They are (again) approaching the issue of Puerto Rico as a state, potentially.

It should be a state. It should have been made a state a long, long time ago.

Two retail employees say they were fired last week after they chased down a suspected shoplifter.

Wait: The tale gets even loopier. The men – Paul Shoemaker and Mike McGee – apparently were on their break and chasing an alleged store shoplifter not in their store, but in an adjacent Apple Store.

http://www.inc.com/news/articles/2010/04/sprint-fires-employees-for-pursuing-shoplifter.html?partner=yahoobuzz

Well, I was sympathetic to the law making it state law illegal to not be in the U.S legally, in accordance with national law. But a small quote from this article changed that….

The new law makes it a crime under state law to be in the country illegally. Immigrants unable to produce documents showing they are allowed to be in the U.S. could be arrested, jailed for up to six months and fined $2,500.

Hmm. Not just no, but HELL NO. That is a horrible erosion of the “innocent until proven guilty” bedrock of American Law. You flat out should not, ever, have to prove anything to the police, if they stop you. (Drivers license are a crock of shit for the same reason). Expensive on the government? yes! Thats the point. If its not worth the governments spending all the money needed to do something, then that something is not worth doing.

Thats common sense, really.

And I remind everyone – its a really good use of your time to watch “ten rules for dealing with the police.”

I love my brain. I’m just glad I don’t, and haven’t, done drugs, because the shit my brain comes up with it already strange enough.

In this dream, I was getting out of the Army. This involves taking a hypersonic subway train on a floating, artificial island. It was a tourist resort ran by a Arab mogul. After several minutes of travel, I reached the end, and joined my travel party. It consisted of Arnold schwarzenegger, and 4-5 midgets. Suddenly the island came under attack (by who? how? No idea here). The place started taking on water.

The midgets jumped into these large flooding tubes to escape. One got sucked into the wrong tube, and almost got chewed up by a large fan. Arnold vanished somewhere or another. Me? I dithered around and presumably died when the thing went down.

I love the Honda Element, and, I’m a bit of a slob. That is one reason I like the vehicle. Finally, to get the interior sorted out, I got drastic. I put the rear seats up against the window, and then used a pushbroom to shove all the crap out the back, onto the driveway.

Harley Macaw promptly climbed on to the resulting pile of junk, and threatened me with dire bodily harm if I disturbed any of his new found treasure.

I ignored him, and finished my cleaning.

I’m trying to find the time to read the book “On liberty” by Mills. While it was written in 1869, I think, its really readable, and one of the most important works in western history. Each time I flip to a random page, I read something profound. You can find numerous free copies on the Internet (its long out of copyright).

Good stuff – now to make the time to read it cover to cover.

Okay, not totally true – this is work I enjoy. I am learning new computer technology. Mind you, I would prefer not to be learning it on the fly, on the weekend, when I am not suppose to be working. But then, that is the lot of a computer geek. And as a note – wow, are my skills out of date. They are getting “in date” fast, but geez. 7 years since we upgraded a server, and the tech is nothing like it was.

Anyway, I picked up nine hours this weekend. Not too bad. I’ll get it as comp time.

This rollout is keeping me from posting much anywhere. And its decreased the time I can spend with my birds, which really bites.

I’m sitting on the backporch, enjoying the outdoors. So I’m slowly turning yellow from the pollen. Harley is in his cage, in the house, immediately behind me, watching through the window. He is yelling his fool head off – trying to remind me that I’m not suppose to be outside without him. (Its a trifle windy for him to be outdoors).

I see a medium sized woodpecker (Hairy, I think). I hear at least two squirrels. There is a crow in the distance. The trees are leafing out.

Spoiler toward the end.
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Edmond is a disturbing movie. Its not an overly gruesome movie – its just really bleak, really depressing, and its a lot like watching a bad train wreck, with no way to stop. Its really bleak by my standards of bleak. And, I LOVE bleak dark movies, where they start off bad and end up worse.

I can say I like this movie, even though I’ve watched it three times now. Its a bit dark by my standards of dark.

Its about a man – Edmond, played by William H. Macy. He blows a fuse one night (mental fuse) and goes wandering the streets of New York. Mostly seeking to get laid, actually. And he keeps descending. And descending further…..

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On the other hand, there is a degree of satisfaction to seeing William H. Macy end up a prison bitch.

I went to the Ikea store in Atlanta today – and that is one neat store. I’ll be going back. Yeah, the furniture is mostly junk (low quality) but not all of it is, and its a darn good place to get ideas, etc.

The furniture is perfect for kids rooms, teens rooms, dorm rooms, first apartments – basically anywhere where someone will be outgrowing it in few years. Or, if you need furniture for a few years till you can afford something decent.

I did pick up a put together rope ladder for 15 bucks. The parts are perfect for a parrot toy I’ve been pondering how to build for a while. I might figure out how to build it cheaper later (probably will, actually), but this will get me some experience.

And, I’m in love with this sink.

I told Harley macaw NO and he actually stopped doing what I told him not to do!

I marked this on my calendar.

I’m also pretty sure it won’t become a habit.