Sometimes, Somebody Hits the Nail on the Head

While I was trying to think up something to say about the President's veto, Patti Davis already had her thoughts eloquently written.
Check out what she has to say here:
Patti Davis: Stem-Cell Veto Doesn't Matter - Newsweek Health - MSNBC.com

Bad Economy and Tuition Hikes, Does Anyone Else See the Irony Here?

With the sales tax going up at midnight, it was certainly even more disheartening for my pocketbook to read that a Rutgers Study seems to show that the NJ economy is in really bad shape:
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1152858449227000.xml&coll=1

But, does anyone else see the irony in the fact that on the same day this study is announced, the very same university announces a tuition hike?
http://www.nj.com/newslogs/starledger/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_ledgerupdate/archives/2006_07.html#161110

Investigators Discover Arsenal in East Brunswick Townhouse

I’ve just read in today’s Star Ledger that investigators looking into the recent shooting death of a 12 year old boy in East Brunswick (see my previous blog on this) found 98 guns in the townhouse – 25 alone in the boy’s bedroom that he shared with his father, and 5 of those were loaded. Nearly all the guns were unsecured, meaning that with the ample amount of ammunition also found at the house, those guns could easily be loaded and fired by curious little boys.

Both the boy’s father and grandmother are being charged in this case and rightly so. How anyone could have an arsenal of unsecured weapons and ammunition in a house with young children in it is endangerment at its highest level. The fact that other relatives had forbidden their children to visit the premises only reinforces the fact that the family was well aware that this was a potentially deadly place for children to play.

A colleague of mine, herself the daughter of a police officer and used to being in a home where guns were stored, asked me recently if she was crazy to ask parents about guns in the house before allowing her son to play there. Crazy? Far from it. Asking this question before you let your child enter someone else’s home could be one of the smartest things you do as a parent. It could save your child’s life.

Eminent Domain's Dark Side

Here in Central New Jersey, a saga is being played out – a story of eminent domain and a debate as to whether or not government really has the right to seize property and send the owners packing. This is the story of the Halper Farm in Piscataway, currently being seized in order to “preserve open space.” News articles are full of each side’s claims, from the government claim that the land is not being farmed and may even be somehow contaminated, to the family’s claim that the land has been in the family for generations, and they have the right to stay put. You can research the story in the Star Ledger and the Home News, and decide for yourself which side of the controversy you line up with.

As for me, I find this incident very troubling. While eminent domain has been used in the past for the construction of highways, reservoirs and other civic projects, I am bothered by the new interpretation that simple “improvement” is a good enough reason. If that were the real and true reasons, and if concern for the “improvement” of a town or a neighborhood was behind this new interpretation, that would be one thing. I would certainly support the poorly maintained houses in certain neighborhoods that are housing drug dealers and crack heads being “seized” and converted to affordable housing. I would support seizing the abandoned shopping mall and turning it into a town recreation center. I would love to see empty factories and warehouses seized and turned into mixed housing/retail areas.

What I am seeing in this case, however, is some prime real estate, some land that is already “open” being seized presumably to create “open space.” A family that legitimately owns the land is being tossed out. To me, if this was a real concern for open space preservation, why not simply change the zoning of the area, and “grandfather” the family farm into it. As long as the family remains the owners, the area remains a farm, or horse ranch or big lawn. At such time as the family no longer wishes to remain on the land, THAT is the time that the land would be transferred to the government entity, who would pay a fair market value, and then, be obligated to keep the land preserved as “open space.” Since there is no highway being built, no dam threatening to wash them away, no drug dealers camped out and no illegal activities taking place, I don’t see any plausible reason why this family needs to give up their home right this minute. Let’s start seizing some of these drug dens and other places that really damage our quality of life and leave this family alone.

Superman Returns - About 75% of Him

Seeing a movie lately has turned into an opportunity for a trip into the Twilight Zone for me. You may recall my previous adventure at The DaVinci Code, where I apparently aged 20 to 30 years while watching the movie.

This week, after a viewing of Superman Returns, I realized that I am now establishing a pattern. The warning alarms should have gone off before we even purchased the tickets. The young woman held the tickets back, and pointed to a sign taped to the window. "Did you read the notice?" she announced, pointing.

The paper stated that due to a projection malfunction, "one quarter of the right side" of the screen would not be visible. Refunds would not be given once the movie had been playing for 15 minutes. "Isn't a quarter of the right side of the screen, like, an eighth of the total screen?" I asked my companion. He nodded, and figuring that the missing strip of movie would probably amount to what was chopped off to put the movie on DVD anyway, we purchased the tickets anyway.

Well, aside from the fact that we couldn't read the long, explanatory paragraphs at the beginning of the movie that told us exactly why Superman had been gone, and why he was coming back, we really didn't notice the missing section. Sure, on occasion, Lex Luthor only had half a face, but he was the bad guy anyway.

Besides, we were much too distracted by the stunning special effects in the theatre. At first, we were amazed that this ancient movie house in Cape May, New Jersey, could even handle such electronic wonders. For example, in the movie, there are massive power failures, flickering lights, and electronic noises. At that exact time, the lights in the theater began flickering, buzzing, and a strange squealing noise seemed to come directly out of the ceiling. We realized that perhaps this WASN'T a special effect only when the flickering continued long after the lights and the computers at the Daily Planet had returned to normal.

While my companion went out to the lobby for a minute, bright lights came on in the projection booth, practically blinding those of us left in the theater. I began to think that perhaps Lex Luthor was up there. I turned to my companion as he returned to his seat, ready to tell him what additional electronic mayhem he had just missed, but I noticed that he was holding a handkerchief over his nose, and that he seemed to bring with him a strange odor I couldn't identify.

"The lobby is full of smoke," he reported, and then pointed to the exits. "I think it’s just the popcorn machine, but just in case." Several minutes later the entire theater was filled with the unmistakable odor of burned popcorn. This was about the time we were learning a very important piece of information about Superman (I don't want to spoil it for you, although, it may not be so shocking to you if you see the scene without the aroma of popcorn flambé in your nostrils.)

By the time the movie was over, the air had cleared, but the lights never came back on in the theater. We tiptoed out through a strangely deserted but very tidy lobby out into the cool sea air. At least I think it was sea air. My clothes reeked of burning popcorn. Now those are special effects.