In Zimbabwe, the "election" results are in and it looks like another thug dicatator has won with about 99% of the vote. It's clear that something must be done about Mugabe. But the question is what?

We could send in a U.S. led coalition to forcibly remove Mugabe by kicking ass and taking names. Or perhaps some of those blue-helmet guys can drive around in their SUV-like "tanks" and take pictures as Mugabe's forces rape and murder the citizenry.

Or maybe there is another "goldilocks" option that falls somewhere in between. The Canadians think they have the answer.

[Carelton University's Blair] Rutherford said it would still be a good idea for Canada to take on a lead role in helping to resolve the situation.

"Unlike the United States and Britain, Canada is less tainted with what could be called an imperialist stain and (Canada has) a strong history of solidarity in the region which we could draw upon," he said from Ottawa.

That's very true. Nobody ever accused Canadia of conquering anybody.

Bitter notes that D.C. wants to adopt Jim Crow laws. The Washington Post provides insight into the D.C. Attorney General's plan for legal gun ownership in D.C.:

Among the likely regulations: Gun owners would have to be 21 or older (*) and could not have been convicted of a felony or any weapon-related charge or have been in a mental hospital for the past five years. Registrants also will be finger-printed and required to pass a written test to be sure they understand the city's gun laws, Nickles said.

At least initially, he added, residents would be limited to one handgun apiece. The city will set up a hotline for firearm registrations.

That's right, a written test for exercising your Constitutional rights... in an area filled mostly with black people. Why does that ring a bell?

Via ScotusBlog, the Supreme Court has affirmed the lower court ruling that D.C.'s gun ban is unConstitutional.

It looks like it was a 5-4 decision with the usual suspects dissenting. A single majority opinion ruled that the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right. There were two seperate dissenting opinions.

UPDATE: Opinion here.

The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditional lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.

Now for the limits:

Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose. . . The Court's opinion should not be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.

But they do give D.C. the smackdown by essentially saying, if D.C. wants to license guns, they must actually issue licenses.

Because Heller conceded at oral argument that the D. C. licensing law is permissible if it is not enforced arbitrarily and capriciously, the Court assumes that a license will satisfy his prayer for relief and does not address the licensing requirement. Assuming he is not disqualified from exercising Second Amendment rights, the District must permit Heller to register his handgun and must issue him a license to carry it in the home.

I would think this applies to cities like Chicago too.

UPDATE2: Here's why John Paul Stevens shouldn't even be a Justice. From his dissent:

The Court would have us believe that over 200 years ago, the Framers made a choice to limit the tools available to elected officials wishing to regulate civilian uses of weapons...

The Founding Fathers were limiting the rights of government?? What were they thinking?

This article in the Washington Post (of all places) is a gentle reminder that the D.C. gun ban goes deeper than just banning guns.

The story is about Allan Lucas, a former Marine and Police Officer. Lucas was granted a D.C. gun instructor's license, but has been unable to open a shop because of D.C.'s anti-gun bureacracy. To teach police officers, security officers, and the privileged few who are permitted to carry guns in the District, Lucas has to take them to gun ranges in Virginia or Maryland.

Lucas tried opening his own business in D.C. and was caught in a catch-22.

To open such a business, you'd need a site zoned for a range. And there is no zoning category that allows a range. . .

At one point, a zoning administrator told Lucas that the problem was that it had been so long since the city had licensed a gun range that it simply didn't know how to do so.

And if D.C. loses the Heller case. . .

The need for a range will soon become far more pressing, Lucas figures. "If you're going to let people have weapons, they're going to need a place to train," he says. "The worst thing you can do is legalize guns and have no way for people to learn how to handle them safely."

Courtesy of the Washington Post, the Ass. Press brings us another game of guess the political party. Our Governor, with help from a prominent Virginia lawmaker are planning to increase the tax on gasoline.

A Senate committee has endorsed legislation increasing Virginia's gasoline tax by 6 cents a gallon.

The Finance Committee sent the bill to the Senate floor on a 9-5 vote Wednesday, the third day of the General Assembly's special session on transportation. But even if the full Senate passes the bill, it faces almost certain death in the House of Delegates, which is controlled by anti-tax Republicans.

Senator Richard Saslaw's bill would phase in the gas tax increase a penny a year over six years. The bill also includes a variety of regional tax increases to pay for projects in northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

Governor Tim Kaine also has proposed tax and fee increases to raise about $1 billion a year for transportation. His proposal, which does not include a gas tax increase, is pending in a House committee.

