I spent the day here.

Anybody who runs a blog knows that spam is a big problem. Spammers use commenting and trackback links to increase their Google page rank and drive traffic to their site. And they must profit from it, or they wouldn't try so hard to increase their visibility on Google.

One can only wonder then what makes newspapers think they can charge Google to index their content.

"If all of the newspapers in America did not allow Google to steal their content, how profitable would Google be?" Sam Zell, the new owner of the Tribune Company, asked reporters during a speech at Stanford University last month...

Zell didn't wait for the reporters to reply... "Not very," he said...

"Newspapers are trying to find their way to understanding and addressing the value of linking," said Aly Colon, an instructor at The Poynter Institute, a school for journalists. "The search engines are supposed to be sending traffic to newspapers. But on the other hand (journalism) is hard work...There is going to be some sort of attempt by newspapers to figure out how they can be fully compensated for their work."

There is little doubt that journalists think their profession doesn't need to show a profit. But media owners used to realize that their business model hinges on selling ads targeted at their readers. And the more readers you have the more you can charge for ads.

For some reason, now they think they're in the business of selling content.

I finally got around to watching United 93 tonight. Overall it was a good movie. I found myself rooting for the passengers to kick some major ass, but inevitably the movie ended as expected. But this IMDb comment managed to bring a smile to my face.

Why were the terrorists Muslims?

why not angry russian spies or disgruntled special ops assassins like in the movies? was anyone else offended by the movies accuracy?

I love cynicism like that.

SUV crashes into store, perhaps in attempt to steal guns

Just last week CNN/Money staff writer Steve Hargreaves listed raising gas prices as #1 of his 6 ways to lower gas prices. This week he continues to ruin Money Magazine's credibility by expanding on his socialist idea.

It seems completely counterintuitive: Raise the gasoline tax to help American commuters.

Motorists are already paying well over $3 a gallon, and there are signs that it's beginning to cut into demand and hurt consumer spending.

But if a big gas tax was levied - like the $1 or $2 tax Europeans have to keep prices permanently over $3 or $4 a gallon - how could that possibly help American consumers?

One argument says a tax would crimp demand, lowering wholesale prices.

"Anybody with any brains has advocated that, but not the politicians." said Fadel Gheit, an energy analyst at the financial services company Oppenheimer.

Economics 101 teaches us about elasticity of demand. That basically means that if price goes up, demand goes down.

What Hargreaves proposes to do is raise prices artificially, to lower prices. The increased price would lower demand, forcing gasoline suppliers to lower their prices in reaction. That much may be true, but the net price remains the same. Whether your paying more in taxes or more for the actual price of the gas, the price at the pump will ultimately remain about the same.

Or so the theory goes. "Anybody with any brains" knows that Americans are prosperous enough to pay the inflated price. Demand may decrease a little bit, but not enough to keep the price down. There are also goods with inelastic demand, meaning that it doesn't matter how much the price is raised the demand will still be there. Gas consumption being more inelastic than elastic means that gas prices would increase and the government would get a much bigger cut.

But isn't that what the socialists want any way? Indeed it is:

Lower wholesale prices, which would mean less profits for oil firms, combined with a higher tax could transfer money from Big Oil to the government, which could then use the cash for public programs.

"Big Oil", by the way is Americans: American companies, American employees, and American stockholders. Hargreaves plans to "transfer money" from Americans to Big Government which can then be doled out through socialist vote-buying programs.

Consumers would have to pay the same amount - or even more than now - but at least that extra cash could be returned to them in some way.

That money is already coming back to Americans, in the form of higher wages, higher dividends, higher stock prices, higher mutual funds prices, higher bank returns, higher 401k returns all of which invest in "Big Oil" to some extent. Whether they know it or not, even non-investors are likely getting some sort of return from "Big Oil". (If they aren't they need only to open an E-trade account to buy whichever Big Oil stock they want.)

This is nothing more than a plan to "transfer money" from highly productive Americans based on their "ability" to non-productive Americans based on their "need". And that is the basic tenant of Communism, which Hargeaves seems to be advocating.

