At least the weather looks like it will be cooperating, with the only rain being forecast is showers on a couple of days during the upcoming week.
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BeezleBub and Horse Girl attended the Toby Keith concert last night at our local concert venue.Not a bad way to start the concert season.
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Government has got to get a grip, particularly when it comes to kids. Far too often someone in Child Protective Services (or the equivalent thereof) goes out of their friggin' minds when kids are doing stuff that normal kids do, but without their parents hovering over them like the proverbial helicopter.The latest bit of insanity: A Florida couple was arrested after their son was 'caught' playing basketball in his own back yard for 90 minutes.
Excuse me?
Yes, his parents weren't there, being delayed by traffic and heavy rain. The boy, 11-years old, wasn't neglected, mistreated (except maybe by CPS and the local police), or in emotional distress.
This is almost as bad as the case of a new mother in New York some years ago who called a counselor when she wanted to know if having a sexual flush while breastfeeding her newborn was normal. (It is.) The counselor referred the case to NYCPS and the newborn was taken away because they believed the new mother might be molesting her baby. It took months for mother and child to be reunited and the CPS personnel were cited for their failure to perform due diligence. (A call to an OB/GYN or to one of the many clinics that deal with breastfeeding would have told them it is a normal reaction.)
Why everyone in government has come to believe 24/7 surveillance of children by their parents is the only way to raise children is beyond me. This overwrought reaction by child welfare offices and others who seem to think children are being kidnapped by the millions every day is doing far more harm than doing nothing more than what our parents did while raising us.
Frankly, I blame the media for a lot of this.
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David Starr disses the EPA for forcing yet another useless but expensive 'fix' for a problem that doesn't exist. In this case, they want to impose air pollution regulations on aircraft emissions, something they're doing to collect 'air pollution credits', not to make aircraft more fuel efficient.As David writes:
With jet fuel at $2.50 a gallon the airlines have all the incentive necessary to conserve fuel as much as possible. The air frame builders have every incentive to improve fuel burn, namely, planes that burn less fuel have better range and can haul bigger loads.The aircraft industry is doing everything it can to make their aircraft more fuel efficient which has the byproduct of making them pollute even less. After all the biggest expense any airline has is fuel cost. The EPA may state they're doing this to make aircraft more fuel efficient, but they're using it merely as an excuse to take even more money from businesses using unrealistic regulations knowing full well no one can meet the requirements.
In a nutshell, market forces have made air travel as fuel efficient as possible. EPA regulation won't improve anything, it will serve in place of a tax. In the depths of Great Depression 2.0, we don't need more taxes.
It's time to do away with the EPA and start from scratch.
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David Starr also has some suggestions for police departments to set things right in relation to the events in Baltimore, Ferguson, and New York.***************
While I understand the intent of a bill put forth by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO), I do not believe either one really understands what's actually happening on college campuses in regards to sexual assault.While sexual assault is an ongoing problem, they're making it out to be a much bigger problem than it is. One of the biggest issues their bill is supposed to address is the “all it takes is the accusation to convict” attitude being promoted on campus. Colleges aren't competent to investigate criminal cases, nor should they. But the thrice-damned “Dear Colleague” letter is forcing them to do just that.
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One has to wonder why people in Baltimore, specifically certain sections of Baltimore, who demanded lighter police presence are so surprised that violent crimes and murders have skyrocketed in those areas. What did they expect?When the police switch from being proactive to reactive to crime, is it any wonder the criminals will be more active knowing the police won't be around until well after they've committed their crimes?
As Cap'n Teach writes:
Funny, most articles and preachings fail to mention what their ideas for better policing are. Most tend to be squishy feel good Kumbaya notions that fail to reduce crime. They also fail to mention what they will do to get the people in their neighborhoods to be less criminal.Yeah, funny about that.
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Want to see the future of more California cities if the Golden State doesn't get its head out of its ass? Then all one needs to do is look at San Bernadino.The thing is that there are plenty of other cities across America heading towards the same fate and for the same reasons: lengthy one-party rule, systemic corruption, over-the-top influence by public employee unions, and unchecked tax-and-spend policies, just to name a few.