Pulp Fiction

I just saw an advert on AMC that they will be airing Pulp Fiction at some point in the future (see how much I pay attention?).  I like Pulp Fiction.  It’s a good flick.  I can’t, however, see how it can be viewed on normal television.  Given the extent of violence, cussing, and other no-nos in the movie, how can it be viewed with any justice on normal TV?  It would be like watching Blazing Saddles on regular TV nowadays.  The entrails are left in a pile in the woods and all that is left if a lifeless carcass of its former self.

Can’t Fix A Law that Isn’t a Law

So much for that idea.

The Senate Parliamentarian has ruled that President Barack Obama must sign Congress’ original health care reform bill before the Senate can act on a companion reconciliation package, senior GOP sources said Thursday.

The Senate Parliamentarian’s Office was responding to questions posed by the Republican leadership. The answers were provided verbally, sources said.

House Democratic leaders have been searching for a way to ensure that any move they make to approve the Senate-passed $871 billion health care reform bill is followed by Senate action on a reconciliation package of adjustments to the original bill. One idea is to have the House and Senate act on reconciliation prior to House action on the Senate’s original health care bill.

Information Republicans say they have received from the Senate Parliamentarian’s Office eliminates that option. House Democratic leaders last week began looking at crafting a legislative rule that would allow the House to approve the Senate health care bill, but not forward it to Obama for his signature until the Senate clears the reconciliation package.

BBC Looks at Open Carry in Wisconsin

Frequent commenter and rights defender, Nik Clark, is now internationally infamous (it’s BETTER than famous). 

Wisconsin Open Carry. Groups like this have been springing up all over the States in the last year and they’ve been making an impact in the last week or so, getting Starbucks in California to agree people should be allowed into their coffee shops carrying guns. The groups are made up of people who want to make a point about the Second Amendment right in the Constitution to bear arms, by bearing them openly. Some want to make a point and test whether or not private firms like shops and restaurants recognise that right.

The movement is slightly different in the state of Wisconsin where concealed guns are banned. Nick says wearing a gun in a visible holster is the only way he can carry a weapon legally and he wants others to be aware of their rights: he doesn’t want to confront but to convert.

“You have a right to self defence and open carry is a great deterrent. It’s about personal protection,” he says.

He’s a beefy guy, with bulging muscles, so I ask: Isn’t he rather intimidating when he’s armed as well?

“I’ve been open carrying for about a year and most people don’t notice, or some might make a comment. It’s a demonstration I am a law-abiding citizen, you have nothing to hide. Criminals never open carry.”

He says that his group respects property rights and if a shop doesn’t want their custom and they are asked to leave they are happy to do so: they don’t want to patronise that business. But he says most big companies know the law and have a policy that allows them to shop armed.

Kim says for her it is all about self protection: “I can guarantee if I am going to my car late at night and someone sees me carrying a gun they won’t make me a victim.”

But Nick says he is also making a point: “I want people to see me and have a level of comfort, to know that if they are out walking their dog it is OK to carry a gun, if they are walking to their car after work it is legal to carry a firearm.”

Earmark King Puts Restriction on Earmarks

Color me unimpressed.

U.S. Rep. Dave Obey, D-Wausau, announced today that the House Appropriations Committee will no longer approve earmarks directed to for-profit entities.

Obey, who chairs the Appropriations Committee, joined with incoming Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Norm Dicks, D-Wash., in announcing the plan. The lawmakers say the rule would have prevented 1,000 earmarks last year. In addition, the Appropriations Committee will now require an audit of at least 5 percent of non-profit earmarks to “ensure that earmarks go to their intended purposes and to prevent for-profits from masquerading as non-profits.”

Greece Gives Preview of America’s Future?

Could be.

Many of the same risky financial practices that now imperil the Greeks were at the center of the all-too-recent U.S. meltdown.

As with Greece, America’s national debt has been growing by leaps and bounds over the past decade, to the point where it threatens to swamp overall economic output. And in the U.S., as in Greece, a large portion of that debt is owed to foreign investors.

Not good, if these debt holders begin to wonder if they’ll be paid back. A foreign flight from U.S. Treasury securities could sow financial chaos in the United States, as happened when many investors lost faith in Greek bonds.

It’s something that could affect all Americans. The U.S. has never defaulted on a debt, and even the hint of such a possibility could send interest rates soaring and choke off a fragile recovery.

Kewaskum School Staff Not Happy With Custodial Staff

Do you know what’s great about this?

Concerns about the Kewaskum School District’s decision to outsource cleaning services for the community’s schools about a year and a half ago resurfaced when the School Board met Monday night.

   About 80 teachers and staff are estimated to have attended the meeting, where the members of the Kewaskum Auxiliary Personnel asked the board to revisit the subject.

   Among those at the meeting were Steve Backhaus, lead custodian at Kewaskum Middle School.

   Backhaus said members of the auxiliary decided to make a statement at Monday night’s meeting because a letter sent to the School Board and district administration in October about quality, safety, and other concerns related to the subcontracted custodial services was ignored.

   The seven-page letter identified “concerns relating to the quality of services provided by the subcontractor and the condition of equipment used by the subcontractor.”

   “We don’t mean to belittle the people who do the work,” Backhaus said. “It’s just not getting done right or it’s not done at all.”

If the services truly are that poor, they can fire the service and get another one.  Somehow, though, I’m a bit skeptical that it’s that bad.

Kansas City Closing Schools

This is a good insight into how hard it is for government to cut things.

Superintendent John Covington called for the closing or consolidation of almost half of the schools in the Kansas City, Missouri, school district, and a school board voted Wednesday to approve the downsizing.

Covington calls it the “right-size” plan,” but many residents say it’s plain wrong.

A packed room of people watched the board make its historic move after weeks of debate and years of declining enrollment. Some parents voiced their anger, while some students cried.

Yeah, it sucks to close schools, but look at the facts:

Covington said the closures were the first phase of “right-sizing” a district where enrollments have plummeted from more than 35,000 in the 1999-2000 school year to about 17,000 in 2009-10.

They are at less than HALF of enrollment.  How can anyone justify keeping open the same number of school buildings except with emotional arguments?  They can’t.  While I appreciate a school board that is willing to make some hard choices here, the public needs to get a grip and realize that it makes absolutely no sense to maintain the same infrastructure for half of the student population.

Birds of a Feather

Huh.

A federal judge has denied ex-Detroit councilwoman Monica Conyers’ request to withdraw her guilty plea in a corruption case and sentenced her to three years and one month in prison.

As guards cleared the courtroom Wednesday, Conyers yelled that she planned to appeal.

Turn On Your Lights

For cripes sake, people.  When it’s foggy and you can’t see more than a hundred yards, TURN ON YOUR LIGHTS! 

Morons…