Some time ago I stopped getting emails from the Carnival. I don't think it's deliberate, but it's sure wreaking havoc with my win/loss record. Either I've dropped off the list, or other bloggers have good memories. I would have completely forgotten if I hadn't already seen the published link someplace else.

I used to miss Carnivals because I forgot or was too busy. Now they are wizzing by me so fast, I can only scratch my head and say, "Is it that time again?" I've been so busy lately, I barely have time to update this site as it is, much less try to remember the weekly Carnival.

Any way, enough griping. This weeks show is over at Dodgeblogium. Go, read, enjoy.

Taranto has this almost unbelievable zero tolerance horror story in today's Best of the Web:

Raylee Montgomery, a ninth-grader at Duncanville High School, near Dallas, was hit with a suspension "after an administrator noticed the 13-year-old girl's shirt had become untucked," the Associated Press reports. "The girl said she apologized, tucked in her shirt and asked if she could continue to class but was not allowed." Duncanville's "zero-tolerance dress code" has "led to 700 student suspensions since August," the AP notes.

So much for teaching kids to be tolerant and reasonable. And they wonder why so many parents prefer vouchers or home schooling to government schools.

"If I had to predict, the way things are going, I'd say the chances are about 50-50 that humanity will be extinct or nearly extinct within 50 years. Weapons of mass destruction, disease, I mean this global warming is scaring the living daylights out of me." -- Ted Turner, in an interview with the AJC.

So Ted sleeps next to a communist for 10 years, but its global warming that he's losing sleep over.

Trading cards used to come with gum.

Popcorn poppers were a home appliance.

Station wagons.

Telephones were all shaped the same, and were owned by ma' bell.

Reel to reel tape decks.

Yesteryear
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Fox News reports that the GOP is officially supporting the Governator. As a Libertarian, I'm not surprised. We're used to seeing Republicans sell their soul for the easy win. As a true conservative, I'd still back McClintock (not that I have a vote).

Besides, you've never heard of a John Wayne movie called Schwarzenegger.

Onlookers in Maine, who included many women and young children, were shocked to see police officers whip out a 12 gauge and send a bull moose straight up to heaven. I'm sure that stories like this one anger a lot of people, but for me, I was reminded of a story from my childhood.

My uncle came home one Christmas Eve and told my sister that he'd just seen Santa Claus. She was elated, until he said that he'd shot him. Of course she burst into tears at the thought of my uncle having shot Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. After seeing her tantrum, he took pity on her and told her he'd just winged him and was sure that ol' St. Nick would be alright. He must have been, because we still had Christmas the next morning.

(And people think I'm ornery.)

"I thought it was going to be like Dodge City, with people walking around with guns," said Mike Pangerl, dining over pizza at a packed suburban Minneapolis bar. "It hasn't been like that."

Whaddayaknow, concealed carry hasn't been the big fuck up that GFWs have been predicting. Of course, those of us that live in the 45 states that allow some sort of concealed carry already knew that.

The Washington Times reports that less than 3% of eligible DC workers were awarded a bonus by the bonus committee. Interestingly though, 50% of the bonus committee members received a bonus.

The bonuses were being distributed even as city officials renewed calls for more federal funding and congressional approval for a proposed tax on commuters.

Only the government is able to write their own paycheck, and then go out and seize taxpayer dollars with the threat of lethal force to pay the bill.

This is an account of one of the most unique soldiers of the 1860s, by James I Robertson, Jr.

It was the first month of the Civil War and a new regiment was training at the fairgrounds in West Chester, Pennsylvania. A civilian came into camp with a wicker basket and presented it to one of the officers. The captain reached inside and, with a smile, withdrew a pug-nosed, black female terrier scarcely four weeks old. When placed on the ground, the puppy toddled about on clumsy legs.

In the weeks that followed, the dog happily discovered that she had hundreds of uniformed friends. Each could be counted on to give her a pat or a morsel of food. The soldiers named her after one of the local beauties in West Chester. Thus did Sallie become the official mascot of the 11th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment.

The little terrier quickly developed a personality of her own. Sallie was even-tempered and affectionate with the members of the regiment. Yet she exhibited a distaste for all civilians and strangers, whether male or female. She was clean in her habits and proud in her bearing.

Sallie knew the drum-roll announcing reveille; she was first out of quarters to attend roll-call. In drills, she latched herself to a particular soldier and pranced alongside him throughout the exercise. At dress-parade, the dog took a position beside the regimental colors. During encampments, she slept by the captain's tent after strolling leisurely through the area on her own kind of inspection.

Her first battle came in 1862 at Cedar Mountain. Sallie remained with the colors throughout the engagement. She did the same at Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. No one ever thought of sending Sallie to the rear in time of combat. She was the regiment's spirit and its inspiration. And she would not have voluntarily stayed in the rear anyway.

In a spring 1863 review of the Union army, Sallie marched alongside the 11th Pennsylvania. A tall man in the center of the reviewing stand saw the dog. With a twinkle in his eye, he raised his stovepipe hat in salute. Thus did Abraham Lincoln give a special acknowledgment to the mascot.

On the first day's fighting at Gettysburg, the 11th Pennsylvania was driven back a mile from its original position. Sallie disappeared in the smoke and chaos. Three days later, medical details moved onto the battleground. There they found Sallie, still comforting her wounded friends and guarding the bodies of her dead compatriots. How the dog escaped harm amid that bloody three-day struggle was a near-miracle.

The following May at Spotsylvania, the dog received a neck wound and thereafter proudly bore "a red badge of courage." Then, in the Petersburg lines throughout the night of February 4-5, 1865, Sallie's mournful cries awakened many in the regiment. The next morning the 11th Pennsylvania made a concerted attack at Hatcher's Run. Men in the second wave were advancing under heavy fire when they found Sallie on the battlefield. She had been shot through the head and killed instantly. Weeping soldiers, oblivious to the hail of gunfire in the struggle, buried the little dog where it lay on the battlefield.

There is an epilogue to the story. In 1890, surviving veterans of the 11th Pennsylvania dedicated a monument on the Gettysburg battleground. From afar, it looks like all other regimental memorials: a bronze statue of a defiant soldier standing atop a tall and ornate marble pedestal. But something else is there.

Near the base of the monument, on a small ledge, is the bronze likeness of a little dog. It is Sallie, who appears to be asleep. In all likelihood, however, she is keeping watch through eternity over the spirits of soldiers with whom she shared an undying love.

*Transcript of a WVTF radio broadcast
©Copyright 2001, James I. Robertson Jr.

Story courtesy of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies. (Donate?)

