Justices To Rule On D.C. Gun Ban

2nd Amendment Case Could Affect Laws Nationwide

By Robert BarnesWashington Post Staff Writer

The Supreme Court announced yesterday that it will determine whether the District of Columbia's strict firearms law violates the Constitution, a decision that will raise the politically and culturally divisive issue of gun control just in time for the 2008 elections.

The court's examination of the meaning of the Second Amendment for the first time in nearly 70 years carries broad implications for gun-control measures locally and across the country.

The District has the nation's most restrictive law, essentially banning private handgun ownership and requiring that rifles and shotguns kept in private homes be unloaded and disassembled or outfitted with a trigger lock. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit declared it unconstitutional last year, becoming the first appeals court to overturn a gun-control law because of the Second Amendment.

For years, legal scholars, historians and grammarians have debated the meaning of the amendment because of its enigmatic wording and odd punctuation: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Gun-rights proponents say the words guarantee the right of an individual to possess firearms. Gun-control supporters say the words convey only a civic or "collective" right to own guns as part of service in an organized military organization. The Bush administration said in 2002 that it supports the individual-rights position.

Robert A. Levy, a scholar at the libertarian Cato Institute who has spent years planning a challenge that would reach the Supreme Court, called the court's decision to take the case "good news for all Americans who would like to be able to defend themselves where they live and sleep."

"And it's especially good news for residents of Washington, D.C., which has been the murder capital of the nation despite an outright ban on all functional firearms since 1976," he said.
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) has said the District's up-and-down homicide rate would have been higher without the ban, and that the law is a locally supported move to protect police officers, children and other victims of gun violence.

"It's the will of the people of the District of Columbia that has to be respected," Fenty said at a news conference with D.C. Attorney General Linda Singer and several D.C. Council members. "We should have the right to make our own decisions."

He added: "We believe the U.S. Constitution is on our side."

The two sides proposed competing constitutional questions, so the court wrote its own, saying it would determine whether provisions of the District's law "violate the Second Amendment rights of individuals who are not affiliated with any state-regulated militia, but who wish to keep handguns and other firearms for private use in their homes." The court will probably hear the case in March.

The court's last examination of the amendment was in 1939, when it ruled in U.S. v. Miller that a sawed-off shotgun transported across state lines by a bootlegger was not what the amendment's authors had in mind when they were protecting arms needed for military service.

Since then, almost all of the nation's courts of appeal have read the ruling to mean that the amendment conveys only a collective right to gun ownership. But two of them, the D.C. Circuit and the 5th Circuit, have endorsed the individual-rights view, and so have some legal scholars who normally take positions on the left.

Mark V. Tushnet, a Harvard law professor whose new book, "Out of Range," is a legal and historical examination of the Second Amendment, concluded that the legal arguments on each side "are in reasonably close balance."

There is scant evidence about the justices' views.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia have made statements that seem to show their sympathy for the individual-rights argument. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said at his confirmation hearing that he believed the court in its Miller decision "sidestepped" the fundamental question.

Levy and co-counsel Clark M. Neily III and Alan Gura worked for years to assemble a challenge to the D.C. ban that the courts would accept. Their plaintiffs are law-abiding citizens who want the weapons for self-defense rather than people appealing criminal convictions for possessing weapons.

The case is called District of Columbia v. Heller because of security guard and D.C. resident Dick A. Heller, 65, whose application for a permit to keep a handgun in his home was denied by the city.

A federal district judge ruled against Heller and other residents who brought the suit, but a three-judge panel of the appeals court overturned that decision. By a 2 to 1 vote, the judges ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to private firearms and self-defense that "existed prior to the formation of the new government under the Constitution."

The petition filed by the D.C. attorney general said the appeals court is wrong for three reasons: It recognizes an individual rather than a collective right, the Second Amendment serves as a restriction only on federal interference with state-regulated militias and state-recognized gun rights, and the District is within its rights to protect its citizens by banning a certain type of gun.

The gun-rights lawyers said they agreed that even a recognition of an individual right could allow the government to make reasonable restrictions, but not the ban the District imposes.

