The Cleveland Plain Dealer doesn't like the idea of not being able to get their hands on the records of those licensed to carry a concealed firearm. They claim, rather rediculously, that the public has a right to know.

Now lawmakers are seeking to close off public access completely.

The permit information belongs to the public, which pays for its collection and storage, as well as the salaries of those who do the work. That lawmakers would show such flagrant disregard for the public's rights is reprehensible.

So the public has a right to know because they paid for the collection and storage of the information. (Nevermind the permit fee charged to the licensee.)

I guess the Plain Dealer would support opening up financial records, drivers license records, and the like. Maybe we should request the Plain Dealer turn over their employees tax returns. After all, they are collected and stored using taxpayer dollars.

By the way, as I said before the Editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer is Douglas Clifton. Here is his address and telephone number:

Douglas Clifton
19 Shoreby Dr
Cleveland, OH 44108-1161
Tel.: (216) 761-6577

Here is his bio. For a map to his home, click here. The public has a right to know.

(Via Say Uncle)

Former Education Secretary William Bennett allegedly said something stupid, reports CNN.

Bennett, who held prominent posts in the administrations of former presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush [41], told a caller to his syndicated radio talk show Wednesday: "If you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose -- you could abort every black baby in this country and your crime rate would go down.

"That would be an impossibly ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down," he said.

Naturally, and perhaps justifiably, the Democrats are in a tizzy. But what I don't understand, are the calls on the current Bush Administration to denounce Bennett's comments, as if Bennett works for (or ever worked for) George W. Bush [43]. Never one to turn away from a microphone, the homecoming queen enters the fracas:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, called on President Bush to condemn the comments by Bennett, who was anti-drug chief in Bush's father's administration.

What would be really funny is if Bush came out and said something like, "Uh.. okay. I think Bennett's comments on abortion were reprehensible. This Administration, as well as the former Administrations of Reagan and Bush [41] have always stood against abortion."

Okay, maybe making light of the situation is a little crass. But if Bennett wants to make prejudicial remarks on the air, that's between him and his employer. Had this been the sloganmaster Jesse Jackson or Louis Farrakhan making prejudicial remarks about whites, and Bush "condemned" their comments, you'd hear charges of censorship and violated First Amendment rights. Democrats would be needling Bush for having a chilling effect on free speech.

Sometimes when someone makes an ass of themselves, the best thing for you to do is just walk away shaking your head.

UPDATE: Neal reports that Bennett's comments were in the context of an ongoing discussion where it was supposed that the decreased crime rate is due to the an increased abortion rate. [I wonder if shooting a 20 year old mugger is considered a 63rd trimester abortion.] Bennett's best come back line: "I'll not take instruction from Teddy Kennedy. A young woman likely drowned because of his negligence."

Three months ago, leftists were calling for Karl Rove's head on a silver platter. They just knew that he was at the center of the Valerie Plame kerfuffle. While the media was crucifying Rove, New York Times reporter Judy Miller sat quietly in jail, protecting her source. Clearly her source wasn't Rove, because Rove was already outed.

Now Miller has been released from jail after agreeing to testify before the Grand Jury. And the New York Times is reporting that indeed Rove was not Miller's source.

The Times, which supported her contention that her source should be protected, reported late Thursday that her source was Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

I still find it hard to believe that the Times would go to such a great length to protect Libby; especially during an election year when it could have hurt Cheney and/or Bush. I wonder if more embarassing details were surface in Miller's testimony today.

Mark Beech, sportswriter for CNNSI asks a question and wants help from the public to find the answer. I'm no sports guru, but half-way through the question, I already knew who he was talking about.

An interesting factoid from the Official NCAA Football Records Book: The last time a conventional (straight-ahead) place-kick was attempted in Division I-A was in 1994. There was only one straight-ahead specialist practicing his art that year, and he made 17 of 21 field goal attempts. After several lackluster tries, I've been unable to identify the brave iconoclast. Anybody out there remember?

I knew right away who this kicker was, because we went to the same school. It's none other than Virginia Tech kicker Ryan Williams. He kicked straight-on because he only had half a foot. He also was mentored by the last great straight-on kicker in the NFL, former-Redskin Mark Mosely.

Scientists ominously warn that "We will have to live with the outcome" of Global Warming, reports anti-American propaganda outlet, Reuters. The Arctic summers will be completely devoid of ice by the year 2100, if the global warming trend continues.

Most scientists believe greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide that is released mainly from cars and utility smokestacks, cause global warming by trapping solar heat in the atmosphere. Many believe global warming can lead to catastrophic consequences, including raising sea levels and strengthening weather events such as hurricanes.

That's right, the Top 5 carbon dioxide producers in the world are Hummers, Ford Excursions, the city of Newark, and tied for fifth: Mt. Saint Helens and Barbra Streisand.

Inuit hunters threatened by the melting of Arctic ice plan to file a petition in December [just in time for winter] accusing the United States of violating their human rights by fueling global warming. The Bush administration has opted out of the Kyoto Treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Yep, it's all Bush's fault. On June 25, 1997, Bush as Governor of Texas, duped the Senate into voting 95-0 to recommend that President Clinton reject the Kyoto protocol because it would harm the U.S. economy. No doubt, Karl Rove and Halliburton also played a part in duping the Democrat majority.

Hey, it worked for the Chicoms.

A Boulder City woman who pleaded no contest to possession of six marijuana plants could lose her house over the case.

Officials in the small town, which prides itself on being the only community in the state that doesn't allow gambling, said their move to seize Cynthia Warren's home is intended to send a message that drugs won't be tolerated in Boulder City.

The defendent is pleading no contest to a misdemeanor, but the city wants to seize her home, which is estimated to have $300,000 worth of equity. That's quite a way to make an example out of someone.

Say Uncle brings up the topic of anticipatory search warrants. Those would be warrants issued not because you've done something, but because they think you might do something.

["anticipatory" search warrants] anticipate the defendant doing something in the future . . . and essentially find that, while there is no probable cause right now, upon the defendant's doing the anticipated action, there will be probable cause in the future, so let the warrant issue now, to be executed only after the anticipated act. The minor problem is that the Fourth Amendment clearly says "no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause."

Uncle also beats me to the punch line with, "So, where's the division of future crime? I want my minority report."

Heh. I notices yesterday that I'm slowly slipping down to the bottom of the Truth Laid Bear ecosystem. I used to be in the upper region of the Large Mammals, just a few spots behind this guy. Now he's up there at 419, and I've slid all the way down into the 1500s. That's quite a decline.

One thing I've noticed though, is that the links logged by the ecosystem seem to be a little inconsistent. One week I'll have a few hundred inbound links, a few days later they've all disappeared.

Another thing I've noticed is that it seems to handicap blogs that don't subscribe to everybody's favorite stats program, Sitemeter. I don't really like third party scripts, and blogrolling is the only one I use. And I've thought a few times about dumping that, because it's always going down. Third party scripts basically suck, especially when they are programmed to load before the page's content. There's nothing worse than waiting for a script to time out before a stinkin' web site will load.

Of course I'm not really in this for the traffic. It's nice to climb your way up, but I do a few persnickity things that basically forestall traffic growth. One big limitation is that I don't link hundreds of other sites willy nilly. I'm ultra stingy with the blogroll, much to the chagrin of those sending in requests to be added. By declining those requests, I'm less likely to be linked in return.

The other limiting factor is that I don't comment a lot on other sites any more. I still read quite a few, but I rarely comment, mostly because I don't have time to keep track of the thread.

If you want to drive a lot of traffic to your own site, link a lot of other blogs, and comment a lot on other sites. It's a quick and dirty way to get exposure. If that doesn't work, just post a lot of nudie pics.

CNN/Money, who sometimes takes financial advice from famed economist Billy Joel, reports that the price of gas is being "blamed for past due credit-cards". We have high gas prices. We have past due credit cards. One must have caused the other.

There was a record number of delinquent credit-card accounts reported in the second quarter, according to data released Wednesday from the American Bankers Association...

The ABA also noted an increase in delinquent payments on personal loans, auto loans, home equity loans and lines of credit.

A key reason for the increase in delinquencies, the ABA said, was the strain of higher gas prices, noting that since December 2004, the average cost of filling up the gas tank of a mid-size car has risen just over $17, from $30.63 at the end of last year to $47.78. In June, the cost averaged $38.33.

"The last two quarters have not been pretty. Gas prices are taking huge chunks out of wallets, leaving some individuals with little left to meet their financial obligations," said ABA chief economist James Chessen in a statement.

So people are taking out home mortgage loans to pay for gas. That's bound to lead to financial ruin, and it'll naturally be all Bush's fault. I would have more respect for CNN/Money if they noted that the high price of oil was having overall inflationary measures. Everything we buy or use is brought to market using oil. Everything made of plastic is derived from some sort of petroleum. Oil prices inflate the price of everything, which would explain increasing credit card balances. But to say that the price of gas alone is to blame, is simplisme at best.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with stressing credit card smarts. But check out the advertiser links that CNN/Money offers on that very same page:

(click for full screenshot)

I've started an arms race.

Air America is doing so well in the ratings war, that they're having to resort to begging for money. While I really did hope that the fledgling radio network would survive, the PBS-style pledge drives aren't a good sign.

On its website, Air America lists the benefits of membership, stating, "In return for your help, we'll send you a monthly Associates insider e-mail with the backstage news from our shows and our headquarters. When we take Air America Radio on the road, we'll invite you to meet our hosts and progressive leaders in your community. And for gifts of $50 and up, we've got free stuff to send you."

Among the "free stuff," Air America is giving contributors three bumper stickers to help spread word about the programming. Gifts of $100 or more entitle listeners to "a stylin' yet functional tote bag," and for those donating at least $250, "our hosts and staff will personally thank you at this level of giving on AirAmericaRadio.com and on the air."

For $500, they won't mention your name. Heh.

For evidence that we're winning the War on Terror, you have to look to news reports overseas.

The US military believes it is one step closer to tracking down al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The prediction comes after al-Zarqawi's deputy was killed in a gun battle in Baghdad.

Abu Azzam played a key role in organizing the campaign of deadly suicide bombings in Iraq...

Abu Azzam always enjoyed a spot near the very top of America's most-wanted list in Iraq. The US military says he co-ordinated al Qaeda's operations in Baghdad, ranging from deadly suicide bombings to individual assassinations.

Azzam was also seen as the terror group's moneyman, helping finance the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq to join the insurgency.

Tam is looking for hits. Not sure how many I can provide though.

I didn't watch ABC's "Commander in Chief" tonight; the show about a female president named Hil. . .er Mackenzie. I have better things to do with my time than watch a West Wing Wanna-be. But I did read some of the reviews, which seemed mixed, and was astonished by the write-up in the Boston Herald

"Commander in Chief" isn't the TV breakthrough ABC might have you believe.

Another TV female president has been shepherding humanity through its darkest hours. Like "Commander's" Allen, President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell) assumed the reins in tragic circumstances - the 40 or so officials ahead of this Secretary of Education were massacred by the Cylons in the 2003 miniseries that launched Sci Fi's successful "Battlestar Galactica."

Roslin has battled political intrigue, quarreled with the military's leader (Edward James Olmos) and struggled with breast cancer as she tries to keep 48,000 survivors alive.

I love Battlestar Galactica and can hardly wait until it returns in January, but I never considered their President to be anything extraordinary. I mean, it is SciFi, and it's a whole different genre and civilization. I guess you just take it for granted when you see women in power on scifi. I quit relating it to the real world when the ultra-PC Star Trek Voyager debuted, with the highest ranking white male officer being a Lieutenant.

I guess what I'm saying is that with SciFi a female president is no big deal, because you already have suspended disbelief for all that techno-bullshit. With "Commander in Chief", like any other drama, it's up to the producers to make you believe that it's real, which with Geena Davis is pretty difficult.

"As a discussion about guns grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Dodge City or the Wild West approaches one." -- Ravenwood's Law.

This guy broke it from the very start:

Welcome back, Wyatt Earp

Have our legislators been watching too many John Wayne westerns lately? Under a measure introduced in the state House recently, Michigan residents, without facing prosecution, would be allowed to shoot and kill someone who breaks into their home or vehicle.

Did I step into a time machine and reappear in 1880s Tombstone, Ariz.? Paranoia and personal property overtook common sense and self-restraint in drafting this measure.

Michigan's concealed weapons law is menacing enough without giving would-be Dirty Harrys the green light to start blasting away when somebody breaks a window in their home. That may be taking the idea to an extreme, but that's society today, one extreme or the other, with very little middle ground.

What happens if someone simply takes a shortcut and trespasses across your lawn? Is a warning shot required or can you shoot to disable?

Even Tombstone in the 1880s had laws on where guns could be used. Personal protection was always the most important consideration. [Ed. Note: Actually, guns were banned in Tombstone.]

However, the Michigan Legislature is almost making it mandatory to be packing heat when you go out. You never know who may be armed and ready to get John Wesley Hardin on you. [Hardin was a "western gunslinger" who murdered more than thirty people, and was rumored to have shot a man just for snoring.] [...]

Apparently lawmakers want to see life imitate art, judging by the shoot-outs seen regularly on television and in movies. Noting that the 2001 law made it easier to obtain a concealed weapons permit in Michigan, a spokesperson for the Michigan Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence pointed out the obvious failing of this new effort.

"This is basically saying guns are going to be the first resort. It's more likely you're going to end up shooting your son coming home late from a date...than you are an intruder," said Carolynne Jarvis.

How long before Michigan has a must-carry weapons law? Don't hand me the garbage about "An armed society is a polite society," either. An armed society is an angry society. It is also a paranoid one that doesn't trust anybody. [Remember, guns emit evil mind control rays.]

Thou shalt not steal and thou shalt not kill are two of the Ten Commandments. Does the Legislature mean to make one commandment more important than another?

Our society has already made life one of the cheapest commodities going these days. But, I was taught that life - even that of a crackhead-junkie-thief - is worth more than a television set.

Have we forgotten that, or is the value of life now measured by degree?

Heh. I could spend all day fisking such blather, but why bother.

MSNBC headline: "Firms with Bush ties snag Katrina deals". Details include the media's favorite boogeyman Dick Cheney and *gasp* Halliburton.

At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President George W. Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.

One is Shaw Group Inc. and the other is Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. Vice President Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton...

Halliburton alone has earned more than $9 billion. Pentagon audits released by Democrats in June showed $1.03 billion in "questioned" costs and $422 million in "unsupported" costs for Halliburton's work in Iraq.

But the web of Bush administration connections is attracting renewed attention from watchdog groups in the post-Katrina reconstruction rush...

Halliburton continues to be a source of income for Cheney, who served as its chief executive officer from 1995 until 2000 when he joined the Republican ticket for the White House. According to tax filings released in April, Cheney's income included $194,852 in deferred pay from the company, which has also won billion-dollar government contracts in Iraq.

Halliburton... Cheney... Halliburton... Cheney... It's the same format the media used with rebuilding efforts in Iraq. But what aren't they telling us?

Well, they also report that the Shaw Group was awarded two no-bid contracts worth $100 Million each. What you aren't told is that the Chairman and CEO of Shaw Group is J. M. Bernhard, Jr. That is the same Jim Bernhard who is the Chairman of the Democrat Party in Louisiana. The same Jim Bernhard who has close ties to Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco.

J. M. Bernhard, Jr. is the Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Shaw Group Inc., a Fortune 500 company offering a broad range of services to the power, process, environmental, infrastructure and emergency response markets... Under Mr. Bernhard's leadership, The Shaw Group has grown dramatically and through a series of strategic acquisitions to over $3 billion in revenues since its inception in 1987. Shaw is one of the youngest companies to be named to the Fortune 500 and recently debuted on the magazine�s list of "America's Most Admired Companies"...

An active participant in many civic and philanthropic endeavors, Mr. Bernhard was recently selected as Chairman of the Louisiana Democratic Party. He co-chaired the transition team for the governor of Louisiana, Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco.

I'm not saying that Shaw Group is a bad company, or that Bernhard's and Gov. Blanco's political connections had anything to do with Shaw's award of $200 Million in no-bid contracts.

But if Cheney's link to Halliburton is newsworthy, why isn't Bernhard and Blanco's link to Shaw Group also worth mentioning?

Virginia Democrats are said to be wooing character actor and political mastermind, Ben Affleck, for Senator.