A fear of beer commercials? That's hard to imagine.

Toothpaste that came in metal tubes and had a twist off cap.

Professional Football's Baltimore Colts and St. Louis Cardinals.

Carburetors.

Analog cell phones.

"Disk" film cameras.

Yesteryear
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I missed Oktoberfest again this year. One of these days I'll make it back there.

(Photo via Reuters)

Virginia state Sen. Emmett W. Hanger Jr. (R-Augusta) suggested raising Virginia's cigarette tax 1200%, which he claims will give the commonwealth an additional $117 million to piss away on government spending programs vote buying schemes. Since Virginia is a tobacco state and home to the world's largest cigarette company, the Washington Post reports that the tax is being approached with political caution.

Naturally, the tobacco prohibitionists are giddy with excitement. Donna Reynolds, a spokesman for the American Lung Ass. is calling for a tax increase of 3000%, which would raise the rate higher than the national average. She claims, "Obviously, a lot of people are looking at the tobacco tax because it's embarrassingly low." Yes, we Virginians are sometimes downright embarrassed at how low our tax rates are. We should raise them up high like Californiastan or Taxachussets.

Of course raising our tax rate would also raise the national average, giving her the ammunition to hit up other states (who suddenly find themselves lagging behind) for another increase. Supporting her do-gooder nanny temperance agenda, the Post editorializes, "The possibility of higher state taxes is no longer the primary threat to the cigarette manufacturers or the tobacco farmers, according to people familiar with the industry".

Of course, the Post doesn't mention just who those people are.

I think this story is pretty telling.

The number of robberies at banks in the city is up 148 percent from last year, according to new NYPD statistics.

As of last Thursday, 328 banks in the five boroughs had been robbed this year, up from 132 in the same period in 2002.

Most of the robberies occurred in Manhattan and in more than 80 percent of the crimes, the thief was armed with nothing more than a note or a threatening voice.

In a post-Guiliani world, unarmed thugs are having their way with New York City.

The smoke nazis haven't had too warm of a reception in New York bars. The New York Post notes that Lisa-Marie Dallas, a 33 year old bartender at the delightfully named Puffy's tavern located in Tribeca, has been fired because of an incident with the smoking gestapo. Dallas got into a shouting match back in July, when a member of Bloomberg's SS issued her bar manager a $200 citation for failing to stop a patron from smoking.

"The inspectors came in, [and] one customer was smoking," Dallas recalls. "They asked my why I hadn't told him to stop. I said I hadn't noticed it. But they said I should have called the cops on him."

The busybody inspector returned later and issued a $2000 ticket for another patron who was smoking. That's when Ms. Dallas got her pink slip.

The Post notes that Dallas wasn't too broken up over losing her job, because her tips had plummeted following the ban. (Being forced to call the cops on your customers might be a reason why.)

Other restaurant managers and owners find many of the inspectors to be nit-picking when it comes to issuing tickets.

"I don't disagree with the smoking ban," said Steve Lopez, 28, a manager of Upper East Side bar Tavaru. "But getting tickets for little things you didn't even know about is not fair."

Lopez claims inspectors ticketed him for having an ashtray in his office, which is located upstairs from the public bar.

Apparently now, even ashtrays are illegal.

Related articles:
NYC smoke ban may extend to cars and homes -- 09/23/2003
Opposition to NY smoking ban increasing -- 09/11/2003
Butts ban in NYC a boon in Jersey -- 06/02/2003
Bloomberg's "minor economic issue" -- 05/12/2003
Bloomberg's smoking ban claims a life -- 04/14/2003

"Content: At this time, Google policy does not permit the advertisement of websites that contain 'firearms and ammunition'. As noted in our advertising terms and conditions, we reserve the right to exercise editorial discretion when it comes to the advertising we accept on our site." -- Google, exercising their freedom of choice to arbitrarily deny advertising to firearms related businesses.

Most gun owners would probably agree that Google has every right to deny advertising to firearms related sites. If they don't want our cash, so be it. That doesn't mean that we necessarily agree with their bigoted, narrow minded, sissified, French point of view.

Kim du Toit helps me remember why I liked Wonder Woman so much as a young adolescent boy.

NA$A was good enough to justify their budget by offering this full color photo of Hurricane Isabel from space.

(Photo by NASA, click to supersize)

In the accompanying story, scientists note some interesting details about the photo.

"The colors are natural," says Gary Jedlovec, a climate scientist at the National Space Science and Technology Center in Huntsville, AL. "This is what an astronaut would see looking down on the hurricane from orbit."

Really? I had no idea you could see the state borders from space. How much taxpayer money was spent chalking out those lines?

When I read about the French lunar mission, I knew there was a joke there. Rather than try to hash it out, I figured I'd just wait a few days and Scott Ott of ScrappleFace would get around to it. Hilarity ensues:

(2003-09-28) -- A French-made Arianne rocket took off from French Guiana last night on a European Space Agency mission to "go round and round the moon."

The unmanned probe will take 15 months to get into lunar orbit, where it will try to determine the moon's mineralogical composition and whether it has water. The probe will not land.

Between 1969 and 1972, the United States launched six successful lunar missions, during which men walked, drove a small car and hit golf balls on the moon. They returned to earth with 842 pounds of lunar rocks, core samples, pebbles, sand and dust.

The European mission is dubbed SMART-1.

What is amazing is that Ott doesn't really have to work too much. The story actually plunges itself into self-parody without too much outside effort. Kudos to Scott.

I'm curious as to why it is taking them 15 months to get to the moon. Didn't we go to MARS in less time, and land a rover?

The score certainly doesn't reflect the stats, when your team only runs 48 plays to their 85, is outgained by almost 100 yards, doesn't convert a single third or fourth down, and only has the ball 18 minutes to their 41. That UConn only scored 13 points against Virginia Tech is a testament to a tired defense that spent more than two thirds of the contest defending their own goal.

For the record, Virginia Tech found a lot of different ways to score, and score quickly: field goal; receiving TD; rushing TD; interception TD; kickoff return TD; punt block TD.

Is it just me, or does Chris Rix seem to be asking for trouble? After being caught illegally parking in a handicapped space last week, this week he parked in spaces reserved for patients.

As someone who's kept an eye on FSU football over the years, I cannot help but think there is a serious discipline problem at the university. All schools have their problem players, but the Criminole's seem to have them EVERY YEAR. I don't think Bobby Bowden's policy of letting players play as long as they aren't sitting in jail does much to help the situation.

