Too Stupid for Words category archive

Looks like it will soon be legal to carry concealed weapons in bars in Virginia, despite the last-ditch appeal to the Regent from the Commonwealth’s police chiefs.

McDonnell will sign the bill, said Taylor Thornley, the governor’s spokeswoman. While McDonnell appreciates the work and comments of the police chiefs, he will “continue to protect and uphold the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens,” Thornley said.

The bill deals only with concealed weapons; in Virginia it’s legal to carry a gun openly without a permit.

If the weapon is concealed, how is the barkeep to know that the customer is packin’?

Here (warning: obnoxious commercial plays automatically).

I’m thinking Baby Einstein redux.

Aside: If I muted the commercials, I’d miss gyps gems like this.

An 18-year-old student says a Mississippi school board that canceled a high school prom did so in retaliation for her request to bring a same-sex date.

The American Civil Liberties Union had demanded that the Itawamba County school district allow senior Constance McMillen to attend with her girlfriend. A school district policy requires that dates be of the opposite sex.

Back when I was a young ‘un, a little law called the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed.

In my Jim Crow county, three things happened immediately.

One: Some parents organized an all-white private school. Such schools were called “seg academies.” Those students who went to the “seg academy” slowly drifted out of the lives of those of us who stayed in the public school.

Two: The public schools started to lurch unwillingly towards racial integration. Fortunately, where I grew up, the leadership recognized that racial segregation of public schools was done for and decided the only choice was to make integration work.

One black girl joined the senior class of the white high school the next year. About a dozen black girls and boys joined the junior class the year after that (my junior year). And so on.

Of course, no white kids were sent to the black high school, not for many years.

And

Three: The prom was canceled.

It remained canceled for years for fear that some little black boy might want to dance with little some white girl.

Parents are still punishing children with the parents’ hate and fear.

Read more »

I did it from the front seat of our 1955 Ford after my father installed seat belts. I didn’t have real planes.

With proper instruction.

No legal protections for clotheslines in Virginia:

This year Puller tried a different name for the onetime backyard fixtures: “natural drying devices.” Her bill, SB221, was prompted by a constituent whose community association wouldn’t let her put up a clothesline. It passed the Senate 37-3.

(snip)

Still no dice. The (House of Delegates) panel tabled the measure, effectively killing it. The 5-2 vote broke down along party lines, Democrats for and Republicans against.

Since this proprosal protects an individual freedom (to hang clothes out on the line) and makes environmental sense, but does not involve guns, it is quite logical that Republicans would oppose it.

I used to live in Lower Merion, which has now made international news. I lived in the poor part of the township, actually not far from where Senator Heinz’s plane went down (the school grounds were about four blocks away from my house).

Lower Merion is one of the richest jurisdictions in the US, with a very impressive “mansions per square mile” ratio.

I lived there in 1983. Now Lower Merion appears to be stuck in 1984.

From the BBC:

Parents in the US have accused a school of spying on children by remotely activating webcams on laptops.

A couple from Pennsylvania have filed a lawsuit against a school district which gave laptops to its high school pupils.

They say their son was told off by teachers for “engaging in improper behaviour in his home” and that the evidence was an image from his webcam.

The Inky has the latest and the even laterest.

Addendum, Several Days Later:

Some interesting links regarding this.

The latest from the Inky and the Philly DN.

And, according to Martin at the Network Security Blog, the software in question was much more than anti-theft software, such as LoJack; it was remote administration software which enabled the remote user to take complete control of the computer, not just to snap a picture if the box were reported stolen.

And it’s being a-wasted on really oddball whackjobbery.

Honestly, you can’t make this stuff up.

Over there.

In the zoning zone:

“I think this is going to boil down to what a naked buttock is,” said (Camden, NJ–ed.) city attorney John Kearney. “If a girl is wearing a thong, is it a naked buttock?

Just think how hunky-dory everything would be now if Bush had just gotten this through the first time.

Back in the olden days, when I was a young ‘un, there was a joke that went something like this:

Q. Should women have clubs?

A. Soitenly. Clubs, rolling pins, baseball bats, whatever they want. (Rim shot)

One would hesitate to tell that joke today, not for any reason of “political correctness,” but simply because it’s no longer funny. It is meaningless in the context of most of contemporary society.

Unless, of course, you are a Republican.

Sending 12-year olds to the Big House for acting like 12-year olds.

Read more »

Or maybe I should get uninsured microbes protection. Shadow boxing reality in Virginia:

The Virginia Senate took a stand against a key provision of a proposed federal health care overhaul Monday, passing legislation declaring that Virginia residents cannot be forced to buy health insurance.

The legislation targets the so-called “individual mandate” provision that could be part of a federal health care reform package being negotiated by congressional leaders. The Senate passed three identical bills by votes of 23-17, with five Democrats joining the chamber’s 18 Republicans in support of the measures.

(Not that I’m a fan of the individual mandate. It’s not single payer.)

“Hi. I’m Jane from Verizon.”

RoboJane has found my new phone number.

The Do Not Call list doesn’t work, because I have a “business relationship” with Verizon (it’s called a “telephone line”).

So I will be subjected to Verizon’s marvelous marketing campaign, which appears to be based on tormenting subscribers with phonecalls from RoboJane until they sign up for Verizon FiOS just to make her go away.

News for Verizon: Every phone call from RoboJane strengthens my resolve never to sign up for Verizon FiOS. Or Verizon TV. Or anything else from Verizon except for a landline for the 911 call I hope never to have to make.

This was just asking for trouble.

Addendum, January 29:

The rest of the story: The teacher agrees it was stupid. Apparently, he had not seen the film in some years.

In Berlin, Md.,

The ordinance would permit residents to keep up to six female chickens as long as they are kept in a pen, with shelter, no less than 25 feet from any town residence. The pens for the chickens — which must be registered with the Maryland Department of Agriculture — must be kept free of odors and materials that might attract rodents.

(snip)

The decision to allow pet poultry within town limits comes after the Board of Zoning Appeals ruled in October that an Ann Drive woman could not keep her two chickens and three ducks. The board upheld the decision of town staff, who believed she was in violation of town codes that prohibited “the business of keeping poultry” in a residential district.

No roosters?

Aside: This is in chicken country, where the “business of keeping pountry” is big business involving thousands of chickens and lots of their–er–by-products.

It’s not just for momentous Constitutional questions.

It’s also for the silly and vindictive–silly except for wanting to put some teenage girls away for being stupid teenage girls.

Jeez oh man, I thought the hair wars were so over 40 years ago.

Then, again, it’s Texas.