I was one of the gazillion people that went to see Shrek 2 this weekend. While the movie had it's laughable moments some of them seemed forced. We must have missed the free tequila they were handing out in the lobby, because we were the only group of people in the theater not cracking up at every mundane gag. I found that other people's overly hysterical laughter was distracting and made me wonder if there was something I was missing. Overall, the movie was enjoyable and had a pretty good storyline, but I left the theater looking at the people around me wondering just what the hell they thought was so funny.

If you are all bar-b-qued out this Memorial Day, you might want to catch Tom Selleck's D-Day biopic Ike on A&E. I have plans tonight, but I plan on recording it to watch later, sans commercials.

Wishing everyone a happy Memorial Day!

Apparently, smoking causes everything from gonorrhea to mad cow disease.

Smoking causes a range of diseases never before suspected, including cataracts, acute myeloid leukemia and cervical, kidney, pancreatic and stomach cancers, U.S. Surgeon-General Richard Carmona said on Thursday.

In fact, smoking affects virtually every organ of the body, Carmona said in the newest surgeon-general's report on smoking.
"We've known for decades that smoking is bad for your health, but this report shows that it's even worse," Dr. Carmona told a news conference.

Prepare to hear this news trumpeted by the smoke nazis. These are, after all, the same people who took the World Health Organization's hypothesis that second hand smoke may increase the risk of cancer to mean "second hand smoke causes cancer." You still hear it today, even after the 7-year WHO study failed to prove it.

Now, I hate to imply that the Surgeon-General might be a slight bit biased when it comes to smoking, but I will leave you with this to chew on.

"The toxins from cigarette smoke go everywhere the blood flows. I'm hoping this new information will help motivate people to quit smoking and convince young people not to start in the first place."

How convenient that his report aligns perfectly with his hopes.

Fox (search) News reports that Jessica Simpleton may be cast as the comely cousin Daisy Duke in the upcoming 'Dukes of Hazzard' movie.

CNS News provides more evidence that the People's Republic of Californiastan should be chopped off and dumped into the Pacific Ocean. The California Senate passed SB1152 last week (by a vote of 22-16), which basically makes it impossible to buy ammunition and sets up a huge underground black market.

The bill requires that "all vendors of ammunition maintain specified information" on ammunition buyers, including: (1) the date of the transaction; (2) the name, address, and date of birth of the buyer; (3) the buyer's driver's license or other identification number and the state in which it was issued; (4) the brand, type, and amount of ammunition bought or transferred; (5) the buyer's signature; (6) the name of the salesperson who processed the transaction; and (7) "the vendor shall also at the time of purchase or transfer obtain the right thumbprint of the purchaser or transferee."

The databases must be kept for 2 years, and since California already bars convicts from purchasing ammo, it will only affect law abiding citizens.

Also keep in mind that this is the very same legislature that tried to deregulate their driver's licenses to the point that any fugative, illegal alien, or al Qaeda operative would have no trouble getting a state issued license.

Of course the gun lobby pro freedom groups like CCRKBA are protesting the proposal. Also, the ACLU has been notably silent. Perhaps if this were a hot issue like the LA County Seal, or passing out condoms to children, they'd take an interest.

Amanda points out that California has found something else to ban: tanning. A special interest group of dermatologists is lobbying for a ban on tanning booths, which they say cause 1 million new cases of skin cancer each year, and 7400 deaths. The law will only ban tanning for those under 18, because the human body apparently develops some magical new resistance to cancer after you blow out 18 candles.

Let's hope they never decide to ban bikini clad women on their beaches.

Geez, in Europe even potato guns are illegal. Ananova reports that German police have arrested three men for illegal possession of something they mistakenly call a firearm.

The potato gun is classed as a firearm and none of the men had a permit to own or carry one.

I wonder just what kind of training and background checks are needed to acquire a potato gun.

CNN asks: "Are you tired of hearing about terror alerts?" Not surprisingly, most people are tired of the alerts. Then again, people who live in Kansas are probably tired of hearing tornado sirens. But that doesn't exactly mean it's a good idea to turn them off.

"He planted the seeds of war. He harvested a whirlwind. And now the corrupt tree of a war waged on false premises has brought us the evil fruit of Americans torturing and sexually humiliating prisoners who are helpless in their care." -- Former Vice President Al Gore, comparing President Bush to Johnny Appleseed's evil twin.

He later went on to call for the President's entire cabinet to resign.

It looks like Santa Fe, New Mexico won't require dogs to wear seat belts after all.

One of our readers, Pasty, points out that gun control is having the usual results in the United Kingdom. A man went on a bit of a rampage, after his pet was dog-napped by the RSPCA. Authorities seized his animal, after they unilaterally decided that his planned method of euthanasia (a pickax) was too inhumane and inexpensive and was best left to professionals. Desperate to get the animal back, dog owner Paul Lovie did something stupid.

The court heard how Lovie had armed himself with a samurai sword, air rifle and pellets, lighter fluid and a hammer before breaking into the Landing Lane shelter in York.

Prosecutor Dianne Campbell said: "He decided he would take matters into his own hands and go and get the dog." [...]

He gave himself up after one and a half hours of negotiations with armed police. [Ed. Note: Britain actually has unarmed police]

He appeared for sentence after pleading guilty to possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear or violence, having an offensive weapon, and causing criminal damage.

Is "intent to cause fear" really a crime? I hope not, because I'm sure there are plenty of bed-wetting liberals out there afraid of my gun-toting ass.

While I don't condone what Lovie did, I cannot help but think the Brits brought this on themselves. Here is a man who was told his dog was ill and needed to be euthanized. Personally, I would probably use a 12-gauge, but the U.K.'s draconian gun control laws make that very difficult. A pickax seems to be the next best cheapest alternative. That the government would step in and put a stop to it smacks of tyranny (something not exactly strange to the U.K.). Ironically, those same draconian policies led to a society that could be held hostage by a pellet gun, something they insist on mistakenly calling a firearm.

As a military brat growing up in a military town, this really strikes a chord with me. This letter to the editor from Sherry Franzen of Eugene, Oregon has to be one of the most hateful things I've ever read.

In response to Tabitha Perkins (letters, May 11) encouraging us to tie a yellow ribbon to support the troops no matter how one feels about the war, and to everyone else of like mind: I do not support the troops who are willing to kill for their government, for the money it pays, for the education they may receive later - if they make it home alive with their brains intact - or any patriotism they claim to represent. A yellow ribbon should denote cowardice in the case of welcoming these people home.

They took the easy way out in the current climate of "You're either with us or you're against us." The willingness to kill, maim and torture for the government is not something to be proud of.

