Good News

Recently TheOtherRyan pointed out that people are starting to get shell-shocked out of blogging because of the large amounts of bad news which seems to be the world nowadays. I thought I would share some of the good news, or at least silver lining, I have seen recently.

Story 1: California talks about legalizing pot
To start with, I am not a pot smoker. Personally, it makes me paranoid (more so than normal, which is a fairly high start point) and I am just not a fan of sitting around staring at the walls. However, that doesn't give me the right to tell other people who seem to enjoy it what to do. People say its a gateway drug, ect... And they might be right. However, people using (or abusing) liberty is one of the things that living in a free society provides. I think this is a huge step forward on the personal liberties front in the war against insane government. A few years ago, this proposal would just be another crazy idea, from some crazy guy from San Fransisco, in the crazy state of California, and would quickly disappear. This time around, with California's budget deficit making GM look solvent, it might actually deserve a second look.

Story 2: CNN warns of gun rights being taken away


Last night, Lew Dobbs again raised the hue and cry about the attacks on the second amendment last night. Now this is a case of silver lining. Downside, the government is determined, post Heller v. DC, to see how far they can go. Sliver lining, when even CNN is running pro-firearm pieces, there has been a fundemental shift in at least that media source, and, I think, this is a good thing. Now, for the most part, CNN has its issues, but in the past, I cannot remember a time when they had a pro-gun stance. This might be the beginning of a shift in public perception about firearms.

Story 3: Monkey Cartoon and the First Amendment
Now again, this is a silver lining case. Last night CNN ran a couple stories about how Rev. Sharpton is trying like hell to punish the NY Post over its monkey cartoon, and is trying petitioning the SEC to start an emergency investigation, in retribution for the cartoon. If he wants to protest, fine, go with God. If he wants to bring in the federal government to punish a news paper for printing something he doesn't agree with, that's a constitutional violation. The silver lining, again, even CNN is calling what he is doing insane, and an attack on the fundamental freedoms in the first amendment. I never thought I would see the day where CNN was at odds with the NAACP and Rev. Sharpton. This is defiantly a move in the right direction.

On a personal note, its Ash Wednesday, so I was at mass at 7 this morning, getting ash put on my forehead. Thus far, people have been staring at me all day in school, pointing out the I have some shit on my face, and asking what the ash is all about. I didn't know that Ash Wednesday was such a well kept secret. If you don't know why all the crazy Catholics are walking around like idiots, check this out.