Why, who should happen to be pondering a move to Thomas Jefferson country but a certain square-jawed media magnet with a taste for liberal politics and millions to spend on it . . . Ben Affleck! Star of "Gigli" and the J.Lo tab romance, now happily settled with "Alias" star Jennifer Garner.

The couple, expecting their first child, have been shopping for real estate around Charlottesville. British tabloids claim it's a done deal; we will only go so far as to report that they checked out at least one country estate a few weeks ago.

It was about that time that party officials started batting Affleck's name around. "It's spread pretty widely, at least in the political underground," University of Virginia professor Larry Sabato, Virginia's premier pundit, told Michael Shear, The Post's Richmond correspondent.

Let's see, Afleck was born in Berkeley California and raised in Cambridge Massachusetts. He dropped out of college, has a few petty arrests, and even more petty romances, engagements, etc that are constantly in the news. He is also well known for starring in the froo froo film, Gigli. I seriously doubt that he'll be able to unseat Virginia native, college football hero, son of a pro football hall of fame coach, and former Virginia Governor George Allen.

If the Dems really want a viable celebrity candidate - someone who Virginians might actually vote for - they should enlist Boo Radley. Actor Robert Duvall is also from California, but he at least owns land in Virginia. He has owned a ranch in Charlottesville for years, and is a direct descendent of another Virginia native and field general, Robert E. Lee. Duvall can also trace his roots back to another great Virginian, President George Washington. He's served in the Army (briefly), is the son of an Admiral, and quite frankly, could kick Ben Affleck's ass even at the ripe old age of 74.

I still doubt he could beat George Allen, but at least he'd stand a chance.

Jack Kelly has a realistic idea of what really slowed down the evacuation of New Orleans.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin reportedly was reluctant to order a mandatory evacuation for fear of lawsuits. God knows why Gov. Kathleen Blanco dragged her feet -- dithering seems to be her modus operandi -- but I suspect lawyers had a lot to do with it.

My friend Ralph Peters told me his sources in the Pentagon told him lawyers for FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security spent the weekend before Katrina struck arguing about what they could or couldn't do -- the emphasis was on couldn't -- absent certain permissions from Blanco.

Robert Garrard sends in this tale of abuse of power. (entire article quoted below)

When a Canadian journalist dared to write a column criticizing the photo radar program used in Edmonton, Alberta, the local cops apparently decided to get even.

Staff Sgt. Bill Newton looked up the name of journalist Kerry Diotte in an ostensibly official-use-only police database, found Diotte's license plate and home address, and asked his colleagues to look out for Diotte's BMW convertible, according to a report Wednesday in the Edmonton Sun. (Diotte is a columnist for the newspaper.)

The cops tracked down Diotte in a bar and planned to nab him on drunk driving charges. But he took a cab home instead. Now Sgt. Newton is -- appropriately, it seems -- facing a disciplinary hearing.

Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, a Republican, didn't make any friends this week when he canceled school for two days because of feared gas shortages. The fuel shortages never appeared in Georgia (or Gegorgia as the Washington Post calls it) and parents were fuming mad over having to find last minute baby sitters and day care. Some parents even staged a teach in at the state capitol in Atlanta.

Supporters pointed out that Perdue made a tough decision. The easy thing to do would have been to have the kids go to school and then blame Hurricane Rita for any disruptions.

The "snow days" saved hundreds of thousands of gallons of diesel fuel. With everyone bitching about prices and the environmental impact of gas guzzlers, it makes me think that they should cancel school every day. Home schooled children not only perform better, they're saving the environment.

R&B singer, D'Angelo, was critically injured when his SUV ran amok, reports the AP.

D'Angelo, 31, born Michael Eugene Archer, was in a 2003 Hummer sport utility vehicle on September 19 when it crossed the roadway and struck a fence, ejecting the singer, State Police Sgt. Kevin Barrick said Monday. Archer wasn't wearing a seat restraint, Barrick said.

Police are still investigating the cause of the crash.

After stealing a car from a gas station attendant, two alleged car thieves were nabbed after they returned to the station an hour later to fill up with gas.

Employee Pam Pease, 49, was sweeping the parking area when she noticed a familiar car pull up to pump No. 7.

It was her blue 1994 Ford Escort with a missing hubcap. She had reported it stolen less than an hour earlier.

"It just blew my mind, but there they were," Pease said. "I'm glad it was low on gas."

Artemio Castillo, 49, and Ernesto Garcia, 41, were arrested Tuesday night.

"Menopause years especially tough for female executives" -- Associated Press, September 23, 2005.

Union City California has had to throw out thousands of red light camera tickets after city officials admitted that the duration of the yellow light was too short.

The AP reports:

Officials discovered last week that the yellow-light duration on all five of the city's camera-enforced intersections was too short, in some cases by more than a second.

Since Union City began using the cameras over the summer, about 3,000 photographs have caught people driving through red lights. Each ticket carries a $351 fine.

Officials learned of the problem after they received complaints from residents, who claimed they were unfairly ticketed. The state Department of Transportation sets the minimum amount of time that a traffic signal must remain yellow before turning red, based on the road's speed limit.

This is not the first time a Californian city has been busted for red-light shenanigans.

And I thought it was Bush who had the weather machine.

An Idaho weatherman says Japan's Yakuza mafia used a Russian-made electromagnetic generator to cause Hurricane Katrina in a bid to avenge itself for the Hiroshima atom bomb attack � and that this technology will soon be wielded again to hit another U.S. city.
Meteorologist Scott Stevens, a nine-year veteran of KPVI-TV in Pocatello, said he was struggling to forecast weather patterns starting in 1998 when he discovered the theory on the Internet. It's now detailed on Stevens' website, www.weatherwars.info, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported.

Stevens, who is among several people to offer alternative and generally discounted theories for the storm that flooded New Orleans, says a little-known oversight in physical laws makes it possible to create and control storms � especially if you're armed with the Cold War-era weapon said to have been made by the Russians in 1976. Stevens became convinced of the existence of the Russian device when he observed an unusual Montana cold front in 2004.

"I just got sick to my stomach because these clouds were unnatural and that meant they had (the machine) on all the time," Stevens said. "I was left trying to forecast the intent of some organization rather than the weather of this planet."

Stevens has received so many letters, he's resigned from the local news.

I knew they were the second smartest species on Earth, but I never thought I'd read about armed dolphins swimming around the Gulf of Mexico.

Experts who have studied the U.S. Navy's cetacean training exercises fear that as many as 36 escaped mammals could be carrying 'toxic dart' guns. Dolphins, considered one of the species with intelligence second only to man's, now threaten divers and surfers. The U.S. Navy admits it has been training dolphins for military purposes, but has refused to confirm that any are missing.

Accident investigator Leo Sheridan, 72, said he had received intelligence from sources close to the U.S. government's marine fisheries service confirming dolphins had escaped.

"My concern is that they have learnt to shoot at divers in wetsuits who have simulated terrorists in exercises. If divers or windsurfers are mistaken for a spy or suicide bomber and if equipped with special harnesses carrying toxic darts, they could fire," Sheridan said.

The Navy started the Cetacean Intelligence Mission in 1989, outfitting dolphins with harness and electrodes, and teaching them to protect Trident subs in harbor. Dolphins have been used to detect mines near an Iraqi port. It is apparent the government has been working on using dolphins as weapons.

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Possession of firearms on VCU campus in Richmond is illegal. Even those that have a permit to carry concealed handguns are barred from carrying guns on VCU campus by state statute. But VCU Police have admitted to seizing firearms from people who dare to even get near the college.

Style Weekly reports that the police are concerned that guns *might* be carried onto campus and have stretched their domain out into town.

After a series of random shootings near the campus, Virginia Commonwealth University Police have become proactive and aggressive in seizing weapons. "We've really targeted the guns," VCU Police Sgt. Chris Preuss says. And on nights when they scour city streets for them, he says, police pick up "generally one to two every night." Most of the guns have been confiscated on the periphery of campus, in the 800 and 900 blocks of Broad, Grace and Harrison streets, says VCU Police Chief Willie Fuller. The initiative started earlier this year, Fuller says, when officers scouring the area at night noticed more and more guns in vehicles, that apparently belonged to local club patrons. None of those arrested have been VCU students.

"We didn't want this stuff spilling over to campus," Fuller says.

...VCU Police have seized 30 guns of various makes and models over six months, ranging from Ruger 40-calibers to Glock 357s to AK-47s, says Sgt. Preuss. He carries a folder with pictures of confiscated weapons that he'll give to federal officials in the U.S. Attorney�s office.

They don't say if the seizures were the result of criminal investigations, or if officers were just breaking into cars and stealing them. The truth is probably somewhere in between, but I think if they have valid reasons for seizing them (other than getting to close to VCU's "gun-free" zone), it would have been trumpeted.

UPDATE: VCDL reports that the guns were seized in accordance with the law.

I talked to a sergeant (Prues) with the VCU police and he said the guns were taken during traffic stops from people (he used the term "hip-hop crowd") who either had them illegally concealed or weren't allowed to have them by law. He said they were not bothering those who legally carried guns either openly or concealed.

CNS News is reporting that a judge has issued a restraining order against firearms seizures in New Orleans. In a time when the government was powerless to help people, officials began seizing lawfully owned firearms from law-abiding citizens, leaving them defenseless against predators.

As well as asking how this was allowed to happen, we should also be asking why it took this long to put a stop to it.

"Anti-war protestors in D.C. are met today by a stronger force of Bush supporters. We'll have that story and all the day's news, coming up after the movie." -- Jennifer Ryan, WUSA TV-9 (CBS) in Washington D.C. reporting during half-time of the Steelers-Patriots game.

After this weekend's 51-7 rout of Georgia Tech, Beamerball looks to be back this season. Virginia Tech's defense and special teams came up big.

Speaking of the D, ESPN took a look at just how good the Virginia Tech Defense has been playing:

- Allowed just 23 points in 1st 4 games.

- 13 straight quarters without allowing a TD until 3rd quarter vs. Georgia Tech.

- Virginia Tech's defense has scored more touchdowns overall than their opponent's offense this season (3-2).

In related news, the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week has been awarded to, the Virginia Tech Defense. It's the first time an entire defensive unit has earned the award.

But for those of you that are superstitious, the Hokies have risen to #3 in the AP poll. Next week they play West Virginia on the road. As I mentioned two weeks ago, there was another time Virginia Tech was #3 and travelling to Morgantown. Let's hope history does not repeat itself.

Personally, I'm a little worried about the offense. I know, they've outscoring opponents 161 to 23, but I think that's a little misleading. Some of that is defensive and special teams scoring, both of which have also set the offense up with relatively short yardage. The O-line is my biggest concern. They don't seem to be protecting the quarterback enough, forcing Marcus Vick to have to get his plays off quickly before they break down. To put things in perspective, the offense has allowed nearly as many sacks as the defense has gotten against their opponents. Tech's "award winning" defense has put up 12 sacks this season for 70 yards, where as the offense has allowed 11 for 69 yards.

On the other hand, if Tech improves their offensive blocking, I think they're unstoppable.

Alphecca reports on the gun grabbers latest scare tactics, ala the Miami Herald.

Enter Florida at your own risk. That's the message supporters of gun control are sending in an ad campaign designed to warn visitors about Florida's new law allowing victims to shoot first in self-defense without fear of prosecution.

The law, passed by the Florida Legislature in the spring and signed by Gov. Jeb Bush, takes effect Oct. 1. That's the day the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence will start its newspaper ad campaign in London, Chicago, Boston and Detroit and hand out fliers to arriving passengers at Miami International Airport.

The new law ''may lead to the reckless use of guns on the streets of Florida cities,'' the one-page flier reads. The ads will warn that after Oct. 1, visitors ''face a greater risk of bodily harm in Florida,'' said Peter Hamm, spokesman for the Washington-based advocacy group.

The fliers urge tourists to take precautions, such as: ''Do not argue unnecessarily with local people,'' and ''keep your hands in plain sight'' if you are involved in a traffic accident or a near-miss.

[...]

The governor's office blasted the campaign as a gimmick to inflame public opinion with false information.

''We think this is ridiculous,'' said Alia Faraj, the governor's spokeswoman. "Florida's crime rate has reached a 34-year low and the 80 million visitors who came to our state can attest to that. It's tragic that they would use gimmicks like that to scare people.''

The measure expanded Florida's ''castle doctrine'' law -- named after the philosophy that ''a man's home is his castle'' -- which holds that a person has a right to shoot first in self-defense in his home.

So Florida reinforces your right to shoot someone who breaks into your home and intends you harm, so the gun grabbers claim they'll be gunning 'em down on the streets. When it comes down to robbers and victims, why are these guys always on the side of the robbers?

Greyhound employees who sell bus tickets to illegal aliens will face termination reports the Associated Press.

The policy warns that failure to comply could result in the employee's firing and possibly arrest.

Kimberly Plaskett, a Greyhound spokeswoman, said she didn't know how many customers have been denied tickets under the policy but called it a "pretty rare" occurrence. The Dallas-based company adopted the policy in 2002 in response to the criminal indictment of a now-defunct, California bus company that pleaded guilty to immigrant smuggling, she said.

The policy was largely unknown outside the company until La Opinion, a Spanish-language newspaper in Los Angeles, reported on it earlier this month.

Of course illegal immigrant's rights activists are outraged. They say the policy specifically targets hispanics and invites *gasp* racial profiling. But since hardly any activists ride Greyhound, what can they really do?

Larry Elder says that instead of blaming whites for causing hurricanes and floods, people should be taking a closer look at some of our laws that were specifically written to target blacks.

The War on Drugs. By making drugs illegal, lawmakers intended to target minorities -- specifically blacks, Mexicans and Chinese. Former President Theodore Roosevelt's drug adviser warned, "Cocaine is often a direct incentive to the crime of rape by the Negroes." In "The American Disease," David Musto notes that prohibitions early in the 20th century, at least in part, targeted foreigners or minorities, including the allegedly opium-using Chinese. In 1937, the Marihuana Tax Act targeted Mexican immigrants. In 1936, a Colorado newspaper editor wrote to federal officials, "I wish I could show you what a small marijuana cigarette can do to one of our degenerate Spanish-speaking residents."

Race-Based Preferences. Lowering admission standards to achieve "diversity" hurts black graduation rates. The Detroit News looked at the graduation rates at seven Michigan colleges and universities. Blacks graduated within six years at a rate of 40 percent, compared to 61 percent for whites and 74 percent for Asians. Many mismatched students simply drop out when they would have been successful at a less competitive university. One study says that the failure of minority students to graduate at the same rate as white students causes a loss in the "black economy" of $5.3 billion a year in income.

Gun Control. Gun control laws, in the beginning, sought to disarm blacks. Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney, in the infamous Dred Scott case which defined blacks as property, said that if blacks were "entitled to the privileges and communities of citizens, . . . [i]t would give persons of the negro race . . . the right . . . to keep and carry arms wherever they went . . . inevitably producing discontent and insubordination among them, and endangering the peace and safety of the state. . . ." In "Condi: The Condoleezza Rice Story," author Antonia Felix describes the secretary of state's early years in the Jim Crow South. Rice watched her father and neighbors guard black neighborhoods with shotguns against armed, white vigilantes. Felix writes, "The memory of her father out on patrol lies behind Rice's opposition to gun control today. Had those guns been registered, she argues, Bull Connor would have had a legal right to take them away, thereby removing one of the black community's only means of defense."

The Davis-Bacon Act. Introduced in 1927, this Act sought to shut out black workers from competing for construction jobs when whites complained that Southern blacks were hired to build a Long Island Veteran's Bureau hospital. In a labor market dominated by exclusionary unions demanding above-market wages, blacks at one time competed by working for less money than the unionists. Davis-Bacon stopped this by requiring federal contractors to pay prevailing union wages, causing massive black unemployment.

Social Security. Although Congress did not intend for Social Security to disproportionately hurt blacks, it does. Blacks have a shorter life expectancy, and therefore get less out of the system. According to the CATO Institute, "A 1996 study by . . . the RAND Corporation found . . . a net lifetime transfer of wealth from blacks to whites averaging nearly $10,000 per person. . . . A 1998 study by the Heritage Foundation . . . found that an average single black man will pay $13,377 more in payroll taxes over his lifetime than he will receive in benefits, a return of just 88 cents on every dollar paid in taxes."