ACC denies Notre Dame expansion report -- SI, Thursday September 25, 2003

CNN's Tucker Carlson apparently voiced his support for telemarketers, and bravely gave out his home number, or so his audience thought. Carlson actually gave out the number for Fox News' Washington Bureau. Feeling obligated to help correct Carlson's error, Fox News offers up his real home telephone number for those trying to reach him.

Since it was a local call, I tried calling it and got his voice mail. Oh well, better luck tomorrow.

UPDATE: As Tiger points out, apparently the VLMC has gotten to Fox News and squelched their link. Actually they just changed it. I've corrected it above. Soloman has the full article, and hat tip to Ilyka, who came up with the new link.

(In case they decide to remove it, here is a screen shot)

I'm not sure if Tucker's phone is still off the hook either. Apparently it was last night, as his voice mail said that he and Patsy were on the other line.

UPDATE 2: Fox has either chickened out, or taken sympathy on Tucker, because they've changed the phone number in their story to CNN's Washington Bureau instead of Tucker's home.

"This was not an issue about free speech. It was really an issue where we had a hostile environment being created." -- Tim Moore, director of the SMU student center, defending SMU's decision to ban the protesting of Affirmative Action.

Where was Moore when the pro-Saddam rallies were shutting down the streets of San Francisco? The VRWC could use a guy like this to help us squelch the opposition. After all, the First Amendment only applies when no one's feelings get hurt.

I think that this comment on this post pretty much speaks for itself.

Reader "Slick Wiilly" writes:

Cliton was the greatest president in the 20th century. Plus he also had the longest period of economic growth in US history. Will keeping terrorism at bay. And using funds correctly. Don't listen to this rightwing propaganda. Read Al Franken, Michael Moore. Don't be sway by fox news. If you are, your a puppet!!!!!!!

He appears to be a typical democrat supporter.

This story made the rounds on weblogs weeks ago.

Scott Norvell at Tongue Tied reports that England has figured out an innovative way to keep students from failing.

Students in England will no longer 'fail' national standardized tests under new guidelines issued by the government, reports the Lincolnshire Echo -- they will instead get an 'N' grade for 'Nearly.'

People who grade tests have also been instructed to stop marking math questions as right or wrong, but instead use the terms 'creditworthy' or 'not creditworthy.'

This must be some sort of metric grading system. How long before N stands for nincompoop?

"Public schools are required to live up to the standards of accountability set out in the law, but they get no money. Now, the D.C. private schools are going to get the money, but there is no requirement for accountability." -- Sen. Tom Daschle, C-SD.

I'm not going to waste my breath pointing out the flaws in Daschle's "thinking", but I will note that DC Mayor Anthony Williams isn't pandering to unions, and wholeheartedly supports the voucher program.

Governor Gray Davis, who is running for re-re-election, has passed yet another California gun law. This one hopes to increase the number of accidental shootings, and make guns less available to the poor. The new "safety" features that Davis is mandating will not only add to the price of Californian guns, but it also teaches people not to check to see whether or not a firearm is loaded. Instead, Californians are encouraged to rely on a yet to be designed indicator that will tell the user whether or not the gun is "safe".

Nashville Tennesse's NewsChannel 5 reports that cops are patting themselves on the back for destroying some firearms and knives, like it will somehow have an affect on crime.

Tuesday morning, Metro police officers helped destroy 17,050 guns, knives and illegal weapons.

They loaded the weapons into cars at a salvage yard and loaded the cars into shredder, which hammers the metal into chunks no larger than a fist.

"I am happy to say that after today, these guns will never fire another bullet or threaten another citizen," said Deborah Faulkner, Metro's acting police chief.

Deborah Faulkner sounds like an idiot. Guns don't threaten people; people threaten people. If you catch a man waving a gun at people, you don't blame the gun for threatening people. What good does taking the gun away from a criminal do, if you destroy the gun while setting the criminal free? (which is exactly what lefties do.)

As if that wasn't loony enough, the media states in a rather condescending way: "The metal will be sold and used for steel to make things like washing machines and car parts. The different kinds of metal mean the chunks cannot be sold to make new guns."

That's right, you are safe now. These chunks of metal won't come back from the dead to threaten you ever again. They will be made into washing machines, and washing machines cannot hurt you.

Regardless of your position on guns, would you ever put a sign on your lawn stating that there are no guns in your house? Would you be so willing to announce to prospective burglars, murderers, and rapists that you are completely defenseless should they decide to forcibly enter your home? Well, if you go to St. Olaf College in Minnesota, they are doing exactly that for students who live in their residence halls. The student newspaper called Manitou Messenger Online notes:

Over Labor Day weekend, many arriving students and parents noticed new signs reading "St. Olaf College bans guns in these premises." Posted at the entrances to the residence halls, the signs were put up in August to comply with the May Minnesota Personal Protection Act. The act states that a permit holder may carry a gun wherever a sign specifically banning guns is not displayed.

St. Olaf, which I had thought was the fictional town on TV's Golden Girls, is a private college and has the right to ban guns on their property if they want. However, I would be very leery of living in a place that is so reckless with the safety of their students.

In liberal Minnesota, however guns have been a very polarizing issue as of late. The restoration of firearms rights has angered liberals who naturally were predicting a dodge city scenario. They are so hot and bothered over the prospect of law abiding citizens with firearms, that they are trying to coerce local businesses to get involved in local politics.

Target and Marshall Field's, two of Minnesota's largest retailers, have chosen not to put up signs banning guns in their stores. The result has been that some people have begun boycotting them. Kneser would like the public to know that the college is still just as free of guns as it always has been.

Actually Kneser is insuring that only law abiding citizens will be unarmed. Criminals, who don't obey the law any way, will be unfazed by the signs just as in this MN school shooting. The idea that Target and Marshall Fields should be compelled to delve into a political debate is disturbing. As a Target stockholder, I recently wrote Target management to express my concern over the idea. Gun fearing wussies can boycott the stores if they want, but boycotts never work in the U.S. and I have serious doubts that it will be effective. I can picture some pasty faced leftist warning me to stay away from Target because (gasp!) there may be people with guns in there.

For the students of St. Olaf, I wonder if they sleep better at night knowing that their college advertises the fact that they are completely defenseless. You can live there if you want, but I'll be damned if I would ever put myself in that situation.

The Carnival of the Vanities starts off year number two at Pathetic Earthlings. Although I submitted an entry, it was either "lost in the mail", or it was somehow blocked by the VRWC censors.

In the land down under, ABC Australia reports that sheep ships are big news. Apparently upset at the live sheep trade, enviroweenies are keeping a sheep ship from docking, to protest the live sheep trade. The tale seems like your typical animal activism, but what really strikes me as irregular are these two passages from the story.