To go against the grain is the honorable thing. I would like to honor all the women and men who refuse to fight any battle that is not their own, whether it's for oil, power, money, government or greed. I honor those brave and decent enough to take good care of themselves and others. I honor those wonderful, intelligent beings who can think for themselves and not sign on to anything that would compromise their own respectability, those ethical enough to take responsibility for directing their own actions.

I say tie a blood-red ribbon on your arm, on your trees or any other limbs you can think of to show support for those willing to save blood for worthy endeavors.

Franzen's ignorant ramblings are offensive and over the top. That she should take for granted the freedoms secured by the very people for whom she holds such contempt is the greatest tragedy.

Virginia's lying, no good, fucktard of a democrat governor, Mark Warner, coupled with some tax and spend Republicans in the Legislature screamed doom and gloom in this year's budget battle. They claimed that large deficits were on the way, and that in order to preserve Virginia's prized bond rating, the largest tax increase in the history of the Commonwealth was absolutely necessary. If we don't raise taxes by a record $1.6 Billion, they said, little children will die, the rivers will turn to blood, and it will rain down locusts and cicadas. (Okay, so it actually is raining cicadas.) But that was in April.

A mere month later in May, it turns out that Virginia actually has a $300 Million surplus. This is before the tax hikes even take effect in July. In short, those cocksuckers were lying to us. So, will they repeal the tax hike? As a Virginia taxpayer, I expect to see the largest tax cut in Virginia history to undo the largest tax increase passed just last month.

But do I really expect it to happen? No fucking way. Tax hikes are never repealed. That luxury is only reserved for tax cuts.

Here is my contribution to the latest meme circulating the web.

1. which political party do you typically agree with? I'm a Constitutional Libertarian.

2. which political party do you typically vote for? Republican

3. list the last five presidents that you voted for? Bush, Clinton, Clinton. (Fool me twice, shame on me. Also, I couldn't vote any earlier because I wasn't old enough.)

4. which party do you think is smarter about the economy? Libertarian

5. which party do you think is smarter about domestic affairs? Republican

6. do you think we should keep our troops in Iraq or pull them out? Keep them in there and relax the rules of engagement.

7. who, or what country, do you think is most responsible for 9/11? Al Qaeda.

8. do you think we will find weapons of mass destruction in iraq? We already have.

9. yes or no, should the u.s. legalize marijuana? Yes.

10. do you think the republicans stole the last presidental election? No, but they sure caught the Democrats trying to pull a fast one.

11. do you think bill clinton should have been impeached because of what he did with monica lewinski? Impeached for adultery, no. Impeached for lying under oath, yes. Oh wait, that is how it really happened.

12. do you think hillary clinton would make a good president? Other than fish food, I don't think Hitlery would make a good anything.

13. name a current democrat who would make a great president: Zell Miller

14. name a current republican who would make a great president: Rep. Ron Dr. No Paul

15. do you think that women should have the right to have an abortion? To some extents, yes.

16. what religion are you? I'm an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church.

17. have you read the Bible all the way through? Yes.

18. what's your favorite book? Stonewall Jackson: The Man, the Soldier, the Legend.

19. who is your favorite band? Don't really have one.

20. who do you think you'll vote for president in the next election? Bush, unless he signs any anti-gun legislation.

21. what website did you see this on first? Kim du Toit

Spoons is trying to save the Republican Party for conservatism. He makes a persuasive argument that a Democrat president is not the end of the world, but that re-electing President Bush may be the end of the Republican party as we once knew it.

I recommend reading the whole thing, but here are the money quotes.

8. As conservatives, there's nothing we can do to affect what the Democrats do: the only way for conservatives to affect the political landscape in this country is to influence the kind of candidates that succeed in the Republican Party;

9. If the Republican Party ceased to stand for conservative principles, there would be no rightward pushing force to counteract Democrat liberalism;

10. President Bush does not govern according to conservative principles, as demonstrated by his positions on Campaign Finance Reform, gun control, affirmative action, illegal immigration, surrender to Democrats on federal judges; massive government spending and expansion; steel tarriffs (sic) (nowhere near an exhuastive list);

11. A Bush defeat, in contrast, will have the undesirable effect of having John Kerry in the White House. We would have an opportunity to correct that error in four years.

12. No strategy which posits that "we can't afford to let a Democrat get into the White House" is reasonable or realistic, due to the fact that future Democrat Presidents are inevitable;

13. If President Bush is reelected, he will leave an indellible (sic) mark on the Republican Party, reshaping it for at least a generation;

14. If President Bush is reelected, the U.S. will have gone at least 20 years (from 1989-2009) without a conservative in the White House;

15. A relection (sic) of President Bush will serve to validate Bush's brand of liberal, so-called "compassionate" conservatism as a winning electoral strategy for the Republican Party;

16. A Bush reelection will leave an indellible (sic) effect on the Republican Party, and the cause of conservatism in the GOP will be dramatically, perhaps irrevocably, set back;

He makes a very good argument, but I'm not completely convinced. Then again, while I am dead set against voting for Kerry in November, I am not completely sold that Bush is the right candidate either. Throwing my vote away or "protest" voting may be the way to go.

The Supreme Court has decided to hear arguments about the shipment of wine between the states. Given the financial incentive of alcohol taxes, many states regulate or ban the shipment of wine directly from other states. In other words, it may be legal for you to buy wine in your grocery store, but ordering it online might be illegal in your area.

Lawyers for Juanita Swedenburg, [Swedenburg Winery's] owner, told the Supreme Court that it is unfair that out-of-state wineries must go through an expensive bureaucracy of wholesalers and retailers to sell in New York, while in-state wineries can ship products directly to buyers.

"It's protectionist, and it's discriminatory," Clint Bolick, who represents the winery, told the Associated Press.

That may be true, but unfortunately life [especially in New York] isn't always fair. The problem for wineries stems from prohibition. When the Eighteenth Amendment was repealed, power was ceded to the states to regulate the interstate sale of alcohol. The Twenty-First Amendment clearly states:

The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

That means you cannot import wine into a state that forbids it. Without another Constitutional Amendment, (or judicial activism) I don't see it changing any time soon.

Some Democrats are calling Senator Joe Lieberman a turncoat, while others are calling for his ouster from the Democrat Party. Just what did Lieberman do that was so bad? He called on Democrats to stop playing politics and unite behind our soldiers fighting the war on terror.

"We have to stay united here as best we can to support our troops," Lieberman said in a CNN interview Monday night after listening to President Bush's speech. He called the U.S. war in Iraq "the test of our generation," and he said if the U.S doesn't win the war over there -- "we're going to face it much closer to home in the years ahead."

