In view of the fact that God limited the intelligence of man, it seems unfair that he did not also limit his stupidity. ~ Konrad Adenauer

An example:

In New Jersey last week, the state government offered people who were wanted for non violent offenses 4 days to turn themselves in for very light sentences. That way, the state saved money on tracking them down, and the offenders now wouldn't have to worry about waiting for the knock at the door.

It worked, maybe too well. Over 500 people who didn't even have outstanding warrants turned themselves in and confessed what they had done.

Around here, there has been a similar program, where people can turn in guns, no questions asked, no need to show ID, and in return you get a gas card. A good way to get a gun you own illegally off your hands and conscience.

I wonder how many who aren't even wanted would turn themselves in around here?

What about where you live?



Today is:

Area Code Day

Cry of Independence Day -- Panama

Day of Remembrance of Ataturk -- Turkey

Day of Russian Militsiya -- Russia

Dia de la Tradicion -- Argentina (birth of Jose Hernandez)

Forget-Me-Not Day

Goddess of Reason's Day (Revolutionary France)

Hari Pahlawan -- Indonesia (Heroe's Day)

Martini -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (beginning of winter festival)

Nicnevin -- Scots Gaelic (festival honoring Diana)

National Vanilla Cupcake Day

National Young Reader's Day

St. Andrew Avellino's Day

St. Martin's Eve -- Germany; Portugal (Martimas Eve)

USMC Day -- US

Wish-Granting Championship (Sprite) -- Fairy Calendar


Birthdays Today:

Ellen Pompeo, 1969
MacKenzie Phillips, 1959
Donna Fargo, 1949
Tim Rice, 1944
Russel Means, 1939
Roy Scheider, 1932
Richard Burton, 1925
Jane Froman, 1907
Claude Rains, 1889
Martin Luther, 1483


Today in History:

Rene Descartes has the dreams that inspire his Meditations on First Philosophy, 1619
The Dutch formally cede New Netherlands to the English; it is renamed New York, 1674
France ends forced worship of God, substitute the Goddess of Reason, 1793
The US state of Kentucky outlaws dueling, 1801
Stanley presumes that he has met Livingston in Ujiji, Central Africa, 1871
The first Woman's Christian Temperance Union meeting is held in Boston, 1891
The first Gideon Bible is put in a hotel room, 1908
Hirohito ascends the throne as Emperor of Japan, 1928
The Hope Diamond is donated to the Smithsonian Institution by New York diamond merchant Harry Winston, 1958
The 729-foot-long freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks during a storm on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew on board, 1975
A 106-car Canadian Pacific freight train carrying explosive and poisonous chemicals from Windsor, Ontario, Canada derails in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada just west of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, causing a massive explosion and the largest peacetime evacuation in Canadian history and one of the largest in North American history, 1979