News and Current Events - 2012

[Tony_]

 Well, they might have thought you were an outside agitator  .   Am only half-kidding, BTW.  Here in Virginia, that was an operative phrase for a very long time, and they made things difficult for people who didn't talk like "us".  I wonder if they put the local Bubba through the same hoops.  Probably did, but in the South, you can't ever be sure.
 On the Eastern Shore, they still call people who buy a house, "come here's", and they are barely civil.  Good grief, in my own neighborhood, until it got flooded with everybody, you weren't considered plausible for at least 20 years.
  But, if none of that, you just had a very weird electric company.

[doodler]

It's been more than 2 dozen years that I've lived in the South (non-Atlanta Georgia and here...) and before that I was over a dozen in the Pacific NW which has it's own set of rules, just like California does) so I don't remember what hoops I had to go through to get electricity other places. Frankly, it seemed perfectly normal to me... although the low deposit was a surprise. That has changed now, the deposit, I mean. It is much higher for everyone, like 3 or 4 times what it used to be, but the required paperwork is the same. I just don't understand people's reluctance to prove they are who they say they are. Do they not watch tv?

[AZ.bbm]

I for one have a problem with the logic of, If you don't have anything to hide then you should be willing to be searched...

It matters where you differentiate between the government's/society's 'need to know,' and your guaranteed right to privacy...

IOW,  a line has to be drawn, somewhere..?

[Marge_Innavera]

By the "nothing to hide" logic, we wouldn't have doors or other visual barriers on bathrooms, even in public places -- just a toilet off in the corner.

[Tony_]

 So, today the divorce is final.  That means, counting Nicole Kidman, it's now:

Papists - 2
Scientologists - 0

[fritzkep]

I'd been under the impression that divorces took longer.

[Tony_]

  Yes, you're right, Fritz.  I guess I meant they had reached a final agreement.  It does take more time for the legalese.

[doodler]

So, today the divorce is final.  That means, counting Nicole Kidman, it's now:

Papists - 2
Scientologists - 0

And Mimi Rogers is what, an atheist?

[Marge_Innavera]

I'd been under the impression that divorces took longer.

Depends partly on the state they live in and a whole lot on whether the divorce was contested.  Before no-fault divorce, "contested" meant the 'respondent' wasn't consenting to the divorce and if the 'petitioner' couldn't show sufficient cause, the most the spouse who wanted a divorce could get would be a separation.  Now, contested means a dispute over property or custody of children; if there's no disagreement in those quarters it's just a matter of paperwork.  If it's contested, it can go on for years; sometimes with one or both parties having a grand old time emptying the bank accounts and  damaging the children for life.

And I assume they could afford good attorneys, which always makes a difference. 

[Tony_]

And Mimi Rogers is what, an atheist?

  Hopefully, a very rich one  .

[AZ.bbm]

By the "nothing to hide" logic, we wouldn't have doors or other visual barriers on bathrooms, even in public places -- just a toilet off in the corner.

True enough. Personal privacy is vital.

I guess I most resent the idea that the "nothing to hide" logic assumes 'guilt' rather than 'innocence.'

I was thinking of the recent incident, June 24th in Aurora, Colorado, where overzealous police arrested all of the bystanders in the vicinity of a bank robbery ; dragged people out of their cars in the intersection, pointing rifles in their faces, etc...

Police Stop, Handcuff Every Adult at Intersection in Search for Bank Robber



Corollary to that logic, "If you didn't rob the bank, then you shouldn't mind being dragged out of your car, handcuffed and strip-searched at gunpoint, in the interest of public safety"...?!

[doodler]

It would have been nice if the story had included interviews with some of the handcuffedees to see how they felt about the situation and the results.

[janjo]

I for one have a problem with the logic of, If you don't have anything to hide then you should be willing to be searched...

It matters where you differentiate between the government's/society's 'need to know,' and your guaranteed right to privacy...

IOW,  a line has to be drawn, somewhere..?

Stop and search also has to be administered fairly. There has been enormous problems in London for years because black young men are stopped and searched in a much higher ratio than white young men.
OK if there are a lot of problems with black gangs, not so OK if you are just a young black student taking some homework round to study with a friend!

[oilgun]

It's been more than 2 dozen years that I've lived in the South (non-Atlanta Georgia and here...) and before that I was over a dozen in the Pacific NW which has it's own set of rules, just like California does) so I don't remember what hoops I had to go through to get electricity other places. Frankly, it seemed perfectly normal to me... although the low deposit was a surprise. That has changed now, the deposit, I mean. It is much higher for everyone, like 3 or 4 times what it used to be, but the required paperwork is the same. I just don't understand people's reluctance to prove they are who they say they are. Do they not watch tv?

You guys have to pay a deposit to get electricity?!  And produce all kinds of ID?!  All we have to do is call them up give them your name, phone number, the new address and the date you are taking possession and bingo, it's done.

[doodler]

First socialized medicine and now socilaized electricity? What's next? Free cable?