Lieberman urged Americans to avoid joining a "chorus of doubters" that is undermining American support for the war.

Some Democrats apparently are against this.

World Net Daily reports that filmmaker Michael Moore, the darling of France, fabricated an interview in his book "Stupid White Men".

In his book, Moore wrote he'd once been "forced" to listen to [Fox News analyst and Weekly Standard Executive Editor Fred] Barnes commenting on the PBS news show "The McLaughlin Group."

Barnes, according to Moore's account, whined "on and on about the sorry state of American education" and wound up by bellowing: "These kids don't even know what 'The Iliad' and 'The Odyssey' are!"

In an article in the Weekly Standard, the editor then tells his side of the story:

Moore's interest was piqued, so the next day he said he called me. "Fred," he quoted himself as saying, "tell me what 'The Iliad' and 'The Odyssey' are." I started "hemming and hawing," Moore wrote. And then I said, according to Moore: "Well, they're ... uh ... you know ... uh ... okay, fine, you got me -- I don't know what they're about. Happy now?" He'd smoked me out as a fraud, or maybe worse.

The only problem is none of this is true. It never happened. Moore is a liar. He made it up. It's a fabrication on two levels. One, I've never met Moore or even talked to him on the phone. And, two, I read both "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" in my first year at the University of Virginia. Just for the record, I'd learned what they were about even before college. Like everyone else my age, I got my classical education from the big screen. I saw the Iliad movie called Helen of Troy and while I forget the name of the Odyssey film, I think it starred Kirk Douglas as Odysseus.

Of course Michael Moore is a proven liar. It has already been proven that Moore's Oscar winning "documentary" Bowling for Columbine was filled with staged and fabricated scenes.

It's not at all surprising that a liberal commencement speaker would give an anti-Bush rant at a New York university. What is surprising, is that he was booed off the stage.

While I was in Ohio this weekend, I drove up to the CMP store and picked out a few military surplus rifles. My gun safe is now home to a nice service grade Springfield M1 Garand and Rock Island M1903 rifle. They are both excellent rifles, with only limited muzzle and throat erosion. The wood has a few dings, but I shouldn't have any trouble reconditioning them. Prior to this weekend, I hadn't owned a bolt action rifle. The M1903 is quite an entry into that realm. Of course, it came covered in Cosmoline, so it's still wrapped up until I have time to clean it.

(Click to Supersize)

(Click to Supersize)

Driving to the CMP store was definitely worth it. While service grade rifles are guaranteed to have erosions of less than 3, I was able to hand pick one with much less wear. The people there are very friendly, and thanks to Lue for giving us so much ribbing and making us feel at home. On the two rifles, I spent $60 in sales tax I wouldn't have otherwise, but saved $40 in shipping. I was tempted to pick up an M1917 Enfield, but opted to wait and see how the other two rifles turned out.

"You can move your tassels from right to left, which is what I hope happened to your politics over the past 4 years" -- Stephen Trachtenberg, President of George Washington University to his graduating class.

UPDATE: For those of you wanting a source, I originally heard it on WMAL 630 AM. After some in depth google searching, it appears as though Free Republic corroberates it, as does the student newspaper. (link may require registration)

"Only John Kerry could be for a nominating convention, but be against the nomination. This is just the latest example of John Kerry's belief that the rules are for other people, not for him." -- Ken Mehlman, the Bush-Cheney campaign manager.

Kerry is considering delaying his acceptance of the Democrat nomination, in order to bypass campaign finance legislation. Now, if a candidate can delay their nomination acceptance in order to delay accepting $75 Million in federal funds, is it not conceivable that they time the nomination acceptance to maximize the funds available. I mean, if Bush chooses to continue with private funding, can't he theoretically delay his nomination acceptance until a week before the election and then receive $75 Million in public money to boost his campaign at the end?

Of course the whole ordeal reeks of hypocrisy. Campaign finance has enjoyed wide-spread bipartisan support. But as soon as the rules come into play, the very people that supported them will move heaven and earth to get around them.

Radford Virginia was illegally banning firearms from city parks, and the Virginia Citizens Defense League took them to task for it. Under state law, Radford is not permitted to ban firearms from the park for concealed handgun permit holders, and effective in July, they will no longer be permitted to ban firearms carried openly. But despite not even having a law on the books to back up their ban, Radford was notably defiant when challenged by VCDL.

Assistant City Manager Bob Lloyd mailed a three-page reply saying the park is located near "a bank, a high school, a middle school, a recreation center with recreation fields adjacent to a grade school" on contiguous properties and the city has "no intention or inclination to remove the signs in the park."

Yes, city officials actually said that the park's proximity to a bank, school, and rec center gave them reason enough to break state law. But then again, they were only openly defiant until the Roanoke Times published a VCDL letter to the editor. Now, they seem to be changing their tune.

[Radford Mayor Tom] Starnes said he discussed the matter with City Manager Tony Cox and directed Cox to remove the sign or change the wording.

"I'm not sure that I'm in agreement with that, but that's the mayor's call," said City Councilman Dave Worrell. "I don't like people telling me what to do."

This, coming from a man who makes his living telling other people what to do.

Worrell said he had gotten eight or 10 e-mails about the sign, one or two directed to him personally and the rest copies of e-mails sent to the mayor.

"Whether you agree with the law or not, it has to be in compliance," Starnes said.

Kudos to the mayor for realizing that personal ideology is no excuse to violate the law.

"If you know someone with a gun, they are a very bad person" -- a speaker at the Richmond 'Million Mom March' road show.

I'm back in town, so posting should return to normal tomorrow.

The site is moving. If you are reading this, you've reached THE NEW SITE. The static URL for the new site is: http://69.93.245.34/~ravnwoo/. You can also try ravnwood.org, ravnwood.net, or ravnwood.com. (Ravnwood.org seems to be working fine for me.)

While the DNS changes propagate, you may see some broken links, and broken img tags. Some links also may divert you back to the old site, so watch out. The images will never show up using the IP address because of the directory structure, so please pardon the appearance. Also, the counter is fubar because it's looking for ravnwood.com which is on the old webhost.

While I was happy with Hostingmatters, I decided to switch to eMaxhosting because they provide more than three times as much space for half the price. The quality of service also appears to be on par with HM. The monthly savings should keep the site free of advertising.

I'll be traveling this weekend (starting tomorrow) and will not return until Monday night. By then, most of the DNS propagations should have taken hold.