Minimum Wage. In "Free to Choose," Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman writes that before the imposition of minimum wage laws, black teens were more likely to be employed than white teens. After the imposition of minimum wage laws, an employment gap emerged between white and black teens, with black teens becoming increasingly less employed. Friedman finds " . . . the minimum wage law to be one of the most, if not the most anti-black law on the statute books."

Gotta get me one of these.

The pessimists are predicting $5 a gallon gasoline.

"We could be looking at gasoline lines and $4 gas, maybe even $5 gas, if this thing does the worst it could do," said energy analyst Peter Beutel of Cameron Hanover. "This storm is in the wrong place. And it's absolutely at the wrong time," said Beutel.

What is an absolute certainty will be the accusations of price gouging and "big oil" profiteering.

CNN reports that most Americans polled think that the United States will lose the Iraq War.

Only 21 percent said the United States definitely would win the war in Iraq, which began when a U.S.-led coalition invaded in 2003 to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Another 22 percent said they thought the United States probably would win.

Twenty percent of respondents said the United States was capable of winning in Iraq -- but probably would not. And 34 percent said they considered the war unwinnable.

Maybe I just don't get it, but I thought we had already won the Iraq War. We toppled Saddam Hussein, found some of his weapons of mass destruction, and helped the Iraqis set up a form of representative government. Maybe I'm just too much of an optimist.

We are facing a lot of terrorism in Iraq, which is proving to be hard to eradicate. I think that part of the secret to winning against the terrorists is to help Iraq secure her borders and prevent foreign nationals from importing and breeding terror.

UPDATE: Here's a better poll: Poll: Most Americans Not In Iraq

This color test is harder than you'd think.

Try a round of golf on me.

Jeff Mankoff is a sixth year PhD student in Yale's History Department. Yesterday Mankoff exercised his Constitutionally protected First Amendment freedoms to espouse his opinion on the worthlessness of the Constitution.

Be warned. Remove all heavy objects from within arm's reach. What you're about to read could be very disturbing.

[Constitution Day] is another ridiculous example of the "sanctimonious reverence," as Thomas Jefferson termed it, in which many Americans hold the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Both documents no doubt played important roles in the American colonies' struggle to free themselves from British rule and establish a new nation. Recognizing them as crucial pieces of American history is one thing, but worshiping them like sacred texts goes too far.

The Constitution in particular needs to be stripped of much of the mystic awe surrounding it, since it continues to shape American political life, yet suffers from serious flaws. Many of these flaws could be corrected by wise legislation, if only legislators, and the public, were not so deeply attached to the Constitution that they cringe before any attempt to substantively alter it.

Just then men in black jackets from three letter government agencies showed up and whisked Mr. Mankoff off for political re-education. Oh, wait... they didn't really do that. I wonder what prevented that?

Here's more:

The Constitution, while laying the foundation for the creation of a great American nation, was also very much a product of its time. Though it has mostly aged well, the Constitution has also given us a rigid 18th-century political system not always well suited to the modern world. Even with its amendments, the document is fraught with problems too rarely acknowledged by politicians or the public.

As Yale political scientist Robert Dahl has pointed out, the Constitution is grossly undemocratic.

That's on purpose. I guess Yale doesn't teach kids what the tyranny of majority rule is.

Since Wyoming, with fewer than 500,000 inhabitants, has the same clout in the Senate as California, with almost 34 million, each Wyomingite counts 68 times as much as each Californian.

Um.. no. I guess they've also never heard of the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES! The Constitution set up the House to represent the people, and the Senate to represent the states. That all went out the window with the dreaded Seventeenth Amendment.

The Constitution is also responsible for burdening us with the Electoral College, a body designed to purposely undermine popular sovereignty. The 2000 election, when Al Gore outpolled George Bush but was denied the presidency by the Electoral College (with an assist by the Supreme Court), is the most recent example of 18th-century oligarchy trampling 21st-century democracy.

This guy is a doctoral candidate in History! The Electoral College didn't prevent anything. They elected a President, just like they've been tasked with electing a President for more than 200 years. Al Gore lost the presidency because he didn't garner enough electoral votes, and those are the votes that count. A baseball team can win the World Series 4 games to 3 and still have less overall runs than their competitor. Only a sore loser would argue that their team should have won because they scored more runs while losing more games.

Something tells me that Mankoff would not have supported Bush, had Kerry won Ohio and ended up with more electoral votes.

Besides being undemocratic, the Constitution is also, in places, just poorly written. Take the Second Amendment, which mentions the need for a well-regulated militia and conferring (sic) the right to bear arms. Because of the Framers' unclear wording, no one has been able to establish definitively whether this right belongs only to the militia or to individuals.

The Second Amendment is quite clear. It "mentions the need for a well-regulated militia and conferring (sic) the right to bear arms". That is, it is because of the need for a well-regulated militia, that the people have the right to keep and bear arms. Mankoff doesn't understand that because he ain't got no good grammars.

The easiest and fairest solution would be to just rewrite the Second Amendment, but because the Constitution has taken on the aura of sanctity in our political culture, there is little likelihood of that happening.

Yeah, that's much easier than teaching English and educating students as to what the word "militia" means.

Adhering to the Framers' "original intent," as many conservatives would have us do, is a recipe for oligarchy (which was, after all, what the Framers wanted). Creating the Electoral College and denying the vote to women, blacks and poor people were both part of the Framers' desire to keep power in the hands of people like themselves (and I have a sneaking suspicion many "strict constructionalists" would prefer things that way).

And there it is, the veiled reference to racism. What, no nazi reference?

The main alternative -- seeing the Constitution as a "living document" subject to constant reinterpretation -- is also anti-democratic, since it allows the judiciary to usurp power from the elected legislative branch. The Constitution needs changing, but it should not be up to the courts to change it.

No shit sherlock. It's illegal for the courts to change it.

Some of the Constitution's worst features have, it is true, been corrected by amendment -- though in the case of ending slavery and giving blacks the vote, the price was civil war. The Framers deliberately made changing the Constitution difficult, but at the price of a rigidity that has made the U.S. political system ossified and anachronistic.

No, it's what has given America the most stable form of government in the world.

Jefferson argued that each generation should modify the Constitution to fit its own times, since "each generation has the same right of self-government [as] the past one." Jefferson's modest regard of the Constitution as an edifice in need of constant repair is a much better way of think of our nation's most important document than the sanctimony that has given us "Constitution Day."

And that's what the Constitution does is set up a system of self-government. The Constitution doesn't give people anything, it limits the power of government. What Almost-a-Dr. Mankoff is suggesting is giving more power to the government to rule over her subjects. Jefferson would not be pleased.

What's more, the Constitution has served to level the playing field for all individuals. Without it, people would be subject to social whims du jour. Would Mankoff like it if we all took a vote and decided what he ate for dinner, who he married, or where he attends school? After all, as long as majority rules it must be okay.

Thomas Wease was told by his doctor that he could grow medical marijuana reports the AP. But after he grew about a ton of the controlled substance, he decided to call the cops and find out if it was legal. Apparently, it wasn't.

Wease says he called the sheriff's office to find out just how much pot he could grow. Wease says he would have taken a machete and chopped down the excess weed himself, had somebody told him to do so.

Wease says he has a doctor's marijuana recommendation for his bad back. He adds he was also growing the weed for more than 20 other medical marijuana users. Wease was busted on suspicion of illegal cultivation and possession for sale.

Hey, whaddayaknow, a new gun blogger.

Nolan Finley from the Detroit News says that the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina may end up being good for the Second Amendment.

Gun dealers across the country are reporting increased sales. People who saw on television what happens when government can't deliver on the promise of protecting its citizens are buying firearms as an insurance policy against anarchy.

That assurance of government-provided security has convinced individual Americans to gradually trade in their unrestrained constitutional right to bear arms.

But for days, there was no law in New Orleans and no government to speak of. All rules were off.

While the politically correct version of what happened is that desperate people looted stores for food and water, that's only part of the story. Bands of armed hoodlums roamed the city, smashing their way into businesses and homes, carting off jewelry, liquor, televisions and other goods that had nothing to do with survival.

People were murdered, raped, stripped of their meager provisions.

Those with the best chance of surviving were the ones who had shotguns, rifles and pistols stashed away in closets and drawers.

Nothing is ever good enough for Harry Reid.

"It's nice to have the Bush administration recognize the importance of a federal response to Rita, but why weren't they proactively mobilizing and organizing like this for Katrina?" said Rebecca Kirszner, a spokeswoman for Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

"These are the questions that need to be asked by an independent commission," Kirszner said.

"You are stuck on stupid. I'm not going to answer that question." -- Lt. Gen. Russel Honore to a gaggle of reporters who insisted on asking the same stupid question over and over.

We all know that global warming is man made, so I want to know who's been driving their SUVs on Mars?

Mars is still nothing like Earth, but earthquakes and global warming may be changing the face of the Red Planet, new NASA photos taken from orbit suggest...

The latest findings, made by comparing photos taken by a camera aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, were announced yesterday.

"What the Mars orbital camera has revealed from this long and detailed study of the Red Planet is a dynamic Mars, a planet that can change � not on the mind-boggling millions and billions of years, but on the order of years and decades," said Michael Meyer, chief scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program...

Placing photographs side by side, researchers at the company discovered mysterious gullies appearing on the walls of sand dunes in less than three years, tracks from boulders that had tumbled down the steep wall of a crater between November 2003 and December 2004, dramatic melting of ice at the south pole over three consecutive martian summers, and even a meteorite crater that hadn't existed 20 years ago...

At Mars' south pole, an escarpment of frozen carbon dioxide has retreated nearly 10 feet a year over the past three summers.

"It's evaporating now at a prodigious rate," said Malin.

The significance of this is Mars is experiencing climate change, or has experienced climate change."

Why Mars may be warming is a mystery, he said.

Oh really? Maybe it has something to do with increased solar output. The output of the sun is higher now than at any time in the last 1000 years. Considering the sun is where we get ALL of our energy, maybe.. just maybe, that has something to do with it.

Of course if you admitted that, you might also have to admit that it's also what's caused global warming here on Earth.

I've written about this before, and sometimes it stirs up quite a few people. But with all the class warfare being stirred up over spending, taxation, and Hurricane Katrina, I think it's time to take another look at the Pillars of Communism, and see how far (if at all) we've treaded down that road.

1. Abolition of private property and the application of all rent to public purpose. - Drive drunk and they can take your car. Get caught with drugs and they can take your house. With the Kelo decision, they can now take your land and give it to someone else just to get more property tax revenue.


2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. - We have progressive income tax brackets and progressive estate taxes to soak the rich. On the other end, we have ever-increasing progressive income tax credits that give breaks to "the poor". Currently about 50% of American workers have been systematically removed from the tax rolls, and the top 50% of wage earners pay 96% of all taxes.
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance. - People who face estate taxes currently face seizure of nearly 50% of their inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. - Stop paying your taxes or befoul the law, and watch the government wade in and seize your property. Guns can be seized from anyone who has been involuntarily committed, faces a restraining order, or has been convicted of any crime where the punishment could have been more than one year in jail (regardless of the actual punishment). There have been cases where the government involuntarily committed people, then when they were released, seized their property because they were involuntarily committed.



5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly. - The Fed prints all the money and controls all the interest rates. What's more currency is no longer backed by tangible assets like gold and silver. The Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, is constantly tinkering with the nation's interest rate to control economic growth and inflation.
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transportation in the hands of the State. - The FCC heavily regulates communication. They regulate telephone service, internet service, and even what you watch on TV. Then there's the FEC, who regulates what you can say about politicians leading up to a national election. Throw the postal system in there too. The Federal Highway System, cars, and gasoline are all heavily regulated at the federal level. When the Fed needs the states to pass regulation (ie: DUI, seatbelts, etc), they simply resort to extortion by threatening to withhold highway funding to get their way.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State, the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. - Corporations are heavily regulated and coerced into doing things they would not ordinarily do under a free-market. The Department of the Interior, Department of Commerce, and IRS are all complicit.
8. Equal liablity of all to labor. Establishment of Industrial armies, especially for agriculture. - We are headed down this road via Social Security, labor unions, minimum wages, and affirmative action quotas.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the population over the country. - This is called zoning and planned communities. People who already own their own homes and live in certain communities willfully create a barrier of entry for others to drive up their own housing prices.
10. Free education for all children in government schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production. - This is called the Public School System.

A certain pair of bloggers recently yanked their site without explanation, and have caused a bit of an uproar in the blogosphere. It's as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

Rumors abound and official explanations from those in the know are deliberately vague, but it looks like the people in question had a sudden interest in disappearing from the internet. That is, they had put themselves out there, traded on their real name, and now all of a sudden needed anonymity.

The problem is that the internet doesn't work like that. Putting stuff on the internet is easy, but removing it can literally take years. That is why many people choose to blog anonymously, or maintain an alias. They may not have a reason for anonymity now, but one could develop rather quickly.

Then there was the outrage over their sudden departure. A presence that was always there was suddenly removed, and a lot of people were upset. Some people who had donated money, given gifts, and purchased merchandise felt downright betrayed. This is why Ravenwood's Universe is an advertising/donation/wish-list free zone. I don't even accept paid advertising or free hosting (both of which have been offered) because I don't want the obligation. If I ever have to disappear like that (ie: they .gov comes for my porn stash), or I just want to hang it up, I don't owe anyone anything.

Of course I don't see that happening anytime soon.

I always thought that if federal agents ever beat down my door they'd be coming for my guns. But it looks like they may be after something else that's stashed away in the closet.

Early last month, the [FBI] Washington Field Office began recruiting for a new anti-obscenity squad. Attached to the job posting was a July 29 Electronic Communication from FBI headquarters to all 56 field offices, describing the initiative as "one of the top priorities" of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and, by extension, of "the Director." That would be FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III.

Mischievous commentary began propagating around the water coolers at 601 Fourth St. NW and its satellites, where the FBI's second-largest field office concentrates on national security, high-technology crimes and public corruption.

The new squad will divert eight agents, a supervisor and assorted support staff to gather evidence against "manufacturers and purveyors" of pornography -- not the kind exploiting children, but the kind that depicts, and is marketed to, consenting adults.

"I guess this means we've won the war on terror," said one exasperated FBI agent, speaking on the condition of anonymity because poking fun at headquarters is not regarded as career-enhancing. "We must not need any more resources for espionage."

Such is the sad state of affairs in prudish America. You can get your fill of murder, arson, and mayhem on the nightly news. If you photograph a prisoner getting shot in the head, you might even win the Pulitzer Prize. But don't dare show the naked body, or the most natural of acts taking place between consenting adults. That's criminal.

In the immortal words of the lovable Principal Carter: "I sat through every disgusting frame of this film. Twice."

(Via Countertop)

Hooray for 1900! 1900 U.S. servicemen have been killed in Iraq cheers the Ass. Press! We're rapidly approaching 2000, and the press is giddy with anticipation. And how many terrorists and henchmen of Saddam have been killed? You don't know? I didn't think so.

With most of the New Orleans evacuees being people of color, the race pimps are concerned that too many of the Red Cross volunteers are people of pallor.

The Red Cross Shelter in Franklin opened its doors to storm victims last week. It's only one of two shelters in Middle Tennessee. The other is in Nashville.

Both shelters are in suburban areas, and the volunteers are predominately white, while the evacuees are almost all black.

Some members of the African-American community say that's not good enough.

"When you're different and you're the lone person, you do feel different. When you're in crisis you like to have some familiarity there," says Joyce Searcy with the Bethlehem Centers of Nashville.

James Taranto points out Josh Marshall's blatantly hypocritical hiring practices. For the past several days, Marshall has been worried that the Gulf Coast rebuilding effort in the wake of Hurricane Katrina will use cheap, non-union labor. In what he calls wage-gouging, Marshall laments contractors being allowed to hire people for wages dictated by the market (rather than by labor unions). But then there's this bit of hypocrisy.

TPM is looking for a new web intern who'll be responsible for various aspects of on-going site design, site maintenance, assistance administering the TPM community site, TPMCafe, and work on our various projects like . . . our new tracking of which members of Congress are supporting President Bush's Gulf Coast Wage Cut. . . .

This is an unpaid internship.

Taranto opines: "When your money is at stake, Marshall is willing to let unions dictate wages. When it comes to his own money, he not only refuses to pay prevailing wages, he won't even pay the minimum wage--or indeed any wage at all!"