Police say there are around 20 protesters gathered at the port in Portland [Australia].
[...]

Police are currently negotiating with the protesters.

Twenty people are keeping a ship from docking and engaging in lawful commerce, and the police are "negotiating". Maybe there is something I'm not understanding here, but how do 20 people keep a ship from docking and loading?

Here's my advice to the Aussies. Bring the ship into port and load up the sheep. Any protestors that put themselves into harms way, deserve what they get. If they are crushed by the ship, hit by the gang plank, or trampled by thousands of sheep, so be it. No one ever said that civil disobedience doesn't have a price tag.

UPDATE: (09/25) CNN reports that protestors have finally been removed.

The AP reports that DUI offenders in Escambia County Florida are being branded with a scarlet letter, and subjected to an "operation tips" style of public monitoring. Previously, drivers convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol had their cars badged with "Convicted DUI". The public shaming apparently wasn't enough to stem the tide of DUI offenses, (big surprise) so now the powers that be are tagging offenders for monitoring by stool pigeon neighbors.

Some convicted drunken drivers in the Florida Panhandle have been ordered to put bumper stickers on their cars asking, "How's my driving? ... The judge wants to know!!!"

Escambia County Judge William White said he hopes the bumper stickers, which include an identification number for each driver and a toll-free phone number, will reduce repeat offenses for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Won't it be fun to have the last laugh and report that jerk that cuts you off in traffic, drunk or not? Nothing like some cruel and unusual punishment to fix him up good.

Don't take this the wrong way, because I realize that drunken driving is indeed dangerous, but then again, so is speeding, aggressive driving, and any other number of traffic violations. Driving erratically, or while distracted or impaired should be punished, but the punishment should fit the crime. People who drive under the influence but do not actually do harm to anyone else should be treated on equal footing as all the other reckless or aggressive drivers out there.

I'm not advocating going soft on drunk drivers, but I am tired of the government taking punishments too far, and taking measures that don't actually have any affect on safety. For instance, lowering the minimum levels from 0.10 to 0.08 probably does little to make our roads safer. The people driving in that narrow range are not usually the problem, and should probably be treated like people that drive 5-10 mph over the speed limit. Sure, they may cause an accident, but how much of a danger are they really?

If you read most accident reports in the newspaper, people accused of DUI are usually 0.20 and above. A level of 0.15 would probably be sufficient for holiday checkpoints, and the lower levels should only come into question if there is an accident or a report of erratic driving. The lower levels should be used only to measure impairment during an accident investigation. After all, alcohol affects different people differently, and some people would probably be impaired at much lower levels than 0.08 while others would not.

Setting the science of blood alcohol levels aside, there are some localities that practice instant punishment and double jeopardy. New York City for instance started impounding vehicles at mere accusation, regardless of a conviction. Even if defendants won in court, they still didn't necessarily get their car back. Facing punishment without a trial, and then facing a second punishment later isn't a practice just isolated to New York. In many other localities you can lose your drivers license on the spot. Licenses are considered "privileges" and some states don't think twice about yanking them at any time without proving their case in a court of law. (And some people wonder why we don't want gun registration.)

Unfortunately such unreasonable government powers are often tolerated due to the stigmatizing of people caught driving under the influence. Proponents scream that it "saves lives", and that we should do it "for the children", which the excuse most often heard when freedoms are being removed.

I'll admit that views like mine are usually met with hostility, and irrelevant horror stories by people who's lives were tragically altered by drunk drivers. I say irrelevant, because you can find similar stories of people being killed by speeders and red light runners. Nobody wants to see innocent people killed, but violating the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments of the Bill of Rights should not be acceptable no matter what the benefit. Deterrence should, instead, come from the harsh punishments meted out to those that actually do deprive others of life, liberty, or property.

UPDATE: Kate has more, including a graphic of the sticker.

Here's one to watch. For some reason, the "Involuntary Celibacy Watch" gave me a good chuckle. I'm not saying why.

NBC 13, a Tuscaloosa Alabama affiliate, notes that law enforcement officials may be using their traffic cameras for monitoring more than just traffic. (emphasis mine)

Images from a traffic camera that was used instead to monitor passersby near the University of Alabama led to the arrests of three people allegedly misbehaving on the street, police said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, officials said they were still investigating who had diverted the focus of the camera from traffic -- where it normally is used to monitor vehicles -- to pedestrians, particularly young women.

The remote-control camera, located at an intersection near a row of nightclubs, usually shows traffic. But officials said someone in a state trooper office diverted the camera to focus on pedestrians in the pre-dawn hours last Friday.

Footage broadcast citywide on a cable TV channel showed several people, and the camera zoomed in on the breasts and buttocks of several young women walking past.

A 22-year-old woman was charged with public lewdness about 4:10 a.m. after baring her breasts in front of the camera, said Capt. David Hartin, and a 25-year-old man was charged with disorderly conduct moments later after allegedly grabbing his crotch as cars went by.

While nubile young women showing their goodies to drunken college kids is obviously a heinous crime, apparently using publicly owned traffic cameras for your own private peep show isn't. Just how long is this "investigation" going to take? I wouldn't think it would be too hard to track down who the camera operators were during that shift. Perhaps "investigators" are still combing through the captured footage frame by frame.

The New York Post reports that more New York smoking bans may be on the way, including bans that reach inside your own private property. Soon it may be illegal to smoke in the sanctity of your own car or home. Anti-smokers pull out all the usual plays to further their prohibitionist agenda.

Grannis (D-Manhattan) said bills like those outlawing smoking in cars with kids on board and banning the sale of more affordable small packs of cigarettes are designed to protect children.

And he insists his bill to ban smoking at parks and beaches is meant to cut down on litter.

The for the children rationale is nothing new, but litter has to be the lamest excuse I've ever heard. Just what cannot be banned in the name of cutting down on litter? Look on any street, and you're likely to see plenty more soda cans and fast food wrappers than cigarette butts and empty packs. Just about anything you can carry in your hand can be banned in the name of cutting down on litter.

If smoking is banned using the "litter" excuse, then all food, drinks, snacks, batteries, Kleenex, and any other consumable or product that comes with a wrapper should also be banned. And of course, you can forget about bringing a pic-a-nic basket.

-- In other news, smoking in restaurants *may* be reconsidered, because of the political fallout of the current ban. (Translation: Restaurants and wait-staff are losing their shirts.)

The BBC's heart bleeds for human shields. They try to tell the sad story of Faith Fippinger, who broke the law and an international economic embargo when she traveled to Iraq to support Saddam Hussein's brutal regime.

