Just in Time for Christmas

My faith in humanity and the American spirit has been (somewhat) restored.  Well done, young whippersnappers -- take charge!

Gawker laments The Death of the Suburban Office Park.


The author of this article believes that these suburban office parks are "terrible environmentally, terrible for transportation, and terrible for the soul".  They probably wouldn't be terrible environmentally or terrible for transportation if people lived in the same suburb as their office.  I realize that the suburbs are not in any way hip enough for the denizens of Gawker (as evidenced in the comments), but some people obviously like them.  And of course, the buildings themselves are ugly, but they serve a purpose -- or they used to when we used to have vibrant and growing small business sector. 


What really frightened me about this post was actually the comments.  These Gawker commenters have no idea that the vacancy of these office parks marks a significant loss to the economy -- it is these small businesses in ugly suburban office parks which employ the majority of the middle class that is the tax base that funds the government programs the commenters so love.  One of them suggested converting the vacant office buildings into "housing or shelters or something useful."  You mean something useful like a business that employs people, trades them money for work and allows them to be self-sufficient -- and pay taxes?  

How Bizarre

Christmas comes early for Bill Clinton; rest of world scratches head (some feel wave of nostalgia).

At it Again

Westboro Baptist Church strikes again with their unique and abhorrent take on Christianity by picketing Elizabeth Edwards' funeral.  Apparently, they've discussed the matter with God and He hates her.  I didn't agree with her politics or appreciate her involvement in covering up her husband's affair during the 2008 primary, but does any of that matter now?  What exactly are these people hoping to accomplish?  What offends me most about them is that they don't seem to have any real motives beyond spewing hate.  There are plenty of legitimate protests that are executed by unsavory means and some excuses can be made for those, but this is nothing but hate. 

Keep It Up

I'm a big fan of civil disobedience -- admittedly, I don't practice it much myself, but I do admire those who do.  We must keep the pressure on the TSA to cease and desist its ridiculous and pointless new "security" procedures.  And we must do so in our own uniquely American way -- with humor.  We don't have to get ugly with the TSA workers or engage in any actual criminal behavior, we just have to poke fun and expose the absurdity of it all. 

I would like to know what the airlines are doing about all of this.  I'm also a big fan of market-based solutions and urge all travelers who can reach their destinations in ways other than air travel to do so.  I know not everyone can do this, but I'm hoping the airlines will see that these new procedures are a threat to their customer base and try to find a different solution.  Personally, I think each airline should be responsible for its own security.

Just Curious

How long do you think it takes Congress to come up with their bills' names and shoe-horn in words with the appropriate starting letter to make fancy acronyms? 

Kinda Creepy

'IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING' is apparently a new-ish campaign to remind us that we live in dangerous times.  Admittedly, I'm biased against this administration and might not have been so creeped out by this if it had been done by President Bush -- and I do know that to some extent it was initiated by Bush.  (One of my favorite lines of his presidency was his response when asked what irregular behavior citizens should be on the look-out for:  "if you find a person that you've never seen before getting in a crop duster that doesn't belong to [them] -- report it", but I digress.)

However, this Big Brother-ish approach -- complete with computer screens at retail counters admonishing us to spy on each other -- coupled with the TSA overreach, the invasive healthcare bill, and other small infringements on our liberty (including my own recent brush with red light cameras) makes me uneasy.  It feels like the death of liberty by a thousand cuts -- which is exactly how our liberty will meet its demise. 

Maybe I'm naive and overestimate my fellow citizens (although, read the "About Me" and you'll see that's not true), but I don't think we need a reminder to be on the alert for things that seem suspicious.  In my estimation, it is our government that has forgotten about 9/11, not our nation.