Another Weekend, Come and Gone

Here it is, Sunday night again. Where does the time go?

At least it's a four day week this week. And the holiday that closes it out is Independence Day, my personal favorite. Shelly's mom and dad are talking about coming up to join us next weekend, so that should be fun.

But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself! I still have this past weekend to relate!

Yesterday was pretty fun, actually, provided you stayed indoors. It was another scorcher. Shelly and I endeavored to do that, and it wasn't like I didn't have little projects to keep me busy, putting knobs on things and installing extra shelving in closets. In between times, I found little pieces of "Bachelor Chris" memorabilia in the box I unpacked, and put a couple of objects out on display. They enjoyed a shelf life of ten minutes or so, until the baleful eye of Shelly fell upon them.

Mid day emergency came when Shelly discovered the indoor air conditioning equipment was leaking large amounts of water under the rug in the hallway. Amid hysterical shrieks about mold and mildew, I talked to Shelly's father, who works on A/Cs for a living. He told me unequivically that the drain pipe was clogged, and I should be able to just pull it off and run a hanger down it to clear it. Only one problem: some idiot glue the pipe in place. Fortunately, all I had to do was take the vacuum outside, run the cord through the window, excavate six inches of dirt out from under the end of the pipe so the hose would fit under it, and duct tape the nozzle to the pipe. That sucked out the blockage, and Shelly and I were able to clean up the water to our satisfaction.

That left me with just enough time to go pick up Brunette Erika's cake from Harris Teeter, although Shelly did send with me instructions to procure a "2" and "9" candle. That worked great, except for some reason, the bakery was out of 2's. Fortunately, the party ailse was fully stocked, because I'm pretty sure if I'd come home without it, the next 'blockage' anyone would have discovered in any vents around here would have been my missing corpse.

Mission accomplished, the two of us drove over to Classic Erika's house to meet up with everyone. We were the last ones there, so once Martha decided she wanted to eat at Champs, we all caravaned over to Southpoint Mall, irrespective of insanely high gas prices. Here are some pictures of us there, waiting for our tables and wilting in the heat.

No, Charlotte doesn't have a twin- the parents kept passing her off to each other.

Anyway, we had a great dinner there, then came back to our place to show Matt and Martha around. We had planned on playing Cranium, but we just ended up sitting around and talking until almost 1 in the morning. Oh, and of course we had cake:

Charlotte actually went along with all this and slept comfortably in her playpen upstairs until it was time to go. She was very, very good this time around. (I had to put that in; I was severely chastised last night for talking bad about her on my blog).

We all got to hear about Martha's new job, which she is loving. Matt's still enjoying his full time job of testing game systems, and also going to work a couple days a week. And Shelly was certainly in a talkative mood. I don't think I have any secrets left.

Well, anyway, I've got to get to bed, though I'm not especially tired. I think I'll go downstairs and watch an episode of Scrubs over a cool glass of milk before hitting the hay. Yeah, that sounds real good.

G'night!

The Dam Breaks

BEGIN SECOND AMENDMENT RANT

Well, I'm still talking about it, even if no one else is interested.

The armies are on the move, and they didn't waste any time! Looks like lawsuits have already been filed in San Fransisco and Chicago, probably before I even wrote that last night!

Upon reflection, I really think the majority opinion is easily applied to states and municipalities. Since the opinion basically wrote off the preamble of the Amendment as clarifying (announcing a purpose) but in no way limiting the operative clause, there's no reason for the Second Amendment not to be applied to the states. They clearly identified the word 'state' in the preamble as meaning 'polity' or 'nation', rather than meaning a state as in one of the United States.

Unfortunately, by the time these cases hit the Supreme Court, the Court's make up could very well be different. And the four dissenters clearly showed they have no respect at all for the clear wording of the Amendment.