Both sides acknowledge that the Second Amendment pertains to federal restrictions rather than to restrictions imposed by states and that the District's unique status presents something of a jurisdictional quandary. But Maryland and three other states filed a brief saying that all have a stake in the case, because allowing the appeals court ruling to stand would destabilize current law and "cast a cloud over all federal and state law restricting access to firearms."

National groups on both sides of the gun-control issue are jittery about bringing the case to the Supreme Court, because of the uncertainty about the outcome.

"We're nervous," said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "Anytime you go to the Supreme Court, you could end up with all sorts of gun laws being called into question."

The National Rifle Association was also initially skeptical about the case, but Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said he is more confident of a positive outcome for his group with Roberts and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. on the court.

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Dc Gun Laws...

This is off of the NRA's Website. This does not need to happen!!! Please help to not let this happen!!!

The Case For Reforming The District of Columbia`s Gun Laws

H.R. 1399/S. 1001, the "District of Columbia Personal Protection Act," introduced in the House by Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.) and Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) and in the Senate by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.), would end D.C.'s prohibition on using guns for self-defense in one's home and conform other D.C. gun laws to federal laws, while retaining stiff penalties for illegal gun possession and gun crimes. It would do none of the things claimed by anti-gun groups. The legislation is long overdue. In 1976, D.C.'s City Council thumbed its nose at Congress, the 14th Amendment's guarantee of "equal protection of the laws," and the rest of the U.S., and began conducting a social experiment of its own design against the city's law-abiding residents. The experiment, unlike anything known elsewhere in America, took the form of the Firearms Control Regulations Act, which required that firearms kept at home be rendered useless for protection by being "unloaded, disassembled, or bound by a trigger lock or similar device." It required that all privately owned firearms be registered, and prohibited possession of a handgun not registered with city police prior to Sept. 24, 1976, and re-registered by Feb. 5, 1977. The results have been catastrophic. Since D.C. imposed its 1976 laws, it has earned the unfortunate distinction, "murder capital of the United States." D.C.'s murder rate had been declining before 1976, but it increased thereafter. Between 1976-1991, it rose 200%, while the U.S. murder rate rose only 9%. (FBI, D.C. Police) The District's prohibition on possession of firearms for defense at home conflicts with Congress' stated purpose in passing the Gun Control Act (1968). Section 101 of that law states "[I]t is not the purpose of this title to place any undue or unnecessary Federal restrictions or burdens on law-abiding citizens with respect to the acquisition, possession, or use of firearms appropriate to the purpose of hunting, trapshooting, target shooting, personal protection, or any other lawful activity, and that this title is not intended to discourage or eliminate the private ownership or use of firearms by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes. . ." (Emphasis added.) D.C. is the only jurisdiction in the U.S. that prohibits keeping firearms in an operable condition at home, for defense against criminal attack. The right to be secure in one's home is an ages-old right affirmed in law and court decisions, but curtailed in D.C. The District should not criminalize self-defense when it cannot defend people. As legal scholars Robert J. Cottrol and Raymond T. Diamond have written, "[A] society with a dismal record of protecting a people has a dubious claim on the right to disarm them. . . . [I]t is unwise to place the means of protection totally in the hands of the state. . . ." ("The Second Amendment: Toward an Afro-Americanist Reconsideration," Gun Control and the Constitution: Sources and Explorations on the Second Amendment, ed., Robert J. Cottrol, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, School of Law, 1994, p. 427.) The District should not criminalize self-defense when it is not legally obligated to defend people. The District of Columbia Court of Appeals has ruled that the city's police department is "not generally liable to victims of violent criminal acts for failure to provide adequate police protection. . . ." (Warren v. District of Columbia, 444 A.2d 1, 1981) D.C.'s gun law forces law-abiding people to choose between protecting their lives and obeying the law. Former U.S. Senator Warren Rudman, after retiring from office, said: "Honest people don't have guns and criminals do. I think people have a right to protect themselves. I was outraged to learn that I couldn't legally have a gun in Washington. Despite the law, I kept one in my office and one in my apartment, because there were plenty of armed criminals roaming the streets of Washington." (Combat: Twelve Years in the U.S. Senate, 1996, p.40) Allowing citizens to defend themselves at home deters criminals. A study for the U.S. Department of Justice found that 40% of felons have decided to not commit one or more crimes for fear their potential victims were armed. (James D. Wright and Peter H. Rossi, Armed and Considered Dangerous: A Survey of Felons and Their Firearms, 1986, p. 155.) The District's prohibition against using firearms for defense against violent criminal attack increases the likelihood that crime victims will be injured by their assailants. National Crime Victimization Surveys show: "Robbery and assault victims who used a gun to resist were less likely to be attacked or to suffer an injury than those who used any other methods of self-protection or those who did not resist at all." (Gary Kleck, Targeting Guns, 1997, p. 171). On July 11, 2006 D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey declared a "crime emergency" in the District. The move, in reaction to a recent surge in homicides, allowed him to quickly adjust officers' schedules and limit their days off. Ramsey has declared four "crime emergencies" since taking office in 1998.