UPDATE: For anyone who's interested, moving the site over was a breeze. Both hosts use CpanelX and MySQL. I downloaded backups of the home directory and SQL database from the old site, uploaded them to the new site, and configured MySQL with my username and password so I could access the database. Then it's just a question of debugging the counter, and setting up my email accounts, subdomains, and forwards.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids - $500 sneakers for what? And won't spend $200 for 'Hooked on Phonics.' They're standing on the corner and they can't speak English. I can't even talk the way these people talk: 'Why you ain't,' 'Where you is' ... And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. And then I heard the father talk. ... Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads. ... You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth!" -- Comedian Bill Cosby.

Last night's episode of Colonial House was pretty interesting. The underlying conflict of the colony surrounded the influence of laws and religion. When confronted with puritanical laws prohibiting swearing and mandating that people attend the Sabboth services, the colonists were in revolt. First only a few refused to go to church, then more than half. Eventually there were so many people being punished that the Governor had to suspend punishment for missing church services.

Now, as a 21st century Libertarian, I have no problem with people who cuss. Personally, I cuss all the time. I also have no problem with people who aren't religious, nor with those that are. But if someone is offended by being asked to attend church services, they sure as hell shouldn't volunteer to live by Puritanical laws. Were they too stupid to know what Puritans were? (Or why they no longer exist?) Puritans were all about religion and the moral code and they insisted that everyone else live by their rules. That is the primary reason they died out.

The so-called colonists aren't being open minded to Puritanical life at all. They are trying to apply 21st century U.S. views to a 17th century Puritan colony. They are expecting to enjoy religious freedom more than 100 years before the birth of the United States as a nation. Had there been reality in this reality show, there would have been lashings dealt out.

I am by no means validating the Puritan point of view. But lets be honest, if they weren't prepared to play by the rules, why did they volunteer to be on the show?

Ravenwood's Universe has slipped again on Right Wing News' Top 40 blogs rankings. This quarter we rank 34th out of 40, just above the Spoons Experience and Electric Venom. That is a slip of one spot from our rank of 33rd last quarter. Prior to that, we had ranked 21st for the year 2003.

The AJC is sounding the alarm. Apparently a rocket launcher was found near a MARTA station in Atlanta.

A military rocket launcher was found Tuesday near a rail-transit station, but the FBI said it looks to be a less-powerful training model unable to bring down an aircraft or destroy a train.

Fully outfitted versions of the M136 AT4 launcher are used by the Army to destroy light tanks. The one found near a MARTA station west of Atlanta will be examined to be sure it is only a training model, said FBI spokesman Steve Lazarus.

Let's hope it was only a training model. If it was the real thing, it must have been quite dangerous, right? Well, maybe not.

You see, no matter how powerful a rocket launcher is, it isn't much good without any rockets. Today's rocket launchers are pretty much a fiberglass tube with a scope or aiming sight, and a trigger mechanism. In fact, the military MT136 AT4 launcher is meant to be disposable.

The M136 AT4 is a lightweight, self-contained, antiarmor weapon consisting of a free-flight, fin-stabilized, rocket-type cartridge packed in an expendable, one-piece, fiberglass-wrapped tube. [...]

The round of ammunition is self-contained in a disposable launch tube.

(emphasis mine)

I'd bet dollars to donuts that what was found was just the empty launch tube. Without a rocket, the launcher has all the lethality of a baseball bat. The bigger question is, if the Army lost an empty launch tube, what else has turned up missing?

Fox (search) News reports that Senate Democrats are ready to allow Bush's judicial nominees come to a vote, as long as they aren't minorities. The nominations of Miguel Estrada, Priscilla Owen, Carolyn Kuhl, and Janice Rogers Brown, who are all minorities, are still considered objectionable to Democrats and aren't part of the deal. Democrats will allow votes on other "non-objectionable" nominations if President Bush promises to relinquish his Constitionally granted powers to make recess appointments.

Under the agreement, Democrats will allow votes on 25 non-controversial appointments to the district and appeals courts. In exchange, Bush agreed not to invoke his constitutional power to make recess appointments while Congress is away, as he has done twice in recent months with judicial nominees. [...]

The Senate confirmations of the 20 U.S. District Court judges and the five U.S. Appeals Court judges will come over the next three months, Daschle said. Other judicial nominees will be considered case-by-case, he said. [...]

Democrats called Bush's appointments "a flagrant abuse of presidential power" but Republicans said that Bush wouldn't have had to use recess appointments if Democrats hadn't been blocking his nominees.

A handful of Senators have held the judicial process hostage for several months, but it was Bush, who was abiding by the text of U.S. Constitution, who was committing "a flagrant abuse" of power.

Any of you bitching about high gas prices need to remember a few things.

When Congress suggested drilling for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as far back as 1995, it was the enviro-weenies who stood in the way.

When drilling for oil in ANWR came up for a vote in the Senate in 2002, it was the Democrats who killed it.

When drilling for oil in ANWR came up for a vote in the Senate in 2003, it was the Democrats who killed it.

John Kerry was one of those Democrats who voted against drilling in ANWR, thus securing our reliance on foreign oil.

It's interesting that the very people who are crying "no war for oil", are the same ones keeping us dependent on foreign oil. If we can't steal it, and we can't drill for our own, and we can't negotiate a lower price with the Saudis, what are we supposed to do? Oh yeah, we're supposed to outlaw SUVs just stop using it.

No matter what the price of gasoline at the pump, remember that times are still better than they were in the 1970s. Back then not only were adjusted for inflation gas prices higher, but cars got worse mileage. Also, don't forget that your personal decisions have a huge bearing on how much you pay for gas. You choose what kind of car to drive, where to live, and where to work. If gas prices are really such an annoyance, perhaps you should find a job closer to home or trade in your SUV for one of those econoboxes. You could also try, oh I don't know, taking the bus.

What you really ought to be bitching about is not the price you pay at the pump, but at the often unseen impact of high gas prices. That is the inflationary impact it has on consumer prices. Just about all consumer goods are shipped with vehicles using fossile fuels, so the actions of a few Democrats and enviro-weenies end up costing us all millions of dollars.

Roughly one month ago, the New York Times noted that John Kerry was very upset at the notion of Bush striking a deal with the Saudis to lower gasoline prices in the U.S.

Today, Senator John Kerry quickly seized on Mr. Woodward's assertion on Sunday that the Saudi ambassador to the United States had agreed that his country would make sure that oil prices did not get too out of hand and would lower them to boost the American economy prior to the election -- a decision that would presumably help Mr. Bush politically.

"That is outrageous and unacceptable to the American people," Mr. Kerry, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, declared during a campaign stop in Florida...

Now that the average gas prices have reached more than $2 a gallon, Kerry is blaming Bush for not striking a deal with the Saudis to lower gas prices in the U.S.

"Where is the president?" Mr. Kerry asked in Portland, Ore., where he made a campaign stop at a training center. "We need a president who is fighting for the American worker, the American family, at the fuel pumps, to lower the price of gas in the United States."

