Nightingale

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Everything posted by Nightingale

  1. I've been amazed at the character of the girl's father as well. There has been a facebook page created in support of Kathleen, here http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=123801807673623 And I found this information on a page regarding a fundraiser for her in her hometown: "If you live out of state or country and would like to donate to little Kathleen, all TCF banks are taking donations in the name of: "Kathleen's Crusaders"!!!"
  2. I don't think most collectors would object, because it doesn't look like these things are in brand shiny mint condition. They'll probably end up in the hands of reenactors, the majority of which will never fire a live round out of them. Of course, on the other hand, there's my friends... I've got reenactor friends that BUILD world war one era replica guns. I've got reenactor friends that build working black powder rifles and pistol replicas from the 1500s. I have friends that build working full size cannon replicas from the 1500s. I have one friend that actually owns and shoots a real pistol from the 1600s. I think those are probably a lot scarier than imported M1s. And I shoot them all. Blanks and live rounds. I had great fun plinking old empty propane tanks with a flintlock rifle at 100 yards last Fourth of July. Figured what better way to celebrate the birth of our nation than by exercising my second amendment rights with a gun that was about the same age. Those rifles are a piece of history and should be imported, first offered to museums, second to collectors, and third to reenactors, all of whom help keep that history alive for the next generation. Plus, I wanna shoot one.
  3. Your post is a perfect example of how Christians have managed to completely alienate an entire class of people, and now that some are getting their heads out of their asses, they're surprised to get reactions like yours. I understand your reaction. It makes total sense. Why take a hand of friendship when the same hand has slapped you in the face hundreds of times before? Not all Christians are hate spewing homophobes. Unfortunately, those seem to be the loudest and the ones most often on television, while the others don't stop them or aren't even sure how. Things are changing. More Christians are welcoming gays and lesbians. The United Church of Christ is one group that is pretty widespread. More and more, as kids grow up with their friends and neighbors being out of the closet and being gay slowly becoming not something to be kept hidden as some kind of shameful secret, you'll see more of things like this: http://www.timschraeder.com/2010/06/30/a-different-kind-of-demonstration-at-gay-pride/ and hopefully a lot less of the other stuff.
  4. If I was under the obviously false impression that only angels and the needy are trying to get in, I wouldn't be advocating for identity cards, DNA samples, and fingerprints for anyone coming over our border. I'm just saying let's send the folks that aren't afraid to give those bits of evidence to us through legitimate channels, check that evidence to help weed out people that shouldn't be here, and then focus on the rats still scurrying around in the dark. And marijuana legalization is another thread, so I'm not going there here.
  5. I think those are excellent points...and completely moot as long as we have no control over the border. Gain control of what's happening at the border and we should try and institute all of those things. If we make it easier for people to come here legally, we won't have nearly as many people trying to break in, and controlling the border will be easier. We're never going to be able to secure the border as long as we've got people that are desperate to get in with nothing to lose in the trying. Give those folks a legitimate route in, and then focus the law enforcement energy on contraband smugglers and the like, who usually require more than just a tiny hole in a fence.
  6. While Westboro is extraordinarily low and I don't have words to describe how awful and hateful I find their actions, I think this might be worse. I've heard some soldiers say regarding Westboro something like "What they do is terrible, and obviously we don't agree with what they're saying, but we fight to preserve their right to say it." Soldiers are adults and can have an adult perspective on it (and thank you to those who help shield their families, particularly their children, from Westboro's poison). This little girl had the misfortune to be born with a terrible disease and had a grandmother who didn't respond quickly enough to a text message sent by a terribly vindictive person. This isn't "free speech". It certainly looks like the type of situation that "intentional infliction of emotional distress" torts were invented for.