--
RMSTringer
+++++++++++++++

Mountain Biking Today...

We went to Pocahontas Park and we did the Red Trail. IT was fun as we had not ridden it in a long time. The redid a section of the trial and made a Half-Pipe out of it. I saw it and rode it several weeks ago with Mark. I will have some video clips of a few parts of the trial. Jeff brought his camera and we used the video function. After we rode the Red, We went to the Green trial and it was a good fun ride on that trial we had 6.69 miles when we made it back to the Quala Lot. I hope to get some more ridding in this weekend!!

God Bless and have a good Thanksgiving Day!!

RMStringer

******************

"Seduction is thus a central, indeed in certain respects, the central idea, in political life.

It signifies a course of action deliberately designed by one or more interested

agents to undermine and replace some established loyalty."

Kenneth Minogue (November issue of The New Criterion)

What is this?

Taken with my LGVX8600 phone.
From RMStringer

Recovery Thoughts...

I was in Austin all weekend for my brother’s wedding. It was very nice and a good time was had by all. There was lots of drinking by the wedding party which I was a member, but I did not drink. It was strange. I really never think about doing drugs. It is just a non-issue for me. When I touched down in Austin at the airport I had a very strange feeling like I wanted to use. I was back in Austin, in the part of town where all the bad stuff is located. I had to catch a taxi to be brought to the wedding rehearsal and the guy drove me right down K blvd, I kind of freaked when I saw several streets that I used to roll down when I was using. It was really strange being on that side of town and seeing those streets. I had so many different thoughts going on inside my head that it was crazy like “wouldn’t it be nice” kind of thing and then I snapped back into reality! What the hell was I thinking? I knew that it was a non-possibility and that I would never go down those streets again. I have over 5.5 years and way too much to lose over some bullshit like that. Being sober is the best think that I could have done in my life. It was part of a not so natural maturing process that I have undergone over the last 5+ years. I am very grateful for my sobriety. And let me be clear on this; it has been over 5.5 years since I drank and may 15, 2008 it will be 5 years of continued clean life with no drugs.

Some people go their whole live and never recover. The Big Book promises that it does happen! You do not have to go through life and be a miserable “recovering” person, you CAN and WILL RECOVER if you do what is suggested in the book!

God Bless everyone…

RMStringer

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced

equation inherent to the programming of the matrix.

You are the eventuality of an anomaly, which despite

my sincerest efforts I have been unable to eliminate

from what is otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision.

While it remains a burden assiduously avoided, it is not

unexpected, and thus not beyond a measure of control.

Which has led you, inexorably, here." - The Architect, The Matrix Reloaded

Me @ DFW Airport

Taken with my LGVX8600 phone.
From RMStringer

My flight to Dallas.

Taken with my LGVX8600 phone.
From RMStringer

Cliff & Lindsey Stringer!

Taken with my LGVX8600 phone.
From RMStringer

Its Me!

Taken with my LGVX8600 phone.
From RMStringer

Last Stringer Man Down!

T-2.5 hours till wedding! Taken with my LGVX8600 phone.
From RMStringer

Another wikid pic.

Taken with my LGVX8600 phone.
From RMStringer

New Austin building...

Taken with my LGVX8600 phone.
From RMStringer

Part 3 in Chicago O-Hare

Taken with my LGVX8600 phone.
From RMStringer

Travel Problems...

