Quote of the Day: 31 March 2018

“The thing about stories is that you have to pick the ones that last.” -Terry Pratchett

Quote of the Day: 30 March 2018

“When violence comes, and brings your death with it -- die well, for that is the only thing you can change about your death.” -LawDog

Quote of the Day: 29 March 2018

“Whenever people talk glibly of a need to achieve educational ‘excellence,’ I think of what an improvement it would be if our public schools could just achieve mediocrity.” -Thomas Sowell

Forest Grove Police Log excerpt, 28 March 2018

The selection from the local log of police activity this week features another parent demonstrating poor judgment.

March 17* Police received a report of a vehicle being driven poorly near the outskirts of town. Officers located a small child, unable to see over the steering wheel, in the driver's seat with the child's father as a passenger. The father said he was teaching the child to drive. Multiple citations ensued.

This does raise a few questions, such as where was this taking place (there are several outskirts to this town) or when and how long had this been going on? All the same, it is probably unwise to attempt to teach your child to drive in a vehicle that he cannot see over the steering wheel of. That is not to say the child should not learn to drive. Just that this is the wrong tool to use to do that.

Follow the link to go to the previous entry of this feature.

Quote of the Day: 28 March 2018

“It didn’t come from the Government down. There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship, to start with, no! Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick, thank God.” -Captain Beatty, Fahrenheit 451

Quote of the Day: 27 March 2018

“There is no escalation point past ‘an innocent person is going to die, right here and right now.’ Everything from that point on is either acting on exactly the same level, or a de-escalation.” -Kathy Jackson

Quote of the Day: 26 March 2018

“I have seen. I am not turning my head and pretending unpleasant things are not true.” -Karin McQuillan

Quote of the Day: 25 March 2018

“Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.” -The Family: A Proclamation to the World

Bonus Quote of the Day: 24 March 2018

“A law biding citizen will NOT and should NOT need to give their guns to the government as a reaction to the government failing to protect my school with their guns.” -Kyle Kashuv

Quote of the Day: 24 March 2018

“In a system where everyone is made better off through creative activity and exchange, some people are going to get wealthy. It's a natural feature of the system–a system that rewards entrepreneurs and investors for being good stewards of capital. Of course, when people are not good stewards of capital, they fail. In other words, people who make bad investments or who don't serve customers well aren't going to stay rich long.” -Max Borders

Quote of the Day: 23 March 2018

“Whenever the state is menaced its first measure is to try to put all liberty down.” -H. L. Mencken

Quote of the Day: 22 March 2018

“The Second Amendment protects military style arms for the same reason the First Amendment protects unpopular speech.” -J. Kb

Forest Grove Police Log excerpt, 21 March 2018

This week's selection from the log of local police activity deals with parental responsibility being neglected.

March 11* A caller reported their teenage daughter was refusing to wash dishes. Officers explained this is not a crime.

Being a parent (though of a toddler, rather than a teenager) I can sympathize with the parent in this story who just wants their child to do what they've been asked to do. On the other hand, I cannot understand what prompted the call to the police. What possible law did they think had been violated?

See the previous entry of this feature at the foregoing link.

Quote of the Day: 21 March 2018

“Our media would rather be first to print a lie than last to print the truth.” -@usacsmret

Quote of the Day: 20 March 2018

“To be a gentleman, you first need to be a man. You need to have the power and ability, the knowledge of yourself, before it can be tempered by restraint and courtesy.” -Dorothy Grant

Quote of the Day: 19 March 2018

“Unfortunately, people very strongly want to believe there are easy answers to complex social problems.” -Sebastian of Shall Not Be Questioned

[I have seen this behavior exhibited on both sides of the political aisle. It is so tempting to just declare that whatever our pet social issue is would fix all the problems, but it never really would.]

Quote of the Day: 18 March 2018

“Sometimes you will be the angel the Lord sends to bear others up. Sometimes you will be the one surrounded by angels who bear you up.” -Henry B. Eyring

Quote of the Day: 17 March 2018

"In our pursuit of prosperity we have forgotten and neglected its foundations." -Calvin Coolidge

Quote of the Day: 16 March 2018

“We’re nothing more than dust jackets for books, of no significance otherwise.” -Granger, Fahrenheit 451

Quote of the Day: 15 March 2018

“The foreign enemy of your domestic political opponent is not your friend. This is worth remembering on both sides.” -Charles C. W. Cooke

Forest Grove Police Log excerpt, 14 March 2018

Here is the excerpt from the log of local police activity for this week.