Georgia will sacrifice more than $20 million in federal highway funds because they have not yet forced farmers to buckle-up in their pickup trucks. AAA notes that using the threat of lethal force to make pickup truck riders buckle their seat-belt, would save 22 lives a year. Georgia, along with Indiana, are the only two states that don't comply.

South Carolina used to buck the system, but now they toe the line.

People in pickup trucks [in South Carolina] had to wear seat belts, but if the unbelted were adults, police couldn't pull them over for that alone. But come this December, seat belts can be the "primary" reason for a traffic stop.

"We're going to hopefully gain $11 million," said a jubilant Max Young, South Carolina's director of highway safety. "I love it. I love it for two reasons. We got a primary seat belt law that's going to go a long way in saving people's lives. And second, good gracious, if we qualified for additional money, we can use the money."

As Dr. Williams brought up earlier this year, this brings up the question of who owns you? In the eyes of the government, clearly it's not you. Insurance companies have a vested financial interest in forcing people to wear seatbelts, and have successfully lobbied the imperial government to do just that. Since the .gov cannot legally force states to pass seatbelt laws (without further expansion of the ever-widening commerce clause), they instead resort to extortion by threatening to withhold highway funding.

Personally I always wear my seatbelt, and make others do so when they ride with me. But if some idiot wants to splatter his brains all over the windshield, who am I to stop him. On principle, it's an infringement of our civil liberties; the same as if they were telling us what to eat, or that we can't smoke (oh wait, too late). Unfortunately, since most of us already wear seatbelts we go along with it in lock-step.

I don't like Toad in the Hole either, but this is just embarassing.

HUNDREDS of tons of British food aid shipped to America for starving Hurricane Katrina survivors is to be burned.

US red tape is stopping it from reaching hungry evacuees.

Instead tons of the badly needed Nato ration packs, the same as those eaten by British troops in Iraq, has been condemned as unfit for human consumption.

And unless the bureaucratic mess is cleared up soon it could be sent for incineration.

One British aid worker last night called the move "sickening senselessness" and said furious colleagues were "spitting blood".

The food, which cost British taxpayers millions, is sitting idle in a huge warehouse after the Food and Drug Agency recalled it when it had already left to be distributed.

Granted this is from the Mirror, but such is life under the FDA; where an unelected bureaucracy tells people they're better off starving than eating uninspected food, or better off dying than taking experimental medication.

Bottled water is being blamed for cavities, and it's not what's in the water, but rather what's missing. Dentists claim that the lack of fluoridation of water is partly to blame for an increase in cavities. As more people are shunning tap water - which is heavily fluoridated - their teeth are paying the price.

The problem is that people are turning away from tap water - which for over two-thirds of Americans contains all of the fluoride that they need to prevent tooth decay - and most bottled waters don't have enough fluoride.

"If bottled water is your main source of drinking water, you could be missing the decay-preventive benefits of fluoride," the ADA says...

Part of the rise in bottled water is lack of trust in municipal water. In Canada, for instance, a mismanaged town water system in Walkerton, Ontario, was blamed for killing seven people and making 2,000 others ill in 2000.

So it's a choice between having your teeth fall out or ingesting life threatening waterborne bacteria. Would you like to be shot in the arm or the leg?

This op-ed is full of so many lies, half-truths, and distortions that it's hard to take seriously.

Seven thousand dollars may not be a huge sum of money, but it is still a significant chunk of change... The list [of what you could buy] is almost endless, but there is one item in particular that really struck me as surprising when I learned that my gift money could purchase it. It is the Barrett M82A1 sniper rifle, and for the fairly modest amount of seven grand, you could take one home today...

Seven thousand dollars. Is that all? I'll take three.

Just looking at the weapon, totally ignorant of its capabilities, I could tell that this was no peashooter. It looks like a modern-day cannon, but with a comfortable pistol grip slapped on the bottom.

Looks scary, and has a pistol grip to boot. But what's wrong with a pistol grip? It's not like you're going to hold it like a pistol and "spray fire from the hip" as the gun grabbers claim you can do with so-called "assault weapons".

Thanks to war movies and an uncle who's a card carrying NRA member, I have seen and fired my fair share of weaponry...

Such qualifications. "I'm not a real gun enthusiast, but I've seen war movies on TV."

...but never had I even seen a firearm as intimidating as this one.

Back to scary looking. (As if staring down the barrel of a .22 in a dark alley isn't intimidating.)

Reading the gun's specs proved to be more than intimidating; it was downright scary.

I bet he had to put them in the freezer next to his copy of The Shining.

According to the product's website, the M82A1 "easily fires the largest commercially available cartridge in the world, the .50 caliber." The weapon doesn't just fire .50 caliber cartridges like a few other weapons, but does so with ease. What sets it apart from other .50 caliber rifles is the fact that it is not bolt action, but semiautomatic with a ten round clip.

GASP!

Instead of having to manually discharge the empty cartridge then load the next, you can snap off ten shots as fast as you can pull the trigger.

[Waiting for laughs and guffaws to die down] If you don't mind ripping your arm off. The .50 BMG hits hard. Really hard.

Ten rounds at a buck from any .50 caliber rifle will leave hunters with very little to mount.

Why fire ten rounds? I thought the thing was super accurate and could down airplanes with a single shot, now we're shooting ten rounds at a single deer.

I also learned that the gun has an effective range of over 2,000 yards. Hunters generally shoot at targets 150-200 yards away, so accuracy over ten times that distance is understandable, right? No, it really isn't, especially with a weapon so powerful. Unless the gun was designed for hunters planning on shooting game from over a mile away and then walking 15 minutes to go retrieve it, this weapon could not have been made for hunting.

Two thousand yards is approaching world record territory. Shooting that distance would be as easy as say.. running a 4-minute mile, or scoring 100 points in a single basketball game. Both are possible, but really really unlikely. Calling it an "effective" range is tenuous at best. Implying that you can hit a target 2,000 yards away, from a semi-auto, spewing rounds as fast as you can pull the trigger is an outright lie. Might as well try running that 4-minute mile in a business suit, while talking on your cell phone.

Sure enough, the M82A1 was not created for civilian gamesmen. It was designed for use in the military and in law enforcement, both of which herald the M107 as the premier big bore rifle (the M82A1 is the civilian version).

And just why would law enforcement need such a rifle? What's more, why would anyone approve of law enforcement owning a gun that is supposedly too dangerous for normal people to possess; one that supposedly only has military applications?

What makes the gun so loved by armies across the globe? Not only does it boast incredible range and extremely destructive ammunition (standard rounds can go through brick walls); it has minimal recoil and is extremely easy to fire. With the recoil of a 12-gauge shotgun if fired from the shoulder and considerably less when fired from the stock bipod, it is very easy for a soldier with little practice or training to become very proficient with the weapon.

Energy does still equal mass times acceleration, right?

Due to their gratuitous power, these guns are used to attack stationary or landing aircraft, tanks, armored personnel carriers and concrete bunkers. They are very rarely used on single enemy combatants, just as I rarely swat flies with a baseball bat. Like a rocket launcher with a tighter shot pattern, these rifles destroy enemy aircraft and tanks cleaner, faster and from farther away.

First of all, you don't need a .50 caliber to destroy a stationary aircraft. Airplanes are light weight and not heavily armored. Tanks are a different story. Just about all guns will pierce armor depending on the thickness of the armor. Barretts *may* pierce old obsolete tanks or thin skinned personnel carriers, but they are hardly anti-tank guns.

I think I have established the fact that the Barrett M82A1 is any target's worst nightmare, but now I think we all need to look at why I can get one of these easier than I could get a handgun.

That's not a fact, it's opinion. And I'd hardly call a $7,000 gun with limited availability easier to get than a $50 handgun. Granted, the author is from Michigan where (to my knowledge) handgun buyers do need to get a license and pass a test prior to purchase.

The amount of havoc that can be caused by this weapon if it found its way into the wrong hands is off the charts. Pedestrians would have to worry the least; the rounds can go through motor vehicles, walls or aircraft shells from over a mile away. Whether it be terrorism or just criminal use, no one would be safe. Another feature of the weapon that should get the thing banned is its ease of use. With minimal training, anyone could become extremely accurate with this weapon, endangering everyone within a mile radius.

Lie.

Despite my firm agreement with the Second Amendment, there are specific cases where the right to bear certain arms is significantly more dangerous than what may happen if one could not. This is one of those cases. The Barrett M82A1 .50 caliber rifle, as well as all other semiautomatic .50 caliber rifles, has no place in society. They are not effective hunting weapons, and anyone could defend themselves more than effectively with a less powerful gun. This weapon is extremely dangerous and not worth the risk.

He's another one of those "I support the Second Amendment, but..." people, who foolishly believes the Second Amendment is all about hunting. Personally, whether it be cigarettes, booze, or guns I'm sick of people justifying their bans by saying they don't think there's a need. Exercising your rights should not be subjected to needs testing, nor should you stand idly by while people try to infringe upon them because of their lack of understanding.

Agricultural theft is a big problem in Hawaii, and some producers have actually been driven out of business. Millions of dollars worth of product are stolen every year and livelihoods are on the line, but government authorities are warning farmers about using firearms against thieves. Sadly, farmers who dare to defend their property are even facing prosecution.

Dean Okimoto is president of the Hawaii Farm Bureau.

He says thefts are costing the industry millions of dollars and have put farmers, including an areca palm farmer in Waimanalo and growers of Kau oranges, out of business.

However, he and other local authorities said yesterday that farmers should not be taking the law into their own hands.

Kahuku farmer Khamxath Baccam is charged with killing Marcelino Pacheco, Jr., who he believed was stealing produce from his farm last year.

Instead, the local politicos want farmers to discuss the problem as a committee.

A forum will be held at 7 p-m Tuesday at Mission Memorial Auditorium in Honolulu to discuss how to properly prevent agricultural theft.

I would suggest that they hang the thieves and pull their pants down to set an example, but something tells me it would fall on deaf ears.

Tony Blair apparently criticized privately, the BBC's anti-American slant with News Corp owner Rupert Murdoch. Of course Rupert Murdoch also owns Fox News, so you know what that means.

Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, in addressing a seminar in New York Saturday organized by former President Bill Clinton, related a conversation he had had with Blair a few days earlier.

Murdoch, whose news organizations compete with the British Broadcasting Corp., told the audience: "Tony Blair -- perhaps I shouldn't repeat this conversation -- told me yesterday that he was in Delhi last week and he turned on the BBC World Service to see what was happening in New Orleans.

"And he said it was just full of hate for America and gloating about our troubles."

Downing Street has declined to comment or elaborate on the prime minister's views, but the fact that he revealed them to Murdoch will be seen as a further sign of his closeness to the tycoon, British newspaper The Telegraph said Monday.

Clinton said that, while the BBC reports were factually accurate, the coverage had been "stacked up" to criticize President Bush's handling of the catastrophe.

Then again the BBC hasn't really been too kind to Blair either.

Today's trash laying in, on, or near the road was:

• Refrigerator - Looked like it was about 18 cu. ft. Not sure if there was food in it or not.

Statistics
Commute: Zoom, zoom, zoom!
Door to door: 18 minutes

Thanks to the United Nations for bringing Countertop out of retirement, again; and with a report like this, can you blame him:

A UNITED Nations report has labelled Scotland the most violent country in the developed world, with people three times more likely to be assaulted than in America.

England and Wales recorded the second highest number of violent assaults while Northern Ireland recorded the fewest...

Violent crime has doubled in Scotland over the past 20 years and levels, per head of population, are now comparable with cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg and Tbilisi.

Gun control seems to be having predictable results.

I hate to sound anti-Muslim, but it's hard to take some of them seriously when they threaten to wage a holy war against a fast food chain for selling ice cream.

THE fast-food chain, Burger King, is withdrawing its ice-cream cones after the lid of the dessert offended a Muslim.

The man claimed the design resembled the Arabic inscription for Allah, and branded it sacrilegious, threatening a "jihad".

The chain is being forced to spend thousands of [dollars] redesigning the lid with backing from The Muslim Council of Britain. It apologised and said: "The design simply represents a spinning ice-cream cone." [...]

He was not satisfied by the decision to withdraw the cones and has called on Muslims to boycott Burger King. He said: "This is my jihad. How can you say it is a spinning swirl? If you spin it one way to the right you are offending Muslims."

Kudos to BK for caving in to a single Muslim. Unfortunately, they now risk offending those who worship the Holy Book of Ice Cream, who are undoubtedly armed with sprinkles, gummis, and jujus.

By the way, the award for best headline goes to Right Thinking for Allahu Snakbar.

Fulton County (GA) is attempting to seize land from a school to build... a school. The AJC reports that the county is threatening imminent domain seizure if the property owners refuse to sell.

The Fulton County school system wants to buy the Weber School site and use the land to build a new elementary school. In a strongly worded letter sent earlier this month, the school district indicated that unless Weber sold the property by today, the school board would use eminent domain to obtain the land.

Fulton school officials offered $18.7 million for the site, at Abernathy and Roswell roads, but Weber school leaders say they have no desire to sell.

"We are not going to back down," said Steve Berman, the president of the school's board. "We are building here."

Parents and students said they were shocked to learn of Fulton's interest in their property at such a late date. Construction is set to begin in a few weeks.

If county officials were smart, they'd have waiting until the private school was complete. With the classrooms already in place, the public school kids could have moved in right away.

UPDATE: What a difference 24 hours makes. After all the uproar, the Fulton County School Board is backing down.

The Dallas News reports that area police officers may no longer be required to respond to burglar alarms. Apparently a vast majority of the alarms are false, so as police budgets tighten look for this trend to grow. Earlier this year a Californian city did the same thing.

Police Chief David Kunkle and several City Council members are advocating "verified response" to keep police patrolling neighborhoods and responding to higher-priority calls. Almost all activated burglar alarms in Dallas are false, statistics indicate.

A verified-response system would most likely require security companies to determine whether an activated alarm was valid before officers were dispatched. That would probably cost the companies money, while Dallas saved money.

Keep in mind that police officers are not bound to serve and protect individuals, only the collective. Unfortunately they are only able to stop crime about 5% of the time, with the other 95% of their work consisting of investigating after the fact and filling out reports. The only one who can really look out for number one is you.

Reader MMW notes that the Dallas Police Chief is tightening the department's TASER rules. They appear to be taking a step toward the original intent of TASER guns - that they are an alternative to lethal force and should not be used as cattle-prods.

Four people have died in Tarrant County after being shocked by police with what is described as a nonlethal device...

Chief Kunkle described the Taser as a "very valuable tool" that may have kept police from having to use deadly force in 20 incidents, but he wants to make sure Tasers will be used in situations in which officers are facing an immediate threat.

Under Dallas' new policy, officers can use Tasers only to subdue someone who tries to assault them or someone else by grabbing, kicking, punching, wrestling or throwing something. Previously, police could shock someone who was resisting arrest but was not physically threatening an officer.

Police officers already have a tough job, and will hopefully be provided with adequate training in order to make the distinction.

Hurricane Katrina's wake has a lot of people scrambling to put together an emergency preparedness kit. (Not me, of course, because I already have one.) But when the Arlington Police Chief was asked about personal protection, he stopped short of demonizing guns and instead stressed that it was a personal choice and that those that do opt to arm themselves practice good gun safety.

Arlington officials expressed caution as to whether local residents should have a weapon on hand to protect themselves.

Police Chief Douglas Scott declined to offer a recommendation one way or another, saying it was a choice each individual should be responsible for making.

"Lots of people absolutely don't feel comfortable owning a gun," Scott said. "Responsible gun owners might decide that they want a firearm to be a part of their emergency preparedness kit." [...]

"Our encouragement is always to take proper precautions, particularly around kids," Scott said.

This may not sound like much, but keep in mind that this is a huge step for Arlington, a deep blue county with a shaky record on gun freedom.

Apparently the ever-annoying ESPN play-by-play announcer, Brent Musberger, drinks Budweiser.

Capt. Allen Soukup said Musburger was cited at 6:10 p.m. Saturday on a public street just west of Memorial Stadium. Musburger was a passenger in the car and was drinking a beer, Soukup said � a Budweiser.

Musburger, 66, had just finished broadcasting the Huskers' game against the University of Pittsburgh.

He was one of several people who were cited for similar alcohol offenses Saturday, Soukup said.

Maybe he was playing the Brent Musburger drinking game.