New gate at RIC. We were ready to take off and had to return to the gate due to problems. I was able to rebook. Taken with my LGVX8600 phone.
From RMStringer

Full flight to Texas!

Taken with my LGVX8600 phone.
From RMStringer

Off to my bro's wedding in Texas...

Taken with my LGVX8600 phone.
From RMStringer

More Fall colors...

Taken with my LGVX8600 phone.
From RMStringer

Fall Colors...

Taken with my LGVX8600 phone.
From RMStringer

What is this

Taken with my LGVX8600 phone.

Blinky's Episode 2: Dwight T. Albatross presents!

New Zine comes out December!

Just some of the amazing stuff: Steve Niles, Kaitlin Olson, MacPherson & Boatwright hit you with some Irving Rat from Poo, Ms. Monster, Mia Albatross, a Billy Purgatory Storybook with Moses + some SPECIAL GUEST art, Susan Heidi, Kim Falcon, and Ihaveyourshit does the holidays! So much more, I can't even remember it all!



Blinky's on the Web! Click!



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Holidays....

You know what I can’t stand?  I bet many of you are like this as well; Christmas Advertising!

 

I HATE to go into Wall Mart and see all the Christmas decorations up all over the dam store especially when they put them up a few days after Halloween.  I mean we have not gotten to Thanks Giving yet and Christmas stuff is plastered all of the store.  It was a  hell of a sight to see at 8.30am this morning; a big dam tree at the entrance to the store.  All the Christmas decorations were prominently displayed in the front and it is just doo commercial.  I remember a kid that there used to be “seasons” where everything had its place!  The 4^th of July had its time, then Labor Day, Then we would have Halloween. The stores would kick it up a notch and place stuff out like candy and costumes, then they would take them down and prepare for Thanksgiving. Shortly after that, they would place Christmas items up all about the store, none of this crap of blasting it to your face before Thanksgiving has happened yet.  They are trying to make a buck earlier and with Ohhh “Black Friday” and the “specials” People flock like zombified morons to get the early bird specials and this only increases the HYPE of the whole madness…

 

Ok, Now to sleep!

 

RMStringer

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood

over questions of reality and illusion.

I know this: if life is an illusion, then I

am no less an illusion, and being thus, the

illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I

love, I slay, and I am content.

(Robert E. Howard, Queen of the Black Coast, Weird Tales, May 1934)

 

Kitty at the vet.

Sugar Ghost getting her yearly shots last week. Taken with my LGVX8600 phone.

New Look...

Me with my hair grown out.
From RMStringer

From VCU parking garage.

Taken with my LGVX8600 phone.

Roof tops...

Downtown Taken with my LGVX8600 phone.

Another pic.

From my LGVX8600 phone.
From RMStringer

Cold night cooling tower

It is about 33 tonight and very humid as will which makes it even feel colder. Lots of steam from the tower.
From my LGVX8600 phone.

Good Recipes...

I am going to post tomorrow a few recipes that I think yall might enjoy. One is for Chicken Chili and the other is for Brisket that I cook.  My wife made the Chicken Chili tonight and it was very good!!

 

RMStringer

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You have no conscience and it seems you never will - Cyberaktif

 

Comcast Speed...

I guess that they have upped the speed of the downloads as I am getting peaks at 9.84 mbps!!   That is nice!!!

 

RMStringer

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood

over questions of reality and illusion.

I know this: if life is an illusion, then I

am no less an illusion, and being thus, the

illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I

love, I slay, and I am content.

(Robert E. Howard, Queen of the Black Coast, Weird Tales, May 1934)

 

Computer problems...

Well i messed up my Ubuntu 7.10 system yesterday. I wanted to upgrade from Desktop to Studio and it did not work! You cant do that! During the process i had to format the comp and during the Studio install, it messed up. So today, i have to do a total OEM Ubuntu Studio install and then go about getting the software upgrades reinstalled. It is going to be a royal pain to do this as Linux uses command line to get some upgrades done and it takes time. From my LGVX8600 phone. From RMStringer

The Armagedon Flowchart

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"Not Smart"

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" Nature Creates a River "

I saw thes on a site and wanted to publish them for yall to enjoy!