This is the classic damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario. If Bush gets OPEC to lower the price of oil, he's must be doing it for political reasons. If he doesn't get OPEC to lower the price of oil, he must be imcompetent.

I cannot get over the lack of media attention to the discovery of a sarin laced warhead in Iraq. Sarin is a bonafide Weapon of Mass Destruction, yet the event has gone largely unreported.

Yet these are the same people, who get all bent out of shape whenever they find cardboard tubes or swords in someone's home.

Is anyone surprised that Michael Moore's anti-American film would get resounding cheers and applause at France's Cannes Film Festival?

The Ford Escape Hybrid SUV is generating a lot of buzz. Still, I'm not convinced. I looked at the Escape when I bought my Explorer. In 2001 I was unimpressed by the small V-6 engine and lack of amenities. In 2004, I'm mortified by the 4-cylinder hybrid engine. Ford is going to try to market a 3700 pound vehicle with a 150 hp engine as having V-6 like performance.

It may be good for cruising around town, but when it only promises to save $400 a year on gas (30 mpg vs. 20 mpg for the V-6 gas engine), I have to say thanks but no thanks. The savings on gasoline probably wouldn't cover the increased hassle and cost of maintaining the electric power plant (very few mechanics are available to work on them), nor the danger posed by the high voltage batteries.

Although, the tax breaks ($1500) and ability to ride the car pool lane are intriguing. Who knows, maybe I'll test drive one.

After watching a few hours of Colonial House, it appears to be nothing more than a bunch of city slickers bitching about having to go camping and live off the land. When I was a Boy Scout, we learned wilderness survival. We learned to make our own fires, chop our own wood, and forage for our own food. We hiked, we climed, we camped. We even had some camping trips that including nothing but manual labor, eating and sleeping. In what were called "Freezorees", we even camped in the dead of winter with several inches of snow on the ground.

These wussies, who are living in good sized cabins, are complaining about the cold, the food, dying in the outdoors, and of course the day to day labor. I think if we had it to do over again, today's soft bodies couldn't hack it.

Legal gay marriage started in Massachussets on Monday, yet the world did not end. I have yet to hear from any person, married or otherwise, how they have been denied of life, liberty, or property by permitting gays to marry. I'm not happy that it came about through judicial activism, but now that it's here it's time for us straight people to let gays live their lives.

I don't know too many gay people, nor do I watch any of the myriad of gay shows popping up on TV. I practice my freedom of choice and change the channel. Then again, I found campy, lovey dovey shows like Full House to be much more disgusting than any of the pro-gay programming.

Bush is renewing his call for a Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage. I would like the so-called conservatives in the GOP a lot better if they would spend less time promoting stupid Constitutional Amendments that ban victimless activities like flag burning and gay marriage. Why is the GOP promoting greater government intrusion into our lives when they should be spending more time promoting the Constitutional ideals of limited government?

The Fifty Caliber institute tackles the Top Ten Lies About the .50cal Rifle. (editorial added)

.50cal rifles can shoot with deadly accuracy up to four miles away. -- Wow. That must be news to the world record holder who could only hit accurately from 1800 yards away. (~1 mile)

.50cal rifles can shoot down commercial airliners. -- That's news to the Russians who spent billions developing missiles and AAA systems that shoot thousands of rounds per minute. Communism might have survived if only they'd saved their money and bought a few .50 caliber BMG rifles instead.

.50cal rifles can shoot through seven buildings. -- Reminds us of Joe Piscopo's .88 Magnum. It shoots through schools.

.50cal rifles can rip through tanks and APCs from 2,000 yards away. -- HAHAHA!!! Why then are we wasting our money on TOW missiles?

.50cal rifles can blow up armored limousines and helicopters. -- And cars always explode 30 seconds after they crash.

.50cal rifles were used in Waco and Oklahoma City. -- Yeah, but they were being used by Janet Reno

.50cal rifles are the ultimate terrorist and criminal weapon. -- There have been two very prominent terror attacks in the U.S. that used Ryder rental trucks. They were responsible for killing hundreds of people. Now lets count the terror attacks that used .50 caliber rifles... zero.

.50cal rifles should be classified as "assault weapons." -- Sure. Just add bayonet lugs to it.

Any teenager with a driver's license can get a military sniper rifle. -- To buy it legally, they'll also need several thousand dollars and pickup truck to get it home. Then again, we could save thousands of lives by banning teenagers from getting driver's licenses.

You can buy military high-explosive ammunition on the internet. -- Not until I get my millions from Nigeria.

Luckily, I've got some cash in the bank. If the .50 caliber ban looks like it may pass, I'll probably invest in one or two. A pre-ban rifle could earn 25% a year.

USA Today reports that tax and spend Democrats are being outdone by spend-thrift Republicans.

On average, the largest spending increases from 1997 through 2002 occurred in states where Republicans controlled both branches, according to a 2003 analysis by USA TODAY. [...]

Ohio. Spending in the Buckeye state has risen 71% during the past decade, when Republicans have controlled both the governor's office and the legislature. To fund this spending, Republican Gov. Bob Taft, backed by the GOP legislature, has increased the sales tax by 20%, upped the gasoline tax by two cents a gallon and increased numerous small business fees.

Idaho. Spending is up more than 60% in the past decade, mainly under GOP rule. Last year, Republican Gov. Dirk Kempthorne sought a sales tax increase. He asked the GOP-controlled legislature to raise the tax from 5% to 6.5%. He settled for 6%.

Georgia. In 2003, less than 24 hours after becoming the state's first Republican governor in more than a century, Sonny Purdue proposed hiking taxes by about $762 million to close a budget gap.

Of course, Virginia is on that list as well. When our Democrat asshat of a Governor broke his "I will not raise taxes, I will not raise taxes, I will not raise taxes" pledge, and asked for a $1 Billion tax hike, the GOP dominated legislature answered by giving him $1.6 Billion. It is the largest tax cut in Virginia history.

It's also been common knowledge to Ohioans and anyone following their struggle to restore citizens rights to keep and bear arms, Taft is no conservative.

Of course tax and spend Republians are nothing new to us Libertarians. We've long known that most modern day Republicans are like Democrat-lite. A democrat friend of mine once sent a bunch of us some disparaging information about George Bush and invited conservatives to send him hate mail. My response, which he still cannot answer, was to ask him what George Bush had to do with conservativism.

Armstrong Williams takes a look on black on black crime and he thinks he knows why not much progress is being made. Instead of blaming the gang bangers pulling the trigger, black leaders are blaming the VRWC and the gun industry.

