More Arkansas Liquor Laws...Really?

City politicians in Little Rock, AR are currently contemplating putting more limits on what size liquor can be sold and what hours liquor stores can be open. You can read more about it here. Unfortunately, this is another case of the politicians wanting to look like they're doing some good, but actually doing more harm.

I don't want people getting on the road drunk, but if people want to buy alcohol and enjoy it at home, they should be able to buy it anywhere that wants to sell it, any time of the week. I live in Yell County, which is a dry county. For those lucky souls who don't know what a dry county is, it's a county where it's illegal to sell liquor (you can still drink it here though). However, it doesn't stop people in this county from getting liquor. They just burn a bunch of gas and take their money to other counties, or out of the state, where it is legal to buy it. Liquor stores in the state are also now allowed to sell alcohol on Sundays. These religious blue laws, first off, shouldn't be allowed since they're RELIGIOUS LAWS! Besides that, they aren't really stopping people from getting drunk on Sundays. None of these laws are going to make people who drink stop drinking, or drinking and driving.

Not only do these laws not prevent drinking and drunk driving, but they can actually make it worse. Dry counties make drunk drivers drive further to get more liquor, increasing the risk of an accident. I'm not defending people who drink and drive and there's no safe distance to drive while drunk. However, some people are going to be stupid enough to do it and the longer they are at the wheel, the higher the odds get that they're gonna get in an accident. While the stores in LR might close down, stores outside the city will still be open, making people drive further to get their liquor. Instead of staggering down the sidewalk to the store, they'll get in a car, drunk, and try to drive to another county.

It's time Arkansas wakes up to reality and start saving some lives instead of living in a fantasy world. If you're an Arkie like me, ask yourself the following questions. How many of our friends and neighbors have been killed because some drunk guy had to drive 30 miles to get more liquor when he could have just walked to the store to get it, if it were legal to buy it there at that time? Are the current laws really stopping people who want to drink, or get drunk?

And with that, I give you one of the greatest songs ever wrote...

The Place where RFK And Public Education Died

Los Angeles has just spent $578 million on the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools, which is really just one big honkin' public school. It's the most expensive public school in the nation. This isn't a school for 50,000 students. Oh no, only about 4,200 students will be able to go there, which means it will cost about $135,000 per student for the first year alone. At that rate, they could have provided a regular education to these kids, paid for their college, and probably got them a down payment on a house. The voters voted on it before the economic collapse, but even in regular times, this was an insane waste of money. The money isn't going to get better teachers, or books. No, the main cost is on architectural features. As you can see in the video on this page (sorry, I tried to find a YouTube video), the inside is pretty damn snazzy.

This was once the location of the The Ambassador Hotel, the hostel where Robert F. Kennedy was shot in (hence the name). They designed it based on the old hotel, but does the environment really matter for teaching kids? Will this school produce doctors and scientists that will cure cancer and other diseases? It damn well better! Of course anyone with half a brain can see that's not going to be the case. If you stick a kid in a barn with a good teacher and access to good books and the internet, you're going to end up with a better educated kid than one who goes to a school with magnificent architectural details and swimming pools and lacks good teachers. When you have dropout rates like this, it's hard to imagine the thinking behind funding such a building.

This isn't just a one time thing either. There are many schools around the country that are costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars to build. This video from CATO explains how school districts are hiding a lot of the costs of educating our kids. Even without these added expenses, they seem like a waste of money. More people need to wake up and realize that more money and fancier classrooms do not always equal better educated students.



It's time that money stops going to buildings and finally starts going to the students. If we are going to be publicly funding education, we must have school choice for students and parents and get rid of this bloated public educational system as it currently is. If we don't, there will be a country with nobody smart enough to run it. This doesn't mean we have to abandon the old schools and fire all the teachers. All we need to do is go to a voucher system where the students get the money and spend it on the best school for them. The schools are then required to operate like a private business and use the money they get from students to run it, and expand it in a way that makes sense, instead of a way that exploits the taxpayers and does nothing to help the students learn.

Lots of parents already support this, but a lot of teachers and their unions don't. However, building this school should be a wake-up call to teachers. Building these new schools will only put your jobs in danger. California and all of these other states are cutting back on education spending. They aren't going to sell their buildings they spent millions to build, they'll just get rid of teachers and staff. If you're a teacher, would you rather work in a regular building and have job security, or an expensive, new building to work in that will probably cost you your job? If parents had the choice, most wouldn't give a damn about the building, but what kind of education their kids get. That comes down to how well the teachers actually teach their kids. If you truly are a good teacher, then you'll not only have job security, but you'll probably get paid more for doing a good job instead of having that money spent on a school swimming pool, or Tiki themed auditorium. If you're just in it for the government benefits, then how long do you think the taxpayers are going to bend to your demand?