These are cool!!

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Twin Musical Tesla Coils playing Music...

This is WAY COOL. Have yourself a listen!!!

Twin Solid State Musical Tesla coils playing Mario Bros theme song at the 2007 Lightning on the Lawn Teslathon sponsored by DC Cox (Resonance Research Corp) in Baraboo WI. The music that you hear is coming from the sparks that these two identical high power solid state Tesla coils are generating. There are no speakers involved. The Tesla coils stand 7 feet tall and are each capable of putting out over 12 foot of spark. They are spaced about 18 feet apart. The coils are controlled over a fiber optic link by a single laptop computer. Each coil is assigned to a midi channel which it responds to by playing notes that are programed into the computer software.


Mario Bros


Sugar Plum Fairy


Tetris Theme


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5 healthy habits that can be damaging

These are very interesting to me as i have always heard "Eat a good breakfast" and because i work night-shift, my mother always says "that i am not getting enough sleep" that i should sleep in during the weekend. Well, this article tells different about several of thses old standards.

Work, worrying and waah-ing babies may not be to blame…

You try and get eight hours sleep, eat breakfast and exercise regularly. So why are you so tired? New research has found that it’s not just crying babies or long work hours that rob us of energy - healthy habits can be just as damaging. You hear about the benefits of a new diet or exercise and can take it to extremes.

Here’s how to stay fit but have more bounce.

Catching up on ZZZs
When there’s nothing to drag you out of bed on the weekend, it’s tempting to keep snoozing - but this can leave you groggy. ‘Sleeping more over the weekend won’t make up for lost slumber during the week,’ says Kathleen McGrath, an insomniac expert.

‘It’ll just interfere with your pineal gland’s ability to produce the sleep hormone melatonin - which is why you’ll spend Sunday night counting sheep.’Fight the fatigue: Stick to eight hours shut eye, even on the weekend. Still tired? Have a30-minute nap in the afternoon. It’ll help you produce more melatonin for a better night’s rest.

Your morning shower
There’s nothing like a steaming shower to make you feel refreshed first thing. So why is it that somewhere between towelling off and getting dressed you’re ready to crawl back under the doona? ‘A hot shower raises your body’s temperature,’ explains Kathleen.
‘When it drops back to hormal, the brain produces melatonin and tells your body it’s time to sleep.’
Fight the fatigue: Work the effect a hot soak has on your body by having your scrub two hours before bedtime. That way, you’ll be out like a light as soon as your head hits the pillow. If you can’t live without your morning rinse, hit the cold tap in the shower for just a few seconds before you jump out as this kick-starts your nervous system and makes you feel full of zing.

A hearty breakfast
Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. But if it’s too big, you may feel sapped of energy before lunchtime. A large meal loaded with sugar and refined carbs like white bread and sugary cereals drives blood sugar levels up but then you get an energy dip a few hours after eating.Fight the fatigue: The trick here is to go for more protein at breakfast. It stabilises your blood sugar, which determines how peckish and energetic you feel. Have a slice of wholegrain toast with eggs or peanut butter. The proteins will give you 75% more energy.

Being a diet saint
While munching all day is not a good idea, not eating anything between meals isn’t either. Go for more than four hours without food and your blood sugar may drop and you’ll feel zonked. This can leave you cranky, lazy in the afternoon and ravenous by the time you get home.Fight the fatigue. Eat five small meals to keep your energy levels on an even keel. Good choices include a handful of almonds or Ryvita with hummus.

Your gym membership
Exercising intensively daily can cause your body’s glutamine - the most abundant amino acid in out bodies - to crash, which can weaken your immune system. You’ll just feel wiped out.

Fight the fatigue: Listen to your body. If it says ‘ouch’, slow down. Have a few sessions doing something gentle, like swimming. This gives our muscles time to rest and recover from the physical strain you’ve put them through and keeps exercise fun.

I hope this helps

Live life to its fullest,
Rowell Bulan M.D.Your Guide To HomeHealth Care


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Changes to brain after cocaine abuse

I saw this article while i was reading on Reddit. I thought that i was very interesting as i have done posts on the 12-Steps and my Recovery. It is a very interesting article.

