2 Hours Later

I swear, the price at Shell on Cornell Road was $4.09, then 2 hours later it shot up to $4.15. But that is very local. Perhaps some problems can be solved locally.

In Portland the rage is (was? so 2 hours ago?) chickens. People and their love for having chickens in their yard. I know that I don't wish to live in a neighborhood that doesn't allow chicken cages in the yard. Maybe chickens are easy to solve. Though not for some of my family members without good fences, not a pretty picture. Well, chickens have finite lives, so that problem eventually solves itself.

How nice! Some problems cycle over and over. As Ron Paul put it - our Congress fights about "who should pay for birth control pills". Indeed. Did that seem like a small enough problem that they could solve? In light of the massive budget debt problem that seems intractable. More likely it is just idealoguing, scoring points with their favorite political base.

The Supreme Court arguments this week were sure interesting. Well, after the first day, which took a while for me to get into the groove. Kind of like the spinning class I took tonight. The 5 minute warmup nearly killed me, but I kept going, and did get into the groove. Supreme Court arguments must be like watching a Shakespeare play - have to stick with it and learn the language.

I know that if I grow wheat for my own consumption this is illegal. Since wheat is a publicly traded commodity and hence the government can control its production, and pricing. Well, that is for professional farmers, not for me specifically. Since I am not registered as a farmer, I can go forth and grow all the wheat I want.

Tomorrow I hear that the Supreme Court will decide on this week's debate on the constitutionality of Obama's Health Care Reform (some people are offended by the term 'Obamacare'). But they won't announce the decision till June, after writing about it. True enough, writing something brings out what you really think.

Well after hearing all those arguments I am convinced that I don't want my government involved in an amazing scheme to force people to buy products from insurance companies. Its bad enough they've taken away "free TV" and force you to get a digital box or some type of service. Radio is still free. Growing my own wheat is still free. I am free to tell every person I run into what I think.

I am reminded that "freedom is not free", but something we have to keep fighting for. Time for a new direction America! This year, we are cursed, but eventually we will climb out of our complete gridlock, 3 month infrastructure spending bills, scoring political points, and growing chickens. On that day, we will set free to solve problems.

A Little Bit of Sanity

I was outraged when I heard our U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder give a speech at Northwestern and claim that killing an American citizen outright, on foreign soil, who is deemed an enemy combatant, is ok.

Then when I didn't hear any outrage over this, I thought, it is possible I am the only one outraged over this? This is absolutely crazy. Are we a democracy? How can a country who prides itself on the rule of law, and considers itself a representative democracy, condone and even justify such actions?

Much less at my alma mater, Northwestern. Arg.. Well today's Sunday New York Times editorial says it in more legal terms than I would have used. Killing an American citizen without judicial review, no way, not ok. Thank you.

Now lets see, we have a Democratic president. Who would like to kill us. Lets see, I do like Canada, maybe I should learn their national anthem.