Mostly true.

WASHINGTON - A 74-year-old man suffered internal injuries after lighting a small firecracker he had inserted into his buttocks, paramedics said Thursday.

The incident took place early in the morning on November 11, 2006, when the United States observes Veterans Day, traditionally marked with fireworks to celebrate the armistice signed after World War I and the American victory, likely over the Communists, in that war. The man suffered burns and other unspecified internal injuries in the incident just outside of the District. It is unknown if he will be able to make a full recovery just outisde his District.

Katherine Shenton, a spokeswoman for the North East Ambulance Service, said a caller had phoned in that the victim, identified only as Donald R., was bleeding after the firecracker exploded.

Several of the man’s friends recorded the incident on a mobile phone. The blurry images show a man bent over with his pants down and a white flash as the firecracker explodes.

The Times newspaper reported the man is a soldier who recently returned from Iraq. Police cannot yet confirm whether intoxicants were involved, but observers reported that Donald R. has been distraught ever since losing what was described as his high ranking military position.

Initiatives

I wish I could get excited about the actual people elected in the recent campaign, but with the possible exception of Bernie Sanders, I am having a hard time. Everything is so incremental.

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The only thing which really sparks my interest is the ballot initiatives. And those were a mixed bag. I think it was seven states which approved a ban on gay marriage. Some of the states imposed a ban on anything which even looks like gay marriage. A while ago, I think there was a Nebraska bill which would have invalidated anything which even composed an incident of same sex partnership - power of attorney for health care, power of attorney for wealth management, commingling of assets, joint tenancies over property, wills, etc. etc. I think it would have been really interesting the first time someone claimed a gay relationship in order to get out of a contract or business deal. Think about having to prove you are not gay as a precursor to entering any legal arrangement. Now hey, I know you are so not gay, but I've got $200 and a friend that will say different. As it stands now regardless of what you think of homosexual unions, the state of the law primarily assists people who want to screw over gay people - primarily financially, but also with regard to caring for themselves and their families.

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Also affirmative action went down in Michigan. I have mixed feelings about affirmative action. But if you have a society where without affirmative action you have a "race" of people who aren't thriving, then you have a problem. I think that is pretty close to what is happening now, if you look at the census data, the prison rolls, the educational data and housing statistics. I think the evidence of existing discrimination is pretty clear cut. I suppose there are other alternative explanations like if you don't think certain "races" by their nature can succeed. Let us know when you come up with the science on that one. And how you would propose to deal with such a problem, at least on your plantation.

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Oh and there was a referendum on Iraq. Kind of an afterthought I think. But I wholeheartedly agree with the president. The terrorists are evil. We are fighting a war against terror. If you figure out how to defeat evil, please give him a call. Please also contact Epicurus.

Provisional ballot.

I'm somewhat dreading voting tomorrow. We moved about a month ago and it looks like I'll be casting a provisional ballot. My fault. You know, the kind you get when you live in one of the predominantly black precincts in Florida where they take your vote, "thank you," give you a sticker and shuttle it off to an election judge who holds it up to the fluorescent light, flips it over a time or two and puts it into a plastic ballot box to be set adrift on the Gulf of Mexico. You get to keep the sticker though.

As everyone else has said twenty times, it will be nice to have the ads end. But of course, nothing else will change. I think we had a two party system at some point, but there is so little movement on anything significant lately I don't even know what we are doing voting besides getting a little civic exercise. I can't imagine the Democratic or Republican representatives or senators creating some kind of paradigm shift. Abortion and gay marriage, while huge, seem like the tailings of much larger issues. And even with those issues the discussion is at the fringes. We talk about parental notification and imagine pedophilia is the natural outgrowth of homosexual unions.

Maybe I'm just cynical but imagine the parental notification laws are intended to set up a system whereby parents can be charged with murder for sanctioning the abortions of their teenage daughters. But hey, we still won't put the boy in jail, he didn't have the abortion. He got the girl pregnant, creating life - not destroying it. Just jail that slutty little daughter and her no-goodnik parents.

