Just doin' my part

Since I'm looking to go to OSU-Tulsa it wouldn't hurt to give T. Boone a plug on the blog.

For the best parties...

Just got back to the apartment after another weekend filled with parties. On Saturday, the Sapulpa Boys and Girls Club held an event where everyone could come and use the facilities (indoor pool, gym, jupiter jumps) and get free food for the cost of admission of whatever you wanted to give. Since I was bringing the whole family I didn't want to be to chintzy, so I gave over $5. Not much, but since they were asking for pocket change I didn't feel that bad. The kids had a great time in the pool. But we were a little surprised at the very low (10 people) turnout. Then again it was like having the whole place to ourselves.

But the real party took place this afternoon. A member of FOAM, Larry Smith, invited everyone in the group and their families to his home for a pool party. And what a party. Larry made barbecued brisket and hamburgers while the FOAMers brought side dishes, desserts, beer and mead. The food was excellent. The beer and mead were heavenly.

But the kids really enjoyed the pool. Nick, Scooter and another girl (around age 9) were the only kids there. Nick had a blast sliding down the slide. While Scooter was the darling of all of the folks around the pool. Larry spent a good amount of time chasing Scooter in the pool as Mr. Crabs, from which she would gleefully paddle away. It was all very relaxing and quite enjoyable.

So if you want to have a great time this summer, hook up with your local brew club.

What would Joe McCarthy do?

Not a fully formed post. (As if any of them are). But I was fiddling around on Wikipedia and came across an interesting fact about Joe McCarthy. The only other thing that he seems to be known for is his opposition to the death sentences handed down to the Nazi perpetrators of the Malmedy massacre. I sure politics played into it, but he argued that since the confessions that these men signed were given under torture that the hearings were unfair and unbecoming of America and its rule of law.

Many of the torture techniques that were used against the Nazis are very similar to the rough interrogation techniques used at Gitmo on the enemy combatants.

If McCarthy, one of the most strident right wingers ever, refused to accept torture on Nazis (the modern day all purpose villain) who gunned down 88 unarmed American POWs and left their bodies in a field to rot, would he have green lit the types of trials and conditions that W is using now for people who were simply handed over to the US for a bounty?

Nick, Pokemon Pusher

Last week was a most interesting week as far as Nick was concerned. When I picked him up from camp on Monday, he said that a fellow kid gave him twenty dollars because he liked him.

This immediately set off warning bells in my head. I stopped and asked him to explain what happened. The story then changed. He got twenty dollars from another camper by selling him twenty Pokemon cards. As I probed deeper into the story, Nick tells me that a kid came up to him and asked to buy twenty Pokemon cards for ten bucks. Nick then haggled it up to twenty. But he couldn't tell me who this kid was and the details of the actual arrangement were kind of sketchy. I asked where the money was. Nick said that he had put it on his account at the canteen. None of this sat well with me.

All night I was going over the transaction. Who sends their kid to day camp with $20? What kid pays $20 for Pokemon cards? Since Nick wasn't able to give me more detail, was there something else going on?

The next morning I had some questions for the staff. First, I did find out that Nick put twenty dollars on his canteen account. And I also learned that another parent was very upset since her kid squandered his weekly lunch money buying Pokemon cards from Nick. At first I was going to let Nick decide if he was going to keep the money. But once I found out that the other kid was only six, I made sure that he gave it back.

And it's good to know that my son was responsible for a note being sent to all of the parents, stating that the Boys and Girls Club is in no way responsible for money your child wastes unless you give the money to the camp canteen with instructions on how that money is to be used. A proud day.

Of course this happened the very day after Nick was presented with the God and Me badge for Cub Scouts at our church.

Good Neighbor?

Talk radio has been a buzz about the Joe Horn shooting controversy. In short a man killed two burglars as they exited from his neighbor's house. A grand jury refused to indict him. In reality, I'm not that surprised since Texas has a very strong Castle Doctrine statute. It includes the right to use deadly force when someone is fleeing the scene of a burglary. There was also a racial aspect to the shooting (victims Afro-Hispanic, shooter white) and the fact that the victims were illegal immigrants who were members of a home theft gang.
I've been trying to decide where I come down on this. On one hand I don't want to return to the days of the old west. But on the other hand, I'd like to have a neighbor like Joe. He called the cops and when I looked like the criminals were getting away he stopped them. And based upon the laws of the State of Texas, what he did was legal.
But is it right? I've always thought that deadly force should be a last resort when other options have proved fruitless. He put himself into the equation. He could have stayed in his own house, where he was completely safe. However, I like the fact that he entered the equation. He saw something that was wrong and was not afraid to challenge it. How he challenged it may be questionable, but he did something.