The article doesn't mention either politician's political party, so you'll just have to guess.

The VCDL notes that a trio of Fairfax County (Virginia) police officers are giving the department a bad name. As someone who has had first hand interaction with Fairfax police officers, I can attest that in every encounter I have had, they have always treated me with respect. The Fairfax officers I have met were all well versed on gun laws and have never once detained me for carrying concealed or openly.

But then there's these three guys:

The gun owner was pulled over for running through a red light, a charge which the gun owner disputes.

The gun owner, believing that he had to disclose he was lawfully armed as they do in North Carolina, dutifully told the officer he had a NC CHP and was indeed armed.

The officer seemed to ignore the statement, but very shortly two more patrol units pulled up. The next thing the gun owner knew he is in a "felony stop" mode. He was asked to walk backwards towards the officers, who then disarmed and handcuffed him.

While trying to unloaded his gun, THEY DROPPED IT ONTO THE ROAD!

The two officers and a SERGEANT then proceeded to tell him that he was under arrested for:

1. Having hollow point bullets, which they claimed were illegal in Virginia (!)
2. Taking a loaded gun across the state line, which the gun owner was told was a FELONY (!)
3. Having a concealed gun that the police said he couldn't have since he was from North Carolina (!!)

His car and gun were impounded and he was taken off to a magistrate.

The magistrate looked at the charges and told the police officers that they had just made a false arrest.

The officers pointed out the possession of hollow point bullets. The magistrate asked, "are they teflon coated?"

"No," replied on of the officers.

"Then they are legal."

Trying to find something that would stick and justify the false arrest, one of the officers said, "We couldn't verify that his North Carolina permit is valid."

The magistrate looked at the permit, noticed the phone number on the back where one can call to verify the permit, called the number, and within a few minutes found out the permit was indeed valid.

The gun owner was ordered to be released.

After being released from custody, the gun owner was given a hard time by another officer about getting his gun back, but he did finally get it back.

If all of that isn't bad enough, the arresting officer went ahead and gave the gun owner a ticket for the alleged offense of running a red light!

Geez, we have a formal reciprocity agreement with North Carolina. It's even posted on the State Police website. These guys are practically begging to be sued.

The economic "recession" appears to be over. Or at least CNN/Money* has apparently stopped beating the "recession" drum. Oh, they still talk down the economy and post daily stories about high gas prices and mortgage foreclosures. But they stopped updating their Recession Watch 2008 page after a mere two months. (My Road Hazard of the Day stories ran longer than that.)

* I know how big business works. I don't trust it.

The midwest is flooding, but they seem to be handling it at the local level with firefighters and other rescuers. Where's FEMA? Where's Bush?

-= In related news =-

Three years after Hurricane Katrina almost hit New Orleans, the state of Louisiana still cannot do anything for themselves.

The Louisiana Recovery Authority announced that it was asking the federal government to return goods "that were intended to help disaster victims in Louisiana but were marked as surplus and remain unused."

"Many of these items are believed to be household goods that could help residents moving out of FEMA trailers re-establish their homes," the agency said.

The CNN investigation found FEMA gave away extensive stocks of items such as cots, cleansers, first-aid kits, coffee makers, camp stoves and other items that had been bought as "starter kits" for people living in trailers after the 2005 hurricane.

"There is a particular and critical need for exactly these materials -- especially household goods --- by organizations dealing with the critical problem and homelessness as a result of hurricanes Katrina and Rita," [Louisiana Democrat Senator Mary] Landrieu wrote. "One such organization is Unity of Greater New Orleans, which works with FEMA to house homeless hurricane victims and was featured prominently in the CNN piece."

CNN ignored Obama's gaffe about wanting to give asthmatic children a breathalyzer, but when McCain says he will "veto every beer", CNN sells t-shirts.