We've probably all wondered if this would work, now we know.

Indiana State Police say a man who'd been stopped for speeding tried to distract a drug-sniffing dog by throwing dog biscuits out of his car.

Authorities say Jong Kim was pulled over near Wabash. Police say that when a drug-sniffing dog walked around Kim's car, he threw dog biscuits and debris out the window, in an apparent attempt to distract the animal.

Unfortunately for Mr. Kim, it didn't, and he was charged with felony possession of marijuana (75 grams) and for resisting officers.

"If Sen. Mary Landrieu were as good at busing black people to safety as she was at busing them to the polls to vote, none of them would have died."

(via Wizbang)

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina hasn't just affected people. Several dolphins were washed out of their aquatic condominiums and into the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Two of the dolphins were rescued, but others remain at large.. er.. missing.

Two dolphins that were swept from their aquarium tanks into the Gulf of Mexico by Hurricane Katrina were rescued Thursday, but six others remained at sea.

The two dolphins were rescued after scientists in a boat coaxed the trained animals into sliding onto mats.

The "rescued" dolphins were put into temporary housing in a hotel swimming pool.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has backed away from Kyoto. On the first day of Bill Clinton's Global Initiative, Blair said that the only way to solve global warming is through science and technology. Further, he said that hamstringing developed nations is never going to work.

Onstage with former president Bill Clinton at a midtown Manhattan hotel ballroom, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was going to speak with "brutal honesty" about Kyoto and global warming, and he did...

Blair, a longtime supporter of the Kyoto treaty, further prefaced his remarks by noting, "My thinking has changed in the past three or four years." So what does he think now? "No country, he declared, "is going to cut its growth." That is, no country is going to allow the Kyoto treaty, or any other such global-warming treaty, to crimp -- some say cripple -- its economy.

Rivals.com has named Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium as the toughest place for opposing teams to visit.

Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Va., doesn't blow people away by the brute strength of a massive stadium, but with knowledgeable fans that always reach a frenzied pitch at the right time, the Hokies make the most of their numbers.

Every good stadium has at least one end designed for deafening noise levels, and the enclosed South End Zone at Lane Stadium fits the bill perfectly. Holding more than 11,000 screaming Virginia Tech fans, the section amplifies noise and renders audibles useless. That's not to mention the isolation factor. With the nearest major airport nearly 45 minutes away, opponents' fans are never out in force at Lane Stadium.

A Czech town is spending $12,000 (290,000 koruna) to build a bridge for squirrels to cross the road.

The seven-metre (23-foot) high cable bridge attached to two trees spans a road that divides a large park in the town of Sokolov in the west of the country, near the German border.

We think this construction is unique in the world. I myself witnessed two dead squirrels on the road in the space of two months and I felt we had to do something," Sokolov mayor Karel Jakobec told AFP Thursday.

At the moment the park is home to just three squirrels.

I don't know which is worse; classifying furry little tree-rats as a "protected species", or spending $12,000 to string a cable across the road. Most of the money is being put up by a local brewer, with the rest coming from the town. In the U.S., we usually pay people to get rid of the little vermin.

In the wake of Kim du Toit, and now Countertop calling it quits, I just wanted to say that I'm there for you. I have no life, so I'm always there for you.

Geez, now the antis are faulting President Bush for having to tinkle.

A photographer has snapped United States President George W Bush apparently writing a note to ask whether a toilet break is possible during a United Nations meeting.

Mr Bush is said to have written the note to his Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.

"I think I may need a bathroom break? Is this possible?" a Reuters news agency photographer caught him writing during a UN summit.

Bush detractors are saying that he makes the U.S. look foolish in front of the U.N.. And wouldn't that be a shame. Lets not lose face with a band of thugs and criminals who mismanaged Saddam Hussein, and participated in one of the largest embezzlement schemes in World History. Meanwhile, Reuters is claiming that the photo wasn't malicious. This is the same Reuters who just two days ago ran this photo of Bush nominee John Roberts.

UPDATE: Apparently the handwriting doesn't match the President's. Will we ever get to the bottom of what is being dubbed Tinklegate? Is Dan Rather forging cocktail napkins? Bill Burkett please call your office.

It looks like Cook County's (IL) ban on rifles that look like assault rifles is going to die in committee. The ban went further than the national ban that expired a year ago, calling for a ban on most semi-automatic rifles with a detachable magazine. It also provided for the confiscation or disposition of currently owned firearms.

Suffredin's proposal was referred to the Board's Health and Hospitals Committee for review. IllinoisLeader.com has learned that the Suffredin's ban, thought to be an agenda item at the Cook County Board's September 20 meeting, will not be called in committee.

According to a source in county government, Committee Chairman Commissioner Jerry "Iceman" Butler has no interest in calling the ordinance preferring to let it die in committee. Butler is reportedly upset that the political hot potato was referred to his committee as opposed to the more logical choice of the Law Enforcement Committee.

I cannot help but think that the chaos following Hurricane Katrina played a significant role in this. The County board is made up of 12 Democrats and 5 Republicans and is notoriously anti-gun.

Buckeyefirearms.org (formerly Ohioans for Concealed Carry) is reporting that Ohio Rep. Jim Aslanides (R-Coshocton) has proposed sweeping legislation to clean up Ohio's firearms laws.

The following is a summary of the major provisions of the Bill:

1. Firearms preemption is added to address the myriad of local firearms ordinances.

2. Sweeping changes are made to car carry and transportation. Holsters are no longer required to be in plain sight for a CHL carrying in a car. Locked cases no longer need to be in plain sight.

3. Unlicensed transportation now defines "loaded" as ammunition in the gun, regardless of proximity of ammunition. (No more "bullet in the range bag" convictions!)

4. The media access loophole is addressed by allowing CHL-applicants to "opt-out" by filing an affidavit OR a government report evidencing that they have cause to fear for their safety if their information is released. (Almost the exact same as the "evidence of imminent danger" provision of the current Temporary Emergency License.)

5. Sheriffs must accept all CHL applications and renewals during normal business hours and may not require appointments.

They go on with about a dozen more minor changes.

One big problem with the original bill is that minor violations of the statute are considered a felony. This has made a lot of law abiding gun owners reluctant to carry lest they befoul some obscure passage of the law. It's hard to read through the legalese of the bill (PDF), but this *appears* to clean that up. I also noted a passage that says an officer must return your firearm after a traffic stop, unless you are arrested for some offense or you are not legally allowed to possess the gun (ie: because it's stolen, your under 21, etc.)

Uh oh. Apparently Starbucks spends more on their health care bills than they spend on coffee.

Starbucks' chief barista Howard Schultz has been committed to healthcare coverage for his employees, but his generosity may be brewing up trouble for the coffee seller.

The company's chairman told U.S. legislators yesterday that it will spend more on employee health insurance this year than on raw materials to brew its coffee...

Starbucks has had double-digit increases in insurance costs in each of the last four years. Schultz called that "completely non-sustainable", but stopped short of recommending any specific new healthcare approach.

If Starbucks cuts their health care coverage, I wonder if Maryland will pass a Starbucks law the way they did for Wal-Mart.

Been there. Done that.

The Clinton Legacy:

The data also underscore the fact that, unlike their parents' generation, many young people -- particularly those from middle- and upper-income white families -- simply do not consider oral sex a big deal.

"Oral sex is far less intimate than intercourse. It's a different kind of relationship," said Claire Brindis, professor of pediatrics at the University of California-San Francisco. "At 50 percent [of kids having oral sex], we're talking about a major social norm. It's part of kids' lives."

Bill Albert, communications director for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, put the generational difference this way: "We used to talk about sex in terms of first base, second base and so on. Oral sex was maybe in the dugout."

I never understood the baseball analogy in the first place. If I had to pick a sport, I think wrestling would be more apropos.

Since when did they change the definition of vegetarian? Mark Oppenheimer calls himself a near-vegetarian.

I don't think I'll ever be a total vegetarian. I'll always need occasional doses of sushi and lox; there will always be an aquatic monkey on my backbut my flesh consumption is down to a bare fraction of what it once was.

Then there's the people who try to stretch the definition of meat and meat products.

Kyla Stigdon is 15 years old and is home schooled. The Carroll County resident enjoys acting and traveling. She decided to stop eating meat when she was 12.

"I don�t like the way meat tastes," she said.

Kyla does not find it difficult to be a vegetarian, even in a meat-loving culture.

"I can always order a salad at a restaurant, and you buy what you want to eat for at home," she said.

Kyla eats fish, dairy and eggs.

Then there's this oldie but goodie.

Meat-eating vegetarians transform the movement

Even after five years, Christy Pugh has no trouble sticking to her vegetarian regimen.

The secret to her success? Eating meat.

Apparently they are trying to add to the lexicon by calling it flexitarian. Those are people who like to call themselves vegetarians, but still eat meat. (Flexitarian sounds better than liar, I guess.) Gee, I can't wait until I meet my first 'flexitarian metrosexual'.

Russ Feingold questioning John Roberts on the Second Amendment

FEINGOLD: Let's go to something else then. I'd like to hear your views about the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms. This is an amendment where there's a real shortage of jurisprudence.

You mentioned the Third Amendment where there's even less jurisprudence, but the Second Amendment's close. So I think you can maybe help us understand your approach to interpreting the Constitution by saying a bit about it.

The Second Amendment raises interesting questions about a constitutional interpretation. I read the Second Amendment as providing an individual right to keep and bear arms as opposed to only a collective right. Individual Americans have a constitutional right to own and use guns. And there are a number of actions that legislatures should not take in my view to restrict gun ownership.

FEINGOLD: The modern Supreme Court has only heard one case interpreting the Second Amendment. That case is U.S. v. Miller. It was heard back in 1939. And the court indicated that it saw the right to bear arms as a collective right.

In a second case, in U.S. v. Emerson, the court denied cert and let stand the lower court opinion that upheld the statute banning gun possession by individuals subject to a restraining order against a second amendment challenge.

The appeals court viewed the right to bear arms as an individual right. The Supreme Court declined to review the Appeals Court decision.

So what is your view of the Second Amendment? Do you support one of the other views of the views of what was intended by that amendment?

ROBERTS: Yes. Well, I mean, you're quite right that there is a dispute among the circuit courts. It's really a conflict among the circuits.

The 5th Circuit -- I think it was in the Emerson case, if I'm remembering it correctly -- agreed with what I understand to be your view, that this protects an individual right. But they went on to say that the right was not infringed in that case. They upheld the regulations there.

The 9th Circuit has taken a different view. I don't remember the name of the case now. But a very recent case from the 9th Circuit has taken the opposite view that it protects only a collective right, as they said.

In other words, it's only the right of a militia to possess arms and not an individual right.

Particularly since you have this conflict -- cert was denied in the Emerson case -- I'm not sure it's been sought in the other one or will be. That's sort of the issue that's likely to come before the Supreme Court when you have conflicting views.

I know the Miller case side-stepped that issue. An argument was made back in 1939 that this provides only a collective right. And the court didn't address that. They said, instead, that the firearm at issue there -- I think it was a sawed-off shotgun -- is not the type of weapon protected under the militia aspect of the Second Amendment.

So people try to read the tea leaves about Miller and what would come out on this issue. But that's still very much an open issue.

FEINGOLD: I understand that case could come before you. I'm wondering if you would anticipate that in such a case that a serious question would be: Which interpretation is correct?

ROBERTS: Well, anytime you have two different courts of appeals taking opposite positions, I think you have to regard that as a serious question. That's not expressing a view one way or the other. It's just saying, I know the 9th Circuit thinks it's only a collective right. I know the 5th Circuit thinks it's an individual right. And I know the job of the Supreme Court is to resolve circuit conflicts. So I do think that issue is one that's likely to come before the court.

As if you didn't already know that famed controversy whore Ted Rall is a complete tool, he's now calling people who donate to charity "suckers". Rall says that self reliance is for suckers and that people should be suckling from the federal teat instead of accepting private money. Blood pressure alert:

Government has been shirking its basic responsibilities since the '80s, when Ronald Reagan sold us his belief that the sick, poor and unlucky should no longer count on "big government" to help them, but should rather live and die at the whim of contributors to private charities.

That's right, everything was hunky dory until Reagan came along and screwed things up. He created all that poverty by kicking people off the government gravy train. Just ignore the record rate of home ownership, so we can go back to the double digit mortgage rates of the 1970s.

Disaster relief is too important to be left to private fundraisers, with their self-sustaining fund-raising expenses, administrative overhead (nine percent for the Red Cross) and their parochial, often religious, agendas.

Heh. Nine percent is cheap compared to the cost of government.

In the final analysis, after the floodwaters have receded and the poor neighborhoods of New Orleans have been razed under eminent domain, major charities will be lucky if they've managed to raise one percent of the total cost of Katrina. Congress, recognizing the reality that only the federal government possesses the means to deal with the calamity, has already allocated $58 billion--over 70 times the amount raised by charities--to flood relief along the Gulf of Mexico. As Bush says, that's only a "down payment."

Yeah, charity is easy to raise when you collect it at the point of a gun. Rall goes on to say that charities are part of the vast right wing conspiracy, and that the government uses them to cast people aside.

It's time to "starve the beast": private charities used by the government to justify the abdication of its duties to its citizens.

I know he sounds like a great catch, but sorry ladies Rall is already spoken for.

World Net Daily reports that despite efforts of the Connecticut legislature to address eminent domain seizures for private development, the New London Development Corporation has served residents with eviction notices.

"They have sent us eviction letters and have given us 90 days to vacate," homeowner Michael Cristofaro told WND. "As further insult to injury, they are requiring us to send them $600-a-month rent." [...]

The city has previously threatened the homeowners with demands for back rent dating to 2000. Officials say that since they won the case, the homeowners actually have been living on city property for the last five years since they first began condemnation procedures.

In addition, buyout offers were based on the market rate in 2000, before most of the growth in the current real-estate bubble.

I like to think there's a special place in hell for these "officials".

During a visit to the mental asylum, a visitor asked the Director what the criteria is that defines whether a patient should be institutionalized or not.

"Well," said the Director, "we fill up a bathtub with water, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup, and a bucket to the patient and ask the patient to empty the water out of the tub."

Okay, here's your test:

1. Would you use the spoon?
2. Would you use the teacup?
3. Would you use the bucket?

"Oh, I understand," said the visitor. "A normal person would choose the bucket since it is larger than the teacup or spoon."

"No," answered the Director.

"A normal person would pull out the stopper."

Gun safety rules are there for a reason. They should be taught early and often, and should be ingrained in the mind of all shooters, so that tragedies like this never happen. Experience can't make up for complacency.

A trainee at a Cobb County police academy was killed Tuesday when the instructor's gun accidentally went off during the first day of firearms training, authorities said...

The trainees were in a classroom in the basement of the academy, located in a converted textile mill, when the gun discharged about 4 p.m., said Carol Morgan, the academy director...

Kennesaw police Chief Tim Callahan called the death "a tragic accident," and added: "For the next few days, we want to honor the life of this young officer who would have been a great officer one day."

The class instructor is an "experienced veteran" of the county sheriff's office who has been teaching at the academy for 10 years, Sheriff Warren said.

Guns don't just go off, and this accident was caused by a break down of several basic gun safety rules - any one of which could have prevented this.

First, always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction. Had this gun "went off" when it was pointed down range or in a safe direction, nobody would have been hit.

Second, always keep your finger off the trigger. The only time you should put your finger on the trigger is when you have the sight lined up and are ready to fire. Some guns like Glocks need to be "dry fired" to be disassembled. In those cases, you should check to make sure the gun is unloaded first. Even then, dry fire it in a safe direction. Perfect practice makes perfect.

Remember, treat every gun as loaded until you yourself verify that it is unloaded. Even if someone else checks it out before handing it to you, check it again. After you check it keep it pointed in a safe direction. Even unloaded, pointing the muzzle of a gun at someone is rude, and reinforces bad habits.

People seem to like throwing the word UnConstitutional around a lot. Now another federal judge has ruled that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance is an illegal establishment of religion.

Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools was ruled unconstitutional Wednesday by a federal judge who granted legal standing to two families represented by an atheist who lost his previous battle before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The First Amendment clearly states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." No where in there does it say anything about reciting the Pledge or not reciting the Pledge. Quite frankly, I'm fed up with these thin skinned atheists pushing their beliefs on other people. If the Pledge is considered religion, then the government preventing people from reciting it would be an unlawful prohibition of free exercise.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled that the pledge's reference to one nation "under God" violates school children's right to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God."