Researchers have uncovered a key genetic switch that chronic cocaine or stress influences to cause the brain to descend into a pathological state. In studies with mice they showed how chronic cocaine changes gene activity to enhance the addictive reward from the drug. And they showed similarly how chronic stress induces the same kinds of changes that hypersensitizes the brain, causing depression-like symptoms.

The researchers said their basic finding in the animals could lead to better treatments for addiction, depression and other psychiatric disorders.

Eric Nestler and colleagues published their findings in the November 8, 2007, issue of the journal Neuron, published by Cell Press.

In their experiments, the researchers explored how chronic cocaine or stress exerts “epigenetic” control of genes in the brain. Such control involves repressing or activating genes by altering the structure of the chromatin that enwraps genes. Specifically, the researchers explored whether chronic cocaine or stress affect an enzyme called histone deacetylase 5 (HDAC5). Normally, HDAC5 represses specific genes by removing molecules called acetyl groups from the histone proteins that make up the chromatin surrounding them. The researchers’ previous studies had shown that chronic cocaine administration in mice caused an increase in acetyl groups in a brain region called the nucleus accumbens (NAc), known to be involved in response to cocaine or stress.

The researchers’ studies showed that giving mice chronic cocaine led to a reduction in HDAC5, allowing some 172 genes to be activated. What’s more, they found that this loss of HDAC5 in the NAc made the mice more sensitive to the reward of chronic cocaine. They determined the animals’ reward-sensitivity to cocaine by measuring the mice’s preference for an area of a box that they were taught to associate with receiving cocaine.

The researchers also studied whether the animals’ adaptation to chronic stress involved HDAC5 levels. In these experiments, they exposed mice to aggressive mice and measured the resulting depressive behavior. The researchers found that such stress also reduced HDAC5 function, although through a different mechanism than for chronic cocaine.

“These data demonstrate a crucial role for HDAC5 in regulating behavioral adaptations to chronic stress as well as chronic cocaine and suggest that HDAC5 contributes to a molecular switch between acute stress responses and more long-lasting depression-like maladaptations,” wrote the researchers.

“The functions of HDAC5 described here provide new insight into the pathogenesis of drug addiction, depression, and other stress-related syndromes,” they wrote. “This fundamentally new insight into the molecular underpinnings of chronic maladaptation in brain could lead to the development of improved treatments for addiction, depression, and other chronic psychiatric disorders.”


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The Time Change...

This mess is kicking my ass!! BIGTIME!!  Working nights lie I do and then loosing an hour has been very bad on me this week. I have been so freaking tired after I get home from work that I have been sleeping till 5 or so in the evening and I have not made it to the gym at all this week.  I did however, ride nearly 25 miles this weekend, so I hope that makes up for slacking at the gym…

 

RMStringer

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced

equation inherent to the programming of the matrix.

You are the eventuality of an anomaly, which despite

my sincerest efforts I have been unable to eliminate

from what is otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision.

While it remains a burden assiduously avoided, it is not

unexpected, and thus not beyond a measure of control.

Which has led you, inexorably, here." - The Architect, The Matrix Reloaded

 

Shouldn't Life Be Easier?

Well shouldn't it be easier? It is a constant balancing act. Money, Gas, Bills, Happiness, all a balancing act with a very delicate equilibrium. IF you spend too much on a weekend, you are short for the week and that sucks. Spend too much during g the week and the weekend is shot. Have a car break down and you are just screwed! Most Americans are just 2, count it TWO, paychecks from financial ruin. With 100+ channels of crap on the TV, no one can decide on what to watch. You could have 10 TVs sitting beside each other and there would still be an argument on what to watch on 1 of them! That is just life I guess.

I am Tired…

You know what I am tired of? I am tired of people living in the past. I had a friend that he and I went way back together, back to the 11^th grade. We became friends and did lots of stuff together. He would come over to my house and we would go to the lake and hang out or go the clubs in Beaumont or Louisiana. We were big party people back then. I was in college and so was he. He graduated and I did not. He then went to UT Galveston to get his PHD. I played around for several years. I would go to Galveston and we would party together or go to concerts and stuff like that. He started to mature and I did not at that point. He would call me in the middle of the night to talk about some of his projects dealing with the splicing of genes.

