Why can't she just bear arms instead?

I have been hearing way too much about the First Lady's "arms" the past few days. I might give a shit if they were talking about firearms, but really, can we lay off word play involving Mrs. Obama and guns? I'll bet $600 (the cost of my next purchase) that Mrs. Not-proud-of-this-country-unless-you-elect-my-husband-Obama has never actually fired any sort of gun.

And the reason for this lack of experience must be that she is too busy working on her own "arms" to have time for any other type. This article is really just silly:

"But others were amazed, like 25-year-old Jessie Rosen. After seeing Obama at the speech Tuesday, she went to the Adidas store in New York and bought two five-pound dumbbells. "It was her arms being so toned in spite of her life," she said.

"This woman is redecorating White House, trying to raise two children and backseat driving the nation," Rosen said. "She seems to have time to keep her arms toned, so why can't I?" "

Well at least Ms. Rosen can be pround of her ability to give out backhanded compliments. Trying to raise two children? Backseat driving the nation? So "in spite of her life" must mean that she has no money, no time, no personal chef, no housekeeper, no personal trainer... oh wait.

"Obama has said she exercises in 90-minute workout three times a week with a personal trainer."

I consider myself an average (modern) housewife in terms of what I do around the house and with my kids. But, with two little soon-to-be-homeschooled kids and a spouse who works quite a lot, I have no time (not to mention money) for 270 minutes of workouts a week with a trainer. If I did happen to have a spare 270 minutes, I would probably spend it keeping track of what the government is trying to do to my freedoms.

Well, look on the bright side. The more time our stylish First Lady spends on her arms, her decorating, and trying to raise her kids, the less she can devote to backseat driving. Not that her husband really needs much help in screwing up our country.

Homeschooling regulation

Today the kids and I went on our first "official" homeschooling field trip. I say official because we have finally decided that we are going to homeschool, at least for the next few years. I am relieved to have come to a decision and very excited to begin this new adventure as a homeschooling mom.

So our field trip was to the New Hampshire statehouse to demonstrate opposition to some MAJOR homeschooling regulation. If this bill passes, New Hampshire would have some of the strictest requirements in the country. After driving around for 30 minutes trying to find a somewhat decent parking spot, we made it to the state house, picking up a few anti-homeschool-regulation friends along the way. I didn't know exactly where to go once we were in the state house, but the crowd of say, oh, 500+ people was pretty easy to spot. The turn out was amazing - only gun related legislation can come close to getting the same number of people.

I didn't get into the hearing but I didn't expect to as we arrived a bit late to get a good place in line. But I did sign the sheet stating my opposition to the legislation and enjoyed observing and talking with some wonderful people. I realized today how much more positive my interactions with the homeschooling community have been compared to the schooling community.

I'll probably post an update when there is more news but the above link will have all the updates (if anyone cares in the first place...).

Edited to add: I just saw some new stats for how many people showed up at the state house today - 1000!

Bear spray control !?!

This article had me laughing so hard I could barely tell my husband about it. I know I have already made fun of Canada a couple of times, but really, they are askin' for it.

A few choice excerpts:

"In a city where bear spray is involved in as many crimes as guns are - over 700 incidents in 2006 and 2007- it didn't take long for the officers to divine the rowdies' intentions."

The use of bear spray while committing a crime is as common at the use of a gun? Wow, I guess gun control is really working up there in Canada, eh?

Here comes the government to the rescue!

"In what may be the first mention of bear spray in a Throne Speech, the NDP government recently vowed to "limit access to animal repellants, which in the past have been used in burglaries and assaults."

And as of Jan. 1, the province mandated all bear-spray vendors to acquire a licence and record each customer who buys the substance.

Most retailers had already required customers to sign a declaration saying they would only use the spray in case of a dog or bear attack. "

Well, of course we will believe them if they say it will only be used on animals....

Again, I read the comments for this article (how could you not!). Most of the readers seem to have a lot of sense and see the complete nonsense of trying to regulate bear spray. What's next - regulation of kitchen knives, scissors, hot sauce in spray bottles, rocks, and pointy sticks?

Now that I have written my post, I am going to finish what I set out to do before all this Canadian lunacy distracted me: Become an official member of the 2nd Amendment Sisters.

And remember: If bear spray it outlawed, only outlaw bears will have spray...

Or maybe Canada should adopt the U.S. Second Amendment but change it to: Keep and arm bears...

Bat-leth control

The second I saw this news story, I knew it would make for the perfect blog post.

"Colorado Springs police are on the lookout for a man who attempted to rob two 7-Eleven convenience stores early Wednesday with a Klingon bat'leth sword."

"It could be used as a dangerous weapon," understated Colorado Springs police officer Lt. David Whitlock to the local ABC affiliate. Doubtlessly, none of which have witnessed the brutal bat'leth competition held on Forcas III. "We didn't think it was a toy and neither did the victims, they felt threatened."

I have gotten into the habit of reading comments on news articles. Seriously - I have learned quite a lot from the various weirdoes who actually have time to post comments. The ones following this particular article are no exception. They range from Klingon phrases, to the almost cliché "Beam me up Scotty!" to the classic "Kaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhnnnnnnn!" which for some reason (at least to this Trekkie) always seems to be funny. But the best comment I saved for last. Someone was wondering how long it would take for Mr. Obama to include the Klingons in the bailout package. Well, since no one in the entire universe has actually read the whole darn thing, how do we know the Klingons haven't been given a few 10^12 dollars? Or maybe the Ferengi - but wait! The Ferengi rely on a "gold-pressed latinum" standard so they probably wouldn't be in need of a bailout in the first place...

On a somewhat related topic, and the reason for the title of this post, I wonder when the gun-control nuts will take on the bat-leth? Can't you just see the headlines: "Trekkies dressed as Klingons descend on Washingting to lobby for their 2nd amendment rights" and "District of Columbia v. Worf - Decision expected today!" Maybe we can only keep a bat-leth in our home if it has a trigger lock...

Edited to add: I just saw this comment as I was closing my browser window: "Outlaw Klingon swords, and only outlaws will have Klingon swords."