I came down with a pretty bad cold (like usual, on a weekend) that had me laid-up most of yesterday. Luckily I’m feeling better today.
After getting Melissa situated at her art show yesterday, I watched some BBC America and then dozed off on the couch. I woke up to the feeling of paw-steps on my side. Apparently, Mei Mei thought I would make a good place to curl up for an afternoon nap.
Great column in the Washington Post this morning by David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey regarding the occupation status (or rather, the lack thereof) with Israel in relation to the Gaza Strip. The Gaza Strip has been militarily controlled by Hamas, a terrorist group, since 2007 following Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza territory in 2005. Many continue to point to Israel as an ‘occupying power’ with responsibility for the welfare of the people in Gaza—but contradictorily demand Israel withdraw (!?).
But the fact is that Israel, under centuries of precedent in the international relations arena, is no longer the occupier of Gaza. Thus, they have no responsibility to the people of Gaza. Furthermore, Israel has a nearly unlimited right to use military force against their neighbor—sovereign, belligerent Gaza—that continues to launch missiles at them and remains under the military control of an active anti-Israel, anti-Semitic terrorist group.
Okay, this will be my last car-related post for a while ;-). Despite what I had reported earlier, the dealership was able to get everything set for us on Monday so we were able to drive off the lot in our new 2008 Subaru Outback 2.5i Monday evening. The only missing piece was the bike rack (which just plugs into the trailer hitch receiver) which they expect to get today or tomorrow. Thus, we have to swing by once more to pick that up, hand over the Tribute’s title (since we didn’t bring it Monday), and give them the USAA loan papers.
I have to hand it to Stohlman Subaru of Herndon. They really did a great job of letting us try the car out (they didn’t require the salesman to go on the test drive with us) and jumping through all the paperwork hoops. So far, everything has gone smoother and easier than expected. The car was ready a day earlier than estimated, there were no crazy hidden fees, and the only extra they tried to sell us was Subaru’s extended warranty (it was offered, but not pushed on us by the dealer and the ‘no thanks’ was graciously accepted without argument). The whole process was, dare I say it, painless. If you’re in the market for a Subaru in the DC metro area, check out Stohlman.
I felt an earthquake today and didn’t even realize it!
I was heading out for a late lunch, and went down to the parking garage while I was messing with my phone (getting a new version of PointUI installed and running). I got in my car—the new one, which I will elaborate on later—and started it. Then I sat there about 2 minutes finishing up with the phone before driving off. I remember the engine, which has been really smooth since I drove it off the lot yesterday, seemed to be idling pretty roughly in the garage and I thought that was weird. Nothing serious, but the car just seemed to be shaking a bit. It’s a new car though, so I don’t know all its little idiosyncrasies yet. It cleared up soon enough, and I didn’t worry too much about it.
Turns out the car wasn’t idling roughly, the whole darn building was shaking! I work about 5 miles from Annandale, and this was right around 1:30, so everything adds up now. Pretty cool, huh?
Tim Miller writes in the Christian Science Monitor about ‘payday loans’, which I take to include various kinds of short-term, high-interest loans using an upcoming paycheck, a car, or any other big-ticket item as collateral. Miller’s thesis is that these loans are, for the poorer among us, sometimes a good option for short-term cash and should not be banned, even though many politicians (Democratic presidential candidates Senator Hillary Clinton [NY] and Senator Barack Obama [IL] included) label them as ‘predatory’ and wish to prohibit them.
I disagree with Miller in his argument that these loans aren’t inherently a bad idea. They are. They should be avoided like the plague, even by the poor who don’t have the credit for a more traditional loan. But I do, however, agree with Miller’s conclusion. The companies that offer these loans have every right to offer them, and if people are dumb enough to sign on the dotted line that’s their problem—not mine, and not the government’s.
The United States is already far along on the road to becoming a ‘paternalist’ or ‘nanny’ state, where the government takes on the parent role and [futilely] attempts to prevent its citizens from making bad decisions. But this nation was founded on the ideals of freedom and liberty to make our own decisions—good or bad, right or wrong—so long as our decisions don’t hurt others. Paternalism is an affront to those ideals.
I oppose payday loans (and make fun of their TV advertisments incessantly, as Melissa can attest), the same as I oppose variable-rate mortgages. But if we want to put these ‘predatory’ companies out of business, we need to stop using their services. We cannot, nor should we, rely on some all-powerful government to protect us from everything that could harm us.
Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.