And the world turns upside-down again. I love the preacher who got nailed. Day 1: I bought meth, but I didn't do it. I did not have gay sex. Day 2: I may have a drug problem. The gay prostitute is still a liar though. Day 3: I am a sinner with a gay sex and drug problem. I guess he was for the sex and drugs while he was against them. I can only assume that because he theoretically believes what he did was wrong, he will see the light and the way. In his own mind.

I can't stop thinking that we now live in something a little darker than a democracy. The president seems more interested in turning the machine of the state to effectively and efficiently fight Al-Qaida than in maintaining its original intent of serving the constitution and the will of the people. I can only believe that type of administration best suited to destroy Al-Qaida is something other than what most people would chose to live under. But hey, Dancing with the Stars is pretty cool and there are only a matter of shopping days left before Christmas.

Election sickness

I can't take too much more election crap. The ads are abysmally. I saw the miscegenation ad against Harold Ford in Tennessee. Sad. And the only newsclip I saw of him responding he said "I like girls." More sad. Piling on homophobia. I mean what does it say for the qualifications of our elected officials that they must to the last man like penis-in-vagina intercourse. Of course they can't like it too much, and better not cross racial lines. If we were using the actual biological definition of race, maybe that would make sense. Of course, we're not.

There is an ad closer to home where one candidate insists that the Democrat wants to give amnesty and social security to illegal immigrants (read: dirty Mexicans) by taking away our (read: White Americans) tax breaks. Um, the tax breaks were only on the wealthy, friend. I don't recall a tax break for White Americans, but I'd surely be interested in hearing about it, if it exists.

And then John Kerry. Here's an idea. Don't botch that joke. Unfortunately, perception has become reality on this one, and everyone is perceiving that he was insulting the intelligence of the troops. No Republican really believes that, but they perceive it to be true. Unfortunately, it appears that most people don't concern themselves too much about it other than to lash out at the Democrats. What poor options we have.

And in the mix, I'm reading "The End of Faith" by Sam Harris. It's an interesting book that argues for the end of religious tolerance by non-believers. I haven't yet come across an explanation of how we are to get to a society of non-believers, but I'm real interested to see how he thinks that's going to happen. The only plausible course for that would be the destruction of all religious groups in a holy war, which is something he does discuss. And every year it seems like we are headed down that road a little further. I don't care for that option though. And yet he correctly argues that it is another litmus test for our politicians.

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Remember the Sunnis and the Shiites were going to come together in a spirit of harmony and welcome our invading Christian forces as liberators. That is exactly how it happened during the crusades, as I remember.

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It is funny to read some of the comments on the internet about Harris' book. A lot of ire by people who said, "we tried no religion before - it was called communism and it didn't work." Again, communism is an economic system. It means centrally planned control of an economy. We have a little bit of communism in the US. The no religion thing is totalitarianism. Admittedly, Communism and totalitarianism frequently go hand in hand. Totalitarianism is almost always a bad thing - centralized control by an autocratic authority - except I guess when god is the autocrat.

And to top it all off, this administration has basically eviscerated habeas corpus. Now we live free at the pleasure of the president. George, do you want to take another look at that Second Amendment friend?

Las Vegas

Recently back from my second trip to Las Vegas. The first trip was memorable because I got married. I don't think I like Las Vegas. What is the opposite of a hypocrite? Or maybe I am a hypocrite, although any virtue I have is likely by happenstance.

I don't gamble. I consider gambling a tax on stupidity. In that way it strikes me as a regressive tax, or at least a predominantly regressive tax. And it is frightening to look at the people at the slot machines and not be able to tell where the machine ends and where they begin.

I rarely drink. I don't enjoy the taste of alcohol and I like to stay in control of my faculties and I have a heredatary disposition both towards liver disease and alcoholism, separately and together, so I try and steer clear.

I'm married. That wipes out most of the remainder of things I could do.

So I did shop, and I can proudly say a friend and I closed down the video game arcade at the Mirage with a spirited Gauntlet extravaganza, but not too much else. The food was good. The girls were pretty. I don't have a conservative mindset that Vegas shouldn't exist or is bringing about the downfall of civilization. I like it for other people, just not me.