If CNN/Money values their credibility more than their liberal agenda, they should seriously consider removing staff writers like Hargreaves from their payroll.

The UK is developing a real domestic spying program, yet there's no outrage from the left? Government officials plan to build flying camera drones to spy on their subjects.. er.. citizens.

Ian Readhead, deputy chief constable of Hampshire Police, said Britain could face an Orwellian situation with cameras on every street corner. However, senior officers in Merseyside, who are trialling the drone, said they did not believe it was the next phase in creating a Big Brother society.

Assistant chief constable Simon Byrne said: "People clamour for the feeling of safety which cameras give.

There's that "feeling of safety" thing again. The government is always doing things to make you "feel safe" instead of things that actually make you safer. (Virginia Tech officials banned guns claiming their students had the right to feel safe.)

(via SayUncle)

It looks like some hybrid owners are going to get kicked out of the HOV lanes, because they don't boost fuel efficiency enough in relation to their non-hybrid counterparts. In other words, their owners purchased the cars for their own feeling self-satisfaction instead of actual environmental benefits.

For the driver of a hybrid to qualify for HOV lanes during peak time, hybrid vehicles would need to achieve 25 percent higher combined fuel efficiency for city and highway driving compared with similar gasoline-fueled vehicles.

Only four manufacturers -- Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co., Ford Motor Co. and Mazda Motor Corp. -- make vehicles that would qualify.

Of course the grand irony of it all is that by letting hybrids go HOV, you ruin their environmental benefits. Hybrid cars only get better gas mileage in stop and go traffic. Cruising at highway speeds they are using their gasoline motor just like any other driver. In fact they could even be getting less highway mileage due to the added weight of the batteries and electric motor.

But then it's not about helping the environment, it's about using laws to control behavior.

I went to the Bloomberg Gun Giveaway last night with Bitter and Countertop (who brought Politically Incorrect Son with him). Bitter has some great pics and a wrap-up. We had a much larger crowd. Countertop and I were both dressed as high achievers which concealed our sidearms. This apparently prompted a few of the protestors to inquire if we were standing in the wrong crowd.

I stayed up late and watched the local news coverage on as many channels as I could. As could be expected they focused on the two VT families that were protesting legal gun ownership. All the protestors wore orange and maroon ribbons. It irritates me that they are using my school as a protest prop. When asked about it, I told one of them that I actually went to Tech, still go back there 6-8 times a year, and carry a gun each and every time.

The protest group was small and disorganized. Many of the signs were just posterboard with black marker hastily written on them in small letters. I noted that their gun death toll from VT included the murderer who shot himself. Because I didn't have anything nice to say, I tried not to engage them at all.

(This girl should probably try supporting edumacation)

We didn't win any guns, but it was a heck of a good time. Nice to catch up with Countertop and Bitter again too.

I never take CNN/Money articles too seriously. More often than not their writers are regurgitating liberal talking points rather than providing real-world economic analysis. After all, this is the same media outlet that turned to financial magnate Billy Joel for his opinion on investing.

So it's no surprise that in an article entitled 6 ways to lower gas prices, five of the suggestions they make would actually increase gas prices.

1. Pass a carbon tax - Economists say the most efficient way to reduce demand for any product is to make it more expensive. In short, a carbon tax. For gasoline, let's say an additional $1 or $2 a gallon.

Now this might not bring prices down at the pump. But it would most likely reduce demand, thus lowering wholesale prices and the profits currently reaped by oil companies and their shareholders. The tax revenue, presumably, would be returned to the public for its own benefit, perhaps in the form of better mass transit, cheaper health insurance or a gasoline tax credit for lower income people.

So the #1 way to lower gas prices is to raise them. Then use the extra money to fund liberal social programs. Way to blow your credibility right off the bat. But wait, there's more:

2. Increase efficiency

What could be easier and cheaper than legislating the invention of a car that gets 80 miles to the gallon? While you're at it, pass a law that says the Arabs and the Jews have to get along. That would ease Middle East tensions and lower the price of crude.

