Monday Moanin'

We haz it, from going back to work after a long, sunny weekend. If you've been in this little corner of the cortex in the last couple of months, you know we've had very little sunshine this year, and actually set a new record with 32 consecutive days of rain.

Today is supposed to be sunny & 67, which is about 8 degrees above normal. In fact, it's supposed to be nice all week. Maybe we could declare a sun holiday? I'm not saying we should go all Incan, but it's worth considering.

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Apparently the sunshine made folks here a bit rowdy. Last night there was two folks shot downtown, shots fired after a 3-car collision in the northeast part of town, plus a "disorderly crowd" where the police arrested several & tased one fellow, outside a bar where that crowd is typically, shall we say, exuberant.

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Finally, in the "Huh?" category, we have a letter to the editor in today's paper, where a gentleman opines that despite the bemoaning of only a 27% turnout for the primary election, we should celebrate our "right to not vote", if we so choose. After all, he says,

The most common and passionate objection is soldiers past and present laid down their lives for our right to vote, so how dare we disrespect them by not showing up at the polls?

However, did they not also lay down their lives for our right to not vote?

Not so much. Yes, our military fights to preserve our freedoms. And the letter-writer is free to vote or not, as he pleases.

But apparently the letter-writer in question has confused "rights" with "freedoms", and thinks that having a say in the form & function of government is too onerous a condition for citizenship. I'm sure there are plenty of places where voting isn't available to the hoi polloi. Makes me wonder when he's leaving.

Correction, Mr. Letter-Writer: you have the freedom to not vote. But don't say a stinkin' word when/if your taxes go up, or you disagree with your elected officials. You gave up the right to complain when you exercised your freedom to saturate the polls with your absence.

Just sayin'.