Over at CNN it's all negative, all the time. Top Story: iReporters struggle with rising food costs

Sidebar Stories:
Jetliner crashes in flames in Sudan
CNNMoney: Americans fear gas shortages
Candidates draw battle lines on economy
CNNMoney: Housing crisis hits 90210 'hoods
Consumer Tips: Are my tomatoes safe?
Man watches flood split open house
WRTV: Town braces as flood overtops levee
iReport.com: Flooded creek strands cows
Mars lander faces biggest challenge so far
Ticker: Obama team floats 20 names for VP
McCain flubs: 'I will veto every beer'
Victim or vixen? Views differ at R. Kelly trial
'Suicide is Painless' message on car baffles FBI
Airline loses kid on first flight alone
Alicia Keys: Let's not give up on Africa
Incest cellar girl wakes from coma
Sleeping at work -- more of us are doing it
Eastwood tells Spike Lee to 'shut his face'
300 bee stings send hiker tumbling down hill

Nothing's Shocking...

Ted Just Admit It

lyrics by Jane's Addiction

camera got them images
camera got them all
nothing's shocking...
showed me everybody
naked and disfigured
nothing's shocking...
and then he came
now sister's
not a virgin anymore
her sex is violent...

the t.v.'s got them images
t.v.'s got them all
it's not shocking!
every half an hour
someone's captured and
the cop moves them along...
it's just like the show before
the news is
just another show
with sex and violence...

sex is violent...
sex is violent...
sex is violent...
sex is violent...
sex is violent...
sex is violent...
sex is violent!

i am the killer of people
you look like a meatball
i'll throw away your toothpick
and ask for your giveness

because of this thing!
because of this thing!
because of this thing!

that's in me
is it not in you?
is it not your problem?

a baby to a mother..

you talk too much
to your scapegoat

that's what i say
he tells you everyone is stupid
that's what he thinks!

snapshots
make a girl look cheap
like a tongue extended
a baby's to a mother

sex is violent!
sex is violent!
sex is violent!
sex is violent!

"Gun free" Washington D.C. is becoming a police state:

Under an executive order expected to be announced today, police Chief Cathy L. Lanier will have the authority to designate "Neighborhood Safety Zones." At least six officers will man cordons around those zones and demand identification from people coming in and out of them. Anyone who doesn't live there, work there or have "legitimate reason" to be there will be sent away or face arrest...

CNN's iReport site reports that lightning struck a Kansas City petroleum storage tank, igniting a huge blaze. But according to one commenter, the lightning may have been steered there by George Bush and "Big Oil".

SE7ANS // 2 hours ago:
The endless claims that the price of oil is not being manipulated is not only hard to believe, but ludicrous. I consider it EXTREMELY suspicious that we have recently been provided with speculative reports warning us that the price of oil will increase in the event of disastrous weather...and now this.

I too am suspicious of speculative reports. It seems to me that speculative reports would be written by oil speculators, who are betting on the price of oil. That is, they have a vested financial interest in the oil price and will release "reports" to steer it in a direction that favors them financially.

But lightning is not a conspiracy.

When I was in high school some friends turned me on to what would become one of my favorite bands. They were an obscure group that had a small niche following. I loved their music and they were one of the few bands that I could listen to every song on their albums. Then something happened.

They had a hit single. Next thing I knew they were on the radio, had a video on MTV, and everyone was buying their new album. It bugged me. I liked them when they were nothing. Now everyone and their brother is a fan. It became cliche to like them. I had been a loyal fan for years, but now I felt like just another rider on the bandwagon. The fame was too much too soon and the band quickly broke up. They had been killed by their own bandwagon.

I think this is what's happening to the environmental movement. It's become cliche. It used to be a small group of treehuggers and maggot infested hippies. But now there's a huge bandwagon and big corporations are looking to fleece the riders. The news is filled with story after story about gas prices, global warming, and green marketing. How long the green movement will last is anybody's guess. But the hotter it burns, the quicker it will burn out. I can hardly wait.

(Burn baby burn.. Muahahaha.)

Apparently when it comes to Virginia's Democrat Governors, campaign promises don't mean shit. The sad thing is that the voters don't even care that they're being lied to. I said this about Mark "I will not raise taxes" Warner (who passed the largest tax increase in Virginia's 400 year history). Apparently Tim "no new gun control" Kaine is cut from the same cloth.

House of Delegates Majority Leader Morgan Griffith (R) writes:

When then-Gov. Mark R. Warner announced his proposal for the largest tax increase in state history after the legislative elections of 2003, he broke a campaign promise. As a gubernatorial candidate two years earlier, Warner stressed that he would not raise taxes, appearing on television screens across Virginia proclaiming, "Let me set the record straight, I will not raise taxes."

For Warner, breaking a promise that played a key role in his election has not, to date, carried any discernible consequences. Warner was praised by the editorial boards of several newspapers [shocking!], received almost exclusively fawning press coverage and left office with high approval ratings.