3. Push alternatives

The alternatives are more expensive, else they would push themselves.

4. Require oil companies to make more gas...
"I don't think they're meeting somewhere and saying 'oh, let's get the price up another 7 cents this weekend,'" said Judy Dugan, research director at the Center of Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. "But they know very well they can make more money by making less gasoline."

Arguing gasoline is a commodity essential for the public well being, Dugan said the government should require refiners to operate at a certain capacity or, if need be, build more refineries.

Economics don't work that way. If they could produce more, they would. Even at a lower price they would still make more money through increased volume. That's the Wal-Mart business model. But requiring "big oil" to build more refineries (with a 15 year lead time and a cost of billions of dollars) will only result in higher short-term gas prices.

5. Build a gasoline reserve

This might help smooth out price jumps in the wake of natural disasters like Katrinarita, but get real. Filling up a reserve would put immediate short term pressure on prices at the pump. You wanna see $4 gas, try buying 700 million gallons to put away for a rainy day.

6. Drill more oil

Finally! Increasing drilling and refining capacity should have been number 1. And missing from the list is reducing our dependence on foreign oil, axing the summer blends, and eliminating regional gas price controls.

But then, I went over all this two years ago.

Reader Mike A sends more evidence that Global Warming has jumped the shark.

Many former believers in catastrophic man-made global warming have recently reversed themselves and are now climate skeptics. The names included below are just a sampling of the prominent scientists who have spoken out recently to oppose former Vice President Al Gore, the United Nations, and the media driven "consensus" on man-made global warming.

UPDATE: People are probably tired of hearing doom and gloom crap like this:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The Southern Ocean around Antarctica is so loaded with carbon dioxide that it can barely absorb any more, so more of the gas will stay in the atmosphere to warm up the planet, scientists reported Thursday.

Human activity is the main culprit, said researcher Corinne Le Quere, who called the finding very alarming.

They got all the cliches out in the first two paragraphs.

VCDL is having their Bloomberg Gun Giveaway tonight. Two guns will be given away to two of the first 2000 peeps through the door. You get a free raffle ticket just for showing up (first come first served). Ravenwood plans to attend.

The Event: VCDL Membership Meeting

The Place: Mason District Government Center

The Address: 6507 Columbia Pike in Annandale

The Date: 05/17/07

The Time: 7:30 PM (Meeting begins at 8)

The Guns:

The handgun is a beautiful Para Ordinance PX745E:

http://www.paraord.com/product/product.html?id=5

The rifle is a sweet Browning Varmint Stalker in 223 WSSM:

http://tinyurl.com/3avzrn

Both guns are valued at around $1000 retail.

I plan on winning the handgun.

Bitter brings us this tragic story about UK police mistakenly raiding a man's home, then arresting him because he caused the police to mistakenly raid his him.

When police spotted a gun-wielding suspect lurking in the shadows of a suburban front room, their response was swift.

Armed officers burst into the house, shouted at the owner to lie on the floor, and ordered him to surrender his weapon.

But efficiency turned to embarrassment when the "gunman" turned out to be a life-sized model of the video game character Lara Croft, complete with trademark outsized pistols.

Computer shop owner David Williams, 42, had taken the dummy home to put it up for sale on the auction site eBay.

As the source of the confusion dawned on all concerned, it might have been the moment for an apology from the police.

Instead, however, Mr Williams was taken to the cells and held for more than 13 hours before being released.

He is now on bail for a suspected firearms offence, and Lara Croft remains impounded as evidence.

I only had one reaction. Where can I get me one of those?

Some people are tech savvy, others not so much. Such is the case of 20-year old Paula Ceely, whom the BBC says is blaming her GPS Navigation system because her car was totaled by a train. She claims that on a trip from Redditch, Worcestershire, to Carmarthenshire her satnav system took her across a poorly marked rail crossing.

She recounted: "Obviously I had never done the journey before so I was using the satnav - completely dependent on it. I came to this crossing at Ffynongain and there was like a metal gate, which looked like just a normal farmers' gate with a red circle on it. I thought it was a dead end at first and then there was a little sign saying, if the light is green, open the gates and drive through.

