July 12, 2013

If there was no "Stand your ground" law, would there be any doubt as to Zimmerman's guilt?

July 10, 2013

Has anyone testified that Zimmerman was punched in the face?

I keep hearing people refer to Zimmerman having been punched, but it seems to me all we know is that was hit. I think he slapped himself in the face when he fired the gun!

July 9, 2013

If someone was able to make a court challenge against the Patriot Act,

would it be found unconstitutional?

July 9, 2013

One last question -

I'll add more responses upon request:

July 9, 2013

Just out of curiosity, what is your opinion of Snowden?

I'll add more options upon request.

July 9, 2013

Just out of curiosity, where would you place yourself regarding Snowden's revelations?

I'll add more choices if people want. Let's talk about the revelations as opposed to Snowden himself.

July 9, 2013

If this is true, would it change your opinion on Snowden?

If this is true, so please don't get side-tracked on whether it is true.

I heard a passing reference to the story on Diane Rehm, that Snowden gave info to the Guardian and the Washington Post that the papers declined to publish because the editors agreed with the government that this information would harm national security.

So, if this is true, it implies that Snowden did take and offer to reveal information that would cause harm. What are your thoughts?

July 8, 2013

World War Z is a bad movie, and not in a good way - (SPOILERS INSIDE!)

Spoiler alert - I will be talking about specifics -






As a movie, what we have here is your basic Scy-Fy Saturday night disaster movie - brilliant but reluctant hero is called into action to save the world at great personal risk, goes through all sorts of hazards to be re-united with happy family. It does feature a top tier star and the CGI effects are better than usual, but J. Michael Straczynski should have begged to have his name removed from the credits!

So, OK, no resemblance to an excellent book, but a pleasant way to spend a hot summer afternoon, right?

My problem is the racism implicit in scene after scene. One of the leads is a UN official from Africa, but it's all down hill from there. (and of course, we never learn what country he's from, just Africa!)

Hey - there's a black cop - but he's just here to loot the store with everyone else - he's abandoned his post!

A major plot point is that the Israelis have built a wall to keep the zombies out, just in time for the disaster. How did they know? Hmm, maybe the Jews started it!

It turns out that the Israelis just guessed right, but shortly after they are overwhelmed when an Arab girl starts singing over a loud speaker, drawing the zombies over the wall.

In the lab at Cardiff, a black woman who has been turned into a zombie is a focal point, but not just any black woman, but a black woman with very dark skin and with her hair in beaded braids. The rest of the zombies there seem to be English, and we can tell because they all have bad teeth!

Then, take a look at the members of the US armed forces. The only African American among them that I recall is the man in the food line who complained about all the extra people on board the ship. Hardly an accurate picture of the US armed forces today!

Check out the closing montage - lots of shots of third world swarms of people. The Russkies are fighting back with sickles and pitchforks. Got to hand it to those Russkies, they're primitive but tough! And the closing shot? A white man standing guard with his rifle, proof positive that we should all be arming ourselves against the hordes out there.

July 6, 2013

Anybody expecting a new baby in the family?

The CDC now recommends that everyone who will be around the baby get a TDaP booster:

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6041a4.htm

July 6, 2013

Anyone expecting a new baby in the family? The CDC has issued a new recommendation

that everyone who will be around the infant get a TDaP booster.

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6041a4.htm