Maybe I just don't get it. The Pledge is not a religious statement, and I've never gone to church and recited it. Just how does the phrase "under God" establish a religion? Which religion is established? I mean, if the government is establishing, endorsing, or pushing a religion on people, then which one is it? Catholic? Jewish? Protestant?

Just once I'd like to see the judge bounce these people out on their ear and tell them to get over it.

While the people of New Orleans were fighting for their lives, Rep. William Jefferson, D-LA, enlisted the help of the National Guard to visit his home and rescue his personal belongings. ABC News reports that the effort required two heavy trucks and a helicopter.

Military sources tells ABC News that Jefferson, an eight-term Democratic congressman, asked the National Guard that night to take him on a tour of the flooded portions of his congressional district. A 5-ton military truck and a half dozen military police were dispatched.

Lt. Col. Pete Schneider of the Louisiana National Guard tells ABC News that during the tour, Jefferson asked that the truck take him to his home on Marengo Street, in the affluent uptown neighborhood in his congressional district. According to Schneider, this was not part of Jefferson's initial request.

Jefferson defended the expedition, saying he set out to see how residents were coping at the Superdome and in his neighborhood. He also insisted that he did not ask the National Guard to transport him.

"I did not seek the use of military assets to help me get around my city," Jefferson told ABC News. "There was shooting going on. There was sniping going on. They thought I should be escorted by some military guards, both to the convention center, the Superdome and uptown."

The water reached to the third step of Jefferson's house, a military source familiar with the incident told ABC News, and the vehicle pulled up onto Jefferson's front lawn so he wouldn't have to walk in the water. Jefferson went into the house alone, the source says, while the soldiers waited on the porch for about an hour.

Finally, according to the source, Jefferson emerged with a laptop computer, three suitcases, and a box about the size of a small refrigerator, which the enlisted men loaded up into the truck.

Membership has it's priviledges.

The Louisiana National Guard tells ABC News the truck became stuck as it waited for Jefferson to retrieve his belongings.

Two weeks later, the vehicle's tire tracks were still visible on the lawn.

The soldiers signaled to helicopters in the air for aid. Military sources say a Coast Guard helicopter pilot saw the signal and flew to Jefferson's home. The chopper was already carrying four rescued New Orleans residents at the time.

A rescue diver descended from the helicopter, but the congressman decided against going up in the helicopter, sources say. The pilot sent the diver down again, but Jefferson again declined to go up the helicopter.

After spending approximately 45 minutes with Jefferson, the helicopter went on to rescue three additional New Orleans residents before it ran low on fuel and was forced to end its mission.

Eventually, a second 5-ton truck had to be dispatched to rescue the first truck. Then there's this display of class:

In an unrelated matter, authorities recently searched Jefferson's property as part of a federal investigation into the finances of a high-tech firm. Last month FBI officials raided Jefferson's house as well as his home in Washington, D.C., his car and his accountant's house...

Last week, Jefferson set up a special trust fund for contributions to his legal defense in light of the FBI investigation.

So while other people are trying to raise money and donations for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, Jefferson is out there rattling the cup for his own legal defense.

A German man has concocted his own blend of bio diesel.

A German inventor has angered animal rights activists with his answer to fighting the soaring cost of fuel -- dead cats.

Christian Koch, 55, from the eastern county of Saxony, told Bild newspaper that his organic diesel fuel -- a home-made blend of garbage, run-over cats, and other ingredients -- is a proven alternative to normal consumer diesel.

"I drive my normal diesel-powered car with this mixture," Koch said. "I have gone 170,000 km (106,000 miles) without a problem."

"It was only Duke, but Virginia Tech's defense allowed just 35 yards of offense the entire game in a 45-0 victory. That's absurd! The Hokies have gone 9-1 in conference play since joining the ACC. No wonder the other ACC schools didn't originally want to invite them." -- Stewart Mandel, who ranked VT #3 in this week's power rankings.

Reuters "news" service reports, almost shockingly, that DOLLARS continue to drive access to health care in the United States. That's right our insensitive, money grubbing doctors are more concerned about being paid than they are about providing service to customers. According to the latest study du jour, patients who provided an ability to pay for health care were much more likely to be given an appointment than those who admitted not having any money.

Callers claiming they had private insurance were also much more likely to secure appointments than were callers claiming to have no insurance but who offered to pay $20.00 and arrange payment for the balance due, typically about $80.00.

There was no difference in rates of secured appointments between callers claiming private insurance and those who were uninsured but willing to pay the entire $100 fee for the visit. Clearly, the ability to pay matters, Asplin said.

It's also noteworthy, he said, that 98 percent of clinics screened callers for a source of payment but only 28 percent attempted to determine the severity of the callers medical condition. This shows that "financial screening trumps medical triage in our care system," Asplin said.

In the United States we call that capitalism, whereby people who pay for things get preferential treatment over those who don't. Compare this to socialist/facist health care systems where everybody gets the same crappy service. The Utopian system - where everything is free, nobody has to wait, and doctors are paid with hippy love and high self esteem - does not exist.

But why should health care be any different than any other good or service? A few months ago I purchased a rather expensive item, even though someone else was already bidding for it. Apparently the seller was impressed by my ability to pay cash for it, whereas the other buyer was promising to come up with the money somehow... maybe. Why would we expect doctors to be any different?

A pair of husband and wife cat burglars left more than their car sitting in front of the house they were robbing. When the homeowner returned, he immediately noticed two unaccompanied kids sitting in the back seat.

Two children were sitting on the back seat so the man asked them where their father was and was told he was "robbing" the house.

The man rushed inside to find a man and a woman who immediately ran out and drove off with the children.

The man could not catch the burglars, who did not steal anything, but was able to describe the whole family to the police.

The Washington Post reports that the income needed to provide even the most basic needs has skyrocketed in the D.C. Metro area. Their first example:

A single parent with an infant and one preschooler needs to earn $67,849 to meet basic costs in Fairfax County, the region's most expensive suburb, the study found. Those earnings are 50 percent more than the same family would have needed in 1999, the first year the study was conducted.

Far be it for me to judge, but a single parent with a preschooler and an infant needs a husband... er spouse. Assuming they aren't taking one or more kids to work with them every day, a huge expense is probably day care. And it's hard to go out and earn that extra money, put in more time, and focus on your career when you're pumping out illegitimate kids.

And 1999 was 6 years ago. Wouldn't that infant and preschooler have grown up by now?

Reuters reports that the "rich-poor divide" is hampering efforts to combat the Asian Bird Flu.

Relatively wealthy countries such as Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore have begun stockpiling drugs and have comprehensive pandemic plans in place.

But some poor Asian nations, such as the Philippines, still have no stockpile of antiviral drugs and are unlikely to be able to afford one at prices of up to $180 per person...

Vietnam, where bird flu has killed more than 40 people since late 2003, is working on an emergency plan with foreign agencies but lacks skills and resources, said Anton Rychener, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization representative there.

Reuters notes that the bird flu has killed "more than 60 people in Asia since 2003".

Reuters reports:

Supreme Court Chief Justice nominee Judge John Roberts listens to a question from Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) during the second day of his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington September 13, 2005...

Well it may only have been one week, but half the teams are undefeated.

Ravenwood's Law is alive and well, and has possessed Hollywood film makers. One such victim is New Zealander Andrew Niccol, who wrote and directed Lord of War starring Nicolas Cage.

"The Wild West mentality is still strong in America," Niccol says, "especially if you go to a place like Texas, where it's alive and well, or maybe unwell: 'No one's taking away our guns.' In New Zealand, no one has a handgun, and they aren't saying, 'Gee, I wish I had one.' I hope the United States takes note that the murder rate is lower where gun availability is lower. It seems obvious to me."

Well if it's that obvious it's not worth refuting. Texas also has more Alamos. Maybe that correlation has something to do with it too.

Meanwhile, gun control is working so well in Ireland, "experts" are recommending taking guns away from the military to cut down on suicide.

"I am not going to level criticism at local and state officials. Mayor Nagin and most mayors in this country have a hard time getting their people to work on a sunny day, less alone getting them out of the city in front of a hurricane..." -- Senator Mary Landrieu, D-LA.

Isn't it hypocritical that labor unions hire Wal-Mart picketers from a temp agency who pays meager wages.

The shade from the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market sign is minimal around noon; still, six picketers squeeze their thermoses and Dasani bottles onto the dirt below, trying to keep their water cool. They're walking five-hour shifts on this corner at Stephanie Street and American Pacific Drive in Henderson�anti-Wal-Mart signs propped lazily on their shoulders, deep suntans on their faces and arms�with two 15-minute breaks to run across the street and use the washroom at a gas station...

They're not union members; they're temp workers employed through Allied Forces/Labor Express by the union�United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). They're making $6 an hour, with no benefits; it's 104 F, and they're protesting the working conditions inside the new Wal-Mart grocery store.

"It don't make no sense, does it?" says James Greer, the line foreman and the only one who pulls down $8 an hour, as he ambles down the sidewalk, picket sign on shoulder, sweaty hat over sweaty gray hair, spitting sunflower seeds. "We're sacrificing for the people who work in there, and they don't even know it."

One of the protesters is even a former Wal-Mart employee, and he wouldn't mind working there again.

...standing with a union-supplied sign on his shoulder that reads, Don't Shop WalMart: Below Area Standards, picketer and former Wal-Mart employee Sal Rivera says about the notorious working conditions of his former big-box employer: "I can't complain. It wasn't bad. They started paying me at $6.75, and after three months I was already getting $7, then I got Employee of the Month, and by the time I left (in less than one year), I was making $8.63 an hour." Rivera worked in maintenance and quit four years ago for personal reasons, he says. He would consider reapplying.

(Link via Taranto)

This is hilarious:

Ship of Fools As we've heard ad nauseam the past couple of weeks, the Katrina disaster raises serious questions about race in America. Just how serious became clear Saturday afternoon, when Fox News Channel's Alicia Acuna conducted a live interview with a frustrated, foul-mouthed New Orleans evacuee in Houston. Blogger Ian Schwartz has the unexpurgated video, and we have the expurgated transcript:

Acuna: [There's] a lot of frustration, and a lot of it stems from the confusion over what a lot of the evacuees have been told is going to happen with regard to their federal assistance coming in. And I have a gentleman standing here with me who helps illustrate that picture. He has chosen not to give his name, he is from New Orleans, and he only says he is for the people.

So if you can explain to me, what has happened with your debit card? You're having a lot of problems, right?

Man: Well, for one thing, you know, they're not activating. You know, they're giving us these cards, and they're not activating these cards, and they're giving us a runaround. Then when we call, you know, for the, you know, to find out if the card is activated, they're giving us the runaround. And they send us back to Red Cross, and we go to Red Cross--nobody knows anything, you know.

I mean, c'mon now, f---, you know, excuse my French, you know, but anyway, you know, we're out here, we're stranded, you know, we don't have any goddamn thing, nobody's not [sic] trying to help us. FEMA is a fake and a fraud. Red Cross is a fake and a fraud, you know. Where do we go from here? I mean, who should we depend on? If we can't depend on our own federal government, who can we depend on?

Acuna: The FEMA cards were supposed to be $2,000 apiece--

Man: Two thousand dollars.

Acuna: --and you received a FEMA card?

Man: I only received $700. Seven hundred dollars, and they cut my card off.

Acuna: And when you asked them why that was, what were you told?

Man: They don't know. Nobody knows.

Acuna: OK, thank you very much.

Man: Do you know?

Acuna: I do not know, no.

Man: Well, find out for me, and you tell me.

Acuna: OK, thank you. And actually, Bob [Sellers, the anchorman], one thing I can tell you--we talk about this confusion, and there are quite a few reporters who have been kind of confused during those news conferences. And we actually have direct access to a lot of these officials. And FEMA, in all fairness, has said there are going to be glitches. They understand that there are problems. They have said that everyone is going to get assistance that qualifies; however, they're still working it out. They keep reiterating to us that this is a work in progress. Back to you.

Sellers: Alicia, is that gentleman still there by any chance?

Acuna: He is still here.

Sellers: Could you ask him what he wants? What is he looking for?

Acuna: Sure, hold on one second.

The anchor in New York would like to know--his name is Bob--he would like to know what it is that you would like to happen. What do you want?

Man: What I would like to happen? I would like for them to give us at least $20,000 apiece so we can, you know, get our life together. You know, we didn't ask to come on that bus, slave. It's like a slave ship. It's just like, you know, back in history, you know, they put us on a slave ship. They separated us from our family. They did it--you know, just modern-day slavery, you know? Just give us what the f--- we deserve.

Sellers: Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Whoa! Hold on! Hold on! That's, that's, that's enough. I mean, you've made your point, sir. We thank you very much for being with us. But Alicia--

Man: It's like a slave ship.

Sellers: --we know there's frustration there, and a lot of these folks have gone through so much, and we don't want to, you know, minimize or trivialize that. But we still have certain responsibility here in terms of what we're doing as far as broadcasting.

The Fox people seem to have missed the first obscenity, which the man uttered under his breath. Anyway, a picture is worth a thousand words, even when two of them are the F-word, so take a look at this.

Looks just like a slave ship, doesn't it? Well, except that on a slave ship, he probably wouldn't have his arm around a white woman.

Reader Robert Garrard points out that the latest victim of taser abuse is a 12 year old girl. (Full article quoted below)

An officer shot a 12-year-old schoolgirl with a Taser gun and arrested her after she became disruptive at school, Cincinnati police said.

The incident happened at Burton Elementary School in Avondale Wednesday.

Police said the principal called them when the girl refused to go to class. When officers arrived, they had trouble bringing the girl, who is 5 feet 5 inches tall and 120 pounds, under control. Officers said they warned the girl several times that they would use the Taser on her if she did not calm down.

She was charged for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Tasers were designed to be a substitute for lethal force, and many people have died after being shot with them. While this little girl hardly seems like an perfect angel, I cannot think of any situation where facing an unarmed 12 year old would warrant the use of lethal force.

It looks like lawsuits may be filed following last month's residency checks at the Richmond gun show.

I started to respond to some of the comments on my article on NFA repeal, but I wrote so much that I decided to devote a whole 'nother post to it.

Suppressors (aka "silencers"):
The proper terminology for this technology is "suppressor", mainly because supersonic rounds cannot be silenced. A suppressor silences the report from a gun by slowly venting the gases out of the end of the barrel instead of releasing it quickly. (Imagine letting the air out of a balloon slowly, versus popping it with a needle.) But you will still have the *crack* from the sonic boom that the round makes traveling through the air at supersonic speeds. Pistol calibers can be silenced to the point where you will only hear the bolt moving back and forth. Just about all rifles are supersonic, can cannot be silenced completely.

Suppressor technology has been around for decades and generally makes shooting more enjoyable for shooters and non-shooters alike. It would be easy to integrate into the barrel of a gun, but government regulation prevents that. There is also a huge safety benefit. Even good ear protection doesn't adequately muffle the boom from some of the larger rifles that people may be shooting on the range. Lots of times you see people wearing ear plugs inside of ear phones to try to escape the noise. But that prevents shooters from hearing range commands and can create an unsafe condition. Preventing the technology from being adopted is simply anti-capitalist. I also find it pretty hypocritical that the people who are griping about noise coming from gun ranges also gripe about the availability of suppressors and barrels that are threaded to support them.

To me, discouraging the use of suppressor technology is a bit like outlawing mufflers for cars on the basis that pedestrians won't hear you coming, or banning smokeless powder because people aren't able to immediately pinpoint where a shot came from. For what it's worth suppressors are already legal, they just require a $200 tax and about 4 to 6 months of government paperwork. That discourages gun manufacturers from integrating the technology into their firearms, and discourages people from buying them. (Which is the idea)

Given that we now have "instant" NICS checks, I would propose eliminating the $200 tax and paperwork cycle completely.

Short barreled rifles:
This should also be a no-brainer. Rifles with a barrel shorter than 16" and shotguns with a barrel shorter than 18" require a $200 tax and mountains of government paperwork ($5 tax for AOW). There is no real benefit to this regulation, other than it prevents law abiding citizens from buying them which is what the gun grabbers want. Shorty rifles are fun to shoot on tactical ranges - where targets pop up at you - but they don't seem very practical for long distance target shooting. But aside from being shorter than usual they function just like other semi-automatics.

