The Smoking Lamp Is....

WOW. I never thought I'd live to see the day that the Pentagon would recommend to the Secretary of Defense that he ban wars because of the toll it takes on the health of enlisted US military personnel, and the cost incurred to treat those harmed in war! WHOOO HOOOO. NO MORE WAR! Celebrate! Oh fuck... I made a mistake. It's not war causing all the extra harm and expense... The real culprit in added costs to the VA hospitals and Pentagon funding is cigarettes. Yeah, so lets ban smoking for military personnel and the sale of tobacco on military bases. But lets keep sending them to war, because it's actually cigarettes that are HELL... war is a walk in the park on a nice spring day.

Uhhh, Yep

Left and Right. Democrats and Republicans. At least they can agree on one thing.

Bravo!

Kansas has a reputation. We have the nutcase Phelps family living in Topeka. We have a state board of education that bounces from endorsing science in the classroom in the form of teaching evolution, to saying that teachers have to give equal time to the concept that some invisible, omnipotent entity created the earth in six days. But every once in a while Kansas gets shit EXACTLY right. The Kansas Supreme Court did that in a ruling regarding the power of a police officer to search a vehicle that has been pulled over. The Kansas Supreme Court struck down a law allowing police to search for evidence of any crime in a traffic stop, rather than only evidence to support the crime for which the stop was made. So, if you are pulled over in Kansas for a taillight out, and the cops asks if he can search your vehicle... ask him to show you a warrant, or tell him he's free to stare at your taillight all he wants.

I Got Whiplash, It Changed So Fast

The big news today was the death of actress Farrah Fawcett after a long.... Wait, we interrupt this story for a new Big News story of the day. Michael Jackson dead at age 50. If you've come here looking for a glowing review of Michael's career, go elsewhere. I won't go into his multitude of legal problems, or his addiction to disfiguring surgery. Nope. I'll stick to his music. The King of Pop. As in Pop Music. Popular music. Music especially for the mass consumption of teenagers. Young teens in particular. To me his music is the equivalent of sweet and low instead of sugar. Margarine instead of butter. A veggie burger instead of an all beef hamburger. Michael Jackson has a place in music history, of that I am certain. But I'll leave it to the movers and shakers who mold the minds of the music buying public to let you know what that place is... because for the most part, I don't agree with them. Rest in peace Michael Jackson. Oh, and to the other pop icon who somehow became a footnote on this day... Rest in peace Farrah Fawcett.

You Look Like You Need A Lesson

The last of a five part interview that Radley Balko gave to The Atlantic is good reading. At least if you really believe in the concept of freedom and liberty. If you enjoy that, the links to parts one through four are at the top of the part five interview. And of course, you can read Radley Balko's daily posts on his blog, a personal favorite of mine, The Agitator.