Requiescat in Pacem

My step-daughter just informed me that her song was interrupted on the radio to announce that Terri Schiavo just died. RIP Terri. And Condolences to Michael, Bob, Mary, and the rest of her family. Blessed be.

Goblin Guitar

Recently I've been rebuilding some of my homemade guitars (now that I know a little about what I'm doing, lol).

I've never liked the sound of my 6-string fretted cigar box guitar (CBG). The top wasn't very rigid which gave it a distant sound. So I took that box off and replaced it with an all wood Padron box. This required quite a bit of reshaping of the neck carry-through structure, but I finally got it to fit.

While I was at it, I did a little pyrography on this one - a goblin face.

Also pyrographed a couple of other boxes - one with a Goddess face, destined to be a trad 4 string banjo (trad 4 string is 3 regular strings and 1 high drone) - another with a dragon destined to be a ukulele.

Podcasting

OK, I think I've finally figured out this podcasting thing. If you're set up to receive podcasts on your iPod, give this a try:

Blues and Beyond Podcast (RSS)

There's a permanent link in the side bar down in the feed section. And I'll post here whenever there's an update. Right now it's got 3 songs that I previously posted here as mp3 DLs.

Just say NO to the NC lottery!

North Carolina, the only east coast state without a lottery, is considering establishing one. This is a really bad idea. Not because of some vague, wishy-washy, red-state, BS morality... but because it would hurt people, including and especially the ones it's intended to help.

NC House Speaker, Jim Black, is pushing for quick passage of this bill because the state budget writers want to know if there will be lottery money available to alleviate the state's budget shortfall.

Wait just a second here! The lottery money is earmarked for school expenses. How can that alleviate the shortfall? You set the budget and then whatever comes in from the lottery goes to the schools, right?

Well, that's the big lie in state lotteries... Here's how it works:

The lottery money comes in and goes to the schools... then the schools' budget from other sources is reduced by the same amount... and that money is freed up to pay other state budget expenses. Sounds like no money from the lottery went to schools at all, doesn't it?

Well, it gets worse... since the schools have a protected source of money, the legislature will feel perfectly free to cut the school budget from year to year. This is completely absurd and irresponsible, but it's also what has happened in states that already have a lottery.

So there's victim number 1: Our children.

Who else is victimized? Well, the poor for one. It's not just that the lottery taxes rich and poor the same... it's that the lottery is targeted at the poor.

I lived in a lottery state for a couple of years... if you drove all the way across the county I lived in on a road that went through an affluent part of the county, there was exactly one store where you could buy a lottery ticket. On the other hand, if you drove across the county on a road through an economically depressed area, there was a store that sold lottery tickets on every corner. They were targetting the poor.

And who among the poor is buying that lottery ticket? It's mom or dad on payday - hoping to strike it rich by gambling the grocery money... and who loses? The kids who don't eat for the next week.

Also victimized are the folks who play the lottery. In states where gambling is legal, the state strictly regulates the gambling operators. For example, a casino in New Jersey can't just set to the slot machines to take half your money... if you keep putting money in a slot machine, over the long term, you'll walk away with 90 cents for each dollar you bet (this assumes you don't bet the same dollar more than once).

But the lottery doesn't work that way. If you bet a dollar in the lottery, in the long run, you'll walk away with 50 cents. If Donald Trump tried that in his casinos... he'd go to jail.

If you live in a lottery state and you want to gamble, you should seek out an illegal numbers game, because you'll get a fairer shake.

US Invades Florida!

Yeah, that's right. The supposedly state's-rights-loving Republican Senate, House, and President of the US passed a law Monday morning to strip Florida of its sovereign right to govern domestic issues and move Terri Schiavo's case into Federal court.

Now as for the merits of the case, just about every doctor who has actually examined Terri Schiavo agrees that she's in a persistant vegetative state... this is a permanent condition. Basically, the spirit who was Terri Schiavo has left the body and isn't coming back. Husband, Michael, says Terri wouldn't want to be kept alive under these conditions... and every court that's heard this case has agreed that care should be withdrawn and Terri allowed to die as is her wish.

But the Schindlers, Terri's parents, won't take "no" for an answer. I guess they're stuck in the denial stage of grieving. Someone suggested that they may be concerned that Terri, a Catholic, would be stuck in purgatory if she were allowed to die, but let me interject here: the poor girl is in purgatory now... let her die and move on!

I can understand the parents' denial and sympathize with them. But what's going on with the US government jumping on the bandwagon? When someone's in denial over the loss of a loved one you don't feed their fantasy - at least not if that person is an adult... you help them move on through the other stages of grief so their healing can begin.

But not the corrupt Republican government... they're so bent on making political hay out of this that they're willing to trample states rights, trample the separation of powers, trample the Constitution, and even trample Michael and Terri Schiavo's civil rights to jump in with their bullshit.

Don't doubt that your rights are on their list too!

Fortunately, the Federal courts are not as corrupt as the rest of the US government and, so far, have recognized that this case has been litigated to death in the Florida courts and all the necessarly decisions have been reached.

Here's praying for a swift and painless death for Terri and peace and swift recovery for her family.

Don't go Bankrupt

Congress is about to pass a new bankruptcy law. It's principle points are:

1. Honest folks who get into trouble will have to spend hundreds of extra dollars and comply with onerous (if not impossible) extra requirements to get considerably reduced bankruptcy protection, and

2. Violent criminals will continue to be able to avoid paying restitution by going bankrupt.

Oddly enough, an amendment that prevents point 2 has traditionally prevented this bill from passing the House... but, apparently, the Republicans have enough support for their criminally involved supporters to get point 2 through the Senate now.

Did you vote for these assholes? Shame on you!

Bright Lines and Reasonable Persons

So, the Supreme Court is hearing another 10 Commandments case today - this is about the 10 Commandments on display in courthouses. IMO, such a display, if the text of the commandments is given prominence, constitutes an establishment of religion... which, of course, is prohibited by the first amendment to the Constitution.

Cases like this tend to be decided 5-4 with Sandra Day O'Connor the swing vote. She likes to apply this test: if a reasonable person would construe a particular state-sponsored display of the 10 Commandments as an expression of religion, then that display constitutes an establishment of religion.

I can't really argue with that. It's a pretty good principle.

But I heard a lawyer on the radio today complaining that O'Connor's principle doesn't draw a clear bright line.... This may be because there are no lawyers who are also reasonable persons :o)