A metaphysical interview with Vladimir Putin’s mom

In recent weeks Vladimir Putin has invented a new sort of Russian reversal. This is where you send troops to Crimea and take control of the government and media, then hold a vote on whether you should send in troops and take control of a region’s government and media. The notion of consent involved here – as in “Crimean voters consented to annexation” – is a little bit peculiar. But it turns out that this sort of behaviour is a Putin family tradition.

This morning I had the opportunity to conduct a metaphysical interview with Maria Ivanova Putina, Vladimir Putin’s mother.

"I don't think every sweater you get from Goodwill has demons in it"

No posts recently; I was busy writing for a while. Then I got sick with bronchitis for nearly two weeks. Then I didn't have anything interesting to say.

I still don't, but somehow this morning I ended up reading the Christian Post for a while. Luckily, Pat Robertson has interesting things to say. The quote above is from him; the full article is here.

(Just so you don't think I'm maligning the Christian Post, the article does call Robertson "controversial".)

There was also a fascinating op-ed by Rachel Alexander on a recent gun control law in Connecticut. The new law allows for "the confiscation of weapons". It makes "between 50,000 and 350,000 gun owners felons....which could result in a prison sentence." According to it, "innocent gun owners would be put in the same category as sex offenders." The law is "insanity"; it is "foolish legislation", passed by legislators who "do not represent the will of the people who elected them". 

Oh, no! What sort of totalitarian horror is this? 

Passed last year in response to the Sandy Hook shooting, SB 1160 bans so-called "assault weapons" - certain rifles, more recently known as AR-15s, that have been singled out based on purely cosmetic criteria - and magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition....The only way to legally retain one of these newly banned firearms or magazines in Connecticut now is to register it - but most gun owners do not want their name on a government list.

Huh? Sorry, I think I misheard you - could you repeat that last bit?

The only way to legally retain one of these newly banned firearms or magazines in Connecticut now is to register it - but most gun owners do not want their name on a government list.

So the law "bans" weapons and categorizes gun owners along with pedophiles because it...puts their name on a government list? Like the lists of car owners or property owners? Like the list of registered voters? One of those lists?

Alexander compares the brave gun owners who are risking felony charges to support their constitutional right to not have their names on a list to the Spartans at Thermopylae. The image it brings to mind is Leonidas at the head of a phalanx, blocking a narrow mountain pass from a bespectacled, balding Persian clerk armed with a fierce clipboard. 

"Sorry to bother you," says the secretary. "Your name is 'Leonidas', right? Is that 'Leonidas the First' or a later 'Leonidas'?"

"I WILL NEVER TELL!" bellows the mighty Spartan.

"Could you at least confirm that your name is 'Leonidas'?"

"MOLON LABE!"

The clerk sighs and wipes the sweat off his forehead. "I'll just go with 'Leonidas the First', then."