Of course the gun grabber argument is that shortened barrels make rifles easier to conceal, and bad guys will roam the streets shooting up the town like all those old Wild West movies. Of course bad guys can already do that simply by purchasing a $5 hacksaw from Home Depot.

Automatics:
The government defines automatic firearms as any firearm that fires more than one round per pull of the trigger. This would include machine guns and submachine guns, but not hand cranked Gatling guns or semi-automatic look-a-likes. You pull the trigger and you get two or more projectiles coming out of the business end. Other than that, the guns often look and feel just like their semi-automatic (auto-loading) brethren. The technology has evolved over hundreds of years, and was widely adopted for military use during WWI.

Now, contrary to popular belief machine guns are not enough to overthrow a government. (At least not our government.) My advocating their deregulation does not make me a militant, anti-government, or mean that I want to wage war against America. I don't own a compound, and I'm not on some holy mission against the establishment. But gun grabbers refer to these guns (and their semi-automatic replicas) as "weapons of war", so I want to point out that you need much more than just machineguns to wage war.

When it comes to guns, it does not make sense to me that we would allow our local police departments to have firearms that everyday citizens cannot possess themselves. What reason do police departments have for possessing automatic firearms in the first place? Well if you ask a cop, they're likely to say self-defense. Historically police departments didn't have anything more powerful than a shotgun. But then the infamous North Hollywood shootout - where the police were outgunned and had to rely on civilian provided firearms to fight back against heavily armed bank robbers - served as the catalyst for a sort of arms race among police departments. Now it's common practice for police departments to compliment their arsenal with automatics.

But if police are justified in having machineguns for self-defense, why aren't civilians? Crime can happen anywhere and the police have no responsibility to protect individual citizens. And let's face it, there may be those rare times when auto-loaders just aren't enough. The recent civil unrest in New Orleans is one such example. Armed thugs roamed the streets looking for victims while police protection was ineffective and non-existent. Aid workers, the police, and even military helicopters were fired upon. Imagine being a law-abiding citizen, and feeling outgunned with only an old hunting rifle to protect yourself.

Not to mention there is the ever present danger of terrorism. While international and domestic terrorists do not pose much of an invasion threat, they can certainly wreak havoc with small parts of it. If terrorists or street tufts wanted to take over your neighborhood, do you think the thought of breaking gun control laws would stop them?

In addition to self defense against thugs and terrorists, the Second Amendment clearly was intended to protect citizens from an oppressive tyranny. The whole Bill of Rights outlines what government cannot do, and serves to protect the individual freedoms of Americans. Just like the government "shall make no law" establishing religion or abridging free speech, the right of people to keep and bear arms "shall not be infringed". Limiting access to certain types of firearms is an infringement. Over time we have come to accept certain infringements on our right to keep and bear arms, but they are infringements just the same. And given recent laws and Supreme Court decisions which have limited political speech 60 days before an election, legitimized land seizures for private use, and permitted papers please demands from government agents, is it so radical to think that we will never need to defend ourselves against a tyrannical government? To think that our government is incapable of tyranny is arrogant and foolish. Not only that, it's dangerous.

Today's road hazard was:

• A State Trooper - Maybe he was sleeping, maybe he was looking for speeders, but he was causing a 2 mile backup as everyone passed him at 25 miles per hour [in a 55].

Statistics
Commute: Congested.
Door to door: 23 minutes

According to the Lundberg Survey, gas prices are at all time record highs. And the Ass. Press reports that this time, they really mean it.

The weighted average price for all three grades surged more than 38 cents to nearly $3.04 a gallon between Aug. 26 and Sept. 9, said Trilby Lundberg, who publishes the semimonthly Lundberg Survey of 7,000 gas stations around the country...

Adjusted for inflation, the nation's previous high weighted average for all three grades was $1.38 a gallon in March 1981. That would be $3.03 in current dollars.

This means that gas prices REALLY ARE at a record high, and all the previous reports of "record breaking" gas prices were just bullshit.

Most of us watched the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina from the comforts of our living rooms. But not this guy.

Watching the police and military go house to house with machineguns forcing the people of New Orleans to leave, has made me think more about the 1986 ban on automatic firearms for civilians. I was worried though that by coming right out and calling for the repeal of long standing gun control laws, people would make me out to be some sort of anarchist gun nut. Especially since even many gun owners draw the line at civilian ownership of automatics. So before I put my thoughts into writing, I decided to search the interweb to see who else had taken a similar stance.

Enter Publicola, who earlier this year presciently covered the subject:

The NFA imposes registration under the guise of taxation for certain items which the people have a Right to possess. Short barreled shotguns, short barreled rifles, fully automatic firearms & sound suppressors all require a prohibitive tax. Fully automatic weapons are further forced into a three tiered classification system which artificially distorts their value (registered pre-68, post 68, or contraband). Having access to martial arms is the primary purpose of the 2n Article of the Bill of Rights. Fully automatic firearms as well as short barreled long guns are being used by the military & police & therefore should not be prohibited or restricted for civilian use. Sound suppressors are one of the most useful user-safety devices ever made for a firearm & should be encouraged, not prohibitively taxed. A straight repeal of the NFA would not only benefit the physical health of those who practice with firearms but it would benefit the moral health of the nation as people were not deemed untrustworthy to own the very weapons the government supplies its agents with.

Legally this would be a push over if we could find a string of honest judges from the circuit level to SCOTUS. Sadly this is not usually the case so legislative means would probably be our best bet. Not ideal because a legislature can re-enact a law as easily as it repeals it whereas a court decision would nullify that law until another court disagreed. The judicial route would be harder to travel but much harder to backslide on if we're successful.

Public opinion would be perhaps the hardest part. Hell, even us gun nuts go to great lengths to differentiate between "assault weapons" & machineguns. The average Joe might be convinced that semi-auto's aren't bad but may still think that full auto's are evil. This is where PR comes into play.

What we have to do is fight umpteen years of government school indoctrination reinforced by the MSM. We can do this by asking a very simple question, "Why does the soldier have a firearm that the citizen cannot possess?" Now it's not entirely true that citizens cannot possess the same arms that the military issues, but it is true if said firearm was made after 1986. & there's a great burden placed on the citizen in order to possess a pre-86 machinegun.

Now if those people you ask the question to try to say that there's a difference between military & civilian needs ask them what exactly that is. Fighting wars? A citizen may be called to do just that. But perhaps a better example would be that in house to house fighting the soldier has fully automatic firearms at his disposal, yet we're limited to semi-automatics for defending our home against unlawful invasion. If it's effective for the military then why isn't it effective for the citizen? If they counter with a machinegun being too dangerous then ask why it's not too dangerous for a soldier. After all soldiers operate with other soldiers around them & sometimes in front of them so if a fully automatic firearm was too dangerous because it'd hurt innocent bystanders then why arm a soldier with one when he could hit his companions?

It can be argued. It won't be easy. & it doesn't get easier the longer we wait.

The short barreled long guns position should be a little easier since police are the most prolific users of said implements. Bringing up the market for short barreled shotguns among shop keepers & such prior to 1934 will help illustrate their usefulness as defensive arms. But to sure to include a brief summary on short barreled shotguns not spraying an entire room with shot. They're actually weaker than a longer barreled shotgun & the pattern wouldn't open up much more than a longer barreled gun inside of 15 yards.

Sound suppressors should be easiest since they provide a noticeable benefit to the shooter - they reduce the onset of hearing damage. The idea that they'll be used in untraceable murders is absurd since anyone wanting to commit such an act silently can improvise one, buy one illegally or use a knife.

I think it's a good plan, but I would take the baby steps approach. First up would be to eliminate the ATF's prohibitive taxation and registration scheme on short barreled rifles, shotguns, and suppressors. Suppressors (called silencers by the ignorant masses) muffle a gun's report. Not only do they keep shooters from going deaf, but they would reduce the noise pollution coming from gun ranges. Gun grabbers have been attacking gun ranges for the noise they produce, so it's hypocritical for them to not support de-regulation of devices that muffle the noise. Short barreled shotguns and rifles are also pretty much a no brainer. They function the same as regular guns, they're just.. well.. shorter.

Before tackling ATF registration of machineguns, I would first try to repeal the ban on new manufacture for civilians. This is the 1986 law that says new guns can't be sold the same way as the old guns. It effectively caps the supply and causes the price of the available guns to skyrocket. For instance an automatic AR-15 that *should* cost $1200 ends up costing $12,000 because they can't make any new ones to meet retail demand. A huge hurdle for repealing the ban would be that many NFA enthusiasts may not support it. People who have tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in NFA guns may not want to see the price of their guns go south. At one point Forbes listed NFA automatics as a top 5 investment vehicle. After getting new manufacture reinstated, I would begin to work on repealing the ATF's taxation and registration scheme for automatics.

The arguments for repealing it all are both Constitutionally and logically sound. The Founding Fathers did not intend for the government to have heavily armed standing armies among a mostly disarmed populace. Yet here we are with not only military, but local and state police forces with a full arsenal of automatic firearms, body armor, and armored vehicles.

"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

"What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms." -- Thomas Jefferson

Restoring our freedom is not going to be easy. It is going to take years of hard work and determination. Gun grabbers have never been ones to listen to logic or reason. Furthermore, the average gun owner or hunter probably doesn't care a hill of beans about automatics. But if we don't take that first step, we're never ever going to get there.

Paraphrasing the announcer during the VT-Duke game on Saturday:

Duke's only sold out twice, for Virginia Tech, and the Rolling Stones.

Kevin Baker points to a story that claims that some of the Hurricane Katrina evacuees who are being dragged from their homes kicking and screaming are being treated like prisoners. (emphasis in original)

The occupants of the camp cannot leave the camp for any reason. If they leave the camp they may never return. They will be issued FEMA identification cards and "a sum of money" and they will remain within the camp for the next 5 months.

The whole description reads like it's an internment camp. A spokesman from the Oklahoma State Dept of Health rebuts the claim, however, and I must admit that it doesn't seem very plausible.

It's still way early in the season but after all those Big Ten losses (Iowa, OSU, Michigan), Virginia Tech has risen to number four in the AP rankings. I'm actually happy that we aren't number 3.

Flash back to 2003:
#3 USC loses to Cal
#3 Michigan loses to Oregon
#3 OSU loses to Wisconsin
#3 VT loses to West Virginia

In 2004, Georgia held the number three ranking until losing to Tennessee, when Auburn held onto the ranking for the rest of the year. They ended up getting passed over for the national championship game.

Now 2005 has already proved unlucky for #3 Michigan, who lost to NBC's sweetheart Notre Dame. LSU is the current #3, but they have to play Tennessee (probably at Tennessee) in two weeks. By the way, someone over at Sports Illustrated is apparently an ASU fan.

In other news, Temple is trying to set a record for most points allowed. In 2 games, they've been outscored 128 to 16.

Apparently civil rights mean nothing in New Orleans. I never thought I would see the day when agents of the government would go door to door confiscating firearms, forcibly removing people from their homes, and body slamming elderly women. (Video: 2.9MB)

Typically, I wholeheartedly support the police and the military. They do a tough job and are usually stuck between a rock and a hard place. But I would personally rather go to Leavenworth than blindly carry out these orders against the American citizenry.

(Geek has more.)

The D.C. Metro has a strict policy about taking food and drinks on trains. A 12-year old girl was arrested, taken away in handcuffs, and convicted for eating a french fry at a Metrorail station. The arrest was part of a week long sting to catch Metro eaters and drinkers. Another woman was cited for eating a candy bar.

Well, now it turns out that last week's door malfunction - in which an Orange Line door popped open while the train was in motion - was caused by the train conductor's spilled coffee.

"We conducted a thorough investigation of the train's doors, electronics, operating and engineering components . . . and all indications led us to conclude that the coffee that accidentally spilled into the train's console damaged the train's control board, which caused the doors to open," said Fred Goodine, Metro's assistant general manager for safety.

Metro's policy against food or drink on the subway system extends to train operators. Transit managers will "follow up and discipline" the coffee drinker, Farbstein said.

No word on whether or not the conductor will be arrested and charged.

Then there's this, from the NY Times:

Waters were receding across this flood-beaten city today as police officers began confiscating weapons, including legally registered firearms, from civilians in preparation for a mass forced evacuation of the residents still living here.

No civilians in New Orleans will be allowed to carry pistols, shotguns or other firearms, said P. Edwin Compass III, the superintendent of police. "Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons," he said.

In related civil rights violations, FEMA is telling journalists not to take photos of dead people. And Robert Tracinski notes that what happened in New Orleans is a huge failure of the welfare state.

(Hat tips to readers Robert Garrard and Mike A.)

When evacuees arrived at the Superdome, there were no stores of food, water, or supplies. People in the dome cried for help, yet the supplies never came. But when Fox News' Major Garrett called the Red Cross to find out why, what he found out may surprise you.

The Louisiana Department of Homeland Security blocked a vanguard of Red Cross trucks filled with water, food, blankets and hygiene items from bringing relief to the thousands of hungry and thirsty evacuees stranded in the New Orleans Superdome after Hurricane Katrina struck, according to a Fox News Channel report.

The state agency responsible for Louisiana's security "told the Red Cross explicitly, you cannot come," said Fox News reporter Major Garrett in a radio interview.

Garrett told nationally syndicated talk host Hugh Hewitt that according to the Red Cross, the delivery was blocked immediately after the storm passed Monday.

The Louisiana governor's office of Homeland Security explained to the Red Cross that they didn't want the relief supplies, because they wanted the evacuees to leave, according to Garrett.

Apparently the Louisiana government was worried that the stores of supplies would attract more people to the Superdome instead of encouraging them to leave the city. So people trapped inside the dome were made to suffer so that people would evacuate the city rather than hang around. The Red Cross web site reiterates their claim.

So far, the mainstream media has ignored this story. Ask yourself if this would be ignored if it came from the Bush Administration.

Former National Security Advisor, Sandy Burglar, has been fined $50,000 for knowingly stealing classified documents from the National Archives and destroying them. The government had asked for a $10,000 fine, but the judge increased it. Berger was also sentenced to 2 years probation, 100 hours of community service, and surrenders his security clearance for three years.

According to the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual, (NISPOM), Top Secret information is defined as information that could "cause exceptionally grave damage" to the national security of the United States. Politics aside, I would think that someone convicted of intentionally destroying classified material would never be permitted access to it again.

Louisiana's Senator Mary Landrieu is lashing out at the Bush Administration for failing to go down to New Orleans and stop Hurricane Katrina.

"Let me be the first to take any blame," the Louisiana Democrat [Sen. Mary Landrieu] told a hushed Senate chamber on her first day back from the devastated Gulf Coast.

She then blasted the Federal Emergency Management Agency for its "incompetent and insulting" response and chided President Bush for saying soon after the storm that no one anticipated the levies that protect New Orleans from flood waters would have broken.

"Everybody anticipated the breach, including computer simulations in which this administration participated," she said...

But she said the federal government, by consistently underfunding flood control projects in Louisiana, "gambled that the predictions of countless experts" that the levies would break in a major hurricane wouldn't come true.

The government, she said, "rolled the dice and Louisiana lost."

Wouldn't it be nice if Louisiana had a voice in Congress that could propose legislation to prevent these types of shortcomings?

Not only are more people buying them, but the gun grabbers are having trouble gaining support.

Virginia Tech has taken in some evacuees from Tulane University. Admissions staff worked overtime to get everyone enrolled for the Fall Semester, and local apartment complexes are offering them month to month leases. Tuition and fees are being covered through scholorships and grants, which may also be extended to cover some living expenses. Local families are also opening their homes to those that need it.

It's nice to know that these kids will not have to put their education on hold. But I hope they're prepared for the harsh Blacksburg winters.

When a 200 mile wide storm hits the region, you'd think it'd be pretty indiscriminate. But not according to the Washington Post, which notes that the poor black neighborhoods of New Orleans were hardest hit.

This is a place, and a time, when men like [Terry] White, men who have lived in New Orleans all their lives, get mad. There is something cruelly familiar about the deluge. Another storm, another black neighborhood flooded.

"I don't believe that levee broke like that," said Terry White, referring to the biggest of the busted-open levees that flooded the city. "I believe they broke that levee to save where the high-class people stay."