For travelling to Iraq Faith Fippinger will now probably lose her house, her pension and go to jail.

I have a hard time feeling any sympathy for Ms. Fippinger. She should have known that she was violating the law, exhibited if anything by the lack of U.S. commercial flights into Baghdad. Setting aside the fact that she aided and abetted the enemy, she broke the law the same as if she had gone to Cuba or any other nation that Americans are not permitted to visit.

In her defense, she has likened the Bush Administration to Saddam, and claims that her freedom of travel and speech is being violated. Of course, if Bush were really like Saddam, she never would have received a letter from the treasury department, she would have simply disappeared. There would be no charges filed, and no trial. If America was like Saddam's Iraq, she would have been wisked away to an undisclosed location, had a confession beaten out of her, raped, and then executed.

She claims, "It's in regimes like Saddam Hussein's where that freedom [of speech] is not allowed", which begs me to question just why she was supporting such a brutal regime in the first place.

Gov. Gray Davis is considering granting illegal aliens even more privileges in Californiastan, the Sacramento Bee reports.

After granting illegal immigrants the right to obtain driver's licenses in California, Gov. Gray Davis now must decide whether to sign bills qualifying them for free community college tuition and requiring local governments to honor identification cards issued by the Mexican government.

If the Ninth Circus decides to allow Californiastan to hold their Gubernatorial election in October as planned, Davis will probably give illegals the privilege to vote by then. Setting the obvious pandering aside, you have to wonder how California hopes to stem the tide of illegal aliens when Davis keeps making the state a more attractive place for them to live. An even bigger question is why are California taxpayers allowing it to happen. It's bad enough that California seizes taxpayer dollars to give benefits for citizens who don't pay taxes. Now they are seizing your money to give benefits to non-citizens who don't pay taxes.

Personally, I don't understand how people get into the whole Emmy thing. I guess there are plenty of people out there that chase the stars, watch the Hollywood tabloids, and read People magazine. Maybe it's just my almost unbearable stench of self righteous, but to me it all seems kind of self-serving and pointless.

Now, I like to watch movies and television as much as the next guy. I probably watch more History Channel or Discovery than any network TV outside of the Simpsons or Football, but I just don't get as star struck as some people do. Personally, I would be bored as hell standing behind some velvet rope waiting for movie and TV stars to make their grand red carpet entrance.

Now I will admit that there are plenty of movie stars I wouldn't mind sitting down and having a beer with because I find them interesting. In the end though, they are just people. When it comes to their personal lives, I could give a rats ass unless it is interesting. For instance, Harrison Ford rescuing someone from the side of a mountain in his helicopter is interesting. Ford dumping his wife to hook up with the homely waif Calista Flockhart is embarrassing. Ben and J-Lo being on again off again is just fucking pointless fluff. All too often the fluff is just part of a gradiose advertising campaign for their upcoming movies. It isn't exactly coincidental that stars go on talk shows right before their album/movie/tv-show debuts.

CNN and FOX can report anything they want. But don't expect me to stay up late to catch the Emmys or Oscars, because I just don't care.

In England, Sky News reports that the government is beginning to realize that they have reached the "limit of acceptability" for property taxation. It is feared that homeowners, who have faced double digit increases lately will not take any more. So, just what does the government plan to do about it?

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Raynsford said the Government needed to consider alternative sources to raise money.

"The increases in the last two or three years have really taxed the patience of a lot of people," he said.

"We have to look at the possibility of finding other sources of revenue".

It's interesting that cutting government spending was never even mentioned. Instead, government officials are looking for new and creative ways to tax citizens, without facing political fallout. To government officials its all about money and power. How much many can we get, without losing our power?

Knox News notes that Virginia Beach and DC bloggers kept on blogging during Hurricane Isabel.

With candlelight and backup battery power, bloggers, as they are known, provided first-hand accounts, at times taking breaks to deal with the storm's aftermath.

They go on to quote several well known bloggers, which leads me to ask, have webloggers become free freelance reporters for media outlets now? I wonder if the day will arrive when instead of sending reporters to cover a story, news outlets just tap some well trusted bloggers instead. Ehh.. Probably not.

Down in Virginia Beach, mom and dad are still without power. It is going on four days, and there are no power crews working in their area today, so it will not be up today. The city had instituted a 9 PM curfew, which meant that most people couldn't even go out for dinner because restaurants had to close early and could not seat everyone. Thankfully they came to their senses and extended the curfew to 11 PM, so getting some grub is a bit easier. They said there are still 45 minute lines at grocery stores, restaurants, and hardware stores.

I've offered to have them come up here numerous times, but they still won't leave. What can you do?

Better keep an eye on this girl, and keep a safe distance. It's not that I don't like redheads, it's that I don't like the effect they have on me.

Speaking of redheads, Brent points out a group that may add me to their shit list. Look girlies, I like redheads, believe me, I do. You can ask any of the five redheads from my past, who toyed with me, batted me around like a ball of string, and then cast me aside when they were done with me.

"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government." -- George Washington

(Quote courtesy of Dr. Walter Williams)

I find the UK anti-gun culture to be humorous at times, but mostly sad and depressing. Just check out the anti-gun rhetoric being spewed in this story from the Manchester Online, (starting with the superfluous all caps for shock value).

A GUN-obsessed teacher [55 year old Thomas Hosty] jailed after police found an arsenal of weapons hidden at his home can return to the classroom.
[...]

Police discovered 13 handguns - outlawed after the Dunblane massacre in which 16 schoolchildren and their teacher were shot dead.

That's right, 13 firearms is suddenly an obsession. I wonder if the teacher would be considered "obsessed" if he had collected a mere 13 baby dolls, beer glasses, or records*. The media even shows a photo of Mr. Hosty with the word OBSESSED captioned beneath him like a scarlett letter.

But the gun fearing wussies are obviously getting restless, and the anti-gun newsspeak doesn't stop there.

Coun Colin Lambert, Rochdale council's lead member for Children, Schools and Families, said: "I think it's astonishing and disgusting that somebody who has a conviction for firearms is allowed to return to teaching.

"The teaching council's members should ask themselves if they would like this man to teach their children. The answer should be no."

A firearms conviction? Lambert makes it sound like he was caught knocking over a liquor store. Hosty was hiding his firearms because of the UK's irrational and dangerous disarmament of her citizens. Had this been a lefty issue, it would have been called "civil disobedience", and Hosty would have been welcomed back with open arms.

Besides, Hosty has paid his debt. I thought lefties were all about welcoming convicts back into society.

