It's a very weird feeling considering...

that it is Friday morning and I don't have plans to see a movie this weekend.  Last weekend was like this, but I'd seen movies on almost every weekday that week.  I may go see something on Sunday and there is a movie I plan to watch on VOD.  But it still feels weird.  Fortunately there's at least one movie to see next weekend and at least two each of the remaining weekends in January.

There's a new sheriff in town, referring to the fact that the 113th Congress is now constituted by the swearing-in of all of its new members.  Some are arguing that this is the most diverse Congress ever.  Then when you look at the Senate and realize that 95% of its members are White, you have to ask yourself how anyone could possibly advance that argument.  Maybe because for the first time, there are 20 women serving in the Senate.  Maybe because 19% of the House are "minorities".  But when the upper chamber is still 95% White, don't try to tell me how diverse this Congress is.  It isn't.

One not so brilliant idea being advanced to help in the debt ceiling negotiations is the notion of a trillion dollar coin made of platinum.  It would have to be platinum because there are limits about the amount of money in circulation when it comes to paper, gold, silver and the other metals in use.  But not platinum.  It's a dumb idea.

I do have a few New Year's resolutions but I always wait until the first Monday after New Year's Day to put them into effect.  Probably has something to do with the fact I keep making a resolution to found a Procrastinator's society but then I put it off until the following year.

I can't believe I'm feeling sympathy for Hugo Chavez.  He reportedly has a very serious lung infection.  Hey, been there, done that.  I hope he makes a full recovery.  I may not agree with his politics but no one should have to suffer the horrible feeling of being unable to breathe.

There's a Marine who is no longer in the military (I've said it before but it bears repeating, there's no such thing as a former Marine) who has written a letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein saying he opposes the idea of having to register his weapons.  He decries the hypocrisy of her trying to push a registration bill through Congress when she herself carries a weapon.  Hey Corporal, that's carried.  She doesn't carry one anymore.  She got rid of the CCW permit.  This is also part of the problem, the thought that registration will lead to confiscation.

If we as a people decide to confiscate weapons (which we won't), registration or non-registration isn't going to make a bit of difference.  We don't have the political will to engage in confiscation and there aren't enough people who would blindly follow an illegal order to take our weapons in violation of the Second Amendment.  Registration is prudent and reasonable.

This Date in History:

On this date in 46 BC, Julius Caesar defeats Titus Labienus in the Battle of Ruspina.
On this date in 1490, Anne of Brittany announces that all who ally with the King of France are guilty of a crime.
On this date in 1642, arrests ordered by King Charles I of England begins England's Civil War.
On this date in 1847, Samuel Colt sells his first revolver to the U.S. government.
On this date in 1854, the McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald.  There were no fast-food restaurants found.
On this date in 1865, the New York Stock Exchange opened its first permanent headquarters.
On this date in 1896, Utah is admitted as the 45th state.
On this date in 1948, Burma gains independence from Great Britain.
On this date in 1951, Chinese and North Koreans forces capture Seoul during the Korean War.
On this date in 1974, President Richard M. Nixon defies a subpoena from the Senate's Watergate Committee.
On this date in 1999, Jesse "The Body" Ventura is sworn in as Governor of Minnesota.
And on this date in 1900, James Bond was born.  Referring to the American ornithologist whose name was used by author Ian Fleming for his novels.