Subject to Change

Kelly and I rented the movie Felon a while back. It was an infuriating movie.

The basic story line is that a burglar attempts to break into an average suburban home. He’s chased out onto the lawn by the man of the house, who finally catches up to him an clobbers him with a baseball bat. The burglar dies and the homeowner is sent to prison for excessive use of force. He finds himself trapped in the system as the crooked cops and gangs in the prison bring him down to their level. His sentence is extended and his marriage breaks up as a result of his attempt to defend his family in the first place.

What’s infuriating about this movie is the truth of it. You can get into serious trouble attempting to defend your property and your family. If someone breaks into your home and you kill them you could very well be sent to prison. Never mind that if you chase the burglar or rapist away they could come back more heavily armed.

Prison time serves little purpose in a case like this, because the individual in question doesn’t need to be corrected. It’s not as if anyone ever becomes a serial home defender. What exactly are we trying to scare out of them by sending them to jail?

You know what an appropriate penalty would be for someone who kills an intruder? Make them put up a yard sign advertising the killing. That way the innocent intruders know to stay away.

Something interesting happened in the past week. There’s a representative at Blue Cross who finally. took an active interest in our case. We had a conference call with her and explained that we’d like our situation to be investigated to see if there’s a pattern with the hospital we’re dealing with. We also wanted to clarify the timeline, so that we’re all on the same page.

Last week I contacted this representative to check up on things and she told me that her position was one of 1,500 that had been downsized. I couldn’t help but laugh, and then I emailed her back to tell her I’d provide a reference if she needed one. She promised to continue on our case as long as she could. “You may as well go out with a bang,” was my response.

Madison - Gov. Jim Doyle on Friday signed an executive order creating an Office of Recovery and Reinvestment to advise him and other state officials on how to spend what is expected to be as much $3.5 billion from the federal economic stimulus package.

“Through this new office, we will work to turn federal stimulus money into paychecks as efficiently and quickly as possible,” Doyle said.

…Paychecks for those 15 people who are going to piss away half the stimulus money by studying it.

Meet Hope and Change, the two creepiest kids ever.

Why is Virginia Tech attracting insane Asian kids?

One of the digital billboards East of downtown has a message from the new president: “Yes we can!”

Drive by and check it out in all its creepy splendor. I’m sure this is intended to inspire hope. I just couldn’t help thinking I’d traveled back in time to Orwell’s 1984.

President Obama has already figured out how to use his big-boy toys.

Barack Obama gave the go-ahead for his first military action yesterday, missile strikes against suspected militants in Pakistan which killed at least 18 people.

I doubt we’ll hear much out of the left defending this strike, which KILLED PEOPLE. Less than one week into his presidency Obama ordered a military attack. He used those unfair Predator drones, too. I’ll bet the poor targets didn’t even see it coming.

Fear not! Hillary called president Asif Ali Zardari afterward to help smooth things over.

Barack Obama promised an open White House. We got a glimpse of that new openness on Thursday night. I’d have to say this is a major change in approach from previous administrations. On the campaign trail some reporters complained that Obama was tight lipped. On his third day in office he continues to snub reporters. Compare that to George W. Bush, who often addressed his press corps by name. Before that Bill Clinton loved to hear himself speak. If he hadn’t said so much, he might not have needed to correct or contradict himself so often. That might be Obama’s strategy.

The burning question is, how long can the press stand to be spoon fed? They may want to avoid stepping on the toes of the guy so many of them supported for president, but they’re real people with real jobs to do. Those jobs depend on filling column inches with news from the White House. If they’re reduced to printing telegrams from the oval office their jobs will be at stake sooner or later.

Who will be the first to get desperate enough to print the headline: President Obama Refuses to Answer Question XYZ?

One would suspect that the President’s announcement on the closing of Guantanamo Bay places today in the “change” category. When I had a chance to talk this over with my co-workers I realized something, though. The executive order to close Gitmo is probably the first major rope-a-dope of this administration. If there’s one thing Democrats are good at it’s saying one thing and doing another, the only way to keep their insane voter base coming back for more.

As it was reported the plan for closing Gitmo includes moving detainees to facilities within the United States, handing them over to other countries, or releasing them back into the wild. I’m actually in favor of all of that if it means moving them to gang infested maximum security prisons, handing them over to Israel, or releasing them in the wilds of Antarctica. But, that isn’t what we’re talking about. The Obama plan falls just short of giving the detainees honorary nuclear technician credentials and setting them free in downtown USA.

The left doesn’t realize that we aren’t dealing with a civilian prison at Gitmo. It’s a POW camp. The people being held there were caught conspiring against the United States in a time of war. That’s not necessarily criminal in the countries we caught them. Yet, it isn’t safe to have them freely wandering the world. President Obama needs to keep these enemy combatants contained just as much as President Bush did. There’s no better place to do it than Gitmo. A former co-worker of mine once explained it best:

• If they run for it the Cubans will shoot them.
• If they climb the fence the Cubans will shoot them.
• If they somehow make it through no-man’s land the Cubans will shoot them.
• If they escape into Cuba the Cubans will shoot them.

Obama’s probably biding time with his voter base by issuing this order, giving them false hope. Ultimately he’s got to leave Guantanamo Bay open or find some alternative that’s equally restrictive. Of course, there may be a way to sugar coat the whole thing so that we’re none the wiser.

Today was a day for hope: hope that the new president is simply playing political games and recognizes the need to protect our homeland against an unconventional enemy. If we’re wrong about them we can always pay reparations fifty years from now, right after we send them the bill, with interest, for their room and board.

Inauguration day was quite obviously a day of change. I heard that it took a little over five hours to move one president out of the White House and another in! It was also a day of hope. Barack Obama raised hopes with his inauguration address. Some are hoping that he makes good on his campaign promises. Others are hoping that he makes good on some campaign promises he never actually made. The rest of us are hoping that he doesn’t follow through on too many of his promises.

President Obama’s first full day in office was a day of change. He used his new presidential powers to reverse policies of the previous administration. Guantanamo Bay is on the chopping block and the grey wolf is now effectively back on the endangered species list. This wave of change is likely to continue today, possibly even tomorrow.