Let's be honest here- you don't get on the SC by being a moron. None of those nine men and women are stupid, no matter what their various detractors might say. But the Amendment, while slightly awkwardly worded, is really not that hard to figure out. Let's just play substitution here, using liberals' favorite Constitution "right", abortion.

Here's a hypothetical amendment:

"Secure, orderly hospitals, being necessary for the well-being of the populace, the right of women to abort fetuses, shall not be infringed."

Now, if such an amendment appeared in the Constitution, does anyone think Ginsburg, Stevens, ET AL, would be arguing that it only protects the right of hospital workers to have abortions? Or that, since the term 'abort fetuses' is medical in nature, only doctors and nurses would have the right to abortions? (Arguments exactly parallel to those were made in this case, by the way)

No, I don't either. Which shows that, regardless of what the Constitution says, they just don't like people having guns as a matter of policy, and won't rule to that effect.

Then we have this guy, also not stupid (being Dean of UC Irvine School of Law). But damn dishonest in this analysis. I'll pick one thing out of his diatribe, which totally misrepresents the concepts of judicial restraint vs judicial activism, but that's a whole other topic:

"Never before had the Supreme Court found that the 2nd Amendment bestows on individuals a right to have guns. In fact, in 1939 (and other occasions), the court rejected this view. In effectively overturning these prior decisions, the court both ignored precedent and invalidated a law adopted by a popularly elected government."

In fact, as dealt with at length in the majority opinion, the 1939 Miller case in no way rejected the Individualist view that the court ended up adopting. That case, as described in the opinion, turned on whether the weapon in question was covered under the Second Amendment, not whether the defendant was. Where the 'precedent' comes in is the fact that fifty years worth of Circuit Court-level cases have cited to the decision and stated that this was the finding, when in fact it was not. So sorry, but lower court precedents based on faulty citations are not binding on the Supreme Court, Dean. (And the worse part is, of course he knows that- I'm a layman here, and he can't even cloak his lies in legal jargon enough to slip them by me!)

SECOND AMENDMENT RANT ENDS HERE

Well, anyway, it's Friday night. Tomorrow, Matt and Brunette Erika are coming for her birthday, and I have to finish installing the guest room ceiling fan. Since it's been in the upper 90's this week, I'm sure God's got that attic (where I'll be installing a replacement electrical box so the fan will stop wobbling) nice and hot for me. If Shelly hears a loud thump and then later sees a massive water stain on the ceiling, it probably will mean I lost consciousness and sweated out into the insulation.

Also, it just wouldn't be a blog entry if I didn't mention DC-Bound Melissa! Her and boyfriend Mark hosted the two of us last Saturday, for an evening of salsa, guacamole, hummice, chips, balckberries, cheese dip, and crackers! Then, after a couples game of Cranium Turbo (we called it a tie after 2 hours), we bowled and golfed on Mark's Wii! Shelly might have to get me one of those for our anniversary, hint hint!

In other news, Erika and Jason just got back from the beach, and she completed our beach recommendations of The Last Great Auk and The Hiding Place (of those two, guess which one I picked and which was Shelly's). Now that Erika's thinking she'll never again feel happiness (I think I'd kill myself reading those two back to back), we'll get her over here tomorrow for a little partying to lift her spirits. (Good thing we didn't rent Pursuit of Happiness for her as well. She really might have drowned herself.)

Anyway, that's all for tonight. We'll talk again soon!

Free At Last!

I have to imagine that when my kids are born, or if I ever win the lottery, or if every one of the credit union members whose names appear on my daily-update SECU 'hitlist' stepped in front of cement mixers simultaneously as I watched from the sidewalk, I'd probably be this happy again-but I'm not sure I'd bet on it!

It wasn't shaping up to be a particularly good Supreme Court session. Foreign terrorists who've never set foot in the US are suddenly entitled to Constitutional protections. Child rape apparently isn't so serious a crime as to merit death. No, there was reason not to be optimistic. But the Supremes got one right!