Now, he ended up in Baltimore working for the government and I did the "American dream: Married, kid, house" He stayed single but dated around. We would chat and talk, visit when we could as he was busy and we were moving around the country like always. Then it started. We would trade music, programs like always, and then he would lash out at me to be a responsible adult like him. He said that he wanted what was best for me and to stop being lazy, that he was always trying to help me. He would send me "gifts" in the mail and then later ask me to pay for a bit of them.

I was and had done a lot of maturing by this time and gotten my life straightened out, no drinking or the such. We would get into a fight over him trying to push his "high" morals onto me and act like a father to me. We really butted heads and would not speak for a while. Then without warning, I would get an instant message and he would want to talk and be friends again. This was the pattern that we had for about a year more and then we got into a huge fight. He would act like he was better than me and was on top of the world, but remember, we both used to party very hard in the past. I guess that he forgot about that. He wanted me to come to visit for the weekend and I did not want to.

As our "friendship" progressed, he got stranger and stranger, almost jealous of me being married. The huge fight was between my wife and him. It was very nasty and that was over a year ago. We have not spoken since then and I guess that we never will. Our lives took different paths, both good in their own rights. Do I miss talking to him sometimes, yes, In the beginning we had lots in common, music, mutual friends, partying, but in the end, all we had was music. I have not been able to find someone to discuss in person music to that extent and perhaps I never will; time will tell about that.

For any Interested...

RounTrey is the correct name and i have found the url for the development:

http://www.rountreyonline.com/masterplan.html

http://www.rountreyonline.com/plan.html



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The Weather...

Well my friends, it has gotten cold here in the "Ole Dominion" for a change. We just went to eat a Chili's and it was 45 degrees. We are supposed to be stuck in this weather pattern for a while longer. So i guess that we are finally going to get into winter here. It is about time if you as k me. We still need rain and lots of it but with the cooler weather water will not be such a factor here. People will stop watering their lawns and consumption will go down. I turned my sprinklers off about 2 weeks ago and cut the lawn down very low. We have had several freezes since then and hopefully the grass will stop growing. I do not want to have to cut the lawn again this year! Well, i am full and there are a few TV progs i want to watch, so i am out of here. :-)




Jim Duncan's forecast:
The weather pattern has taken a decidedly cooler turn, with the jet stream dropping south and a chilly high pressure ridge to our north. Overnight lows could dip into the upper 20s in some normally colder spots by sunrise Thursday, with highs into the start of the weekend not managing much more than the low to middle 50s.

Rain prospects may inch up slightly later Friday, with a little more moisture working in along a back-door cold front, but overall chances for any meaningful rainfall will otherwise stay very low through the 7-day forecast period.







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More BG night shots.

Part two in series

10*31*2007

Blog Move?

I might move all my services to wordpress.  I have a site set up called http://renigade.wordpress.com.

I am just not getting the traffic that I would like with blogger anymore.  Please go and have a look if you will.

Thankx,

 

 

RMStringer

________________________________

What have I done

What lies I have told

I've played games with the ones that

rescued my soul

Oh, have I come to the point where I'm losing the grip

Or is it still time to get into

The swing of things  - A - Ha   1986

 

Food additives ‘can cause hyperactivity’

A new study has indicated that some food additives can increase hyperactivity in children.Researchers commissioned by the UK’s Food Standards Agency looked at the effects of two combinations of E numbers on the behaviour of children who were prone to hyperactivity.

The scientists took two mixes of artificial food colours and the popular preservative sodium benzoate, which can be found in foods in like soft drinks, confectionary and ice cream, which are popular with children.

They found that the combinations did increase hyperactivity among children and recommended that those who are prone to hyperactivity or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder should eliminate these additives from their diet.

The study added that there are many factors associated with hyperactivity including genetic factors, being born prematurely or environment and upbringing.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland says it is aware of the study, which covered Sunset Yellow (E110), Tartrazine (E102), Carmoisine (E122), Ponceau 4R (E124), Quinoline Yellow (E104) and Allura Red (E129).

It is also recommending parents to read food labels when buying products for their children.



