If you happen to see
Mark Chesnutt while you're running errands today, don't forget to wish him a Happy Birthday. It's #46 for him.
*********************
I don't feel like commenting more on the current BS outta DC, I've already put in my 2 cents in other blogs, so I'm probably up to about $.50.
*********************
In a sad commentary on events, the British Scouting Association has banned carrying
any knives. Despite British law
still allowing non-locking pocketknives with blades no-more-than 3 inches, the officials claim it is because of concerns over a "growing (British) knife culture." I'm calling BS, it's over a lack of arresting-and-punishing-the-guilty-yobs culture! I can't imagine being in Scouts and not being encouraged to have a pocketknife on your person. In fact, I recall a meeting after a campout (that I missed), where one of the advisors was disappointed that several of the Scouts on that trip didn't have a basic pocketknife, so he was presenting them all with an
Opinel, and the reminder to "Be Prepared," you know, that "Scout motto" thing. Now? {sigh} I'm pretty sure that Sir Baden-Powell is spinning in his grave.
Funny thing about it all, from what opinions I've gathered online, is that England is the only one with this "problem," across the English Channel in France (and the rest of Europe), a pocketknife is perfectly normal to have with you, you know, as long as you're not up to no good. As examples, if you're in the park and using your Opinel or Swiss Army knife for slicing up some cheese and summer sausage for lunch, the
Gendarmes will probably wish you
bon appetit; whilst if you're out drinking and fighting in the alley behind the bar and the cops find you with a big ol' RamboNinjatronicDeathMaker2000, well, kiss your ass good night, you're going to jail! Hell, I was reading
another Texan's blog, where he
chronicled his adventures in
nanny-state-ism, after using his pocketknife in a restaurant to cut up his food ('cause frankly, restaurant knives ain't good for cutting soft cheese, much less a steak). One of the employees called the cops on him, and they stopped him three times along his way home! They all chatted with him for a minute and let him go, but it still added up to wasting 45 minutes of his time, plus the expense to the taxpayers to investigate this "crime." Oh yeah, he's more than a little pissed about it, as would I. (Oh, by the way, welcome to my blogroll!)