Observances...

I could literally blog for the next ten years on the stuff that goes through my mind while I'm driving to work. But when I sit down to start writing... nothing. Flatline brain scan. And then, inevitably, some engineer (who considers themself the earth's rotational axis) will come barging into my office, roaring about deadlines to be met and how, by damn, their work is so very much more important than anything that I had going.

Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything...

Pensée Une - Somewhere, in an effort to clear the title (No Paige Hemmis Pics Here) off at the top of my blog, I've really farked things up for Firefox users... The header has a buffer, and is offset by what, about 180 pixels or so? It shows up on IE just fine... Maybe some of you with Safari, Opera, Netscape or others can let me know if it's screwed up in those formats as well...

Pensée Deux - Another Nilo movie review: Fun With Dick And Jane (1 1/2 Thumbs Up)

I have mixed feelings on this one... This one's another remake, the first one having come out in the mid-70's. When VCR's first came out, I remember my parents renting "Fun With Dick And Jane", and I immediately fell in love with it. Although it's been a good 25 years since I've seen it, and I don't remember a whole hell of a lot of it, it still rates as a good show in my book.

The remake lacks a few elements that the original had, but throws a couple of creative new ones in there. The first one had an antagonistic unemployment agent that would inevitably discover Dick making a little money under the table, while the remake lacks this character. The remake, however, has the full-bodied acting talents of Jim Carrey and Téa Leoni, and some off-the-wall humorous situations that you just didn't have in the 70's (the dog's shock collar had me laughing for three minutes straight the first time they showed it).

Pensée Trois - Anybody else here tired of the crass commercialization of holidays? I walk into Wal-Mart this morning to get some chips on my way to work, and there are two entire aisles whose tops are lined with these Easter baskets that look like they're three feet tall, have a basketball or soccerball in them, along with a bunch of sugary crap in them... Do people even remember the reason for Easter er, "Spring Holiday"? Strange how any holiday or festival that has anything to do with Christ is being renamed and refocused to something completely commercial... something that draws attention away from its original purpose.

Pensée Quatre - Child Abusers should get the chair (or so says a local DJ). You know what? After listening to what he had to say, I couldn't help but agree with him. Now I know that most kids can drive us to the point where they get a good, hard spank, or even sometimes a slap... I don't necessarily consider this abuse as such. What I consider abuse is hitting, beating, whipping and the such. Essentially, anything that Liza Minelli would do to her husband. And - to be sure - anything of a sexual nature. Anything that would destroy a child's innocence or physically / emotionally scar them throughout their life.

Does the death penalty sound a little harsh? Maybe. But a few heavy-duty child abusers go to the chair or the gas chamber, and all of a sudden you'll have people thinking "maybe beating my child with a stick isn't such a good idea." The whole concept of deterrence is lost on American society as a whole. Examples:

• Deterrent for Iraqi or Afghani "insurgents" being caught by the U.S.: All expense paid vacation to American resort "Gitmo", where you have gourmet food that satisfies your religious dietary requirements, climate control, a copy of your scriptures, an arrow painted on the floor telling you which way to face when you say your daily prayers...
• Deterrent for raping a child repeatedly over a four year period: Sixty days in jail, followed by rehabilitation and counseling.
• Deterrent for embezzling millions of dollars from your company: An all-expense paid vacation to "Club Fed"
• Deterrent for being the Taliban spokeperson: Admission into the prestigious Yale University.
• Deterrence for striking a Capitol police officer as you pass through a security checkpoint with no credentials: Who knows? Maybe a good "racial profiling" lawsuit... certainly lots of free publicity.
• Deterrent for capturing American citizens in Iraq, holding them hostage or beheading them in front of the camera: All the free publicity the American media can muster.

Anyone else see a pattern here?

Lee Ann had an excellent post on the sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, who does practice deterrence...

Pensée Cinq - Anyone else here just a little uncomfortable that Iran has a) finally enriched uranium and b) that their president has declared that Israel will finally be annihilated? It's one thing to put a civil face on in public and rant insanely in private, but this guy just doesn't give a rat's ass...

Pensée Six - What do you guys think of the alarming proliferation of "Check cashing" places, and other institutions and programs that prey on people's bad credit / lack of credit? This has been on my mind lately, as one of these places has opened up pretty close to where I work. And the traffic that it attracts...

That's all for this morning. If anyone has any suggestions about my blog header problem in Firefox, please e-mail me.

Thank You, and have a happy Spring Holiday Easter, everyone!