"So I opened the gate, drove forward, closed the gate behind me and then went to go and open the gate in front of me. Then I heard this train and I noticed there was train tracks. It was only then that I did realise I was on a train crossing..."

"I put my complete trust in the satnav and it led me right into the path of a speeding train. The crossing wasn't shown on the satnav, there were no signs at all, and it wasn't lit up to warn of an oncoming train."

While lewd sex and graphic language are no longer taboo in movies smoking soon will be. The MPAA has decided to begin giving movies that feature smoking a higher rating than those that don't.

The MPAA says that for the first time film depictions of cigarette smoking will number among criteria used by its ratings board to determine how a movie is rated.

Anti-tobacco lobbyists have been pressing for an automatic "R" rating for films with smoking scenes, but MPAA chairman-CEO Dan Glickman on Thursday rejected that proposal and said a more nuanced policy will be implemented.

I've long felt that the PG-13 rating and a crack down on kids sneaking into R-rated movies by theater owners has ruined Hollywood. It seems like 11 out of 12 movies are rated PG-13, and R-rated flicks are routinely cut down to receive a PG-13 rating.

Economics rule the day and if Hollywood can make more money with PG-13 films than R films, they're going to do it. Personally, I think movie makers should be as realistic as possible and not compromise artistic principles.

Could you imagine Pulp Fiction without Bad Motherfucker Samuel L. Jackson? How about a Winston Churchill biopic receiving an R rating because of Churchill's prominent cigar, or filmmakers removing the cigar altogether? (I mean, they're called Churchills.) The MPAA policy change means that smoking may soon disappear from movies.

What's next? Fast food?

When it comes to Global Warming, I had it figured out years ago. My Global Warming theory dates back to the early 1990s, and it's been documented on this blog as early as 2003.

"...the largest consumer of carbon dioxide (and maker of oxygen) is not trees, it's plant plankton. Who destroys all of this preciousss, life giving plant plankton? Whales. I say, we slaughter all the whales to prevent them from eating the plant plankton." -- Ravenwood, 01/03/2003

"Most people think that most of our oxygen comes from trees. But with two-thirds of the Earth's surface covered with water, it actually comes from oceans full of plant plankton, who dutifully convert CO2 to oxygen through photosynthesis. The biggest harm to plant plankton is not global warming, since a spike in CO2 would just mean that plant life thrives. Instead, plant plankton's biggest predator is whales. Whales scoop up plankton by the truckload. It would seem obvious then, that the solution is to protect plant plankton by slaughtering whales. With an absence of predators, plant plankton will overpopulate and drastically cut CO2 levels". -- Ravenwood, 03/03/2005

At the time people called me nuts, but then there's this, and this:

Can plankton production address the climate change problem? A crew from a company called Planktos will travel to waters near the Galapagos Islands later this month to create plankton "blooms," or large-scale growth, by seeding the ocean with iron, which stimulates plankton growth. As the plankton grows, it consumes carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, and removes it from the atmosphere.

All this is going to do is make the whales flourish. This may help some, but they should also try eliminating the predators (whales) to yield bigger gains.

Virginia probably has the best Attorney General in the U.S.

COMMONWEALTH of VIRGINIA
April 13, 2007
Office of the Attorney General
The Honorable Michael Bloomberg
Mayor, City of New York
Municipal Building, One Centre Street
Tenth Floor North
New York, NY 10007

Robert F. McDonnell
Attorney General
900 East Main Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219
804-786-2071
FAX 804-786-1991
Virginia Relay Services
800-828-1120
7-1-1

RE: Unauthorized Undercover Firearm Transactions in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Dear Mayor Bloomberg:

I write you regarding Chapter 509 of the 2007 Virginia Acts of Assembly, introduced at my request, addressing "simulated straw purchases" of firearms in the Commonwealth. A copy of the new law is enclosed herein for your reference. The intent of this legislation is to prevent unauthorized activity by non-law enforcement personnel to conduct otherwise illegal firearms purchases. The recent activities by agents of the City of New York in Virginia brought this issue to my attention.