  7. No. When I say "open border", I mean stop restricting the people allowed in based on numbers or country of origin or some random list of criteria invented by people in Washington that think we need more PhDs and nobody willing to get their hands dirty in a field. A lot of people assume that there are ways to legally cross the border, but for the vast majority of people, specifically the migrants that cross the border to find work, those avenues are closed to them and they cannot legally cross the border through any of our available methods (and our methods aren't easy even for those that do meet the requirements! sometimes it takes decades). It's not that they have no interest in coming here legally. Most of them are very interested. We've just made it impossible for most of them to come legally, but they're desperate enough to come anyway. When I say "open border" I mean: Hello! Line up, state and spell your name, fingerprints please, take your picture here, DNA swab, here's your "registered migrant worker" card, welcome to America, best of luck! Oh, you're willing to serve in our military? Talk to the gentleman in the uniform right there! Meet the requirements? Sign here and get your citizenship or permanent residency card when you're done with your obligation, with our thanks for your service. Returning for the harvest season? Migrant card please. Thumbprint here please. It's a match. Card's in our system, everything matches, no red flags. Everything looks good! Welcome back!
  8. any cat will stay indoors if raised indoors. if they don't know what outside is, they won't miss it. That said, at her age, a kitten may not be the best choice for the cat or for her, as kittens can be very high energy and very underfoot. The new kitten in my place has been practically swinging from chandeliers. Cats don't really have a tendency to door dash like dogs do... they tend to sneak if doors are left open, so if she's careful, the cat probably won't get out, and if they are a dasher, they can be confined to one room when the front door is going to be opened, especially if it's only for a couple of hours for errands or lunch or something like that. As long as the cat has a scratching post and a litter box and cat toys, they'll be fine for a while. I'd suggest a middle aged cat, maybe around six to ten years old, with no current health problems (or very minor ones that may just require monitoring or a special diet, not daily medication since that can be difficult or hard to remember), as indoor cats can live between 16-18 years on average. If she's not particular to breed (it doesn't sound like she wants a particular look or some certain personality beyond content to stay in), I'd suggest looking through the cat profiles at www.bestfriends.org and if you find a cat that looks like a good fit, give them a call and ask all your questions. The shelter is in Utah, but the never let distance stand between a critter and a home. They've got a network of volunteers all over the USA that will drive relay style to get a critter to it's home (depending on timing and location, I may end up being one of those volunteers!). I would also suggest an ASPCA pet health insurance plan. The information is at www.aspcapetinsurance.com. I've had it for a couple of years now for both my critters, and it's saved me a lot of money and given me a lot of peace of mind. I took my cat to the vet on Sunday for an upset tummy... since that's such a random symptom and could be minor or serious, they needed to do a lot of tests. $500 in tests later, it turned out to be something minor, but the insurance is going to pay $400 of that. An unexpected $100 vet bill is a lot easier to handle than a $500 one... and when the dog ate a pair of headphones, I was even more grateful for the insurance. (there's another pet insurance company called VPI out there, but the feedback I've heard about them has been pretty negative, and our vet stopped carrying their brochures because his clients were so unhappy. they're cheaper, but seems like most people hate them... we've loved ASPCA insurance!) And if you really want to spoil the cat (or your mother), the www.catgenie.com totally rocks. It's an automatic catbox that hooks into the plumbing. It's stupid easy to install (literally a five minute job in most cases), and you never have to scoop litter or take out litter or smell a dirty catbox. The cat goes in, ten minutes later, the cat genie scoops the box, flushes everything away, washes the litter (which is made of totally non-porous material and just exists to give the cats something to scratch in) in a sterilizing solution and water, dries the litter, and leaves it clean and ready to go for next use. Looks pricey, but one solution cartridge lasts me about six months and the price is between $20-$25 each depending on how many you buy at once, and I used to spend about that much a month on cat litter, so the cat genie has paid for itself by now. Their customer service is awesome, and I've found it to be worry free.