* For those of you that don't know, records are like CDs, only larger and made of vinyl.

For the average person, trying to go through airport security with a firearm would get them in pretty hot water. Of course, if you are a public servant or the wife of a public servant and you break the law, everyone just looks the other way. World Net Daily notes that being the spouse of a professionalized, federalized, TSA manager has it's priviledges.

The wife of a Transportation Security Administration manager at Denver International Airport won't be charged with a crime after screeners discovered a handgun in her purse.

The Denver Post reports 35-year-old Helene C. Nance was arrested Tuesday after screeners discovered a .380 semi-automatic handgun, seven live rounds and a magazine in her purse as it made its way through an X-ray machine.

Though such finds have often resulted in federal gun charges, Nance - an on-call secretary for the airport's human resources department - won't be charged because, state attorneys said, she did not appear to have intentionally violated the law.

For regular folks like you and me, the law is black and white. When it comes to the priviledged few, however, the executive branch who are tasked with enforcing the law, chooses to give them special treatment.

Normally, I would be very happy with the powers that be pretending to have some common sense in enforcing the law. Still, knowing that if I had inadvertently left my handgun in my bag that the outcome would be altogether different, this one fails the smell test. If you are going to look at "intent" you should do that for everyone. So much for equal protection.

UPDATE: The AJC notes that a Dekalb County Commissioner made a similar mistake. He was arrested, and will apparently face charges.

Here's one for those of you that use eBay. The Register gives us the comments of Ebay executive Joseph Sullivan.

"We don't make you show a subpoena, except in exceptional cases," Sullivan told a closed-door session at the CyberCrime 2003 conference last week.

"When someone uses our site and clicks on the `I Agree' button, it is as if he agrees to let us submit all of his data to the legal authorities. Which means that if you are a law-enforcement officer, all you have to do is send us a fax with a request for information, and ask about the person behind the seller's identity number, and we will provide you with his name, address, sales history and other details - all without having to produce a court order. We want law enforcement people to spend time on our site."

They also note that eBay boasts about logging every piece of user information back as far as 1995.

Oh boy. Check out what I wrote about comic books a mere month ago in August.

If the comics were written by the anti-war crowd, Superman wouldn't stop Lex Luthor, but would instead try to figure out what he did to make Lex turn to a life of crime. Rather than being stopped Luthor would be pacified and appeased, in the hope that he would stop being evil. Thankfully, kids would never read such mindless drivel. Well, at least not yet.

Well, we didn't have to wait very long. Brent Bozell notes that the September issue of "Justice League of America" is laced with pro-Saddam political indoctrination.

It was only a matter of time, I suppose. Comic-book superheroes have gone into the liberal political indoctrination business.

The September issue of the DC Comics book "Justice League of America," or "JLA," presents Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman as U.N.-promoting paper dolls for a thinly disguised propaganda play against President Bush's war on Saddam Hussein.
[...]

Superman then tells President [Lex] Luthor that millions of people are protesting worldwide. "No one supports what you're doing," says Super Pollster.

"I hear them," says the evil president, "but I can't listen to them." When Superman says perhaps an attack could be delayed for more proof, the president retorts, "Where do you get off questioning me? ... It's unbecoming to question your president during times of international unrest."

That's right, supervillian Lex Luthor plays President Bush, and the superheroes play the pro-UN weenies. Apparently nothing is sacred. Crime fighters that used to fight the forces of evil have been turned into frenchy anti-war freedom fighters who apparently fight... freedom.

Note: Please read the entire article to get the full monty. I did not want to do a blanket cut and paste of Mr. Bozell's work, so please click the link and show him some love. The comic's parallels to the "Hawk vs. Dove Commie Pinko" debate are so astonishing they border on self parody.

Dixie Chicks plane clips building -- CNN, September 19, 2003.

Related articles:
Dixie Chicks blame VRWC -- 03/20/2003
Not from the Heart of Dixie -- 03/14/2003

FOX News reports that "separation of church and state" has evolved into colleges dictating your major. The anti-religion movement is actually stripping scholarships from students who decide to major in theology.

I've always thought that financial aid was financial aid. Since when do schools get to tell you what you can or cannot declare as your major? Best of luck to Teresa Becker. I hope she wins her lawsuit.

Apparently a lot of Democrats are trying to make the comparison between General Wesley Clark and General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Scot Lehigh of the Boston Globe notes that comparing a backyard Kosovar squirmish to a long protracted World War is too much of a stretch. After WWII, everyone knew who Ike was. Today, Americans have largely never even heard of Kosovo, much less Wesley Clark.

For all he is or is not, Clark is no Ike.

"4 States Rated Highly in Fighting Smoking" -- Headline, NY Times, September 18, 2003.

Aren't cigarettes legal products? If so, why are taxpayer dollars being spent on "fighting" smoking? The smoking "fight" is nothing more than a governmental attempt to control human behavior, and there is no reason to spend taxpayer dollars to coerce people to give up the habit. Since smokers already pay sin taxes on cigarettes, higher life insurance rates, and higher medical insurance rates, the issue of health care costs is moot. Not to mention smokers die quicker and will ultimately use less social security and retirement benefits.

If they think smoking is so bad, they should just outlaw it. Then we could go back to the prohibition days of mob violence and bootlegging that the nanny temperance movement brought us in the Roaring 20s. Plus there is a lot of money to be made on the black market once cigarettes are illegal. Those $5 packs and $10 cigars will be worth 5 times that once prohibition is brought back.

I'm back from Blacksburg, and I have power. Many in DC do not, which was to be expected. There are some downed trees and branches but for the most part everything here seems disorganized, but fine. I called Mom and Dad in Virginia Beach, and they are fine. They lost power about 24 hours ago, but were able to drive to the south end of the city and get a hot meal. They had a tree come down and a section of the fence, but for the most part came through unscathed.

I'm glad I braved Hurricane Isabel and traveled to Blacksburg for the VT-TAMU game. It was a great game, and many who lost power were unable to see it. There were about 60,000 people in the stands. The upper decks looked empty in the corners, but for the most part the stadium was pretty full. Hokie fans are pretty resiliant and aren't going to let a little thing like a Hurricane keep them away. I managed to stay pretty dry, and the rain let up in the fourth quarter. The wind was gusty, but not too bad.

Since Marnette didn't go, I didn't have a hotel room. She never did forward me the hotel information so I thought I might have to sleep in my car. Many thanks go out to the desk clerk at the Wingate Inn in Lexington who was able to make room for me. It was the fourth hotel I had tried, and even they were sold out. It was 2 AM, so he bumped someone that hadn't showed yet, and I was able to bed down for the night.