If we can't get teachers to agree, then another option that we really should look into is online learning. One of my favorite sites is The Khan Academy, which is a totally free, and probably better, way of learning the same stuff we pay tens of thousands of dollars for each year. Whatever choice we make for the future education of this country, we have to make some kind of choice now, because the status quo is not working and we can't afford to put this off any longer.

FM Radio On Cell Phones By Law

I came across this article the other day. Basically, the music industry is in a dispute for more money from radio stations. To counter this, radio broadcasters are willing to agree if they get help to pressure the government to force cell phones makers to build FM receivers into their phones.

This is a clear example of how regulation really works. Regulation isn't about protecting the consumer, but rather, making money for businesses. FM radio and the music industry in general have been on the decline since the internet and cell phones became popular. They see cell phones as competition for business, so they naturally want to take control over cell phones and force their product on it. They can't do this using free market principals (since they suck and fewer people really want them hanging around), so they want to use the government to force it on them with laws. Using the force of government is the only way they can keep making money. I wonder if telegraph operators were this annoying back in the day when telephones came around to drive them into extinction.

If people actually wanted this in all of their phones, it would already be in place. There is no need to require this to be on all phones. It's not like millions of people are dying because their cell phones don't get FM radio. Most people's phones can play MP3s, Pandora, and access to the internet. Any information, or music they want, or need is already there. I don't know about you, but it's been years since I've tuned in to a local radio station. With all of this new stuff around us, who needs to? I'm not saying do away with FM radio, since there's some people that can only afford, or know how to use a radio, but if you're able to buy a cell phone, you really don't need an FM radio in it. It's like forcing you to buy a horse just because you own a car.

It's just a tiny radio receiver, so what's the big problem? Well, first off it's not right when people who aren't harming anyone are forced to by the government to do something, especially just so someone (the music industry and radio stations) who refuse to adapt to new technologies can be kept on life support, or just get more money than they're already getting. One regulation doesn't kill an inustry and free market, but where there is one regulation, there will be more...LOTS MORE. All those regulations can kill companies, prevent newer companies from starting up. Worst of all, they will create huge corporate monopolies that thrive in an ocean of regulation by drowning other companies in those same regulations. While I doubt requiring FM radios would actually make a cell phone company go under, it does put them under more pressure to have to comply with regulations.

Most people don't care that much about companies surviving(even though they should), but their main concern is how can it hurt them the consumer. Well, if it's mandated they have to put FM radios in their phones, then that will either add to the cost of the phone. It could make them design a phone with less features to fit an FM radio into it physically and economically. Adding an FM radio feature might drain your battery life faster. Besides, there are already phones out there with FM radio features if you want one. It's not like FM radio is some precious resource that cell phone companies are keeping you from enjoying. FM radio is like a dinosaur and should just go extinct already. Actually, now that I think about it, they aren't, since dinosaurs are still cool and popular. FM radio is like a dodo bird...

Outrage At Ground Zero

As most of you are probably aware, there are plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero. This has sparked outrage throughout the country among some people who think that it's offensive and some people even think they shouldn't be allowed to build there. A lot of people might be asking themselves if we have a Muslim problem in America. To that, I would say no.

However, it is far too clear that America has a hate problem and an ignoring real issues for ones that don't really matter problem. I find it outrageous that it's been 9 years since 9-11 and billions of dollars spent there and nothing has been built at Ground Zero! That's the story that should be making people angry. Oh, and while this story is the major headline, a Florida church is planning on burning Korans on 9-11. How about stop worrying about Muslims for a second and start worrying about this country making Hitler's Thousand Year Reich a reality. I'm not saying they don't have a right to burn Korans, but if you're going to be protesting people for doing something, this seems like something more important than building a mosque. If anybody is going to help terrorists recruit others, don't you think these book burners would be doing so? Terrorists are going to look at these stories and say to new recruits, "They burned your Koran and took away the freedoms of your fellow Muslims in New York. They hate your people and your Mosques. Here's your proof that America is evil and hates you. Now go kill them!"

I think a lot of the individuals who are opposed to this Mosque are so swept up in their own anger that they are too blind to see themselves for what they are. It doesn't matter if it's gays, Muslims, illegal immigrants, or whatever, as long as you aren't similar to them, they automatically hate you. There are Americans out there that don't judge people as individuals, but as a group. They will group together people based on the negative actions of a few individuals, or more often, what they think those people are like without really meeting with them. Human beings who aren't like they are will always be seen as nothing more than cattle that need to be rounded up and sent to the slaughter house. A lot probably wouldn't be willing to go that far, but if it did happen, they wouldn't feel any remorse about it. These individuals ignore, or are just ignorant to, the fact that innocent American Muslims died on 9-11; some even trying to rescue people.