By focusing the black public's fear and outrage upon vaguely defined enemies, usually referred to simply as "Republicans," or "Uncle Toms, " or "Jewish special interests," the old guard leaders are able to wield the black voting populace as a block-and thus keep themselves in power.

Coalition troops have discovered weapons of mass distruction in Iraq. Well, they haven't so much discovered WMD, as they have been the victim of them. Fox (search) News reports: "A roadside bomb containing sarin nerve agent recently exploded near a U.S. military convoy, the U.S. military said Monday. Bush administration officials told Fox News that mustard gas was also recently discovered."

Of course we already knew Iraq had chemical weapons. They used them on the Kurds between 1984 and 1989, which resulted in the death of over 25,000 people. Although this week's attack was not very effective and resulted in only a few injuries and no deaths, the nerve agent is nonetheless a weapon of mass destruction. Interesting enough, when a blister agent was found in Iraq months ago, there wasn't much of a hullabaloo.

Then again, take a look at how some major media outlets are reporting this latest find.

(Click to supersize)

(Click to supersize)

Fox News reports that chemical agents have been found in Iraq, while CNN choses to get a jump on the hurricane season, which starts in June (although the most dangerous hurricanes come in late summer or fall). If you manage to read CNN's article about the new Iraqi governing council and make it down to the 12th paragraph, you'll hear mention that coalition forces are "believed" to have found Sarin nerve agent.

Who do you trust for news?

UPDATE: Great minds think alike.

This guy, got to hob knob and go shooting with this single, breath-takingly beautiful, gun-toting, libertarian goddess, whom I've had a crush on for over two years now.

If Fox News is so full of right wing bias, why does a left wing newspaper bother to advertise on their site?

(Click to supersize)

Neal Boortz has a photo of John Kerry's daugter, Alexandra, at the Cannes Film Festival. Lets just say her dress is probably not safe for work. Unless you work at a strip club or something.

I've mirrored the image here.

"The public schools are as racially isolated and segregated as they were with Brown" -- Those are the words spoken by attorney Charles Scott Jr. whose father, Charles Scott, was one of the attorney's who filed the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case in Topeka, Kansas.

The landmark ruling, which determined that "separate but equal" racial segregation is unconstitutional, celebrates it's 50th anniversary today. Scott's matter-of-fact remarks fly in the face of that ruling, and create the impression that no progress has been made. Scott should be ashamed of himself.

The segregation he refers to is not segregation mandated by the government, as was the case before the Brown ruling. Scott refers to the natural human behavior of blacks and whites to voluntarily segregate themselves into different neighborhoods and thus different schools. If he wants to argue that people should change their behavior and deliberately try to integrate themselves, so be it. But he shouldn't piss all over the Brown ruling by saying it didn't make any difference.

There seems to be a lot of hoopla surrounding the release of Movable Type 3.0. I took a quick glance at the pricing structure and agree that it is way too pricey for my tastes, although they promise there will be a free version soon. I'm not going into panic mode just yet, because I'm perfectly happy with the version of MT I'm running now. I'm not one of these guys that upgrades for the sake of upgrading. Since installing MT, I've upgraded exactly twice. The first upgrade was to add the search feature, the second to comply with the minimum requirements for the MT Blacklist (anti-spam) plug-in.

Only the second upgrade was unplanned. Comment spam seemed to come from out of nowhere and adding the blacklist was necessary, and probably the best thing I ever did. Unless a similar situation arises where an upgrade seems necessary, I don't plan on upgrading any time soon.

For the rest of you, I guess you'll have to pay for MT 3.0, or hope they release a free version. You could also switch to another weblog software. Meanwhile, Ravenwood's Universe will be stuck in time, living off the old license.

Although, this guy pointed to this web host, which almost seems too good to be true. 500 meg for $6 a month. Decisions, decisions.

PBS will be airing the next segment of their reality series starting today. Colonial House, an extension of Frontier House and 1900 House, promises to send a group of people back nearly 400 years to live in the days of Colonial New England.

Speaking on personal experience, I really enjoyed 1900 House, which was sent in turn of the century England. A British family was denied all the creature comforts of the 21st century and had to live as people lived in 1900. I missed Frontier House, but managed to catch some of the backlash caused by the political correctness and anti-gun bigotry that surrounded the show. PBS, who claimed that participants were to "live as closely to the pioneer lifestyle of the 1880s as possible", denied the frontiersmen the use of rifles and firearms and instead opted to secure their safety with modern day inventions like bear repellent.

I've already set my recorder to Tivo this week's episodes of Colonial House. It will be interesting to see if PBS continues to rewrite history by denying "colonists" their right to keep and bear arms. The laws they've established look pretty interesting. Punishment for breaking the laws is usually lashings or time in the stockade. Although they are strictly puritanical in nature (no drunkeness, cussing, fornicating, etc), they do include a reward of four bushels of corn for killing a wolf, and they state that "Fowling, fishing and hunting shall be free to all men." We'll see.

CBS claims to have discovered a man manufacturing the "deadliest weapons imaginable" out of his New Jersey home.

They are deadly weapons and advertised that way on the Internet. Swords, sickles, axes and flails, the weapons of war from another time. But they are being manufactured and sold today, on a tree lined residential street in Garfield, New Jersey and the neighbors are not happy.

GASP! Sharp objects being made at home and sold for profit. Are these the most pathetic people on Earth? If a news crew came to my door and told me that one of my neighbors was manufacturing and selling swords, I'd ask how much they cost. But that's not the reaction they're reporting.

"That's very disturbing. Who's he selling them to. I mean I have teenage kids here in the high school, and stuff so they should really do something about that," says one neighbor.

"I hate it, it's awful," says another.

"That's terrible. He should be arrested. They should take these knives away from him," says a third neighbor.

That's right, he lives just TWO BLOCKS FROM A SCHOOL! Oh, the humanity! And there's kids in the neighborhood. Well, if the government isn't looking out for these kids, who is?! Certainly you don't expect their parents to keep them out of trouble.

But don't worry. He won't be selling swords for much longer. After CBS blew the whistle on him, local authorities have issued him a summons for illegally running a business out of his apartment. That'll make New Jersey safe once again.

Fairfax County polizei, whose last claim to fame was using SWAT teams to harass bar patrons, have taken to picking on school children. While investigating some gangland activity, a reporter for the high school paper dared to photograph the officers questioning a few students.

By the time an officer stopped their car and confiscated the camera, Smeallie had snapped six more photographs.

When the camera was returned by a second officer, the young men discovered that the photos had been erased.

"He claimed he deleted them by accident," Smeallie said. That would have involved multiple steps requiring deliberate actions. The officer allegedly threatened to have the principal remove them from the newspaper staff.

