Shame on you, Squinty McGee

One of the biggest mistakes of my life has been voting for George W. Bush when he ran against Al Gore. I don't claim full responsibility for this decision, since Gore ran the most dull and lifeless campaign and came off like a lifelong Washington politician, while Bush came off as the opposite. The highs and lows of his presidency have been well documented, but one of the things that particularly raised my ire came out a month or two ago when it was revealed that the National Security Agency had been obtaining phone call records of American Citizens for years. Obtaining them without warrant or probable cause, and thus far for no announced reason other than “national security” To put it plainly, the government has been keeping track of who you call, when you call them, and how often they do it. Verizon? BellSouth? AT&T? Sprint? They’ve all been handing over their phone records for years, again, without a warrant. This is illegal, by the way.

So when this came to light, naturally millions of people were understandably pissed off. So an investigation was launched by the Justice Department, trying to find out what, who, and why. In order to investigate who authorized this illegal invasion of American’s privacy (and is a criminal) with regards to “matters of national security”, the lawyers and investigators from the Justice Department have to obtain security clearances, since they might come in contact with sensitive information. This is pretty much standard procedure for any sort of government investigation.

Standard, until President Bush said no.

“Someone in your administration is breaking the law and spying on Americans, may we please investigate who is doing this that we might bring them to justice?”
“No.”

By denying security clearance to federal attorneys from the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) seeking to gather evidence in the NSA illegal surveillance scandal, President Bush has effectively blocked the Justice Department’s investigation into the matter of who exactly authorized the illegal actions to take place. The president is apparently able to strictly control who does and does not have security clearance to examine documents regarding the program, citing that giving more people access would endanger national security. His denial is the first of its kind in American history. Last time I checked, when Richard Nixon committed obstruction of justice, he didn't get to keep his job.

Oh well, what’s one more lie, one more obfuscation of the truth to ol’ Squinty McGee? But hey! At least he hasn’t gotten it on with an intern.

And this is Tobias, our skunk.

As most of you know

We got a pet skunk. Named her Lucille. Then found out it was a boy and named it Tobias. It's still an adorable skunk. He likes to run and play, and has made a game of us catching him.

Gage says it's great owning a skunk, you just get the same questions over and over... so with no adieu, I answer them for you:
1) No, it doesn't stink, the stink glands have been removed.
2) They eat veggies, a little bit of dog food, dairy, pretty much anything in moderation.
3) They live to be 10-15.
4) We got it from a breeder in Ohio.
5) No, it's going to be fixed, you really don't want to try and be a skunk breeder.

Friend of mine grew up with a hot girl next door. The HGND's dad was an avid hunter, with many a long gun. Whenever she would bring home a new guy, the dad would take him aside and introduce himself, and get the kid's name. He would then take a cartridge for his elephant gun, and write the kid's name on it, telling him "I love my daughter very much, and if you ever do anything to hurt her, this bullet has your name on it." Next, he would take the now amused/scared/indiffernt kid into the room where the rifle was stored, show him it, and put the cartridge on a shelf, next to a row of empty casings with names on it.

Apparently, it scared one kid so much he went crying home to dad, who called the sheriff. Sheriff deputy shows up, asks for the story, dad tells it, deputy decides with a grin on his face that there was no threat made, the kid was just being informed that there was a bullet with his name on it.

Friend of mine grew up with a hot girl next door. The HGND's dad was an avid hunter, with many a long gun. Whenever she would bring home a new guy, the dad would take him aside and introduce himself, and get the kid's name. He would then take a cartridge for his elephant gun, and write the kid's name on it, telling him "I love my daughter very much, and if you ever do anything to hurt her, this bullet has your name on it." Next, he would take the now amused/scared/indiffernt kid into the room where the rifle was stored, show him it, and put the cartridge on a shelf, next to a row of empty casings with names on it.

Apparently, it scared one kid so much he went crying home to dad, who called the sheriff. Sheriff deputy shows up, asks for the story, dad tells it, deputy decides with a grin on his face that there was no threat made, the kid was just being informed that there was a bullet with his name on it.