We can all breathe easier

August 8, 2008

Finally. After years of extra-legal argument, torture, and a Supreme Court decision, Osama bin Laden’s driver has been convicted of being Osama bin Laden’s driver. For which he will serve five months, having already served sixty-one months of his term prior to being convicted.

It’s been worth it though. Since Hamdan was captured, bin Laden has presumably been forced to drive himself.

Posted in What The...?!? 1 Comment »

Is the Cross secular?

August 8, 2008

Memorial for Dennis Lund, who may or may not have been Christian.

Jason at the Wild Hunt has a story about Utah placing crosses by the roadside to honor slain state troopers. Lots of non-Christian groups, including Americans United, are offended by the placement of these crosses and sued to get them removed or replaced. But a judge ruled against them late last year saying the cross is a “ secular symbol of death.”

“Placing crosses by the side of the road” sounds fairly innocuous. But these are not the small florist jobbies you’re used to seeing. They are twelve-foot installations. And they are used whether or not the trooper in question was Christian, Jewish, anything (or nothing) else.

This latter point is the most telling. Is Utah trying to honor its slain troopers? Or is it using their deaths as an excuse to remind visitors that Utah is Jesus’ country and the police do the Lord’s work?

These aren’t memorials, they’re threats.

Posted in War God 5 Comments »

Off to inflate my tires

August 7, 2008

Posted in Archived Unsorted 2 Comments »

Too popular

August 5, 2008

The logical conclusion of the “X is to popular to be President” argument is that the loser of the popular vote should become President. I’m trying to imagine what the political ads would be like.

Posted in Politics 2 Comments »

Security questions

August 5, 2008

I was setting up online access to a new bank account. So I had to pick and choose some answers to “security questions.” They used to ask you your mother’s maiden name, but not all moms have “maiden” names now (Elf doesn’t), and that’s easy to find out, so the questions have become more obscure. Here are a few the bank gave me to select from:

1. What is your favorite car?
2. What is the name of your favorite movie?
3. What was your most memorable gift as a child?
4. What is the name of your favorite novel?
5. What is your hobby?
6. If you could control your height, how tall would you be?
7. What is the last name of the funniest friend you know?
8. What is the most unusual job you’ve had?

Notice that none of these have a true or false answer. The answers to all of them depend pretty heavily on my mood. Except for #4 — I have stock answer for that one. I can’t use it, though, because Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has an apostrophe in it, and I’m not allowed to use punctuation as my answer.

Surely there is a better mechanism.

Posted in Archived Unsorted 2 Comments »