Fairfax Police claim that they deleted 12 pictures by accident and that hiding from the press is not police policy. Having used a digital camera, I don't believe that for a minute. The officer likely knew exactly what he was doing. As for being camera shy, their actions seem to speak much more loudly than their policy.

In 1964, Pontiac did something no other automaker had done before. They took a mid-sized car, dropped a big block engine into it, and sold it for a bargain price. Considered by some to be the first true muscle car, the Pontiac GTO was born. The "Goat" hit it's prime in about 1968 to 1971, before finally being killed off by the 1970s gas crisis.

1968 GTO Convertable

1969 GTO Coupe

Forty years later, Pontiac is trying to recapture the glory. In the face of rising gas prices, Pontiac once again took a Corvette sized engine and stuffed it into a Pontiac Grand Prix sized car and the 2004 Pontiac GTO was born.

The new Pontiac GTO has a 5.7L LS1 engine that makes 350 horses and will get you to 60 miles per hour in just over 5 seconds. With a base price of $32,500 however it's a bit pricey for my tastes, and it still has that uninspiring Pontiac front end. And don't forget, if you select the automatic tranny over the 6-speed will get you slapped with a $1000 gas guzzler tax.

* A brief history of the GTO with photos of each year.

Ravenwood's nephew came two and a half weeks early. Jackson Scott was born at 2 AM this morning and weighs in at 8 lbs. He has pneumonia in one lung, but doctors are saying that it is able to be treated and nothing to worry about.

I have not yet spoken with my sister, she is getting some much needed rest. I am pleased however, to see that she named him after two great Virginian Generals, Stonewall Jackson and Winfield Scott. (She hasn't confirmed it, but it was the first thing I thought of when I learned the name.)

I've never been an uncle before, but am already excited at the prospect of spoiling the little devil. I've got plenty of online shopping to do.

Virginia Tech quarterback Marcus Vick was convicted and sentenced to 30 days for giving alcohol to minors. He was acquitted of having sex with one of the minors, reports the AP.

Vick, brother of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, was sentenced to 30 days in jail and was fined $2,250 on three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Vick's lawyer, Marc Long, said he will file an appeal Monday.

Tailback Mike Imoh was sentenced to 10 days in jail and fined $750 fine. Wide receiver Brenden Hill was sentenced to 20 days in jail and fined $1,500. Both were convicted on three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The Athletic Director will have to review the situation to determine whether or not the three players will be allowed to remain on the team. It has long been my prediction that Imoh and Hill will be dropped from the team and never play football again. Vick will also be dropped, and will transfer to a division II school and play again next season.

Some "pro-gun" bills are making their way through the Chicago legislature, and that has Illinois Governor and gun fearing wussy Rod Blagojevich quaking in his boots.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Thursday promised "wholesale vetoes" of several pieces of pro-gun legislation if lawmakers do not pass an assault weapons ban, underscoring the governor's tough new gun-control attitude.

Reacting to Thursday's House passage of a pro-gun measure he had already promised to veto, Blagojevich signaled he is losing patience over lawmakers' refusal to pass some of the gun control measures he supports while they advance a gun-friendly agenda.

The "gun-friendly agenda" that has the Illinois governor so scared, is actually not very gun-friendly at all. In fact it's more of a pro-self defense legislation.

The gun legislation passed in the House was inspired by a Wilmette man who shot an intruder in his home, then was charged with violating the city's gun ban. The legislation would allow someone to use self-defense as a legal argument in court.

The bill passed 90-25 after an amendment was added to make certain that the self-defense argument could be used only if people shoot an intruder at their home or office, supporters said.

"I was shocked at the number of votes that proposal received in the House," Blagojevich said. "So I would say get your work done, send it to us, and I'll veto it right away."

Illinois' governor is so rabidly anti-gun that he's willing to sacrifice a homeowner's right to defend themself from attack in order to advance his own personal agenda. (An agenda that the Illinois House and Senate don't seem to be interested in.)

The Washington Times notes that the Nicholas Berg incident isn't getting too much airplay in the Arab Media.

Arab media played down or ignored the news of an American civilian's beheading by Islamic militants in Iraq, while continuing to give prominence to the American prison abuse scandal, journalists and diplomats in the Middle East said yesterday.

Sounds like the Arab media is taking cues from their counterparts at the L.A. Times, N.Y. Times, Washington Post, AJC, etc, etc.

Politicians are always bitching about overpaid CEOs and corporate executives. Congress even passed legislation to penalize corporations that pay their management enormous salaries, which led to the advent of stock options, which gave incentive to executives to artificially inflate the stock price. But when it comes to paying government officials, turnabout is not always fair play.

Washington D.C. city officials are looking to hire a new superintendent for their government schools, and they are prepared to pay him over $600,000 in salary and benefits. This is in spite of the fact that the cash strapped D.C. schools just laid off more than 500 employees, including 285 teachers. The amount is also about twice what superintendents make in nearby Virginia and Maryland.

When it comes to private people spending private money to pay an executive of a private company, the government feels the need to step in and influence how much they pay. But when the shoe is on the other foot and the government is spending public money to pay a public official, price is no object.

Rep. Michael Castle (R-Del.) is set to propose legislation in the House to re-authorize the Clinton Gun Ban (a/k/a "Assault Weapons Ban"). Castle thinks there are enough Republican votes to combine with Democrat votes to pass the gun control bill. He also notes that there are procedures to bring the bill to the floor for a vote without the support of House leadership. If the bill does come to a vote, what would the Republicans do?

Some Republicans, like President Bush, have already expressed support for gun control, but they aren't exactly pressing the issue. They realize it is a political loser, but if it actually comes up for a vote, who knows what might happen. The Senate has already shown that they support extending the ban, so the House may just be the final piece of the puzzle. It is because of this that the NRA has thus far withheld an endorsement for George Bush's reelection campaign.

Most surprisingly, Republicans don't seem to be phased by the cold reception they are getting from gun owners, because they just know we won't vote for John Kerry.

Castle downplayed the significance of an NRA endorsement, saying a vast majority of NRA members are not going to vote for Kerry, whether Bush gets the group's backing or not.

While that may be true, Republicans are by no means guaranteed that gun owners will be flocking to the polls to vote for Bush.

The Republicans brushing aside of gun owners reminds me a lot about how Democrats treat blacks and other minorities. Year after year, the Democrats take the black vote for granted, because they just know that by and large they wouldn't dare vote for a Republican. The GOP seems to be using the same strategy for gun owners.

Personally, I am still undecided about this year's election. I know for certain that I will not vote for Kerry, but I still have not made up my mind about Bush. If come November, I'm still not permitted to own a gun with bayonet lugs or a pistol grip, it won't be Bush's name that I write down.

