Miscellany
More eclecticism....
...There should be standards for how dumb someone is allowed to act before they are billed for social incompetence. Included in the ticket should be rehabilitation, and maybe a surety bond that if he can't be cured, at least his damages will be costed to some insurance company. I'm thinking of the guy flying out of Dallas who when demonstrating that his hunting rifle was unloaded, proved conclusively that it had been loaded, by firing a shot through a window. No one was hurt, though ya gotta imagine everyone within ear shot was at least disquieted by the event. This is one of those situations where you really don't have to get it wrong. One of the main rules about firearms is that you transport them empty; no bullets in the clips and none in the chamber. If you look before you pack up your rifle, before you get into your car, guess what, it will still be empty at your destination. And to pull the trigger to show it's unloaded instead of opening the breach crosses the line of negligence. Somehow, no charges were filed against the man, who was allowed to board the plane, presumably with his rifle — finally confirmed to be not loaded by others — in the hold. I woulda tossed him in the pokey; surely there are laws, even in Texas, against firing guns in an airline terminal. Dunno who had to pay for the window.
...Speaking of missing the target, for reasons that aren’t immediately apparent, the Bay Area Mercedes dealers are running a radio ad that celebrates stupid. You know the kind where some fool isn’t following the bouncing ball. And he’s the one who’s supposed to wanna buy the Mercedes. It suggests — as do all these formulaic ads — that stupid people want the product. Do they want the audience to identify with the dope? Probably not overtly, but it sure shows how shallow is their own thinking. Another ace of the airwaves is advertising some financial service like mortgage banking, offering "reliability you can depend on."
...If it's security that you want, perhaps you'll be considering Virgin, Utah, which passed a law last year that requires gun and ammunition in every resident's home. The mentally ill, convicted felons, conscientious objectors and poor folk what cain't afford a gun were exempt from the law. But the Utah Attorney General says the law conflicts with state regulations so they have to either repeal the law, or strip it so they keep only the provision prohibiting the discharge of firearms in the city limits. Most of the town's 350 residents already be holdin' heat. They passed the measure 'cause they feared their sacr'd secon'amen'ment rights might gonna be plucked, though there was no apparent instigation of, or indeed rational explanation for, the fear. Wonder who complained before they shot 'em.
...Finally, speaking of putting a lid on things, the Taliban taboo list included photographing living beings, playing chess, flying kites, and making and listening to music. How grotesquely dark? They make the snake-handlers and polygamists in our country look, relatively, enlightened. What kind of sick minds could oppose making music? What sort of people would put up with it? What obligation does the world community have to step in? I mean, will the bombing be enough?
And that's SetonnoteS...I'm Tony Seton.
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