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Mack: L'Affaire Bagdad

Thanks to Mac Hall for letting me publish this commentary.

 

 

L'Affaire Bagdad

 

"I shall have to delay you for a few minutes.  You see the Legation is only just open and we have not yet got our full equipment.  We are expecting the rubber stamp any minute now."

 

-- A diplomat in Evelyn Waugh's Scoop

 

The American diplomatic corps, the envy of the world of pallid wine and crumbly cheese, is afraid to go to Bagdad – so afraid that no one is volunteering, and diplomats may have to be dragged out of cocktail parties in Ottawa and the racing season at Epson Downs and ordered to report to The Cradle of Civilization.

 

Working Americans whose taxes support civil servants can certainly understand the reluctance of diplomats to serve civility in Bagdad.  What towboat captain or steelworker cannot appreciate the difficulty in finding a really good tailor in Port Said Street?  And, after all, embassy soirees in Bagdad are more likely to be explosive rather than sparkling, and the paucity of wine merchants is appalling, simply appalling.  Worse, the shopping along Muthana Al Shaiban Street is simply not up to Paris standards, m'dear.  Picnicking along the Tigris is quite impossible given the heat, and trying to punt through the bobbing, malodorous corpses is so, so tiresome.

 

A with-it diplomat in Bagdad can only resent the sad reality that so many of his personal bodyguards are not Harvard or Yale, and don't appreciate amusing anecdotes about yachting with Walter Cronkite off Martha's Vineyard and tittering about people who actually have jobs and love America.

 

And then there are the Christian priests in Iraq.  In New England, anyone who's anyone keeps a tame bishop or two for amusement.  In Iraq, though, priests and bishops are not much fun at parties, didn't go to the right schools, and suffer a tendency to be martyred by the sort of people American bishops like to be palsy with for the cameras.  Yawn.

 

Doesn't anyone understand that stern diplomatic notes can be exchanged just as easily after one's afternoon nap in Brussels as well as after one's afternoon nap in Iraq?  And the embassy in Brussels is so convenient to the theatre.

 

And then there's the bother of domestic staff in Bagdad.  When interviewing and hiring a suitable kitchen staff (soooooooo exhausting), one must check references very carefully so that one does not hire a pastry chef who might bring explosives into the morning room.  The maids, the housekeeper, the porters, the gardeners – can one find staff up to scratch in Iraq?  Yes, a life of public service is terribly demanding.

 

Entertaining can be quite a bother too.  In Europe one knows that a grand duke l'orange takes precedent over a charge' du flatus, but how does one seat a Sunny mahdi and a Shirty sheik at dinner without causing a row?  Gracious!  And what is the proper dress for receptions during a rocket attack – black-tie body armor or white-tie body armor?

 

And must those beastly American soldiers get blown up in the street outside the embassy?  Can't they go out to the countryside and get blown up there?  An American diplomat needs his sleep, after all, and having all those persons from the flyover states fighting and dying just outside is so unseemly.

 

The American diplomatic service – always a step and six feet of reinforced concrete behind our fighting men and women.  Why should they have to serve in Bagdad – or anywhere else?

 

-30-

 

The glory of modern people is that they really do feel. Their only danger is that they cannot think.

-- G. K. Chesterton

Smoke on the water.

Very cold morning @ 36 degrees with sunrise on the lake.

Mountain Biking Total

We did Poco Red and Blue today and ended up with 8.84. SO for the weekend, I have a total of 24.49 miles over 3 rides.  My legs are very sore for the activity but I feel very good and it was freaking cold, 36 degrees when we hit the trial head!!

 

RMStringer

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You have no conscience and it seems you never will - Cyberaktif

 

Bike Weekend...

Well, I rode on Friday with a total of 6.64 miles on the Blue and Double Red trials at Pocahontas Park, Saturday we went to Buttermilk and we got in a 9 mile ride. IT was the best ride that I have ever done at Buttermilk. I can tell that I am really improving. I am going this morning back to Pocahontas and we are going to do the Red. IT is about 39 degrees, VERY COLD! I will post a grand total of my miles later today…

 

RMStringer

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"Though no one can go back and make a brand new start,

anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending." - Author Unknown

 

Very Random!