And then there's current Governor Tim Kaine:

Like Warner, Kaine promised he would not raise taxes. Moreover, he made it a point to specifically reject raising taxes for transportation, declaring in his campaign advertisements that Virginia couldn't tax and pave its way out of gridlock.

Of course, Kaine broke that promise his first week in office, proposing a massive statewide tax increase for transportation. The most prominent feature of Kaine's proposal would have increased the taxes paid by Virginians when buying a vehicle by 67 percent. After failing in his first two years to get the General Assembly to enact that increase, he is now prepared to call a special session and appears poised to promote it a third time.

His position on tax increases is not the only key commitment made by candidate Kaine that has been discarded by Gov. Kaine. As a candidate, Kaine's campaign Web site proclaimed, "As the next governor of Virginia, he will not propose any new gun laws." That promise went by the wayside earlier this year, when Kaine became the most prominent backer of a measure that would have regulated the sale of firearms between private individuals at gun shows.

Someone should tell CNN that superdelegates don't count until they actually vote:

Sen. Barack Obama inched closer to the Democratic nomination Tuesday as endorsements from superdelegates trickled in.

Sen. Barack Obama is closing in on the 2,118 delegates needed to clinch the nomination. Obama is now four delegates short of the 2,118 needed to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination, according to CNN's count.

I wonder if they are counting Teddy Kennedy and Robert 'KKK' Byrd, both of whom have declared for Obama (and may not be well enough for the convention).

UPDATE: CNN just declared Obama the winner, even though no superdelegate votes have been cast.

Yet another one from Countertop.

highlight those you've done... or just make them bold

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink

02. Swam with wild dolphins

03. Climbed a mountain

04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive

05. Been inside the Great Pyramid

06. Held a tarantula

07. Taken a candlelit bath

08. Said I love you and meant it

09. Hugged a tree

10. Bungee jumped

11. Visited Paris

12. Watched a lightning storm at sea

13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise

14. Seen the Northern Lights

15. Gone to a huge sports game - AFC Championship Game, countless college games

16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa - Back when I did it, they didn't have hand-rails.

17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables

18. Touched an iceberg

19. Slept under the stars

20. Changed a baby's diaper - And I never will...

21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon - Planning it, but hadda cancel. Will probably reschedule it for sometime soon.

22. Watched a meteor shower

23. Gotten drunk on champagne

24. Given more than you can afford to charity

25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope

26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment

27. Had a food fight

28. Bet on a winning horse - Bet on a lot of losers before I hit that winner though.

29. Asked out a stranger

30. Had a snowball fight

31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can

32. Held a lamb - Do lamb chops count?

33. Seen a total eclipse

34. Ridden a roller coaster

35. Hit a home run

36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking

37. Adopted an accent for an entire day

38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment

39. Had two hard drives for your computer - Hell, I've had like 10 hard drives for a computer. My laptop has two 160 gb drives.

40. Visited all 50 states

41. Taken care of someone who was too drunk - This is one of my drunk stories of the day.

42. Had amazing friends - What do you mean by "had"?

43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country

44. Watched wild whales

45. Stolen a sign

46. Backpacked in Europe

47. Taken a road-trip - Taken several spur of the moment trips. Once wore the same clothes for 5 days because I didn't go home to pack first.

48. Gone rock climbing

49. Midnight walk on the beach

50. Gone sky diving

51. Visited Ireland - Both the "Republic" and "Northern"

52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love

53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them - Ever been to a European pub? That's how it works over there.

54. Visited Japan

55. Milked a cow

56. Alphabetized your CDs.

57. Pretended to be a superhero

58. Sung karaoke

59. Lounged around in bed all day - Its called the weekend.

60. Posed nude in front of strangers

61. Gone scuba diving

62. Kissed in the rain

63. Played in the mud

64. Played in the rain

65. Gone to a drive-in theater - Saw Star Wars there.

66. Visited the Great Wall of China

67. Started a business

68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken

69. Toured ancient sites - Pompeii, Rome, Naples.. etc.

70. Taken a martial arts class - Chuck Norris Karate Studios

71. Played a Computer game for more than 6 hours straight

72. Gotten married

73. Been in a movie

74. Crashed a party - Once crashed a birthday party.. yet another drunk story of the day.

75. Gotten divorced