As you know, the U.S. Department of Justice recently wrote to you that such activity is counterproductive to legitimate law enforcement efforts to police illegal firearm trafficking, and has potential legal liabilities. Representatives of your Office have apparently suggested publicly that they may continue such simulated firearm transactions in Virginia perhaps with a view towards further litigation.

The new legislation passed this year at my insistence and signed by Governor Kaine, makes clear that such non-law enforcement activities related to undercover illegal firearm purchases will be punishable as a felony in Virginia. While I understand that you are attempting to take steps that you believe may enhance the public safety of the citizens of New York City, such laws are Virginia's duty to enforce, and our outstanding state police take that duty seriously. Virginia police and prosecutors now have the tools necessary to stop such unwarranted firearms purchase activity by unauthorized outside agents, and will faithfully enforce the law when violations are discovered.

This new Virginia law strikes the proper balance between ensuring effective law enforcement and protecting the rights of law abiding firearms dealers and those of Virginia citizens under the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. If in the future you have specific concerns about criminal justice matters in the Commonwealth, please contact me, the Governor, or the proper law-enforcement agency responsible for
investigating and prosecuting such conduct. We will be pleased to address any legitimate public safety concerns that you might raise.

Thanks for your future cooperation.
Robert F. McDonnell
RFM/pdw

You can see the actual letter here. (PDF)

Another tough lesson from D.C.: gun bans, "crime cameras", and police cannot prevent crime. Fox 5 reports:

Two men were shot in broad daylight Sunday afternoon in DC's Shaw neighborhood along busy 7th and O Streets in Northwest DC.

One man was shot in the chest but is expected to survive. The other was grazed by a bullet in the hand.

A DC Police Officer was less than a block away from the attack and another, off-duty officer happened to be close by.

There is a crime camera positioned close by and police hope that its pictures will help them catch the shooters. Police are on the lookout for a white car seen driving away from the scene.

Generally speaking, Northwest D.C. is considered the safest area of the city. Even so, crime is so bad in the Shaw neighborhood police were ordered months ago to patrol the area 24/7.

When it comes to war news, this is what passes for reporting.

The U.S. military reported 11 soldiers died in Iraq on Sunday -- all but one in combat -- bringing to 24 the number of American service members who have died in Iraq in the first week of May.

...six U.S. soldiers and a journalist were killed in a roadside bombing...

Two soldiers also were injured in that attack...

Also Sunday, two U.S. soldiers with Multi-National Division Baghdad were killed in separate bombings and two others were wounded. . .in Samarra, just north of Baghdad, two died in a suicide car bombing.

A Task Force Lightning soldier died Sunday in a noncombat incident...

A British soldier also died Sunday from wounds suffered in southern Iraq when a roadside bomb exploded...

Insurgents wreaked more havoc Sunday by killing at least 45 other people and wounding dozens more in multiple bomb attacks...

...a bomb in a parked car exploded, killing 33 people and wounding 74 others...

One police officer was killed and three others were wounded...

Earlier in the day, the two U.S. soldiers, along with 12 Iraqi police officers, were killed and 11 others were wounded...

...at least five people were killed and 10 others were wounded in the blast from an explosives-rigged car...

Not one mention of how many terrorists have been killed. But then there never is. The drive-by media only gives body counts for coalition troops. They couldn't care less how many of the enemy are killed.

Newsweek interviews Wayne Lo and asks him his views on gun control in the wake of the Virginia Tech serial killer.

Do you believe that stricter gun control would help prevent such tragedies? The people who do these things are people who don't want contact. They wouldn't be capable of going out there and stabbing people to death. But there's such a disconnect when you're using a gun. You don't even feel like you're killing anybody. . .

What sort of gun control do you propose, then?
Ideally, guns should be eliminated, but I know that won't happen. There should be stricter checks. Obviously a waiting period would be great.