At 10 am today, pretty much nothing happened. Ignoring the members piling up in the lobby, I frantically hit the update button on my browser, desperately hoping for some word on the DC vs Heller case, which I knew was to be released at 10am. Finally, 12 minutes later, the "Breaking News" email filtered its way through. And, will wonders never cease, five justices agreed that the Second Amendment actually means what it says! We came one vote away from losing a fundamental right through word games, but hey, a victory's a victory!

Here's a link to the opinion, and yes, I've read the full 64 pages of the majority. What a stinging wit that Scalia has sometimes! I loved how he went out of his way to eviserate Stevens' dissent, which just rehashed every misguided, contrived argument that the gun banners have been making for decades. Here's a smattering of examples:

"Some have made the argument, bordering on the frivolous,
that only those arms in existence in the 18th century
are protected by the Second Amendment. We do not interpret
constitutional rights that way."

"In any event, the meaning of “bear arms” that petitioners
and JUSTICE STEVENS propose is not even the (sometimes)
idiomatic meaning. Rather, they manufacture a
hybrid definition, whereby “bear arms” connotes the
actual carrying of arms (and therefore is not really an
idiom) but only in the service of an organized militia. No
dictionary has ever adopted that definition, and we have
been apprised of no source that indicates that it carried
that meaning at the time of the founding. But it is easy
to see why petitioners and the dissent are driven to the
hybrid definition. Giving “bear Arms” its idiomatic meaning
would cause the protected right to consist of the right
to be a soldier or to wage war—an absurdity that no
commentator has ever endorsed. See L. Levy, Origins of
the Bill of Rights 135 (1999). Worse still, the phrase
“keep and bear Arms” would be incoherent. The word
“Arms” would have two different meanings at once:
“weapons” (as the object of “keep”) and (as the object of
“bear”) one-half of an idiom. It would be rather like saying
“He filled and kicked the bucket” to mean “He filled
the bucket and died.” Grotesque."

"Faced with this clear historical usage, JUSTICE STEVENS resorts to
the bizarre argument that because the word “to” is not included before
“bear” (whereas it is included before “petition” in the First Amendment),
the unitary meaning of “to keep and bear” is established. Post,
at 16, n. 13. We have never heard of the proposition that omitting
repetition of the “to” causes two verbs with different meanings to
become one. A promise “to support and to defend the Constitution of
the United States” is not a whit different from a promise “to support
and defend the Constitution of the United States.”"

Anyway, of course, there was weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth from the mayors of America today. Here's a snippet from the Mayor of San Fransisco, courtesy of Fox News:

"In San Francisco, which has some of the toughest handgun regulations in the U.S., Mayor Gavin Newsom said the ruling "just flies in the face of reality. You just wish the Supreme Court could spend a week in public housing and then come out with this decision. It's very easy and comfortable to stand there with security guards and metal detectors and make these decisions.""

Hmm, dude wants to talk about something flying in the face of reality, and yet wants to alter the 4000 year old definition of marriage to mean, basically, "two people very much in love". Nah, no hypocrisy there.

Also, Mayor Fenty of DC, today's biggest (spell it with me, kids) L-O-S-E-R, vows to leave the ban in place for the full 21 days the city has to revise its gun law. So, the Court's just determined that the right to protect oneself in one's home is a fundamental, Constitutionally-guaranteed individual right, and this guy's response is to leave a complete abridgement of that right in place for 3 weeks? Talk about being on the wrong side of history. I would think dressing in sack clothe and sitting in ashes would be more appropriate, but then again, he probably wouldn't even know what book exactly it is being referenced there.

Ah, anyway, who really cares about these guys? The NRA, et al, will be launching challenges in Chicago and San Fransisco, challenging the total bans there. That's not a done deal, since the Court basically just dealt with a gun ban at the federal level in the Heller case, and state and local laws will have to be challenged by incorporating the Second Amendment against the states via the 14th Amendment, just like the rest of the Bill of Rights. That's not a sure thing, but hopefully, in time, those will fall too, so people other than criminals can defend themselves.

