tfl: The Flatiron Life

“President Bush Calls On Business Leaders To Create 500,000 Crappy Jobs”

The Onion Radio News reports more truth than the MSM.

Scott Adams writes about a Time magazine poll that found less than a third of voters think “Good Judgment” is important in a presidential candidate.

He concludes by asking “Does that worry you?”

Yes, very much so.

Last weekend in the suburbs, Ellen “Treffly” Coyne took her children to Wal-Mart to donate some money to Salvation army. As a result she was arrested.

“My 2-year-old had fallen fast asleep,” Coyne said. “It was sleeting, and I said, ‘I’m not going to risk carrying my kid and falling.’”

Pretty sound thinking if you ask me.

So she turned off the engine, put her hazard lights on, locked the car and walked 30 feet from the car to get a few snapshots of the girls, Coyne said.

“I was always within ear- and eyeshot of the car,” Coyne said. “It was a five-minute affair.”

But that was enough time to get the mother of three in serious trouble with the law.

Coyne said when she turned around, a uniformed police officer was standing by her car and told Coyne, “You’re not going anywhere.”

She was not only arrested for child endangerment but like any reasonable person she resisted being arrested. (Resisting arrest has to be the most prevalent charge in America, right?)

So according to the police officer she was endangering her daughter. How did the agents of the state rectify this?

Officers then went to her car and started the engine with the baby inside — “exposing my child to carbon monoxide poisoning,” Coyne said. She assumed the other girls were in police custody.

She assumed wrong. The great protector of children had …

“…abandoned my other daughters at the Wal-Mart,” said Janecyk, who eventually found them seated on a bench in the Wal-Mart. “I asked them why they didn’t ask for help, but they said the police scared them.”

Is it possible we live in a police state, but generally have not realized it yet?

Please post the answers to the following in the comments. If you do not know the answer, post a question you think that might make me reveal the answer but not also make me suspicious.

What is my favorite movie?
What is my favorite cartoon character?
What was the name of my first pet?
What is my favorite place to visit?
What is my favorite food?
Who is my cable provider?
What is my password to their site?

This past weekend, Joscelynn’s family threw a baby shower for Jonah. The shower was in Jos’ hometown of Brookston, IN. Brookston is a typical little Hoosier town. It has a couple bars, a gas station, pizza shop, and some other shops.

My understanding of showers is that men are generally not invited and likely discouraged from attending. This being the case, I made alternate plans. I had planed to pass the time at a cafe that I knew had Wi-Fi, however on Saturday this was on the fritz. In lieu of catching up on my reading, I decided to go for a walk around town.

Saturday in Brookston was hot, but amazingly beautiful. The sun was bright in the brilliantly blue sky lightly packed with majestic clouds. A picture perfect day. I grabbed my camera from the car and started to wander around town.

Brookston, like all other small towns in the Midwest, has a skyline dominated by one building rising above all the other buildings and the trees as a reminder of why the town is there in the first place, a grain elevator. Elevators are beautiful and remind me of everything great about my childhood. I have great memories of going to the Co-op in Gessie with Grandpa Miller and Ryan just to hang out. The Co-op is where Grandpa spent much of his time when he was not working. The elevator is the hub of farming life; this is quite natural because that is where the money is. The elevator is a bank for grain and your sales agent when the market is right. In most communities it also provides agri-services during the whole year, from spreading fertilizer to grain drying and a wide range between.

Another reason to notice the elevator is that we are at the hight of harvest and there were semis rolling in and out of town all weekend long. Of course, I was drawn to this traffic mixed with my above described affection for elevators. I started down Wood St and realized it was going to be an even better day for pictures than I had thought. The grass was so green, soaking up the last bits of summer light they could. The sun was reflecting amazingly off of the buildings. I started snapping.

I took a couple pictures as I approached the elevator and framed up a couple more. Something I try to keep in mind while taking photos is to not get over zealous. I strongly support the right to private property. However, while photographing I have to remind myself that no matter how good a shot might look a couple feet into someone’s yard, I ought not be in their yard unless I have received permission. This is as true for giant multinational companies like ADM, who cooperate the Brookston elevator, as it is for individuals. The elevator also had posted “no trespassing” on its welcome sign. There was not a fence marking the property but I made my best guess that the road leading to the scales and parking lot off of Wood St was private property.

I took a couple more pictures I had been framing. As I snapped the last one, a truck pulled up. There were two men inside who did not identify themselves. The passenger said I could not take pictures there. I said OK and started to walk away. I figured I must have crossed the property line unknowingly and was willing to reverse that. As I walked away, the passenger demanded I give him my camera. I said “No, I am not giving you my camera.” He had a look of astonishment that I still see plainly in my mind today. A look that said he fully expected me to just give him my property while his sat in a running vehicle.

