There’s been yet another shooting in Boston, Dorchester to be specific. A young woman visiting from Kentucky was shot and killed as she left a party early in the morning, around 4:00am. Judging by the woman’s history, as reported in the Boston Globe, she was probably an innocent bystander or she pissed off the wrong people sometime during the party, neither of which justify or excuse what happened. So what was the reaction of Mayor Mumbles?

Mayor Thomas M. Menino vowed yesterday to end after-hours house parties. “It’s crazy. It’s nuts,” he said. “We know all those parties bring bad events in our city. They always end up in some kind of violence.”

That’s good thinking, Mumbles…it’s the parties that are causing all the violence in the city. By that logic, we should ban ice hockey because the sport must be the root cause of parents beating up kids. Or maybe we should ban fast food because people are fat and lazy, or perhaps we should outlaw liquor because people die of cirrhosis of the liver (because prohibition worked so well the first time around), or perhaps we should outlaw career politicians because of government corruption? I actually like the last idea, but its about as feasible and logical as the others. The root cause of gun crime is not late night parties, nor is it the guns themselves (they’re inanimate objects, people), but rather the root of gun crime is the root of all crime. | Read the rest of this entry …

I just read an article tonight where a man wounded in a gang shooting is urging the state of Massachusetts to impose a $25 surcharge on the purchase of firearms in this state. The money would fund research into spinal cord injury. Let me get this out of the way first: the man who was injured has a tragic story. He’s a family man who was in the wrong place at the wrong time when a criminal gang member started spraying bullets. The man was hit by a round and is now paralyzed. He has a wife and four kids that he’s trying to support and wants to walk again. More power to him and I hope he achieves his goal. There’s only one problem: his political aim is as off as that of the gangbanger who shot him. | Read the rest of this entry …

Haven’t posted in a while. Have about 6 false starts saved up (everything from Deval Patrick fulfilling all my prophecies to work-related bullshit), but I decided I’d finally post a little note to say goodbye to Brad Delp. | Read the rest of this entry …

Let me make it clear once again: I support immigration. This country was built upon the labor of immigrants and those very same immigrants who once dealt with incredible racism have since become some of the staunchest lovers of America. I think we, as a country, need to work out a way to make legal immigration into our country feasible for those who want to come while, at the same time, weeding out the worst of the criminals and potential terrorists. It’s a tall order, but one I believe we need to all get involved in (all communities) in order to better build our country for the future. However, while I truly believe all I’ve just written, I also believe that illegal immigration is a drain on our country. My prime concerns regarding illegals are lost taxes (if I’ve got to pay them, then so do you) and the abuse of our health care system (which itself needs a makeover). So when it comes to a contest that a private company holds where the rules plainly state that the winner must be a legal citizen, I don’t understand why there’s even the slightest controversy that a person gets disqualified because of the fact that they are illegal immigrants and, therefore, non-citizens. | Read the rest of this entry …

I’m impressed by this administration. I really am. I do not think that I’ve ever read news items about our government and exclaimed “wow” or “you’ve got to be kidding me” or “and he calls himself a [insert party name here, in this case Republican]?” aloud as often as with this administration. 10 out of 10 for inventiveness, negative-several-million for representing the people and the country responsibly. The latest mind-boggling item (and I’m sure I’m only catching 1 out of 100 mind-boggling items these days) is the news that the White House is attempting use a memo drafted and signed in secret by the White House and the Secret Service wherein in the Secret Service declares that records identifying visitors to the White House are no longer under their control, but the White Houses’ as “Presidential records” and, therefore, no longer available to the public (even under Freedom of Information requests). This memo was apparently created and signed during the hype surrounding the lobbying scandals involving Jack Abramoff as a way to fend off requests for visitor information to the White House that may show that White House aides and senior staff (including Karl Rove) were getting visits from those involved in illegal lobbying. Apparently, our President thinks its fine for these records to be used against others, but as soon as anyone tries to use the same records to come after him or his cronies, the new Iron Curtain comes slamming down. | Read the rest of this entry …

Why? I don’t understand. The institution that is Hollywood sits around wondering why fewer and fewer people are going to movies today when they give us fewer and fewer reasons to bother. Beyond the expense of going to the movies and the fact that home viewing is rapidly gaining in presentation quality (without the hassle of disgusting seats, sticky floors, and hordes of morons who can’t shut up/turn of their phones/stay home when sick) is the simple fact that the big studios are turning out fewer and fewer quality pictures. A further indictment of the industry is this continued practice of remaking movies. This practice it outshined in its laziness and generally poor results only by the practice of turning video games into movies (especially if done by Uwe Boll). | Read the rest of this entry …

My manager took my team out to lunch today before going on vacation. This was nice enough, but after lunch was over he made us follow him to his car. Out of the back seat he retrieved this box of booze and handed out a different bottle to everyone in the crew (4 of us his direct reports and 1 guy who’s in another group, but like one of us…and he gave his notice so tomorrow’s his last day so it was my manager’s last time to hang out with him at work). I got a bottle of Maker’s Mark bourbon. I’m now heading out to the local sports bar to catch the football game, have some dinner and several beers. When I get back, I can assure you that a shot of Maker’s Mark will be raised to the health of my Manager.

So now that the Massachusetts gubernatorial race is over and Deval Patrick has been deemed the Governor Elect, I have a few things I need to yap about. I’m not happy Deval Patrick won. This man is the consummate politician in that he’s too-smooth, a great orator and willing to agree (or at least seem to agree) with anyone and everyone in order to get a vote. Sure, he may have come from common roots, but he’s been living an anything-but-common lifestyle (which he worked hard to earn, no argument there) for many years so the whole, “I’m a man of the people” schtick is just that. He’s the definition of tax-and-spend Democrat and I think that the MA economy is in trouble. Plus the fact that his election returns us to single-party rule bodes ill for true representative government (just witness the Federal government over the last 6 years). But you know what never bothered me about Deval Patrick? The fact that he’s black. | Read the rest of this entry …

So as I mentioned in my previous post, there’s a new Irish Pub/Sports Bar that opened just up the street from me. Well, after napping in my recliner (this activity replaced my video game activity) and waking up in the third quarter of the Michigan/Ohio State game, I decided I’d head up that way for some dinner and a few drinks. If the place was good, I’d stick around for the Cal/USC game. | Read the rest of this entry …

Today is the first day of my Thanksgiving vacation. I think I need to spend some time doing absolutely nothing and trying to recover from work (knowing, unfortunately, that work is only going to be even more hectic when I get back to the office: immediately go on-call and prepare for the multitude of releases/hotfixes that have been scheduled for the end of the year plus the absolutely massive release, probably another 18+ hour day, scheduled for mid-January. I kinda wish I didn’t know how to read a calendar so I could stay ignorant of how much work is ahead of me). | Read the rest of this entry …