Wayne Lo has a unique perspective on the subject. As Newsweek notes:

Late on the evening of Dec. 14, 1992, Wayne Lo, an 18-year-old student at Simon's Rock College of Bard in Great Barrington, Mass., approached a security-guard shack on the campus and began shooting, as he says now, "at anything that moved." Lo fired at least nine rounds during the following 20 minutes, killing another student and a Spanish professor and wounding four others."

The gun control movement has thus far been unsuccessful in drumming up support in the wake of such highly publicized mass shootings. But it's a bit surprising that they would align themselves with murderers who prey on innocent, unarmed victims in support of their cause.

Via Say Uncle.

If somebody posts something about you that you don't like, sometimes its best to just leave it alone. (NSFW)

Oscar De La Hoya's fight with Floyd Mayweather doesn't end tonight. It's just beginning. Find out what Oscar intends to do to Floyd after the fight.

Virginia Democrat Governor Tim Kaine just issued an executive order that retroactively takes away the gun freedoms of serial killer* Cho Seung-Hui, and any other Virginian who's been remanded to outpatient treatment.

It is shocking that we have a Governor who thinks he can take away someone's gun rights for life through an executive order.

This from the VCDL:

Earlier today, Governor Kaine signed an Executive Order (EO) prohibiting another category of people from owning firearms. Kaine's EO would take away gun rights for life of any person adjudicated dangerous, but only ordered to be treated as an OUTPATIENT. (Anyone who is committed as an inpatient currently loses their gun rights already.)

So, what's the problem?

1. Kaine's action is probably unconstitutional! If Kaine can just issue an Imperial Decree changing existing law without any debate from our elected representatives, why not just disband the General Assembly, if they aren't needed any more? :-(

The proper way to handle a situation like this is for the Governor to call a special session of the General Assembly to address this issue and ask the the General Assembly to modify the law.

2. His EO may appear to be a reasonable restriction because no one wants a violent, insane person to have a gun or any other weapon for that matter.

However, what judge in HIS right mind would allow a person who the judge KNOWS to be a danger to himself or to others to be sent home and allowed to do outpatient treatment?!? The judge should commit himself to inpatient treatment for doing such a thing! That's like sending serial murderer Jeffrey Dahmer back home but requiring him to attend weekly counseling sessions!

If a person is adjudicated dangerous to himself or others, he should be confined, NOT sent home!

So you might ask, why would there be ANY patients who were both dangerous AND ordered to do outpatient treatments?

Because the judge might believe that the person isn't really 'dangerous,' but the judge feels that the person does desperately need mental help and that the person wouldn't seek such help on his own. So the judge declares the person to be 'dangerous' so that the person can be forced to take the outpatient treatment.

Should a person who is not believed to be dangerous by a judge be banned from having guns for the rest of his life?

3. The Governor's edict is retroactive! Thus, if you were treated as an outpatient under a court order thirty years ago and have been fine ever since, you can now no longer BUY, OWN, or POSSESS any firearms. If you do you can be charged with a federal FELONY!

4. The Governor has falsely promised that gun rights could be restored. NOT true. There is no way to get your name off the federal list once Virginia has added you to it, even if you are now perfectly normal. You will be prohibited by federal law from buying or possessing a firearm for the rest of your life. And you may not even realize you are a 'prohibited' person, so when you attempt to purchase a firearm, you may be shocked when you are arrested for lying on the 4473, which is a FELONY.

5. Once you are on the federal mental defect list, you could lose more than your gun rights. Your security clearance could be at risk. Your job too.

6. According to the Washington Post, Attorney General McDonnell said, "We are still in a state of mourning, but now is the time for action." What he's really saying is that he's got to do something, anything, to make it look like the government is doing something. Just another "feel good" measure - and one embraced by Governor Kaine!

And talk about rushing to do something - Kaine JUST APPOINTED a commission to look at the mental health problem and make suggestions, but Kaine didn't even wait for the commission to meet! He just charged forward on his political hobbyhorse!

* As opposed to a parallel killer like Hitler or Hussein.