Is anyone pushing a boycott of Dell Computers over the Weigand Combat Handguns matter? Please don’t.

For the three of you who haven’t seen it: Google Loves Blogs

Mike Flynn, apparently a newcomer to this stuff, writes:

For starters, a national identification card. How dumb an idea is that? Giving the US government — does anybody remember Waco or Ruby Ridge? J. Edgar Hoover? Nixon’s enemies list? — a weapon by which to maintain a database of our photos and important information is just scary, and I’m one of the six Americans left who still thinks government is capable of doing more good than evil.
. . .
And remember, kids: Next time someone who won’t have to report your income to the IRS asks for your Social Security number DON’T GIVE IT OUT!

Right on, but I’m still in the market for good ways to avoid it when shopping for medical insurance, telephone service or a credit-card.

(I’ve lived without credit-cards for eight years now, with a Mastercard attached to my checking account; but the last time I tried to rent a car — at a shop where I had done so several times before — they had a new policy: no debit-cards. Why? Because if I totalled their car they might not be able to get $Nk out of my checking account. But – er – so why am I paying for a “collision damage waiver”?)

One hears that one of the nicest people I’ve never met is due to be married tomorrow. Hip hip!

A quibble or two with James Lileks (skip down to “Warning: the following is Screedy”):

Well, don’t START A WAR WITH AMERICA, then.

Well, y’know, most of the bombees at Hiroshima didn’t. Is it overly pedantic to distinguish between the rulers and the ruled?

And I like the idea that because we had intelligence failings, we shouldn’t have prosecuted the war. Why, next thing you know, rape victims who didn’t check the closet before going to bed will expect the police to arrest someone.

Heh.

My father was part of the force that would have invaded the Japanese mainland. . . . And if he’d been torn to bloody ribbons like half his friends, I wouldn’t be here, and my amazing Gnat slumbering in the other room wouldn’t be here either. Most important: if Japanese militarism hadn’t conflated tyranny, racism, and territorial expansion with a mystical notion of national honor and ethnic destiny, Hiroshima and Nagasaki would have looked the same in ’46 as they did in ’41.

Or if the President had not prolonged the war by insisting on unconditional surrender, when Japanese ministers were trying to make a deal (for the Emperor’s personal safety). But who’s counting?

Another reason to switch to LCD. (But I’m spoiled by 1600×1200 resolution.)

From: [someone]
Date: Thu, 7 Mar 2002 17:16:13 EST
Subject: closing on Sunday
To: webmaster@icannwatch.org

I have been reading on a listserv that the Internet is going to be closed on Sundays.
Is there any truth to this?
Would appreciate a reply.
Thank you,
[someone]