If I had it to do again, I wouldn't change a thing.

Between the recall and the damned hurricane, there is little news lately, so there are no posts today. The hell with all this weather bullshit, I'm going to the game, come hell or high water. Look for me on TV, I'll be the one wearing the poncho.

Washington D.C. is in hysterics right now. Hurricane Isabel is causing people to make runs on the grocery stores for bottled water, toilet paper and batteries. The D.C. Metro has already announced that they will likely suspend rail and bus service sometime in the near future. Personally, I don't see the reason for the panic.

I grew up in Virginia Beach, just miles from the Atlantic Ocean. We had our share of hurricanes come through, and most of them were just a lot of wind and rain. Isabel is going to hit North Carolina, so she has hundreds of miles of land to cross before she reaches Washington. The most we'll get here is some wind and rain. There may, I say again, there *may* be some downed branches and power lines, but for the most part I think we'll be fine.

My parents still live in Virginia Beach. I sent mom an email asking about the mandatory evacuation. Virginia Governor Mark Warner ordered a mandatory evacuation of the entire area. Mom said that they are thumbing their nose at Governor Warner, and are going to ride out the storm. They cannot make people evacuate, but they will refuse to rescue them if they need it. She isn't scared.

I remember years ago when my grandparents came to visit. We had a hurricane hit that week in the late evening, so we all went to bed like it was no big deal. No big deal, except to grandma and grandpa. They stayed up most of the night looking out the window. I'm still not sure what they were looking for.

I used to think the hysterics were somewhat fun to watch. Grocers enjoy the business, and no one is really hurt by being overprepared. However, I *had* planned on going to the VT-TAMU game tomorrow. I say *had* because now I may not get to go. My friend Marnette has already backed out. She is scared. She told me that she doesn't want to deal with the "weather uncertainty". Our other two tickets belong to another pair of friends that may also back out. I do not really want to go alone, and as of right now, it looks like I might be the only one in the stands.

Virginia Tech was supposed to announce whether or not the game was going forward, but they have not said anything since Monday. I doubt they'll postpone it, however, because of the revenues that come with a Thursday night national TV contract. Also, Blacksburg is a good 300 miles from the coast, nestled in the mountains. It isn't exactly hurricane country. (Just ask UMiami.)

I do hope that they postpone the game until Saturday, however. Not because I am scared, but because I would like to share the moment with my friends. I'm hoping that if the game is postponed, perhaps they will start being rational people once again. It's not like we've never sat out in the rain before at a game.

Besides, if this woman is riding out the storm in her trailer on Knotts Island, I think we can sit through a damned football game.

PANIC UPDATE: The D.C. Metro just announced they are suspending service at 11 AM tomorrow. The federal government also announced they will be closed.

The Carnival of the Vanities turned 52 today. For the one year celebration, it has returned home to roost.

The AP reports on a grocer who is taking a novel approach to collecting bad checks. He's posting the check writer's names on his marquee. A man who owed $200 came in just days after his name went up, to pay $100 on his debt. When grocer Vic Ricci was asked about the legality of his methods, he had this to say.

"People ask me if it's legal. I say I don't care," he said. "If you can't pay a $25 check, how can you pay a lawyer? If someone wants to take me to court, I'll go."

As someone who's worked in retail management in the past, I can attest to the fact that judges are usually on your side. Someone who writes a bad check and has ignored subsequent requests to pay the bad debt doesn't have much legal ground from which to stand. Besides, government officials never seemed too concerned about putting John's faces on TV. Why would they be the only ones allowed to use public humiliation as a tool?

Senator John Edwards, whose only apparent political experience is having been elected a U.S. Senator from North Carolina in 1998, has announced his candidacy for President, reports the Washington Post. To kick off his campaign, Edwards spouts every class warfare cliche from the lefty playbook. Here are some select favorites.

Instead of 'opportunity for all, special privileges for none,' [Bush has] given us 'opportunity for all the special interests.'"
[...]

The candidate said his goal as president would be to make "opportunity the
birthright of every American."
[...]

Edwards said his campaign was built on "new ideas and old values" and he
promised not only middle-class tax cuts but also health care for all children,
prescription drugs for seniors and a year of college tuition for all students
willing to work for it.
[...]

"That's the great promise of America -- a fair shake for all, a free ride for none."

He's plans to raise taxes on the evil rich, and use the money to provide "free" health care, "free" prescription drugs, and a year of "free" college. Then he has the chutzpa to say it is the rich who are getting a free ride.

Here is something I wish I'd said.

If recall is truly the product of a fringe element, then the majority of voters ought to have a right to say so promptly, so the governor can focus on doing his job, instead of trying to keep his job.

If, on the other hand, the majority of Californians want Davis out, then they have a right to say so now, so a successor can be elected.

Either way, Californians should have the right to vote Oct. 7.

That was Richard Riordon, former mayor of Los Angeles in the LA Times.

If you are a regular reader of Ravenwood's Universe, than you already knew Wesley Clark was going to run for President.

"I predict General Wesley Clark will enter the race" -- Lope, staff writer for Ravenwood's Universe, 06/27/2003

"Clark Schedules Announcement to Launch Presidential Bid" -- Washington Post, 09/16/2003.

Of course, the rest of Lope's prediction remains to be seen.

"They don't have the option to say no to us. We have made it clear we want that property. The only thing that will be settled in court is how much we have to pay for it." -- Kent Cagle, the city manager of Duncanville, Texas.

Neal writes that Cagle is seizing property from Deborah Hodge to hand over to a developer to build a Costco. According to Cagle, Hodge has no choice in the matter. She must either hand over her property or die defending it. It sends a chill down my spine.

Here's a riddle for you. An elderly British woman is struck ill. Calls are placed to an ambulance, and to her son in Spain. The ambulance needs to take her 10 miles to the hospital, while the son needs to travel 1200 miles to get there. Who gets to the hospital first?

If you want to know the answer, read Kim's story about a classic example of socialized fascist medicine.

SI reports that the women's metric football league has abruptly folded after 4 years. Guess who is getting the blame?

[Chairman of the WUSA board of governors, John] Hendricks blamed weak corporate support for the league's failure.
[...]

"If we only had six or seven CEOs in America that had stepped forward in the past year," Hendricks said. "An independent women's professional league can survive -- if it has corporate support."

It sound's like he's begging for a welfare check. It sounds to me like the reason women's soccer failed is because of John Hendricks. He was too busy trying to woo corporate sponsors that he forgot to woo the fans with a marketable product. Corporations may come up big with stadium naming rights and other promotional cash, but they only do that because of strong fan support. In turn, fans show their support (with their hard earned dollars), in exchange for entertainment value. In this case, the blame for the break down in the economic process should be placed squarely on the WUSA.