March 2* A caller reported finding a note from an individual who wanted to rent a small cabin on the caller's property, as well as a beer can inside the "cabin." The cabin was actually a dog house currently unavailable for rent. Officers conducted extra patrols to find the prospective lodger.

This is how bad rent control has gotten in and around Portland. People are asking to rent doghouses because they can't find anywhere else. Or the individual who left the note and can of beer was so inebriated that he actually thought it was a cabin. Either way.

Follow this link to go to last week's entry of this feature.

Quote of the Day: 14 March 2018

“In the US, as in most western cultures, we’re fuzzy on what’s ‘individual’ and what’s ‘nation’ and the duties of each.” -Sarah Hoyt

Quote of the Day: 13 March 2018

“Don't take me camping because if I see a bear, I will hug that bear.” -Kendra Alvey

Quote of the Day: 12 March 2018

“Reality is no fun sometimes, is it? - particularly when it's uncertain.” -Peter Grant

Daylight Saving Insanity

Welcome to that time of year when we all engage in a mass delusion that it is now an hour earlier than it would have been yesterday. All because the government has told us that we had really better do it. Or else.

I really can't think of a better description of it than insanity.

We know from many studies that have been conducted that it is detrimental to health, and safety. And that it doesn't produce any energy savings.  A farmer is going to get up to do his work when he has to regardless of what a clock says. So, why do we continue with this illogical and detrimental program?

Quote of the Day: 11 March 2018

“My limited knowledge cannot explain why sometimes there is divine intervention and other times there is not. But perhaps we lack an understanding of what constitutes a miracle.” -Donald L. Hallstrom

Quote of the Day: 10 March 2018

“The easiest way to find the glass you missed while sweeping up the basement is to walk down to the laundry room in bare feet.” -daddybear71

Quote of the Day: 9 March 2018

“The need for firearms is like the need for free speech. You need them the most when someone is trying to take them from you.” -Joe Huffman

Quote of the Day: 8 March 2018

“The bottom line is that the more women can voluntarily choose how much to work and when, the freer they are to pursue their chosen ends whether that choice is to stay at home with a large family or manage a full-time, corporate career.” -Anne Rathbone Bradley

Forest Grove Police Log excerpt, 7 March 2018

Here's the selection from the log of local police activity for this week.

February 25* A homeowner reported a gang of men in masks walking around outside his home late at night. Officers located a group of individuals who said they were using the porta-potty on the property. The homeowner was advised of the situation and agreed to let them use the facilities.

This was a rather poor week as far as interesting police interactions go. I believe it is required to provide sanitation facilities if you are having construction work done; which is the only reason I can think of to have a sorta-potty on your property. I can't fathom why you'd agree to let a group of masked men use those facilities though. That remains incomprehensible to me.

See last week's installment as well.

Quote of the Day: 7 March 2018

“You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing.” -Thomas Sowell

Quote of the Day: 6 March 2018

“The cost of freedom is discomfort.

And the cost of comfort is freedom.

Choose wisely.” -Kathy Jackson

Quote of the Day: 5 March 2018

“Legit question - What of mine that I worked for belongs to someone else, who did not?” -Robb Allen

[This is a legitimate question, and I have never yet heard a satisfactory answer to it. The answers I have heard have all had to do with the Christian faith, or with "taking care of the poor" but those can better be addressed through private charitable giving rather than by the force of the government.]

Quote of the Day: 4 March 2018

“If we sincerely ask, ‘What lack I yet?’ He will not leave us to guess, but in love He will answer for the sake of our happiness. And He will give us hope.” -D. Todd Christofferson

Quote of the Day: 3 March 2018

“Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!

Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land

Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.”
     -Francis Scott Key

[Happy National Anthem Day.]

Quote of the Day: 2 March 2018

“[T]he truth is you could take all of reality and distill it down to the last atom. And you’d not find an ounce of fairness. Not an atom of justice. Not a hint of equality.” -Sarah Hoyt

[And yet, these things exist. They simply aren't quantifiable.]

Forest Grove Police Log excerpt, 1 March 2018

In this week's selection from the log of local police activity we learn about sleeping in wise locations.

February 22* Police contacted a man seen lying In the street, next to a pickup truck, in the middle of the night. Officers learned the man had borrowed the vehicle, locked the keys inside, and was tired from the attempt to gain entry. He was advised to nap outside of the public right of way.

It's good to know that if I'm driving around town in the middle of the night, I need to be on the lookout for folks not bright enough to get out of the road when they sleep.

See last week's entry of this feature at the forgoing link.

Quote of the Day: 1 March 2018

“Americans think it is a universal human instinct to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It's not. It seems natural to us because we live in a Bible-based Judeo-Christian culture.” -Karin McQuillan