Friday random thoughts

• With the City Council's 4-1 Tuesday decision, it looks like an aquatics center — and an Ellis subdivision that again pushes Tracy growth westward — is a foregone conclusion.

• I have a solution to Tracy's crime problem that will also give youths something constructive to do: arm all our children with shotguns. My inspiration for this two-birds-with-one-stone idea is Howard Ludwig, an Illinois man who obtained a gun permit for his 10-month-old son, "Bubba." Seriously, I couldn't make this up.

• Of course, just giving guns to our toddlers, children and teens would be irresponsible. We'd also have to arm the teachers.

• When's the "COPS" Tracy edition? Local police cruisers will soon be outfitted with dashboard cameras to capture video of traffic stops and pursuits.

• And voter participation stats show we're losing our attachment: "The strongest bulwark of any government, and particularly of those constituted like ours, may effectively be broken down and destroyed — I mean the attachment of the people." ~ Abraham Lincoln

• It's far from perfect, but the new bipartisan immigration bill might be the best chance of uniting Republicans and Democrats to do something about the long-neglected issue of illegal immigration. (I'm concerned about the exorbitant fees charged to become a citizen of the country.)

• Frist blood: No one should be surprised that Dean Andal's first salvo in his campaign against Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, was an iffy characterization of McNerney's vote to let some measures of the Bush tax cuts expire. After all, it's been pretty good strategy in politics lately to latch on to a catch phrase instead of actually discussing the policy points in question.

• Calvin and Hobbes quote of the week: "Nothing spoils fun like finding out it builds character."

• Random thought of the week: "If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."