By whining about the lack of corporate support, Hendricks is indirectly indicting the fans for not showing enough support. His attitude is the same as those that support the National Endowment for the Arts. When artists, or in this case the WUSA, is unable to create a marketable product, they blame the consumer.

Now that it may not happen, and due in large part to the Christian Science Monitor, I've decided to go on the record for the California recall election. I had planned on holding my tongue for a little bit longer, but this passage is too much to pass up. Daniel Wood, from the CS Monitor writes:

Officially, two strong Republicans are vying for governor in California's historic recall.

Unofficially, based on the response of rank-and-file GOP members after Saturday's state-party convention, it is only a matter of time until conservative state Sen. Tom McClintock decides - for the good of the party and himself - to no longer be an active candidate.

Wood goes on to say that Arnold Schwarzenegger "would then become the sole credible Republican" in the race. While Arnold may be a Republican, he is hardly credible or even Conservative. I share some views with Arnold, but his stance on gun control, and Ward Connerly's Racial Policy Initiative don't make him a very attractive candidate.

Call me a right wing crazy, but if I lived in California there is no doubt I'd vote for McClintock. If McClintock drops out, and passes the hat to the Terminator, I'd cast my vote for Bustamante. I'd rather a Democrat lead them down the path to self destruction than a RINO. I don't think Arnold has the discipline to fix their problems, and would merely act as a Republican scape-goat; much in the same way that the nine dwarves are claiming that all the world's problems started in January of 2001.

Illegal aliens that are being granted the priviledge to receive driver's licenses in California are applauding the Ninth Circuit decision to delay the recall election. Unless the Supreme Court intervenes, the recall will be pushed back to March 2004. That should give the new licensees plenty of time to register to vote, and help them to thank Gov. Gray Davis in the March election.

Opponents of the recall note that the delay is certain to help Gray Davis keep his job. By March, he should be able to increase the California budget deficit to more than $50 Billion, and thus assure that nobody would be crazy enough to take the job.

This animation on liberty should be taught in school. If you still don't understand what Libertarianism is, this is a good start.

(Link via Neal.)

Isabel is heading right for my parents house in Virginia Beach.

Time to stock up on water, bread and batteries. Virginia Beach has been lucky over the past few decades. Storms usually hit the outer banks and then head out to sea, leaving Hampton Roads with just some wind and rain. This one looks pretty big. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I don't know about you, but it bugs me whenever I see someone desecrating the flag. Even though I would never support an Amendment banning it, I still think that if you are going to burn the American flag, you should have the decency to wrap yourself in it first. That is why it bugs me whenever I see people showing disrespect to our flag by flying them on vehicles, or letting them get frazzled and worn out.

I am highly patriotic, and I like it when other people are patriotic too, but flying a flag on your vehicle is wrong. Flags are normally flown from flag poles. Whenever a hurricane or strong storm comes through, most flag owners go out and remove their flag. They fold it up and tuck it away until the storm passes, and then return the flag to it's perch. They do this out of practicality as well as respect. After all, 75+ mph winds will ruin your flag, and you'll have to have it replaced, as well as properly dispose of the old flag. Why then, would someone willingly subject their flag to 70-90 mph winds by sticking it on their automobile? Flags are not meant to take such a beating, and even the best flag will start to show wear and tear immediately.

I think a lot of people don't know even basic flag etiquette. For instance, flags are supposed to be retired when they begin to show wear. If they are severely damaged, they should be properly disposed of. Local VFW posts often perform this service for free. Also, flags should always hang a certain way. When hanging flat on a wall, the stars should be on the flag's right. (The observer's left). Hanging a flag backwards or upside down sends a completely different message than what you were originally trying to convey.

Flags should never be raised to half staff. Instead they should be raised to full staff and then lowered half way. Also, the flag should be raised swiftly, and lowered slowly, and it should never be allowed to touch the ground. Allowing it to do so is another sign of disrespect. Once a flag is removed from the pole, it should be properly folded, so that only the stars are showing.

There are numerous other protocols that should be followed, many of which are readily violated. For instance, the flag should never be worn. It should not be used for disposable napkins, and should be properly lighted if flown at night.

I'm not trying to be a flag nanny, but merely hoping to help educate the masses. I'm happy that people want to express their patriotism. But not when doing so results in disrespect for our nation's flag.

(Click here for more on flag etiquette.)

As with any state that passes concealed carry laws, the gun fearing wussies go on the war path and press local businesses to ban guns from their property. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that some companies are already planning to put up "no guns allowed" signs.

The law prohibits guns being taken into stadiums holding more than 5,000 people, hospitals, places of worship, casinos or bars without the owner's consent. But other workplaces will need to post signs if they want to keep weapons out.

That is completely untrue. Posting signs will not keep firearms out. Metal detectors will not keep firearms out. Simply put, there is absolutely no way to keep firearms out of any place. It cannot be done.

We cannot even keep guns and knives out of our prisons, or off of our airplanes. What makes anyone think that merely hanging up a sign is going to work?

The Post-Dispatch also notes that companies are reminding employees that they are not permitted to bring firearms to work. Now, most employers have such a policy, and it is usually for liability reasons, especially in today's litigious society. Still, check out some of the anti-gun rhetoric.

"It's the same (policy), I suspect, of any ethical company - we prevent firearms on our site," said Mike Montague, spokesman for the drug giant Pfizer Inc.

Ethical? Banning firearms may be practical when speaking in terms of legal liability, but lets not bring ethics into it. There is nothing ethical or unethical about carrying a gun. There is, however, something quite unethical about blowing someone's head off for no good reason. I hate to sound cynical, but no sign or policy is going to prevent that.

In fact, creating a "gun free" zone actually makes you more of a target for violence. If you disagree with me, I challenge you to put a sign in front of your house that says "No guns inside", and we'll see how long it takes for the baddies to realize that you are an easy mark.

My 10 Ways to Please Your Man post has got this guy's wife so riled up, I need to go up there and calm her down.

Back Monday.

Chicago's sacrificial lamb has been released with a sentence of one year supervision, and time served. Ex marine, Vietnam vet, and urban outdoorsman Martin Beuck was arrested in the shooting deaths of six people in Chicago. Beuck was not the shooter, nor did he know the shooter. He was not even the person who sold the gun to the shooter. Beuck was the man who had owned the gun for 26 years, without incident. He had legally registered it, and legally sold it to a policeman.