Bruno commentary

Ian MacDonald's comic strip Bruno the Bandit often has not-so-subtle social commentary slipped in among the sardonic humor.  For the past week or so, he's been commenting on the current state of our democracy.  It starts here.

Anoither minor gripe about LiveJournal ....

...is the "Quote" button.  Sure, it's a good idea.  But you can never tell quite what it's going to do.  If you select at least one complete paragraph of a post and click Quote, it's a fairly safe bet it'll blockquote it.  But if you select only part of a paragraph to quote, sometimes it'll blockquote, sometimes it'll put it in italics, sometimes it'll enclose it in double-quotes ... you click and take pot luck.

It'd be a lot more useful if it behaved consistently, and more useful still if you could define that behavior.

Your tax dollars at work

visgoth posted about BATFE heavyhandedness at the Showmasters gun show last weekend in Richmond, VA.  BATFE agents were blatantly trying to intimidate buyers, sellers, and buyers' family members, and apparently trying to frighten neighbors of buyers.  The BATFE senior agent on site told the show management the abuses at Richmond would be a model for future gun shows across the country.  The show management went to DC with lawywers to talk to BATFE abou it, and eventually secured an admission that it shouldn't have happened and a promise that it wouldn't happen again.  Any bets on whether BATFE keeps its word?

This is America.  "We don't need no stinkin' jackbooted stormtroopers."