With these haters, there is no "turn the other cheek". There is no, "Americans embrace freedom". Yes, we should speak out against radical Muslims that kill people and use their governments to oppress people, but these are those Muslims. If we don't change our ways and speak out against our people who want to do the same things the radical Muslims are doing, their hatred is going to spread and the only thing left in America anymore will be a bunch of crybabies that get offended over the littlest thing, or worse. I've studied history enough to know that America is looking a lot like pre-Nazi Germany right now. The economic crash and all of this anger and blame placed on minority groups for "causing our problems" is just like it. If we don't change, we will no longer deserve this Republic. We will no longer be the land of the free, or the home of the brave. We will have become cowards, scared of a few people wanting to build a mosque, or like Germany did, we'll become something much more horrible than just cowards.

Best Movies Of The Decade

Here's my list of the best movies of the past 10 years. I should say that there are some movies out there that I haven't seen, or haven't had a chance to see all the way through, so I guess these are the best movies to come out in the past decade that I have happened to see. Anyway, if you have not seen one of these movies, rent it, try to catch it on TV, or whatever.

10. The Pianist
09. Children of Men
08. Inglourious Basterds
07. No Country For Old Men
06. The Hurt Locker
05. Let The Right One In
04. Superbad
03. Thank You For Smoking
02. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
01. The Dark Knight

Review: The Hurt Locker

I know it is suppose to be Brad News of the "Day", but I've been taking a break from the blog for a while. Sorry for not posting in a while.

Anyway, I saw "The Hurt Locker" today and I loved it. This is a really great war movie and probably the best one I've seen on Iraq. I haven't really seen one like it before, but for the subject given, I think it was done right. It's not really that gore driven like most war movies nowadays. There is some gore in it, but it's nothing that's just shoved in your face as if to say, "Look at the horrors of war!" Instead, it relies on the suspense of disabling bombs and wondering where the enemy is to really draw you in. Some of the cinematic camera work I thought was really good, especially the slow motion, but they also had some shaky cam and quick cuts in parts that I think distracted a bit. The shaky cam was the only really part I hated about this movie, but it wasn't all over the place, so you can probably easily overlook it.

The story, which follows a U.S. Army bomb disposal unit in Iraq, is split up into mini stories about the same three guys during their tour instead of just one event they go through. I think it works pretty well given the subject. There are some gunfights and good action scenes, but it's not one of these films where you have a huge battle and people are shooting all the time and there's just total chaos and gore everywhere. Like I said, it's a lot more suspense driven. The acting was good. The main character, played by Jeremy Renner, is kind of a James Dean bad ass of guy that always seems to have a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He's like those old Hollywood cool guys, which I haven't really seen in a movie in a while.

As far as politics, it doesn't really take the pro war/anti war position, but takes the approach that war is a drug and some guys just want that Adrenalin rush, which I think makes sense. There are parts that remind me of something out of "Trainspotting", or some other movie about addicts. That whole pro war/anti war thing has been done a million times before anyway. If anyone's mind about war has to be made up by watching a movie about it, then I think they really shouldn't put themselves in a position to make a call on if it's right, or wrong. I like the whole "take it as it is" attitude when it comes to war movies.

I think this movie did a really great job of conveying the sense that you don't know where the enemy is at, or who the enemy is. Just about every place they stop to dismantle a bomb, there are onlookers, people with cameras, etc. and you kept getting the sense that one of those guys has the detonator and you're at the edge of your seat wondering if they'd shoot him in time. You really get a sense of paranoia that these guys must go through on a daily basis of not knowing who to trust. Over and over you find yourself almost positive some guy is the enemy and then come to find out they're not. Then you're left with kind of a sense of guilt that you wanted him to get shot when he wasn't guilty. A lot of movies have shown people what war looks like, but very few have really made the viewer make moral decisions that the soldiers themselves have to make. This movie did a great job of drawing you into making those decisions in your head.

Some of the Iraq War Vets might call BS on some of the stuff since this is a work of fiction and not based exactly on true events. I'd love to hear a review for this movie done by an actual Iraq War veteran, so if you are one and saw the movie, or found a link to one, please send one my way. I think if you're looking for that perfect cinematic masterpiece, you might be little disappointed, even though there are a few great visuals in the movie, it kind of has a B movie feel to it. On the other hand, I think it was a good action film, with good acting, was really well thought out, and the suspense really kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I give "The Hurt Locker" a 9/10 and highly suggest checking it out.

Wisdom Tooth

I've kind of been taking a break from the blog a few days. Today, I got a wisdom tooth pulled, so I'm going to try to use this time to dig up something to talk about. Either that, or I'm going to do some art. I meant to post some pics of my recent trip to the Buffalo River, so I might get around to doing that. I think most people who visit my blog have already seen them though. Still, I'm going to post them anyway.

