Thursday, June 27, 2013

Gay marriage

Well the Supreme court ruled that DOMA was unconstitutional.  And what happened: NOTHING.  The sun came up this morning, the earth was NOT knocked out of its orbit, the moon did not crash into the earth. The gates of hell did not open up (although with temperatures hitting 120 here in Chandler, it may seem like it).

As a libertarian, I have always believed that what a person does with their body is their business.  You own your body.  I have never understood why sex, an act that takes place between 2 people (or more for those folks interested in that sort of thing) should be the subject of scrutiny by millions.  All consenting adult have the right to make their own decisions regarding their own sexual activities.

Of course the conservative groups are unhappy about the ruling.  Like liberals, these groups want to control people's lives.  They say gay marriage is immoral and attacks traditional marriage (hence the name of "Defense of Marriage Act").  Why is gay marriage wrong and the Kardashian's 72 day long marriage or Britney Spears and Jason Alexander 55 hour long marriage not morally wrong?  Or a divorce rate of 50%?

What the supreme court struck down was now the federal government can no longer deny federal benefits from same sex couples.  They can receive social security benefits, file taxes jointly, etc.  12 states now recognize same sex marriages.  This is going to pose a problem, you see in Article IV, Section 1 of the United States Constitution their is a clause called the Full Faith and Credit Clause and this clause says that all of the states must respect "public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state."  This is why if you and your sweetie decide to elope to Las Vegas, your marriage is recognized in all the other states.

So if a same sex couple gets married in one state that recognizes gay marriage and then move to another that does not, that state may have recognize their marriage.  I see this issue coming before Supreme court again.

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Saturday remarks

Saw 'World War Z' last night.  While it doesn't follow the book (the book is a series of interviews taken place after the zombie war with various people who were a part of it), it is still a very good movie.  5 out of 5 stars!

After Earth (2 out of 5 stars) has Will Smith and his son playing father and son in future sci-fi setting.  The premise of the movie is that Earth has been abandoned for a 1,000 years due to the attack of creatures called 'Ursa' (which is Latin for 'bear').  These creatures are completely blind but have a precise sense of smell.  They can smell the hormones that humans give off when they are afraid .  Will Smith's character has perfected the ability to hide his fear thus he is 'invisible' to the Ursa's and is able to dispatch them with a really cool weapon that can assume the shape of various types of blades.

Huh?  A thousand years into future, where we have perfected morphing bladed weapons, portable medial imaging technology and faster than light starships but we have forgotten how to make guns?!

From what I saw, a .50 caliber Barrett would make short work of these creatures.

Speaking of guns.

Arizona is what is called an open carry state, this means that you can carry a firearm in a holster that is plainly visible while in public.  Open carry has never been illegal in AZ and up until 1994 when concealed carry was enacted, it was the only way carry a firearm in public.  In 2010 the requirement to have concealed carry permit to carry concealed was removed.  This is called constitutional carry and Arizona is on of only 4 states that have it (the others are Alaska, Wyoming and Vermont).

I sometimes open carry even though I do have an AZ concealed carry permit.  In I open carry more often that I conceal carry.

People have two ways of dealing with each other: consent or force.  When I carry my gun openly, I am saying that you cannot force me to do anything, you can only convince me to do something.  I believe that people who are afraid of other people open carrying are not really afraid of the gun or the person carrying it, they are resentful of the fact that they can not force their will on the that person and that person is also ready and willing to take on the awesome responsibility for their life.

One could argue that concealed carry is better then open carry.  The gun is hidden and no one is going get upset or scared.  While this true, you also appear unarmed to any potential attackers.  When I carry openly, I am saying to any potential attacker, "Stay away from me, I am dangerous to you!"

I would rather avoid a conflict by open carrying than having drawn my gun from concealment after an attack on me has been initiated.






Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Red Dawn 2012 remake.

Red Dawn 2012 remake, my review.

When I first heard that Red Dawn was being remade back in 2009, I was excited.  It would be neat to see the Classic Cold War movie updated.  Due to to MGM's money problems, the movie was not released until 2012.  In the meantime, the original invaders were changed from China to North Korea.  This was done in order so that that film could be shown in China which is rapidly becoming the world's largest movie audience market (with 1.3 billion people, it's easy to why).
   The reason why China was to invade us was to collect on the debt that we own them (this makes no sense as only about 10% if the national debt is owned by foreign entities, the rest is owned by the American people).
   The film takes place in the Pacific Northwest, specifically Spokane Washington.  A west coast wide power failure paves the way for an airborne invasion. From this point, the movie goes down hill from here.
   An airborne invasion force would never use an urban environment as a drop zone, but they do in this movie.
   As in the original, a group of teens let by Chris Hemsworth (who at the time of filming was relatively unknown) hide out in the woods, train and start a resistance movement.  There are several plot holes that really detract from the movie.
   1.)  An airborne invasion force could not fly from North Korea to the Pacific Northwest with the planes shown in the film.
   2.)  As I mentioned before,  an airborne invasion force would never pick an urban area as a drop zone.  They would land outside the city, surround it then attack it from the ground.
  3.)  In one scene, a "FOOD DISTRIBUTION CENTER" is shown.  This implies that food is being rationed.  However, later on a few of the resistance fighters enter a open Subway fulled with people and clean it out of food.
   4.) The North Koreans were to have used some kind of EMP/cyber attack to cripple the US military.  They were to have own communication system which could be accessed by a portable computer that is kept in a case that resistance eventually captures.  HUH? this makes no sense to me what so ever.
  5.)   Chris Hemsworth's character is an active duty marine who is home on leave when the invasion takes place.  After the mission to capture the North Korean's computer, they return to their base of operations to celebrate.  After such a mission no marine would ever return to the base, this is basic small unit tactics.

There is one thing gave me the chuckles and made me proud to be living in Arizona:  In once scene we see a map of the US with the occupied zones in red.  California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah and Colorado are shown as 'occupied'.  Arizona is not.  Of course the Colorado river would be a substantial obstacle to any invasion from the west, once the bridges and dams were destroyed.  California, in my opinion, would gladly welcome communist invaders, as long at they kept the malls open.

Overall, ZERO out of 5 stars.  If Chris Hemsworth and Josh Hucherson (both relatively unknown at the time of filming) were not in it, this movie would have gone straight to DVD.