He doesn't say just who "they" is, but I doubt he's referring to New Orleans' Mayor, Ray Nagin, who is black. No, it was undoubtedly George Bush and his minions, who snuck down to Democrat controlled Louisiana, and Democrat controlled New Orleans to personally take a sledge hammer to their levee.

The headline reads: "D.C. Ranks Well in New Gun Report". I guess that depends on how you define "well", and what you are basing your ranking on. The rankings are apparently based on admitted gun ownership (or lack thereof). Washington D.C. ranks "well" because not very many people admit to owning guns. But when it comes to lowering crime, D.C. ranks rather predictably.

The District may have a high number of gun related crimes, but a new report says the city has the lowest number of homes with loaded and unlocked guns.

A study published Tuesday in the journal Pediatrics finds that only five percent of D.C. homes keep guns around. Wyoming had the highest numbers.

Thirty-three percent of that states' adults said they kept firearms in or around their homes unlocked and loaded.

Wyoming apparently ranked poorly.

Washington's low numbers are attributed to its long-standing bans on handguns and semiautomatic weapons.

Yet they still have an epidemic proportion of gun crime and are an annual contender for the nation's murder capital title.

And you've got to love their methodology. Guns are illegal in D.C. and many other places, yet they call people up and ask them how many guns they have and how they are stored. I live in Virginia where gun ownership is legal (if not encouraged). But I've got good friends who can't get a straight answer out of me about my gun ownership. If these yahoos called me on the phone asking me how many guns I've got, I'd tell them (in not so many words) to get bent.

According to the Washington Post, Senator Arlen Spector doesn't seem to know the meaning of the word quota:

With O'Connor's pending departure, the court would be left with one woman, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and one minority, Clarence Thomas. "Two women are, I think, a minimum," [Sen. Arlen] Specter said, though he added he does not favor a quota.

I would like to see Janice Rogers-Brown nominated, although not because she's a woman and a minority. Although that might silence these people who insist on labeling Americans with group identity.

A world class cat.. er.. chicken burglar was nabbed after 4 years on the lam[b]. He was captured after his name turned up on Interpol's most wanted list. Ananova reports:

The 51-year-old chicken thief, from Iasi in eastern Romania, who is unnamed for legal reasons, had left the country four years ago.

But when he returned to visit family he was told by border guards he had been identified from an Interpol list of dangerous fugitives - for stealing chickens from his neighbour's farm before he left.

Police spokesman Serban Pittner said: "He was a wanted man for four years. Officers identified him by his international arrest warrant for stealing seven chickens."

The international chicken thief has been sentenced to three and a half years in jail.

The chickens were apparently never recovered.

FEMA recently sent 180 evacuees from New Orleans to Charleston, South Carolina West Virginia. The problem was, they were supposed to go to Charleston, West Virginia South Carolina.

Oops.

When Congress insisted on doling out money to the victims of the 9-11 terrorist attacks, most Conservatives said that it was setting a bad precedent. The next thing you know, everyone who's ever a victim of something will want to stick their hands into the federal money pit. Well, now the NAACP is calling for victims of Hurricane Katrina to be financially compensated.

"When congress returns tomorrow, the first order of business should be to set up this fund to help hurricane victims get back on their feet," said [Bruce S. Gordon, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)]. "You got people who lost their jobs, homes and had all of their assets depleted. In some cases, families lost their bread winner. If the victims of 911 deserved compensation, and they did, then certainly these victims deserve no less to help restart their lives."

[snarky]This is just like when the NAACP asked for money last year when 4 hurricanes hit Florida and displaced all those old white people. And when the earthquake/fires/mudslides hit California, the NAACP was right there calling for reparations.[/snarky]

And naturally, the imperial federal government has already whipped out a teat for the entitlement crowd to suckle on. Hurricane victims will receive $2000 debit cards, courtesy of the American taxpayer. With hundreds of thousands of households impacted by the hurricane, this amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars. And just where did they pull that $2000 number from?

Here's something else I haven't heard in the American Press, although the foreign press is all over it. Actor Sean 'Spicoli' Penn attempted to rescue people from New Orleans, with his entourage and personal photographer in tow, of course.

AN ATTEMPT by Sean Penn, the outspoken Hollywood actor, to stage a personal mission to help victims of Hurricane Katrina descended into farce when his rescue boat sprang a leak.

The activist star headed to New Orleans with a photographer and entourage to rescue victims clinging to roofs and attics in the wake of the deadly storm. But he forgot to plug a hole in the bottom of his small vessel which began to take in water almost immediately.

Reports said the 45-year-old Oscar winner was seen frantically bailing water from the boat with a red plastic cup. When the boat's motor failed to start, those aboard were forced to use paddles to propel themselves down the flooded street. It is not known how far the boat then travelled.

Earlier Penn, who has visited Iraq to campaign against the war, said that once in the city he would do "whatever I can do to help".

But according to reports, one bystander, referring to the actor's large entourage on board, taunted Penn, saying: "How are you going to get any people in that?"

"He'll be remembered primarily for his votes rather than for the content or quality of his decisions. And it's consistent throughout his life. He started his career by being a kind of Republican thug who pushed and shoved to keep African-American and Hispanic voters from voting." -- Alan Dershowitz on the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, about 3 hours after the news of Rehnquist's death had been announced.

If you need to blame someone for the evacuation snafu in New Orleans, look no further than the City of New Orleans Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan:

The safe evacuation of threatened populations when endangered by a major catastrophic event is one of the principle reasons for developing a Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan. The thorough identification of at-risk populations, transportation and sheltering resources, evacuation routes and potential bottlenecks and choke points, and the establishment of the management team that will coordinate not only the evacuation but which will monitor and direct the sheltering and return of affected populations, are the primary tasks of evacuation planning. Due to the geography of New Orleans and the varying scales of potential disasters and their resulting emergency evacuations, different plans are in place for small-scale evacuations and for citywide relocations of whole populations.

Authority to issue evacuations of elements of the population is vested in the Mayor. By Executive Order, the chief elected official, the Mayor of the City of New Orleans, has the authority to order the evacuation of residents threatened by an approaching hurricane...

General evacuations that may result from an approaching hurricane will be ordered by the Mayor of the City, upon the recommendation of the Director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness. The area affected by the warning may range from blocks and portions of neighborhoods, to the entire city...

The City of New Orleans will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened areas. Those evacuated will be directed to temporary sheltering and feeding facilities as needed. When specific routes of progress are required, evacuees will be directed to those routes. Special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves or who require specific life saving assistance. Additional personnel will be recruited to assist in evacuation procedures as needed.

This hasn't been covered by the mainstream media, but New Orleans did have a plan for evacuating prior to a Hurricane. The problem is that the local bureaucracy broke down and the plan was not implemented at all. Now they're blaming Bush, blaming FEMA, blaming the feds for not coming down there and saving them. Let the finger-pointing begin.

Then there's this, from Drudge

Editors at TIMES-PICAYUNE on Monday called for every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be fired. In an open letter to President Bush, the paper said: "Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That's to the government's shame."

But the TIMES-PICAYUNE published a story on July 24, 2005 stating: City, state and federal emergency officials are preparing to give a historically blunt message: "In the event of a major hurricane, you're on your own."

Craig Martelle from the PittsburgH Post-Gazette notes that FEMA is not intended to be a first responder. What's more, he notes that New Orlean's emergency management plan explicitly states that the local government coordinates "all city departments and allied state and federal agencies which respond to citywide disasters and emergencies". They also provide this very telling AP photo of flooded out New Orleans school buses that could have been used for evacuating citizens, but weren't.

Martelle opines:

Who could have predicted the anarchy resulting as a consequence? The individuals who devolved into lawless animals embarrass the entirety of America. (I worked in a U.S. Embassy overseas for a couple years and I can imagine what foreign diplomats are thinking.) What societal factors would ever lead people to believe that this behavior was even remotely acceptable?

The folks in New Orleans who are perpetrating the violence and lawlessness are not that way because of low income or of race, but because they personally do not have any honor or commitment to higher ideals. The civil-rights leaders should be ashamed at playing the blame game.

The blame is on the individuals. The blame is on the society that allowed these individuals to develop the ideal that the individual is greater than the national pride he is destroying. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was very clear in her comments that she was offended at those who suggested the suffering in New Orleans was prolonged because of race.

As a retired Marine, I hang my head in shame to see my fellow Americans degenerate so far. I spent so many years in the Corps helping the citizens of other countries rise to a higher level of personal responsibility to ensure that in case of emergency, anarchy did not necessarily follow. When people are held to a higher standard of personal responsibility and they accept that, then they will do the right thing when the time comes.

I have always advocated personal responsibility. I have a "go" bag ready in case just such an emergency develops in my area. Not to mention that it's preferable that local governments handle local problems. The last thing we want is the imperial federal government running in like John Wayne every time the wind blows.

"George Bush doesn't care about black people. . .I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family, it says they're looting. See a white family, it says they're looking for food." -- Grammy winning rapper Kanye West, during a Hurricane Katrina aid concert.

In case you missed it, here's the video (780k).

Countertop is attempting to one up my Road Hazard stories.

Also via Kevin Baker (from American Digest)

Gunner at No Quarters notes that when the shit hits the fan, a little gun nuttery suddenly doesn't seem so bad.

A lot of liberal anti-gunners have become pro-gun and are probably not happy with that fact.

You might note with all of the gun violence the Brady Center has not issues one single press release. Maybe even they see the people protecting themselves with firearms in the news and know they lost this battle. They would look pretty bad if they called for the disarming of all of New Orleans.

Actually, between the looters and people shooting at the rescue workers, I'm surprised they haven't called for more "disarmament".

Kevin Baker (via Doc Russia) noticed even more anti-gunners coming over to the dark side.

(James) Tilghman said he had been appalled by the violence in New Orleans and was concerned that some of it might spill over into his community with the arrival of more survivors. "I'm totally against guns, but I bought one this week," he said.

I noticed a similar phenomenon during the tsunami disaster, when a liberal friend of mine called me up to help him purchase his first handgun. He told me that he didn't think he'd ever buy a gun, until he saw that any random natural disaster can leave people fending for themselves.

But some people already knew that.

Another one from Kevin Baker (he's on a roll), from the NY Times, no less.

I will be traveling out of town this weekend. Blogging will probably not resume again until Wednesday.

UPDATE (9/6): I'm back! Sorry for the lack of notice, but I had a death in the family and had to rush off for a funeral. I'm back now, and hopefully blogging will be back to normal tomorrow.

I thought about having a guest blogger, but decided against it. The last two times I tried that it didn't really work out. It being a holiday weekend, I figured it'd be okay to just pack up and leave for a few days.

There's nothing more to the story. Sorry to disappoint the conspiracy nuts out there.

There has been a lot of whining about rising gas prices lately, but very little has been done to propose realistic solutions to the problem. What it comes down to is simple economics. That is, demand remains high, so there is no economic pressure to lower prices. If you are serious about wanting to pay less at the pump, there are several things that can be done to alleviate the price pressure. (Not that I expect the United States to actually do anything intelligent when it comes to oil.)

Please understand that this list is by no means comprehensive:

• Make ANWR and other areas currently off limits available for oil drilling. No matter what, something must be done to meet the demand for oil in the short term. The problem is that the enviroweenies don't care about looking for more oil. Even if we found an endless supply that could be gotten easily and cheaply (and without killing any caribou), the hippy types would still insist that we find a car that runs on free love and good karma. ANWR is made up of millions of acres of barren wasteland. Setting up a small drilling operation wouldn't hurt that much, and the heat generated by oil pipelines has actually shown to be good for the wildlife population.

• Eliminate regulations that make it too expensive to drill for oil domestically. Let's face it, our government doesn't exactly make drilling for oil a cheap process. I'm not saying that we should get rid of all regulation, but the law of diminishing returns means that at some point it is more expensive to keep drilling than it is to empty the well. A lot of oil is left in the ground simply because the cost of drilling it is too high. Lower the cost and you get more oil.

• Build more refineries. New refineries haven't been built in the United States in nearly 30 years. Even if we had the oil, we couldn't do anything with it without refineries.

• Settle on one or two blends of gasoline for the whole country. Federal and state regulators pass silly laws that require specialized blends of gasoline for different areas. Since some blends can only be used in some areas and not others storage and distribution becomes a lot more complex. That translates into seasonal shortages and spikes in price.

• Promote alternative fuel sources so that we are not as dependent on oil. This is about more than electric cars. Since electricity is still derived from fossil fuels, driving electric cars only moves the problem to someone else's neighborhood. Depending on amount of driving done, you might even be using more oil than less. But if we find alternative fuels not just for cars but for our homes, the demand for oil would wane enough to be seen at the pump. For instance, eliminating the de facto ban on nuclear power will reduce our burning of fossil fuels for electricity.

• Eliminate regional price controls. There is a reason why gas costs more downtown than it does in the suburbs. This is about more than clean air laws. Some cities actually set minimum prices to keep companies like Wal-Mart from coming in and giving local businesses too much competition.

• Lower gas taxes. Lower taxes=lower prices. That's an easy one.

Keep in mind that this doesn't even take into account that nearly every product on the market is in some way derived from petroleum (ie: anything polymer or plastic).

Something else that is interesting is that they keep wondering why people aren't opting for more fuel efficient cars in the light of higher gas prices. Considering that people are buying $40,000 SUVs, it comes as no surprise to me that they aren't worried about an extra $150 a year for gas. Over the life of their car, that's just pennies a day.

But when it comes to gas prices, unless something is done about American supply and demand, expect to continue paying more at the pump.

This item was originally posted March 8, 2005.

Related articles:
Kerry's gasoline flip-flop -- 10/13/2004
Who to blame for high gas prices -- 05/19/2004

It doesn't look good for New Orleans. Those that sheltered in the Superdome are going to be bused over to the Astrodome in Houston. Officials haven't said how long they will be there, but this doesn't sound promising:

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said on ABC's "Good Morning America" that "we are looking at 12 to 16 weeks" before people can return to the city."

Yikes.

I'm not the only one to gripe about warning labels. Debra Saunders points out that people are so overwhelmed by warnings, they no longer know when to take them seriously.

Lockyer is pushing the acrylamide issue, Weil said, because it is the government's job to dispense information and let consumers decide if they care about a possible carcinogen...

Problem is, there are too many in-betweens -- some 750 other chemicals, according to Weil -- on the Prop. 65 list, and some of those chemicals are ubiquitous or naturally occurring.

As a result, consumers see so many warning signs they can't take them seriously. Even Lockyer isn't that alarmed. In a press release announcing the suit, Lockyer said, "I am not telling people to stop eating potato chips or French fries."

Now I ask you: If people shouldn't stop eating these foods, why post a warning? Michele Corash, a San Francisco attorney who represents five companies being sued by Lockyer, noted that there are so many warnings "we are immunizing the public to signs."

No lie. I've come down with a strong case of warning fatigue. I see the Prop. 65 signs not as valuable warnings, but as nagging. What else would you call a warning against doing something you do every day, like eating, or parking, or shopping?

And whatever I do, it must be wrong, because there's always a sign telling me that what I'm eating, drinking or buying is bad for me. If all of these things are so hazardous, why am I alive?

It's like the boy who cried wolf. And of course when you really do need to warn people, they aren't going to listen.

A woman is being stabbed to death by her ex-husband in the middle of a Wal-Mart store. A passerby - who routinely carries a gun for self defense - intervenes on her behalf and sends the ex-husband to meet his maker. The police say it's justified and a district attorney is reviewing the case but will not likely file charges. But the gun fearing wussies and anti-self-defense crowd is going nuts.

Kevin Baker points out that the moonbats are actually saying this guy had no right to intervene. He should have ignored the stabbing and minded his own business. Here's a sampling from the various wingnuts:

The shooting may have been justified but not killing the man because under the law, the penalty for stabbing your ex-wife is not death...

Absolutely no one here knows squat as to whether an innocent life was saved or not. Turns out, an innocent life was not saved (as defined under the law). Whether threatening with a knife (not a capital offense) or with a cannon...

This law stinks to start with, but what moron shoots to kill when a shot into the ceiling, or failing that, a shot to the foot would have likely stopped this situation...

This is what I like to call the short skirt syndrome. They have sypmathy for the rapist and blame the victim for wearing a short skirt. I'd have more respect for them if they didn't mince words and came right out and said "The bitch had it coming". That way we'd at least know where they're coming from.