThis!" button rocks!

Australia gives up on parenting

The Australian government recently announced a $189 million, taxpayer funded plan to curb online porn. Does that seem like they are overstepping their bounds by just a little? Since when was it government's duty to keep my dirty little courser off of porn sites?

And even though that $189 million is Australian dollars, it's still a big ol' chunk of money that could probably be better spent.

To take it one step further, the Australian Parliament is evaluating a proposal that would impose jail time on anyone caught "trafficking" pornographic videos. And by trafficking, they mean possessing five or more.

What happened to the Australia that wasn't a socialist nanny-state?

The Treacherous High Seas of Bureaucracy

An English town council baned a boy, 6, from flying Jolly Roger at his pirate-themed birthday party - because it is 'unneighbourly'. His parents must apply for planning permission at a cost of £75, and then an assessment of the 5ft by 4ft flag's "impact" on the surrounding area of Stone, Staffordshire, will be undertaken.

Talk about overreaching government control. Having to pay $120 and waiting at least a month to see if you can fly your choice of flag in your own back yard seems a little ridiculous. However, I do know that many cities have codes concerning signage, banners, balloons, and the like, but I thought those were only concerning things that can be seen from a public thoroughfare.

Ahoy, maties! Run 'er up the flagpole, but just make certain ye pay the good councilpeople off first! Yarrr!

Elton John might be retarded

He apparently wants to "shut down the whole internet for five years and see what sort of art is produced over that span."

Although, it certainly couldn't hurt the quality of music being produced today.

Oi, my aching butt!

Chair that my butt does not agree with:(Crappy plastic folding chair)

Chair that retails for $528 that my butt likes quite a bit better, that I only paid $60 for (cuz it's used):

(HON Sensible Seating® Series Mid Back Pneumatic Dual-Action Synchro-Tilt, Swivel Chair with Arms)

My "new" office down at the Exempla Lutheran Medical Center jobsite came with a beat-up desk, the above folding chair, and a 140 mile-per-day drive.

Luckily, I went out and got the much nicer HON chair today on sale at Office Liquidators. My job sucks a little bit less now. :)