Boston

Unexpected. I was totally blaming the Tea Party for the Boston Marathon bombing. For creating a such a toxic political environment against the U.S. government, against such a basic level of support as paying taxes. With the revolutionary rhetoric they use it's only a matter of time before some unstable nut decides he's tired of talking and takes some action. The bombing in Boston is exactly what I would have expected. You know, making a statement in Boston. On tax day.

I was totally expecting some lone wolf Ted Kaczynski or Timothy McVeigh type. I guess it wouldn't have surprised me if it were an Al'Qaida attack, but we've been doing such a good job staying on top of foreign terrorism, that it seemed less likely than a domestic terrorist.

So listening to the news this morning and hearing it was a couple of Chechnyans?! Wow. Just . . . Left. Field. I mean, I guess it's still possible they're associated with Al'Qaida or even the Tea Party, somehow. Those seem less likely though, now. It will be interesting to hear the details of how the plot unfolded.

Gun Control Soap Box

I've got to admit, I don't think a background check should be performed on every gun sale. I mean, I understand how it could be a hassle for small, private transactions. Sometimes it really isn't worth it. If I just want to sell an hunting rifle I inherited to my neighbor, for example. That should be a simple, private transaction.

No, I think that instead, background checks should be done when you get your license to use a firearm. Then you simply produce the license when you register any firarm you purchase and, voila, you have verified that you already passed the background check.

You know, there have been a couple of high profile incidents recently that demonstrate the NRA isn't always lying. They make the argument that if an evil person wants to hurt people, he will. Regardless of access to firearms. He will grab a knife or a hammer or a car or whatever he can to use as a weapon and he will hurt people. Incidents last week when a guy drove his car into a Wal-Mart in California and this week at a community college in Texas demonstrate the truth in that.

In both cases people were severely injured. They were serious crimes and the perpetrators should face serious criminal penalties. It should be noted, though, that in neither case was anyone killed. I would argue that if the criminals had brought a gun, that would likely be different. I understand that's not necessarily true. I don't have a crystal ball, "would have beens" and "could have beens" are always, really, just conjecture. However, given the many, many documented incidents of gun violence, I feel pretty safe saying that criminals' access to guns, or lack thereof, makes a significant difference in their crimes. And I hate, hate, hate the NRA for how hard it works to make it easy for anyone, anyone, to get almost any type of gun and take it anywhere they want.

Joe Biden is absolutely right. Bring the gun control legislation to a vote. Make legislators put their official yay or nay on the bills in question and then hammer the bejeebers out of them over it when they come up for reelection. Air commercials with pictures of kids from Sandy Hook next to the plots where they're buried and ask the question, "How did your legislator respond?"

Pictures!

And happy birthday to me.  Last Wednesday I turned 43.  I got some cards, some t-shirts, a movie (Spiderman 2) and went out to play Magic.  It was nice.

More important, though, I am catching up on posting pictures.  We have so many.  Especially with Becky in a photography class.  She is making the most of the opportunity and heads out with a camera frequently.

So here we go all the way back to ... Christmas!  Ryan came up for a couple days.

Becky got some nice pictures at a creek near our house.

Ben turned 14!

Tabby went sledding with her BFF, Ella.

I took a nap.  Tabby woke me up.

Becky took pictures down by the Fox River.

Kids are a popular subject for her photography homework.

So are cityscapes around Green Bay.

Ella's dog, Chewy.

The Fox River again.

A gathering of Princesses.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Becky has found that she really likes photographing cemeterys.  Especially at sunrise and sunset.  There is just something that speaks to her about the symbolism.

Of course, Tabby is probably still the most common subject.

Becky took Tabby to play with some dogs at the home of a woman we go to church with.

On the bay.  When it's frozen over.  Tabby was pretty excited to go walk out on the water.

We went to Milwaukee to visit Dr. Drolet, who has been researching why some people have the developmental asymetry like Tabby does.  They actually figured out why it happens.  It has to do with mismatched genes that control size.  Dr. Drolet explained how they figured it out.  It was really cool.  Even better, though, was that we went to the Milwaukee Public Museum and visited their butterfly room.

Right outside our house.

Last weekend we visited Jack in Sheboygan.  Tabby misses him.  And she loves his cats.  We drove around time, walked on the beach and took pictures.

Last Thursday we went out driving, just looking for good spots to get pictures at sunset.  We found a couple in the nearby town of Oneida.

Aaaaand finally.  All caught up on the pictures I've been meaning to post for months.