Gonzo is gone

I would have never expected Hunter S. Thompson to kill himself. Never. Seems that in the end, he didn't have the courage to keep on going. He must have had terrible anguish. It's such a shame.

Hen

History Lesson - Pay Attention

I was watching the series on PBS about Slavery the other night. What really peaked my interest was an explanation about how Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina brutally beat Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts almost to death at the rear of the US Senate Chamber.

Brooks then quietly left the Senate chamber, leaving Sumner "as senseless as a corpse for several minutes, his head bleeding copiously from the frightful wounds, and the blood saturating his clothes." It took Sumner three years to recover from his injuries and return to his Senate seat. Brooks became a hero in the South. Merchants in Charleston, South Carolina, bought Brooks a new cane, inscribed, "Hit him again." A vote to expel Brooks from the House of Representatives failed because every Southern representative but one voted against expulsion. Instead, Brooks was censured. He promptly resigned his seat and was immediately reelected to Congress.

In the North, Sumner became a martyr to the cause of freedom. A million copies of Sumner's "Crime Against Kansas" speech were distributed. A young Massachusetts woman summed up popular feeling in the North, condemning Brook's assault with these words: "If I had been there I would have torn his eyes out and so I would now if I could."

What's my point? Nothing has changed in politics except that we are more "civil" now, lol, using words to beat and bludgeon rather than actual physical attacks.

Wouldn't you just love to see a real free-for-all break out on the Senate floor?

Hen

Puff away!

Smokers who want to light up outdoors in San Francisco's parks and attractions are breaking the law. San Francisco supervisors have passed the nation's most comprehensive clamp down on smoking. No smoking in all city-owned parks, public plazas and sports facilities except golf courses.

People caught smoking in any of the places where the new law applies can be fined up to $100 on first offense, $200 for a second violation within the same year and $500 for each additional violation.

Of course, the dragon San Francisco wants to fend off is the absurd idea of secondhand smoke.

Science writer Michael Fumento has discussed how the threat of secondhand smoke has been greatly exaggerated. Claims that secondhand smoke causes as many as 65,000 early deaths in the U.S. each year have been debunked as “junk science.” Studies by the Congressional Research Service, World Health Organization, and U.S. Department of Energy all failed to find secondhand smoke to be a significant health risk. In 1998, a U.S. District Court ruled against the Environmental Protection Agency’s attempt to classify secondhand smoke as a known human carcinogen.

The entire myth of the dangers of second hand smoke has been propagated by tax-financed professional anti-smoking activists.

It's kind of like the myth of global warming. Have you read The State of Fear? A real eye opener about how these anti-/pro- activist organizations make things happen for their good but not for the good of all.

Yes, I smoke. If I were in SF, I'd be in trouble for sure. because I wouldn't let that law stop me.

Hen

Who you calling crazy?

For those of you who don't know, the Vermont Teddy Bear Co. came out with a new teddy bear for Valentine's Day called Crazy for You bear. It came dressed in a straight jacket and a set of commitment papers.

Mental health advocates complained that it was disrespectful to the mentally ill and the insane. So the company stopped production of them (look on eBay to find them at inflated prices). If that wasn't crazy enough. Yesterday the president of the company has resigned from her post on the board of Fletcher Allen before the board tried to kick her out. Read about it here, if you like.

How silly is this world going to get? I'm crazy and it didn't offend me.

There's a word I'd like to see banned - offend.

What I don't understand is why the minority voices keep getting their way. Why in the heck should the majority keep having to kowtow to every knee jerk reaction from smaller groups? Why should we care about what they want?

Clucking Points

• New tax base: droopy pants wearing boyz talking on cell phones while not wearing seat belts. Now there's a cry that it's racist. "Del. Lionell Spruill Sr., D-Chesapeake said: “Don't do another thing to hurt black people. The measure could lead to racial profiling. The fashion trend is popular with young black males....This is going to be a bill that targets blacks. You know who they are going to stop.” While it is a ridiculous bill, I have to state the obvious - that the only people it targets are the ones wearing the offending clothes. And anyway, there are plenty o' white boyz wearing the same stuff.

• The Dummy's Guide to Illegal Migration http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/09/national/09guide.html?th

• Good for Rep. John Binienda of Worcester, MA http://www.thebostonchannel.com/newsarchive/4170596/detail.html

• I'm a little late with this one. "The new regulations say that working in the sex industry is not immoral any more, and so jobs cannot be turned down without a risk to benefits."

They May Not Like Bush

because he's a Christian, but they sure loved Clinton because of his cigar.

Go figure.

Hen

Clucking Points

These recent news "highlights" annoy me.

• Medicare is going to cover the price of Viagra.
• There is actually a bill called "Fetal/Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act ".
• Sudafed and other drugs like it may be restricted because it is used by some to make the illegal drug, meth.
• A new bible, Today's New International Version, came out geared to younger people but has been criticized for the way it has translated some of the words.
  
• Anything that came out of the mouth of Ted Kennedy.

There you have it.

Hen