Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Victory For Texas Citizens!

The Castle Doctrine comes to Texas!

From El Capitain Perry, no less:

DALLAS (Reuters) - Criminals in Texas beware: if you threaten someone in their car or office, the citizens of this state where guns are ubiquitous have the right to shoot you dead.

Governor Rick Perry's office said on Tuesday that he had signed a new law that expands Texans' existing right to use deadly force to defend themselves "without retreat" in their homes, cars and workplaces.


Essentially what this means is, if you shoot someone in self defense, you cannot be prosecuted criminally OR in civil court.

Here's the rules:

The reasonable use of lethal force will be allowed if an intruder is:

- Committing certain violent crimes, such as murder or sexual assault, or is attempting to commit such crimes
- Unlawfully trying to enter a protected place

- Unlawfully trying to remove a person from a protected place.

The law also provides civil immunity for a person who lawfully slays an intruder or attacker in such situations.


And I love this little quote from Reuters:

A conservative political outlook and widespread fondness for hunting also means Texans are a well-armed people capable of defending themselves with deadly force.


You can almost hear the shock and outrage at this offense to their liberal sensibilities. To paraphrase:

"Your ability to defend yourself angers and confuses me! I will now retreat to my corner and await the police!"

Friday, March 23, 2007

The Saddest Story You Will Ever Read

I'm not kidding. Makes me wish I had a daughter so I could give her a hug. The amount of anger I'm feeling right now is almost overwhelming. I'll post some excerpts, but you need to read the whole thing. But be prepared: It will disturb you.

Later that night, McGonnell told police, he heard someone struggling to breathe and found Rebecca gurgling as if something was stuck in her throat. McGonnell told police he wiped vomit from his niece's face, then kicked in the door to her parents' room and yelled at the Rileys to take Rebecca to the emergency room.

Instead, Carolyn Riley said, she gave her daughter a half-tablet of Clonidine."


Rebecca died of a combination of Clonidine, a blood pressure medication Rebecca had been prescribed for ADHD; Depakote, an antiseizure and mood-stabilizing drug prescribed for the little girl's bipolar disorder; a cough suppressant; and an antihistamine. The amount of Clonidine alone in Rebecca's system was enough to be fatal, the medical examiner said.


SHE WAS FARKING 4 YEARS OLD!!! How could she possibly be diagnosed with ADHD and bipolar disorder?! The doctor in this case needs to die in a fire along with parents. The only "justice" out of all of this is that they will hopefully spend some time in prison, being introduced to a whole new world of pain and fear. Daily. Repeatedly. See, even the most hardened criminals have a special disdain for "people" who hurt kids. Sorry, my rage is getting the better of me. I'll be back later...

You can go here to read comments on this story from some seriously pissed off people.

Look, Ma! No Impact!

Or at least, I have no brain! It'll make sense in a minute. Here's why:

The Year Without Toilet Paper:

Welcome to Walden Pond, Fifth Avenue style. Isabella’s parents, Colin Beavan, 43, a writer of historical nonfiction, and Michelle Conlin, 39, a senior writer at Business Week, are four months into a yearlong lifestyle experiment they call No Impact. Its rules are evolving, as Mr. Beavan will tell you, but to date include eating only food (organically) grown within a 250-mile radius of Manhattan; (mostly) no shopping for anything except said food; producing no trash (except compost, see above); using no paper; and, most intriguingly, using no carbon-fueled transportation.


So, I'm curious: has this family decided to stop breating altogether for the next year? Or do thier carbon dioxide exhalations not count because their environmentalists? Do they not flatulate any more, like Al Gore? Clearly, his flatulance is odor and methane-free, so perhaps this family's is as well. Methinks thier carbon footprint is larger than they'd like to believe. Eh, who cares? I really only bring this up as a chance to post this:



Been waiting for that.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Homeowners Association Steps In It Big Time

Antioch, TENN:

Some people in a Nashville neighborhood are furious over a new rule that makes it illegal to own a gun.

Residents in Nashboro Village said it's unconstitutional and leaves them defenseless.

Two weeks ago, residents received a letter from their homeowners' association indicating that guns are not allowed on the property.


To start, HOA's are the devil. Plain and simple.

The quesiton is this: Is it actually legal for a HOA to take away your Constitutional rights?

There have been other HOA's that have refused to let people fly American flags from thier property, tie yellow ribbons on trees in support of our troops, and other instances. Is that legal? Imagine if an HOA tried to deny a black or hispanic family from living in the neighborhood. There's no way that would fly, and rightly so. But how can an HOA preempt your Constitutional rights?

