Pocket Stuff

The Desert Defender disclosed what he carries in his pockets.  Here’s what I carry:

- chap stick
- comb
- keys
- pocket knife (4 inch lock blade)
- wallet
- phone (AT&T 8525)

I used to carry a little .32, but that’s illegal and whatnot. 

How about you?

She Shoots, She Scooooooores

Tonight, our 10-year-old short and sweet daughter scored her first-ever basket during a basketball game. Almost as exciting as the basket was the amazing reaction from her teammates and the crowd.

Way to go, Kid #2!!

(Not an actual photo of our child, but if she were animated, she would look like this kid from the movie Bolt.)

Amusing Letter

This is entertaining. 

3 school candidates as scary as Schlafly

   I thought Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum was one of the scariest anti-progressive organizations ever, alongside the wacko John Birch Society. I’m reading “The Family” by Jeff Sharlet. It’s a hard read; if you thought Joe McCarthy was a nut (as I did) when he looked everywhere for communists, then “The Family” is the book for you.

   The fundamentalist “Christian” movement is under every rock (and bed) and behind every tree. Their goal is to have “cells” in every congressional district and most countries in the world with influential members in high places. Including former presidents, senators, congressmen, big-name religious leaders and movie stars. Their idea is “this ruling class of Christ-committed men bound in a fellowship of the anointed, the chosen, key men in a voluntary dictatorship of the divine” (page 91) are to control the world.

   There are three candidates for School Board closely associated with the Eagle Forum. They scare me as much as Phyllis Schlafly.

   Now, as someone vilified by Owen Robinson in his blog when I wrote a letter supporting the schools over a year ago, I urge your support for the incumbents, Kathy Van Eerden and Lynn Corazzi, in the School Board primary on Feb. 16.

   Barbara Landis, West Bend

Wow.  Paranoid much?  I’m not sure where Ms. Landis gets it that three of the board candidates are “closely associated with the Eagle Forum.”  All of the candidates responded to a questionnaire that the Eagle Forum sent them.  Responding to a questionnaire is now evidence of being associated?  I’m sure that our commenters here on B&S are flattered to know that they are now “closely associated” with the proprietors of this blog.  

I also find it amusing that Ms. Landis mentions that I vilified her a year ago before making her recommendation.  Does the fact that I vilified her mean that her opinion is somehow more accurate or should carry more weight?  Curious power I have here.

Woman Shoots Son

This story raises all sorts of questions. 

A 21-year-old man whose mother shot him in the groin Thursday night told police he was trying to be funny by wearing a ski mask and pretending to rob her, but investigators aren’t necessarily buying his story, a Milwaukee police spokesman said Friday.

Police are trying to determine if the man was actually trying to rob his 37-year-old mother, Sgt. Mark Stanmeyer said.

The man said he pretended to rob his mother behind their house in the 3700 block of N. 13th St. as she returned from shopping about 9 p.m., according to a statement from the Police Department.

His mother drew a .357-caliber revolver and fired several shots, hitting her son at least twice, the statement says.

[...]

The woman surrendered to the first officers on scene. The gun’s serial number had been obliterated, according to the police statement.

Yeah, I don’t buy the son’s story either. 

Kudos to the woman for taking her personal security seriously.  I don’t have any issue with the fact that she shot a guy in a ski mask who was attempting to rob her.  She has a right to defend herself.  Of course, the obliterated serial number raises an eyebrow, but it isn’t illegal to scratch up your own gun and the ownership of the gun isn’t in question.  Here in Wisconsin, she has committed a crime by carrying the gun in the first place, but I suspect it would be difficult to get any jury to convict her given the circumstances.

Whiskey Update

They found it!

Five crates of whisky and brandy belonging to polar explorer Ernest Shackleton have been recovered after being buried for more than 100 years under the Antarctic ice, explorers said Friday.

The spirits were excavated from beneath Shackleton’s Antarctic hut which was built in 1908.

“To our amazement we found five crates, three labelled as containing whisky and two labelled as containing brandy,” said Al Fastier of the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust, who previously believed there were only two crates.

Week In Review

I’ll be on WPR this morning from 0800-0900.  Tune in!