After my denial I continued to walk away and the men exited the truck and radioed to their boss. They repeated that I could not take pictures there and for me to give them my camera. Then they stopped me in my tracks by saying they would call the sheriff. I am brave and principled, but I didn’t want to spend the night in Monticello even if I know I would win in the end.

I told them I would erase the pictures I took on their property. The first man came over and watched me remove those pictures. He then wanted to see the picture before that. When I showed it to him, he said I had to delete it too. This picture is clearly taken from the middle of the public street and I was not going to remove it.

And then I was implicated as a terrorist.

I said he could make me remove a picture I had taken on public property. He said I could not take pictures of the elevator. His partner repeated the threat of calling the sheriff. I asked what the sheriff would tell me, is it illegal to take pictures from public property in White County? The second man then asked if I had “a hard on for elevators”? The first man rightly sensed his friend had said something stupid and inappropriate and tried to silence him, but I took the opportunity to respond that I was fascinated by elevators and grow up around them.

They again repeated that I had to hand over my camera because you cannot take pictures of the elevator. “You know with all the stuff going on.” I don’t think I am stretching to connect the dots to the “war on terror”.

I repeated that he could not dictate the pictures I took on public land. I said something to the effect of, “Is’t the distinction between public and private property along with being secure in ones property the foundation of America.” He said these days maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. “What do you think!? Do you think about what YOU believe?,” I said.

I never heard his response because his boss pulled up. The boss asked what was going on and the man accurately explained. The boss had a look like, “big deal.” And he said it was fine and let me go.

After this, the elevator became even more of a focus of my pictures. but I will never be able to replace the two amazing pictures I deleted. And nothing will return elevators to only places of good memories.

I blog for the exact same reason as Scott Adams (Dilbert cartoonist):

There is nothing more frustrating than writing a perfect sentence and not being able to publish it. That’s why I love having this blog. Otherwise, it’s just me and the cat having a laugh at how witty I could have been. And it’s creepy when the cat laughs because I can never be sure we’re laughing at the same thing.

(HT: Vallywag)

NetBank Inc., an online bank with $2.5 billion in assets, was shut down by the government on Friday because of an unsustainable level of mortgage defaults.It was the largest thrift to fail since the end of the savings and loan crisis more than 14 years ago. Federal regulators appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as a receiver for NetBank, which is based in Alpharetta, Ga.

Reports the NYT

It looks like NetBank has not been doing well as a corporation for a while.  Here is a time line of the company.

ING Direct is taking over the accounts and customers will be able to conduct business online later today.

Normally, this might just be an interesting story but not really something reported on TFL.  True, but imagine my surprise this morning when I went to my bank’s site and saw this,

On September 28, 2007, NetBank, Alpharetta, GA was closed by the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was named Receiver. All insured depositors are now customers of ING Direct Bank, member FDIC. No advance notice is given to the public when a financial institution is closed.

The FDIC has assembled useful information regarding your relationship with this institution. Besides a checking account, you may have Certificates of Deposit, a business checking account, a Social Security direct deposit, and other relationships with the institution. The FDIC has compiled  information which should answer many of your questions.

Today, I am an ING Direct customer!  Time to add a news feed of ING to Reader so I am not caught unawares again.

Yesterday I gave a too favorable reading to John Stossels health care article.  I usually agree with Stossel and I made the leap that he must have been talking about things I agree with.  After Joscelynn and Rob critisized the post, I reread the article and found it did not say what I thought it said.

Stossel takes a must harder view on insurance in general than I thought he did.  I am not anti-insurance.  I suspect my solution to the ‘health care crisis’ would lead to a more diverse insurance menu.

I think that our health care system is broken for two main reasons.  First, government requires the minimum insurance to cover more items than the market would demand.  Second, the cost of your insurance is almost complety hiden from you because most employers pay the majority of it.  In the tale of the auto insurance, I was assuming these two things where being applied to auto insurance like they are for health insurance.

How often have you said this or heard it said? Is insurance the answer?

Imagine if your car insurance covered oil changes and gasoline. You wouldn’t care how much gas you used, and you wouldn’t care what it cost. Mechanics would sell you $100 oil changes. Prices would skyrocket.

This is John Stossel moving the health care debate to something a little bit easier to grasp. You might say you cannot compare health care and auto care because one is a necessity of life. However, given the publics apparent inelastic demand for gasoline, I am not sure I know which is the necessity.

Read this weeks article spelling out the problem. Next week he promises to have some solutions.