  9. Anyone can be documented. Fingerprints, DNA, and a photograph on the way in. If they don't have documents when they get to the border, they do now. "Registered Migrant Worker" card complete with photo and fingerprint, and number to cross reference with DNA sample. If someone refuses, they're denied entry. Sure, there may be a small amount of smuggling, but overall, what purpose would it serve? If people can come here to work or visit, why sneak in? It would be greatly reduced from the number sneaking in now, and we've got so many undocumented people here that we're obviously doing a miserable job of securing our borders. Securing them is insanely expensive and difficult, or we'd have done it already. Since we can't seem to do it in a feasible way, this seems like a good alternative solution. Not a perfect one, but better than what we're doing. So, just to make sure I understand what you're saying- allowing authorized entry is bad because a handful of people may try to enter unauthorized anyway and avoid low-hassle legal channels of entry, and that would be worse than our current situation, where millions of people are getting smuggled in through illegal channels now because there isn't a reasonable legal way for them to get in?
  10. Would you really trust, for example, North Korea, to disperse funds properly to it's citizens? um...no. The thing is, I don't care whether someone left their country legally (we have procedures for legal extradition if they're wanted for a crime), or if they return to that country or want to go somewhere else. They don't have to go home...they just can't stay here permanently if they come in as part of a migrant worker program, so they can take any remainder owed to them on their way out. Maybe someone from central America may want to stay with a friend or family in Mexico during the off season. It's a long trip to central America and back, so maybe someone only wants to make that trip every other year, and gives a friend a little money to put him up in Mexico for the off season sometimes. Not a problem for us, and probably not a problem for Mexico, since it's money coming their way too.
  11. Why would a foreign country handle our tax refunds, and honestly, can we really trust certain countries to deliver the funds to those who have earned them? If we withheld the tax, then it is our responsibility to make sure that the tax refund can get back in the hands of those it belongs to, even if we are using it as an incentive for workers to return home.
  12. Yes, but more logistically difficult, since you could have someone board a Lufthansa flight here at LAX, refuel in Germany, and final stop in Addis Ababa.
  13. Change that to "redeemable in person at our border on the way out or at an airport once security has been cleared and proof of a ticket with an international destination is produced" and I'm okay with that. Not all our migrant workers are from Mexico, we don't have an embassy in every country, and not every migrant can afford a trip to Mexico City (heck, I can't afford a trip to Mexico City!)
  14. Or open it completely and document everyone so we know who is here, get rid of any financial incentives to come here for a free ride, make the penalties for hiring anyone illegally here very high, and let the guys in and out to pick strawberries. One of the reasons they don't go home after the growing season is that we make it so difficult to come back, so once people are in, they stay, and we end up with the mess of fake IDs and having no idea who's here. A lot of the migrant workers would love to go home for the off season and come back when there's work so they can make a few bucks to send home so the kids can eat. And personally, I like paying a couple bucks for a basket of strawberries, so that's fine with me.
  15. So we should ban beer because of those that can't drink responsibly? Should we ban cars because of bad drivers? Should we make seatbelts mandatory for the same reasons? No.
  16. So we should ban beer because of those that can't drink responsibly? Should we ban cars because of bad drivers?
  17. Personally: morally wrong. Legally: as long as all parties are consenting adults, it's none of my business what other people do, and therefore it should be legal.
  18. A few years ago while living in the Vancouver BC area there was times when I would purposely leave my Jeep Wrangler unlocked (of course I also ensured that there was nothing of value inside the vehicle to steal). Why did I do this? Because the East End of Vancouver is pretty much one of the crackhead capitols of the world where junkies are looking to break into anything to pay for their next fix. They would not care if the doors are locked, they would smash the windows to gain access. So what is worse? Constantly having to replace broken windows from whenever the crackheads broke into your vehicle or deal with the possibility that the vehicle would be stolen all because the doors were unlocked? I choose to take a risk that someone would steal my beaten up Wrangler versus worrying about the crackheads constantly breaking my windows. I used to do the same thing with my old Buick. Didn't even have a radio, so nothing worth stealing. Got my window broken once down at Venice Beach. Left the car unlocked, glove box and center console open and empty, back seat down and trunk empty, from that point on, and kept the registration and insurance info in my wallet. As a college student, I just couldn't afford another broken window. It didn't happen to me again, but it did happen to a couple friends...all had locked their cars.