Lots of work remains to be done, but for now, all lovers of freedom, bask in this victory! It's not the end, or the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

Just thought I'd steal a bit of Churchillian wisdom at the end there...

What You've Been Missing

Well, folks, my blog neglect has reached a new low. Yesterday, my mother actually sent me an email and asked me to update it.

Rightly so, I guess, because a lot has happened since I last wrote.

This weekend, for Father’s Day, Shelly and I scored a 33% on our Good Son/Daughter Test, as Shelly’s dad at least left happy. And, honestly, that was my fault, since I was the one responsible for mailing my dad and grandfather’s cards. Hopefully, they’ve gotten there by now, though, and the recipients are now enjoying fabulous VISA gift cards, which can be used anywhere- provided that place isn’t a gas station, or, God forbid, they want to use two payment methods.

Anyway, Shelly’s dad! He arrived Sunday around noon, and we took him and his girlfriend out to El Rodeo in Durham, then went to see The Incredible Hulk. The movie was a remake of the classic, 2004 version of Hulk, which garnered roughly $100 at the box office and went on to become a cult classic. Actually, no, and it was telling that Marvel felt the need to redo the movie a mere 4 years later.

(Speaking of the Hulk, my computer spent so much time uploading that picture I'm about ready to have an 'incident' myself. And I know this thing wouldn't like me when I'm angry)

Anyway, it was actually really good. Edward Norton played a good Bruce Banner, and the effects were much improved this time around, though I’m a bit tired of seeing super heroes take on the US military. I guess it’s not PC for them to fight terrorists or Communists or any actual, real world threats. And for heaven’s sake, if the movie’s set after 1945, the Nazis are NOT legitimate villains- I’m talking to YOU, Indiana Jones!

But I digress. After dinner, we came back to the townhouse and hung out for a little while, and then they hit the road for Salisbury.

The weekend before last, Shelly and I had the distinct honor of hosting Jen and Tim! They came in Friday night, fresh from Melinda’s house in Salisbury (a lot of our guests seem to come from there these days), and stayed two nights with us. That night, we took them to a Chapel Hill landmark- Top of the Hill, over on Franklin Street! We made things easy on the waiter and all ordered the same thing- a hamburger topped with fried shrimp! Don’t knock it 'til you’ve tried it!

The next day, Shelly had one of those rarest of rare events, most hated of all God’s creations, worked into her schedule- a Saturday morning Barbri class. With her indisposed, Jen, Tim, and I drove to Raleigh and visited the NC Museum of Natural Science, which took up a good portion of the afternoon.

We enjoyed it, although the block and a half we had to walk to the museum was somewhat akin to crossing the Sahara Desert. The temperature that weekend was 100 degrees in the shade and there was little enough of that. A planned trip to Duke Gardens, worth seeing even if one hates the sports teams that call the school home, was cancelled due to no one wishing to brave the brutal heat.

Instead, we came home, roughly coinciding with Shelly’s arrival. We recuperated a bit, watched Big Brown lose his shot at the Triple Crown (which did not stop the commentators from discussing him ad naseum after the race), then, as per the comment Jen left here, took the visiting Marylanders to Brixx!

Later, again at the townhouse, we settled in for a relaxing night, enjoying a two hour game of Cranium Turbo before bed (Shelly and Tim won, but she almost blew it by mis-spelling 'scarecrow'). After a solid, Sunday morning, Shelly-prepared breakfast, the two of them headed home for Maryland.

I’ve gotten numerous (Ok, two) requests to post pictures of the townhouse refurbishments, so here they are. We actually got the window guy to paint the entire living room last Saturday- he said he needed to repaint the two walls the windows were in, so we gave him the paint we’d selected and asked how much he’d charge to do the other two walls too. He quoted us $130, which was an absolute steal; it ended up taking him eight full hours, which included all the trim. I was really glad, since that particular project had been bumped back to the end of the summer before I was going to get to it.

