Tag:Rants
USPS Rant
Our old P.O. Box 88
Well it was a tough decision, but we’re dropping our Post Office Box. Easterday Construction has had P.O. Box 88 as long as I can remember and possibly since before I was born! We have some old letterhead that goes back to before any elaborate addresses were even required in Culver. Our office was in the State Exchange Bank Building and the lumber yard was on Slate Street. Apparently that’s all the Culver postman needed to know at that time!
For years and years, our mailing address was P.O. Box 88 and our delivery address was “The Corner of Lake Shore Drive & Slate Street”. Then when 911 service came around the Town assigned us a street number. 402 North Slate Street… never mind that we’re on the west side of the street and all the other numbers on the west side of the street are odd.
Outtakes from yesterday’s hearing on Capital Hill
SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R-S.C): Can you give me a case in United States history where a enemy combatant caught on a battlefield was tried in civilian court?
ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I don’t know. I’d have to look at that. I think that, you know, the determination I’ve made —
GRAHAM: We’re making history here, Mr. Attorney General. I’ll answer it for you. The answer is no.
HOLDER: Well, I think —
GRAHAM: The Ghailani case — he was indicted for the Cole bombing before 9/11. And I didn’t object to it going into federal court. But I’m telling you right now. We’re making history and we’re making bad history. And let me tell you why.
—————-
GRAHAM: If bin Laden were caught tomorrow, would it be the position of this administration that he would be brought to justice?
HOLDER: He would certainly be brought to justice, absolutely.
GRAHAM: Where would you try him?
HOLDER: Well, we’d go through our protocol. And we’d make the determination about where he should appropriately be tried. […]
GRAHAM: If we captured bin Laden tomorrow, would he be entitled to Miranda warnings at the moment of capture?
HOLDER: Again I’m not — that all depends. I mean, the notion that we —
GRAHAM: Well, it does not depend. If you’re going to prosecute anybody in civilian court, our law is clear that the moment custodial interrogation occurs the defendant, the criminal defendant, is entitled to a lawyer and to be informed of their right to remain silent.
The big problem I have is that you’re criminalizing the war, that if we caught bin Laden tomorrow, we’d have mixed theories and we couldn’t turn him over — to the CIA, the FBI or military intelligence — for an interrogation on the battlefield, because now we’re saying that he is subject to criminal court in the United States. And you’re confusing the people fighting this war.
Watch the an extended clip of this exchange on YouTube here.
Constitution Day
Today is Constitution Day! The United States Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787 by thirty-nine brave men. Constitution Day is not something you hear about too much, but if you’re interested, there is information here and here.
Did you hear anything about it today? I guess it’s not too surprising that Constitution Day is not something celebrated. The Constitution seems to be largely ignored lately, most obviously by representatives of the three branches of the Federal Government. It’s not an overly large document. It’s about 19 pages long in this PDF here. Take a moment to read it. It’s really quite elegant. What do you think? Should we all mail a copy to those representing us in the government? If they took the time to read it, they might be shocked at the limits of their power.
Daylight Savings Time
Have you noticed all the cranky people out and around today? I’m not ashamed to say that I’m one of them. It will take me a week or so to get over the transitional trauma. I am NOT a morning person!!! I would say that I woke up cursing our governor, Mitch Daniels, for pushing through the time change in Indiana, but it wouldn’t be true. I wasn’t awake enough for that…
Doing away with Daylight Savings Time (DST) was one of the more progressive things Indiana had done in the past. There’s no daylight being “saved”. It’s not like it’s something we can harvest and sell to northern Alaska to get them through the 30 Days of Night. I’m not saying that it’s the cause of our droughts like Mr. Hill here, but I’m not sure what good has come of it. Everyone is not a farmer these days. Whether I have the lights on in the morning or at night is irrelevant. I’m still not getting enough sleep…
But now we have it back… Governor Mitch was so adament that we needed to be in lockstep with the rest of the country that he lost control of the House in the following election over this issue. Nothing like having the Time Change right before the election to remind everyone and put them in the voting mood. And then what happens? The Feds decide that we need to change DST and extend it, without consulting with the rest of the world. So now, Indiana may be in step with the rest of the United States, but the United States is out of step with the rest of the World for about a month each year. Brilliant!
The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali
As the day goes by, the drag will get worse. I wonder if Salvador Dali was suffering from the effects of Daylight Savings Time when he painted The Persistence of Memory? It seems appropriate to me as it shows the melting of clocks on the landscape… That will be me, dragging more and more as the day goes by. But hey! Give me a couple of weeks and I’ll be back to my normal hatred of mornings without the DST enhancements…
Culver’s Wolf’s Dilemma
Can Culver survive Wolf’s Dilemma? For those of you that don’t know, there are various versions of Wolf’s Dilemma, but basically it goes as follows:
This is the Dilemma. A random sample of people are chosen to “play”.
- You are each placed in a separate booth and cannot communicate with each other at all.
- In each booth is a button and nothing else.
- You are required to stay in the booth for 5 minutes during which time you can either press the button or not press it.
- You do not find out if anyone else pressed the button until the 5 minutes are over.
The Payoff
- If nobody presses the button during those 5 minutes, then each person gets $100,000.
- If anyone at all presses the button, then:
- Each person who pressed the button gets $20,000.
- Each person who did not press the button gets nothing at all.
Except this is Culver. Everyone knows everyone else. Does that make it better or worse?
There seems to be a constant battle between the various factions in Culver. The Mary Means Study that was completed several years ago referred to these groups as tribes and labeled the main tribes as the Academies, Town, Lake and Ag. Unfortunately the chiefs and their allegances seem to change depending on what the issue is. Pardon me for not printing my list here, but I think we can all name an issue or squabble. If I name even one here I’ll be on one side or another of a group or individual with which I have to work! At times this goes all the way down to issues between individual board or committee members that are unable to work together.
My point is that we all should quit pushing the button! If we work together for the common good, we would all be better off. Occasionally we do come together for the common good. The original formation of the Second Century Committee is an example of this for civic groups. The Culver Union Township Public Library as well as the EMS and Fire that are under a Town and Township partnership are good examples in the public sector. We should do it more often.