  19. If someone is driving under the influence of alcohol or marijuana (or opiates, or anything likely to affect one's ability to operate a vehicle, for that matter), they should be arrested for it.
  20. As someone who has a ton of non-violent drug possession cases land on my desk, I would very much prefer that this stuff be legalized. If someone robs to get drug money, arrest them for robbery. If someone kills someone for drugs, arrest them for murder. Right now, we've got a bunch of people using drugs, many that would like to stop but are unable to do so on their own and are finding treatment to be expensive. If sales of some drugs with a low potential for addiction, like marijuana, for example, were legalized, and possession of other drugs decriminalized, and the tax money from sales of the legalized drugs used to make treatment programs available and education as to why using drugs is usually a bad idea, perhaps things might improve? What we're doing now certainly isn't working, given the large pile of stuff currently sitting on my desk. So, it's probably time to try something else. The thing is, the reason most people don't use drugs is that generally it's a damn stupid thing to do. It's not because the drugs are illegal, and it's not because they don't know where to get them. Any high school student can tell you, or can at least point you to who to ask. Most people don't do drugs because they have been educated as to the health and psychological consequences. We learned back in the era of alcohol prohibition that prohibiting things creates a black market, and with a black market comes the crime that was shown in the link. Remove the black market and there's no reason to buy from the guy on the corner that's smuggled the stuff in from Mexico when you can walk down and buy it from CVS who has bought it from a pharma company, and while pharma companies aren't totally guaranteed safe (been the victim of a screwup there myself), they're a heck of a lot safer than your local drug dealer, and while addicts aren't always the brightest folks, they don't want to die from bad drugs. And honestly, I'm quite sick of all the energy that's gone into banning a plant. We haven't outlawed hemlock and jimson weed, and in 2002 there were documented cases of those plants killing children.
  21. That's weird. The Visa website says you can use the Visa gift or Visa debit cards at restaurants.
  22. I'm wondering what those four were caught for, and if they were actually using what the test indicated. At any given moment, depending on how recently I've had a migraine, my prescriptions may cause positives for amphetamines, THC, opiates or ecstasy. And I do not use drugs other than those my doctor has prescribed. I do not use medical marijuana, and will not use medical marijuana as long as it is illegal under federal law, even though it could probably provide significant relief for my condition, possibly with far fewer side effects than the handful of chemicals I currently rely on. So, drug testing me is pretty much worthless, and would put me in the position of having to provide my medical information to someone who is not involved in my treatment. My health information stays between me, my doctor, and whoever I choose to share it with. I refuse to be put in the position of having to prove myself innocent by allowing someone to paw through my medical records.
  23. That is true based on the length of yrs they have smoked. If a person smoke a few hits off a joint out of the blue and was tested 1-3 days later after flushing their system it will come up clean. If a person who took a month break after smoking for 10 yrs 1-3days later were tested they would test positive regardless how much water they drank. This is why most companies use hair testing for pre employment because it is the most accurate. I think it's probably safe to say that most medical marijuana users smoke fairly often if they're treating a chronic condition, so finding employment that does not subject them to testing is probably a better alternative than drinking lots of water and hoping for the best.
  24. According to Wikipedia, marijuana can be detected in a urine test for "3 to 7 days, up to >30 days after heavy use and/or in users with high body fat"
  25. From what I recall, I think marijuana stays in your system a lot longer than that, and people test positive sometimes for weeks after the effects have worn off. If you're doing air traffic control or something like that, restrictions on what you can take make sense. Taking something that impairs your judgment and then doing something like that would be very irresponsible. I can't drive a car or do other things like skydive when I'm on some of my medications, so I don't, and I don't need the threat of a drug test hanging over my head to figure that out, but I do understand employers testing in a situation like that. However, testing the cashiers at Wal-Mart makes no sense unless they appear to actually be impaired on the job. If you do certain things, you have to accept that there may be medications you can't take if you want to continue doing those things, and people have to weigh their options with their doctor to see if the benefits of the medication are greater than the detrimental impact on areas of one's life.