In other news, we've had relatively unexpected visitors the last two nights. On Monday, Lerissa and her mother showed up with her new puppy, Lexy (name still unfinalized, but I'm going with the one I liked. Here, bombard her with emails, expressing your support for "Lexy"!) They stayed for about ten minutes, right in the middle of my daily hour of Scrubs, but fortunately, DVR made up the difference.

And then, tonight, Erika came over with Charlotte, who hadn't had a nap. Yes, it was bad. I didn't get a picture of the event, but here's an older one.

She'd just been asked "How big is Charlotte?" In later years, that question will likely take on much more offensive overtones, but it's part of the fun we can have now.

Ok, kids, I'm ready for bed. The sun now wakes me up around six, so I get the sleep I can.

By the way, if anyone wants to receive email alerts when I update my blog, let me know, and I can add you in. That way you don't have to mix two weeks of disappointment with that one blessed moment of happiness when you log on and see that, yes, finally, it's new!

Move Accomplished!

Well, we’re out of the apartment and into the townhouse, anyway. But there are still boxes everywhere, and I’ve been driving around with my car still full of stuff the last three days. But that’s just a mopping up exercise- Bring It On!

The move took us a total of 12 hours on Saturday, between the movers getting all the boxes and furniture, us going back to get the open top boxes and bags, and us priming the walls. By the end of it, the three of us (Shelly, her mom, and I) were so exhausted that we went to bed at 9:30. The next morning, when we went to breakfast at the 501 Diner, I was so tired I started hallucinating, and saw options on the menu that weren’t actually there when I looked again. It was a surreal experience.

(That link really wasn't the best one for the diner, but I stumbled over it and found myself chuckling over the negative comments at the bottom. I'd probably rate the place somewheres in between).

The last several days since, we’ve been in a state of unpacking and installing. I’m having to pick my battles, because I’m finding I don’t have time to do more than about three projects a night. Last night, for instance, was spent re-hanging the cabinet doors, putting the twin bed back together (after having to hacksaw off two stripped bolts the night before, just to get it off the front lawn), and installing a curtain rod over our bedroom window (we were totally without privacy the last three nights- good thing we’re on the second floor!).

Also last night, Obama clinched the Democratic nomination. That had to be bitter-sweet, as it came on a night when he lost South Dakota, and now he has Clinton breathing down his neck to name her as his running mate. Honestly, if she makes enough of an issue of it, it’s hard to see how he could refuse, since she has almost as many delegates as him and has (arguably) won more total votes. That’s unfortunate for him, because having Clinton on the ticket would be hugely distracting- he’s running as a Washington outsider bringing change, so how would it look to have the ultimate Washington insider on the ticket? Then again, a lot of Hillary supporters are going to be absolutely incensed if she’s not picked. It’s somewhat of a no-win scenario for Obama.

That said, all these tied polls between Obama and McCain notwithstanding, the Dems are going to have to work real hard to lose this election. And with Obama in the White House and the Democratic party in control of Congress, we’re going to see some of the most liberal legislation since the 1960’s getting passed. We haven’t had this scenario since Johnson was president. Better spend some quality time now with your money, guns, and SUVs, people.

Well, politics aside, Jen and Tim are coming in on Friday, and fortunately, the second floor is mostly situated, so they’ll have a place to sleep. Hopefully the disaster downstairs will be under a little more control by then.

UPDATE: Well, project progress has come to a screeching halt tonight, as I'm thiiiis close to throwing the wireless router out the window, which is far too kind a fate for it given how it's behaving. Shelly's grown tired of my profanities and has retired downstairs to watch TV and unpack boxes, which I should have been doing an hour ago if not for this stupid thing!

OK, so now that everyone's laughing at me, I guess I'll go for the night.