The Media Research Center reports that NBC is clanging the 'Bush=Hitler' bell pretty hard.

From Egypt, Fred Francis declared: "In the Arab street and much of the world, outrage has produced a consensus: Rumsfeld must go. In Egypt Marabak Molson [spelling not on screen and so a phonetic guess], considered a moderate journalist [video of her anchoring a TV newscast], says Arabs reject the Rumsfeld apology that still seemed more arrogant than contrite."

Molson [sp?]: "He is reminding me of a sort of neo-Nazi character who's coming back to life and anything which is not American is wrong."

Francis: "In Cairo, anti-U.S. sentiment is so strong many here see no difference here between the actions of Saddam Hussein and George Bush..."

Moving on to Germany, Francis passed along this soundbite from Dr. Jurgen Falter of the University of Mainz: "There have to be total structural reform and total transparency in regard to the tortures and regard to what's going on in Iraq."

Francis added, as he walked through a Cairo marketplace: "Like the new prison picture from Iraq of attacking dogs, prompting one Arab businessman to say, 'that is not Jeffersonian democracy. It's more like a lesson from Hitler's book, Mein Kampf.' Many more Arabs here are saying the U.S. must quit Iraq..."

I'm always amazed at how quick people are to make a Hitler comparison. If Bush really was Hitler, Brokaw would be in a concentration camp, and NBC would be parroting jingoism instead of waging their anti-American, anti-Bush campaign.

Reuters carries the bleeding heart sob story of the Inuit people who live in the Arctic and polar regions of Canada, Russia and Alaska. The "news" agency reports that "climate change", the latest buzz word for global warming, is killing off the Eskimo lifestyle.

"The Inuit have now become the net recipients of toxins coming from afar and we carry heavy body burdens in our blood core and the nursing milk of our mothers," Watt-Cloutier told an environmental conference. "Not of our doing, we are being poisoned from afar."

Inuit say that rising temperatures are undermining traditional lifestyles based around hunting for animals like seal, whale, walrus and polar bear.

"For us, the environment is our supermarket," Watt-Cloutier said. "We are out there every single day and every day we can't help but wonder what surprises lie as a result of the things that are happening."

More thawing permafrost -- the normally perpetually frozen layer of earth -- heavier snowfalls and seas with longer ice-free seasons are some visible effects of climate change in the area, she said.

Keep in mind that in the 1970s, the alarm was being spread about the dangers of Global Cooling. At one point, environmentals even suggested painting the icecaps black so that they could absorb more of the sun's rays.

Liberal Democrats have never been a friend to Democracy, especially when things don't go their way. When voters don't support the Democrat agenda, liberals tend to think there must be something wrong with them, or that the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy has operatives working behind the scenes. When voters don't see things their way, they are more likely to sue (Calif. recall), or cheat (Florida recount), or change the rules in the middle of the game (Torricelli).

In California, where the Gray Davis recall is still a sore spot with some Democrats, lawmakers are trying to make recall elections much more difficult.

Last week, the Senate's elections committee unanimously approved legislation that would prohibit recall proceedings against any statewide official within 90 days of election. SB 1317 would also protect statewide officials who had been the target of a recall within six months or had less than six months left in their terms. Those rules currently apply only to local elected officials. [...]

Changes they are informally bandying about include: separating the recall and replacement votes so they occur on different days, rather than having them on the same ballot; increasing the number of voter petition signatures required to initiate a recall; and making it harder for replacement candidates to get on the ballot.

Separate votes for recalls means lower turnout. A special election already sees meager turnout. Now imagine how low turnout would be if you had two special elections a few weeks apart.

Increasing the number of signatures required and making it harder for candidates to qualify are blatant attempts at incumbent protection. They would make recall elections much more expensive and time consuming, which is the whole idea.

Lawmakers cannot pass an outright ban on recall elections but they can make the process as difficult as possible. These people claim to be advocates of democracy and the common man. But as soon as you aren't looking, they're taking away more of your rights to secure their own political power.

It's not often that I find myself on the same side as Hollywierd liberals, but this is one of those times. Senators have got their panties in a bind because Hollywood hasn't jumped on the smoking temperance movement. They say that all those smokers in films and TV and making kids light up. And if the movie industry won't clean up their act and jump on the anti-smoking bandwagon, lawmakers may just use the police power of the imperial federal government to make them.

Some lawmakers are going so far as to say you either stop fictional smoking or we'll use lethal force to make you stop; First Amendment be damned.

They urged Valenti to consider measures to decrease smoking in movies, warn parents about it by amending the rating system or run public service announcements about the risks.

Most said they were reluctant to pass a law forcing Hollywood to take such steps, but Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said that would happen if the movie industry didn't act.

"I think the ball is in your court, Mr. Valenti," he said. "I guarantee you if something isn't done by the industry, there's certainly going to be efforts" by lawmakers.

Here we have another liberal lawmaker threatening to "guarantee" they'll violate someone's rights. Ordinarily, I wouldn't feel threatened because such action is clearly a violation of the U.S. Constitution. But lately the legislative, the executive and the judicial branches of government have all been failing to uphold the Constitution, and I keep waiting for someone to wake me up and tell me the nightmare is over.

It may sound extreme, but an unjust law should not be obeyed, and Jack Valenti should tell Senator Wyden to "bite me". Where does he get off trying to intimidate artists into what they can and cannot put into their work? This nanny-government crap is going to damned far. Wyden and others are willingly violating their oaths of office by not protecting and upholding the Constitution and the laws of this great nation. When a sitting U.S. Senator uses intimidation and threats to violate someone's God-given, Constitutionally-protected rights, he should be taken to task. If Wyden's colleagues won't do it, then Valenti should.

For your daily dose of liberal drivel, you needn't look any further than the Washington Post. Post writers are trying to tell heart-wrenching stories of those affected by Virginia's crack down on illegal driver's licenses. Seven of the September 11th hijackers used Virginia driver's licenses to move around freely in the United States. They used a "loophole" in the law that allowed persons to have their friends vouch for their citizenship status. All you had to do was show up at the DMV with a few of your terrorist buddies to vouch that you were who you said you were, and they printed you out a state issued driver's license or ID card. After September 11th, Virginia plugged that loophole causing so-called "hardship" for "undocumented immigrants".

Caught in the middle in Virginia are thousands of undocumented immigrants who have been working in the United States for years, often paying taxes, and who now stand to lose those jobs because they can't drive to work.

Boo-fucking-hoo. Pardon me for coming off as sounding insensitive, but these are not immigrants. They are illegal aliens and they are already breaking federal immigration laws. Since they "often" pay taxes (unli