Normalizing Violence

I recently saw a video made by Penn Jillette about this Japanese Game called RapeLay. As far as I know, this game has only been released in Japan, but basically it's a video game about raping little girls. Naturally, a game like this has a lot of people upset. Some women groups are saying this game is normalizing rape and people have said similar stuff about violent video games that supposedly normalizes murder and stuff like that.

Personally, I don't buy it this "normalizing" argument. I don't think that playing a video game, reading a book, or watching a movie with violent acts in it will make a normal person do evil things. I think a person already prone to do these evil acts might be more likely to find entertainment in violent movies, or video games, but take those away and that person is still prone to do evil acts. Take away those fake forms a entertainment and they might even be more likely to find entertainment in real life victims. I think Penn makes one of the best cases I've heard against this normalizing violence argument.



He's basically making the point that normalizing the behavior is actually from trying to ban the video game, or denounce it, and saying that it's a video game's fault that a person might rape. It's not an object, or something someone sees simulated that makes them do bad things. A normal person can tell the difference in reality and fantasy. A person does bad things because they want to do bad things. Perhaps a person had horrible things done to them as a child to cause a mindset of revenge, or to seek out power over someone else, but entertainment like video games, or movies don't do anything to you. You're the one in control, not them. If anything, people could use those as an outlet to express aggression in a safe way instead of doing it in the real world. I think this same argument can be applied to many things people wish to ban, like guns, or drugs.

A lot of people state that drugs, like steroids, cause "roid rage", and some drugs do affect judgment, but when people talk about this, they seem to overlook the fact that a lot of already violent people might want to be the toughest and meanest dude on the block and take steroids. Which comes first; the chicken, or the egg? I don't think it's the steroids that make the guy mean, it's just that a mean guy is more likely to use steroids.

It's the same way with guns. I know lots of good people that own guns. Even I own guns. I don't look at a gun, or pick one up and all of a sudden get the urge to start mowing people down. I've played lots of violent video games and watched lots of violent movies and don't get the urge to mow people down. These objects hold no evil magic that can possess a normal human being and turn them into a murderer. People just do bad things because they want to, not because some object, or a form of entertainment takes over their mind.

Police Brutality 3: Oklahoma Highway Patrol vs. EMT

Classify this under bad judgment. So the ambulance is taking a woman to the hospital and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol pulls them over, and starts a big fuss. According to the EMT, the cops did this because they were flipped the bird, which the EMTs said they didn't do. Even if they had been flipped the bird, did that warrant the cops stopping an ambulance with a patient on board? Did it occur to these cops that the woman inside could be dying? This is some of the worst judgment from cops I've ever seen. Not only that, they choke the EMT. I think resisting arrest is a stupid idea, but still, there was a lady inside that needed help and the cops were preventing this. They were sworn to protect and serve and they did neither in this case. Instead of pulling the ambulance over, why not help it get to the hospital and then have a discussion with the EMTs there if they really had a problem? Eventually, they did do that, but after delaying the woman getting medical care. Seriously, what were they thinking? If this was in any way inside the law for the cops to do this, then the law needs to be changed. Here's an account (PDF document) of the whole situation according to one of the paramedics involved.

Settlers of Catan (REVIEW)

(DISCLAIMER) This isn't really about a video game, but trust me, this is just as fun.

I read a friend's blog the other day and he was posting about this new, award-winning, board game he has been playing called "Settlers of Catan". He went on to tell how great it was. I'm usually not one to play board games. I sometimes get in the mood, but I'm not one of these people that plays them every weekend, or anything. Me and this guy used to play video games together, so I respect his opinions, especially when it comes to games.

So I did some research into it, decided it looked like fun, and ordered it off of Amazon (free shipping takes too long). I just can't get enough of it now. I never thought I'd have so much fun playing a board game, but this is almost like the perfect board game. It's kind of like a mix between "Risk" and "Monopoly" only it doesn't take all day to play, like they do. You can probably play a game in about an 1-2 hours. Like all games, it's kind of complicated at first, but you pretty much get it down in 1-2 games. It looks complicated because it's so different than what you're probably used to, but it's actually really simple. The best thing about it is you get to customize your own board and every game is different. People can't just rely on one strategy and you don't seem to have that one friend that is far superior than everyone else, like in "Scrabble". You pretty much have to have multiple strategies to win.

The point of the game is you are settling this island and have to roll dice for resources to buy up roads, settlements, and cities. You can also trade with other players. Settlements and cities are worth different victory points, along with some other stuff you can do, and the way you win is by getting 10 victory points. This is the reason it doesn't take so long is because you aren't eliminating players, just trying to beat them to 10 victory points.

There's an interactive online tutorial that I suggest checking out. You might also try the free online version here. If you like that, the actual board game is around $30-40 and is for 4 players, ages 10+. There's an expansion set that allows for 5-6 players and also a bunch of Catan spin-off games. This is sure to be one of those classic games in a few years that everyone will have in their closets to cure a boring weekend.