Oh, and listen to the "logic" behind this:
"the gun rule is meant to keep criminals out of Nashboro Village"


What? If I'm going to break into a house, guess where I'm going first? The neighborhood I KNOW is unarmed. What are the residents going to do? Use harsh language?

In all fairness, the HOA says they are looking to change the rule to allow people to keep thier guns, but it will still be illegal to fire them. So now, you can possess a gun, but you can't use it to defend yourself, or the HOA will pitch a fit I guess.

I hate gun-grabbers.

Monday, March 12, 2007

Are You Experienced?

Are you a man? Do you know your stuff? Are you sure? Find out! Every man should take this test. Are you a well-rounded MAN? See how you measure up! The first time I took it, I got an 84. Took it again and got a 92. Then a 98. Soon, I will be a 100% man (the cuts of beef are kicking my butt). Let's see how you do!

Old Spice Experience

Oh, you'll need speakers or headphones for a few of the questions. Also, if you get a question right, you can click on the "More" link on the bottom right corner and it'll explain why the answer is right.

Good luck!

UPDATE! HA! 100%! I am a MAN! Ahoy!



NOTE: It took me 8 tries to get this far. I am ashamed.

Friday, March 09, 2007

Worst. Baby. Name. EVAR!!!!1one

Urhines Kendall Icy Eight Special K

You know...I don't even know what to say.

Oh, and "Urhines" is apparently pronounced "Your Highness". Yep.

Discuss.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

I'm...So Very Sad...

Many of you don't give a fart in a windstorm about comics. Fine. Well, here's some news we should ALL care about.



Captain America is dead.





Rest in peace, Steve.

Friday, March 02, 2007

Appleseed 2 Trailer Released!

Man, I am full of animation updates today. There's been a teaser released for Appleseed 2, directed by none other than John Woo (you can tell be the doves in the church, and the two-handed pistols. Classic Woo). Anyway, the first Appleseed was an incredibly slick, gorgeously animated movie, though a little confusing. I'm very stoked for this, and hopefully it'll get released stateside. Give it a whirl!

Geico's Cavemen Get A SitCom!

Yessir, ABC is developing a sitcom based around the metrosexual cavemen from the Geico insurance ads. Personally, I think they're just about the funniest ads on TV right now (Dude, give us a minute!), so I am actually looking forward to this. From Variety:

"Cavemen" will revolve around three pre-historic men who must battle prejudice as they attempt to live as normal thirtysomethings in modern Atlanta.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

US Paprika Trailer Released

This anime got rave reviews at the New York Film Festival, and it looks remarkable. It's about a 29 year-old psychotherapist that has the ability to look inside peoples' dreams, helping her to diagnose their problem. Ordinarily, that would sound soul-crushingly boring. But, watch the trailer and tell me that don't look cool.

PS. I love the quote from the New York Times:

"Evidence that Japanese animators are reaching for the moon, while most of their American counterparts remain stuck in the kiddie sandbox."


Which actually brings up an interesting point. Pretty much only in America are animated films and TV shows considered almost exclusively for kids. In quite a bit of the rest of the world (especially Japan), animation is a valid form of adult storytelling. There's been several attempts by US animators to break away from the "kiddie" stigma, but they haven't met with much success. The ones that DO make it, are usually CGI animations (like Shrek), or limited series like Samurai Jack. Anyway, it just excites me to no end to see good anime distributed in the US.

Pixar's New Movie Wall-E


Just got done reading this synopsis, and I gotta say, Pixar's got some big brass ones. To me, this movie sounds absolutely groundbreaking, and is totally different from anything they've done before. The subject matter seems to be WAY over kids heads (not that that's a bad thing at all), and it really seems aimed at older kids and adults (or adult children, like myself). Consider this: Apparently, the first third+ of the movie has NO DIALOG whatsoever. Well done, Pixar! I'm really looking forward to this. I hope they can really make magic happen here. Read the whole thing.

"WALL E" starts out on Earth in the year 2700. Which -- due to the horrible way that humans have treated this planet -- is now just one massive trash heap floating in space.

Earth in fact has become so toxic that -- centuries before our story actually gets underway -- mankind has abandoned the planet. We're now all living aboard the Axiom, this massive spaceship that circles high overhead. Waiting for the day that the planet once again becomes inhabitable.

But the only problem is that mankind hired this enormous, inept corporation -- Buynlarge -- to supervise the clean-up effort. And that company -- in turn -- sent hundreds of thousands of robots down to the planet's surface to pick up all of the trash.

But Buynlarge's Waste Allocation Load Lifters -- Earth Class units really weren't up to the task. And so -- over the centuries -- these robots slowly began breaking down. Until now (as the film's story finally, officially gets underway) there's only one WALL E left running on the entire planet.