Craig's Corner

My car is officially a Minnesotan.  It was registered last week in an effort that leaves me wondering why the entire populace hasn’t converted to Libertarianism.  My local DMV is located on the second floor of Sears.  (I didn’t even know that Sears was still in business!)  Is it convenient or irony that the entrance is just off of the luggage department?   My number got called and for the next forty minutes I got to learn along with the clerk how to transfer a lease from out of state – something she’d never done before. This being Minnesota, everybody was terribly nice, which made the big sign “Profanity not allowed” another paradox.  I complimented the clerk on her handwriting since none of the forms could be put into the computer system sitting on the desk.  All forms had to be hand written and legible.  When I gird myself to get the driver’s license, it’s a whole other building in another part of town.  And in the event a phy...

The season of love was upon us this week. On Monday Washington state Governor Chris Gregoire signed into law a measure that legalized same-sex marriage in Washington state, making it the seventh in the nation to provide gay and lesbian couples the right to wed. That was right in time for Valentine’s Day – another holiday with origins in the Church that has been commercialized. I missed my tradition of going out with unattached friends to a romantic restaurant to celebrate our singleness while mocking the lovebirds we’re surrounded by. Our annual fun wasn’t always universally appreciated. Oklahoma State Senator Constance Johnson can relate to people not getting the joke. In response to a ‘personhood bill’ Senator Johnson offered an amendment  that said: “Any action in which a man ejaculates or otherwise deposits semen anywhere but in a woman’s vagina shall be interpreted and construed as an action against an unborn child.” The blogosphere lit up that Oklahoma was ou...

This week I joined an illustrious echelon. I am now in the same ranks as General Motors, Donald Trump’s companies and millions of Americans. I am bankrupt. This is not something that I’m particularly proud of, but I’m also not embarrassed by it. My favorite document, the U.S. Constitution authorizes Congress to enact "uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States." Going bankrupt is an oft-misunderstood process. For individuals there’s a misnomer that the process is akin to a law procedural on television. It’s not. It’s all about paperwork. There are reams of it to fill out before filing – listing all of one’s possessions and all of the debts owed. Copies of bills, bank statements, tax returns: anything that is listed need to be provided. Several times. The 2005 revision to the code requires some education so that individuals learn from the experience and don’t have to repeat it. The first course is about a half-hour and pretty self-expl...

I hate to get lost. Whether it’s the actual reality of not knowing where I am or whether it’s a control issue, nothing ignites my Irish temper like being lost. GPS is one of the world’s most vital inventions and untold wasted hours have been saved, let alone my emotional equilibrium. It’s value far outweighs the irony that the Government invented the system for military purposes. I was at crossroads when this incredible tool is used by authorities to track people. Last week privacy was very much in the news with Twitter caving to Governmental authority, Google introducing its consolidated policy and the Supreme Court ruling that the Fourth Amendment still has relevance. The U.S. Supreme Court took a stand for privacy last week and ruled that if government agencies want to use GPS to track somebody, they need a warrant. Perhaps more stunning than the constitutional reinforcement, was that it was unanimous. The Court has been polarized in recent years with many controversial i...