Rights vs. Entitlements

First off, let's call a spade a spade; if taxpayers are forced to fund some part of your existence that doesn't directly benefit them, you're on welfare.  It doesn't matter what other names you might call it, whether you're getting a check or just receiving some kind of free service that someone else would have to pay for, it's welfare.

Nobody argues that the second amendment entitles anyone not actively involved in defending the country to have guns provided to them at taxpayer expense.  Why then is it so hard to accept that you, and only you, are responsible for the cost of exercising your right to live?

Yes, you have a right to live; that means, with the notable exception of the extreme circumstances where deadly force is justified, you cannot legally be deprived of your life by any person or governmental entity except by due process.  It does not mean that any person or governmental entity owes you anything for your healthcare costs unless such entity has directly caused your health issues.

Scalpel keeps beating and beating and beating and beating and beating the faint smudge that might once, long ago, have been a dead horse, and a lot of people still can't get it through their heads that they are entitled to precisely nothing they have not personally earned, no matter how much they need it.  Assrot, though he's talking about illegal immigrants, pretty much sums up the welfare mentality as well.

UPDATE: A load of old shite also has a pretty good post on the topic.

Just give them what they want...

Every time I see another bleeding heart telling people to just comply with criminals' demands, I dig up one of these articles for the response. I figured I might as well stack up a bunch in one place for convenience. Feel free to use the list in your own responses to idiots.

From reading the stories, none of these victims tried to fight back before being wounded or killed. If anyone has other links to news articles about compliant victims being killed or seriously injured, post them in the comments and I'll update the list from time to time.

Man beaten and stabbed during robbery. (Dead link, can't find a good one for this)
Unprovoked shooting of store manager during robbery.
Two guards killed during robbery.
Restaurant manager killed in robbery
Student robbed and killed
Robbery victim dies from head injury
Woman set on fire after robbery
Man shot in head after robbery
Store owner shot in robbery.

Even if they don't intentionally kill you, it may still not go well: Robbery victim suffocated by gag

Car Emergency Kit Idea

Had a thought; I carry antifreeze premixed in the car, in a normal antifreeze jug relabeled in Sharpie.  This takes up some trunk space, so I'm thinking I could increase its usefulness.

There's spraypaint out there formulated especially for painting plastic, and it comes in blaze orange.  I also have some circular retroreflective decals for driveway marking and such.  I'm thinking that if I remove the labels on the antifreeze jug and paint it orange, then apply a couple of the decals, it will not only serve when I need antifreeze, but it could double as a safety cone any other time I have to stop on the road.

Anybody used the plastic-specific spraypaint?  I think I'll try this, and a couple other ideas I've had for improving the car kit, and maybe put up a detailed post about it as soon as we have nice enough weather to really dig everything out and update it all.

Home system working again...

My desktop PC crashed for the last time a couple of weeks ago, and I'm finally back to being online properly instead of having to use the laptop through the cell phone.  (Anybody got madwifi working properly with the current Debian?  I don't have enough space left on its hard drive to unpack kernel source, so I can't even try compiling it myself on there.)

Given that I worked in the computer field for ten years (tech, sales, phone support, internet project manager, etc.) I initially didn't even consider looking at prebuilt stuff.  Then I found out that the only place I could buy a motherboard in this town closed down last year.

I looked around a bit, and eventually settled on a Compaq SR5333WM.  Not bad for $600, and I'm even starting to think Vista isn't quite as bad as I'd expected.  I've got my old 200G hard drive in it now, and dedicated to Debian, but I haven't had time to hammer out all the bugs and get it all running again, so in the meantime, I appear to have Vista to the point where I can actually be somewhat productive on it.  I guess we'll find out what wins once I sit down and play with Linux on it long enough to either get everything working, or at least decide what won't work.

The 19" widescreen LCD monitor rocks for DVDs, by the way.  The actual movie view for anything in widescreen appears to actually be bigger than on our 21" TV, and the resolution and color are definitely better.  It makes some web pages look a bit weird, though.

Another one I've missed...

Not sure how Xavier avoided being on my link list so far, but this post is an absolute must-read.  Don't miss the comments, either.