Disheartening, if true. Now good citizen, what would you do in this case:

1) Cooperate, after all it’s for my own good
2) Cooperate and seek legal recourse after it was over
3) Instruct the officers that they were detaining you illegally and leave (subsequently risking being manhandled or worse)
4) Exercise your second amendment rights (definitely assuring you would see what is meant by worse and not real smart)

I’d be torn between 2 & 3, afterall I’m a family man.

Thanks to Jesse over at the blab.

Update: Glenn Reynolds questions whether it really happened or not. I had my doubts which is why the disclaimer if true is there.

Rick Santorum: Gay Marriage = Terrorism. Let him hang himself on his own. No need for the gay-rights advocates to make stuff up.

That’s the title of this news article. And the answer is: He’s rich and famous!

Despite his history of assaulting photographers, drug use, and reckless driving (which I’m certain may even prevent him from purchasing a firearm under current law, assuming he was charged), he gets a permit to carry a weapon.

Sheriff Charlie Plummer . . . says simply being “a law-abiding citizen” doesn’t cut it in his county. Apparently, even if you don’t abide by the law and are a member of the plutocracy, you can get one. Other permits were issued to Eight judges, several attorneys, businessmen in high-crime areas and a diamond dealer also made the grade. Yup, more affluent people.

I bet this guy wishes he was rich and famous.

Bigwig is absolutely hysterical. He needs a career in comedy. To wit:

If hooking up Colobus genitals to a car battery has even the slightest chance of curing cancer, teenage acne, or hangnails for that matter, I say shock that monkey.

Definitely a must read.

If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything.

That’s what Santorum said. And the left is reaching to make an issue out it, to no avail. The statement is true and you should have a right to those things; more specifically the government should not be allowed to interfere with those things. The bigger concern I have is about Santorum’s privacy statement.

Oliver Willis states that Santorum compares homosexuality to beastiality and child abuse. Of course, Santorum specifically states in the original interview that homosexuality is not bestiality or child abuse. So, Santorum isn’t comparing, he’s contrasting. Yup, reaching.

Legislators working on new laws to restrict predatory lending. If you’re stupid enough to sign blank closing documents, then you get what you deserve. Also, credit and borrowing require a trait most people lack, which is discipline. Credit counseling and personal finance should be required in high school, along with basic business law.

The Second Amendment Protection act has been referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. Prior to that, it was in the Judiciary Committee.

A friend of the family has undergone an elective surgical procedure to enhance her breasts. I haven’t seen her since and have quite the conundrum. When I do see her, I know that she will want recognition of the change in her appearance and that keeping my mouth shut may be rude. She needs affirmation that her appearance has benefited from the procedure, or else she wouldn’t have had it done. But what do I say?

I can’t very well say something like Nice Juggs! Can I? Any suggestions? The Mrs. has informed me that I also am not allowed to ask to see them (and I assume that means ask to touch them as well). Maybe this is the one time in my life when I can comment on another man’s wife’s boobs and get away with it.

Apparently, Daily Kos thinks that the time is right to convert we libertarians (with lower a case L) into the Democratic fold. Perry de Havilland spells some things out regarding the unlikelihood that this will happen. It ain’t gonna happen but we libertarians won’t like the result either. The libertarians will not vote for:

Gun control candidates (this is, as Daily Kos says, the deal-breaker)
Big government candidates
Pro-affirmative action candidates
Higher tax candidates
More socialist program candidates
Wealth redistribution candidates
And the list goes on.

What will happen is those libertarians who tend to vote Republican (picking the lesser of evils) may vote for actual libertarians. Of course, this would be a win for the Democratic Party because the votes diverted from the Republicans could allow a win.

If the Democrats acted more like Tennessee Governor Bredesen (or even Dean, sort of, since he at least gets gun control right), it might happen. But when your top contenders are Kerry, Leiberman, and Gephardt, forget it. As an example, if Clinton hadn’t signed the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 into law, Gore would be president right now.

So, all you libertarians out there, think real hard in 2004. And you Democrats out there, start thinking about issues that are important to libertarians and change your minds on the stuff that you’re wrong about.

I remember the big to-do about Hawash and how he was a victim (and yes I agree his civil rights were violated) but now he’s been charged with something and his supporters are apparently not returning calls. Or even acknowledging it.

Per the Tennessean: Revenue projections for state are on target. Of course, from yesterday’s internet tax post: In 2001, state and local governments lost about $362 million in e-taxes. That is expected to exceed $1 billion by 2006. My theory was that the state needs new revenue projection guys. Somebody is fibbing and it isn’t SayUncle.

The Hartford Courant editor has ruled that their columnist Denis Horgan can’t operate his weblog.

There are a few things my loyal readers should know. One of which is that I have a penis. This is not a post about me having a particularly extraordinary penis but a report on how the penis affects thinking and cognition. Penis-bearing beings have several deficiencies but I’m only discussing one of those deficiencies today. Apparently, a penis affects visual capabilities, particularly color recognition. A human being with a penis can only distinguish about eight or so colors, even though according to Windows 2000 there are at least 24 million colors (all of which are distinguishable to entities that do not have penises). More interesting is the fact that the amount of time devoted to the penis is inversely proportionate to the number of colors distinguishable. For example, my pup spends a great deal of his time engaging in the following activities:

Showing his penis to our other dog.
Showing his penis to me and the wife.
Sniffing his penis.
Showing his penis to any strangers that may be near.
Licking his penis.
Pointing his penis in the direction of the Sun.

The result of all this attention to his penis is that he only sees in black and white. My conclusion is not based on any scientific evidence but merely the fact that he seems not at all impressed by my 60 inch color television. A friend of mine used to have a Labrador. This Labrador was not particularly smart as he could do only one trick. The command for this trick was Show me your dude and I’ll let you guess what followed. Later this Labrador was hit by a car and I’m convinced that the reason he was hit by a car was because he was completely blind from showing people his dude all the time (even the neighborhood kids picked up on it).

This past weekend, the wife and I cancelled our vacation (damn SARS!) and decided to spend our time painting the master bedroom and the master bath. I hate painting for two reasons: 1) I don’t enjoy it and 2) I suck at it. If you’re marriage can survive the painting experience, you will enjoy a long life together. If not, one of you will be dead.

Prior to this weekend, our master bedroom was a color called China Doll. Now, every penis-bearing person reading this is thinking China Doll is not a color, it’s an oriental figurine or the name of a porn star. See, China Doll is a very, very light shade of brown or possibly a dark shade of white. There is some debate in the scientific world of color evaluation as to what color it really is. We (and by we, I mean the wife) decided that we needed to change from China Doll to Apple Butter. Again, penis-bearing individuals are thinking that Apple Butter is something you put on biscuits or the name of a porn star. Apple Butter is a slightly darker shade of brown (or possibly white, we’re still not sure) than China Doll.

Also confusing to penis-laden individuals is why there is a need to change one shade of brown (or possibly white) to a slightly different shade of brown (or possibly white). The reason for this is only known to non-penis-laden individuals. After the wife made the first stroke with the roller, I said I can’t see the difference and her response was You’re blind.

This time, the wife and I managed to paint two rooms without getting divorced or killing each other. The last time we painted, we were at each others’ throats the entire time. It got so bad that I pondered whether or not a psychiatrist could convincingly testify in court to the fact that inhalation of paint fumes combined with indistinguishable shades of brown (or possibly white) could cause temporary insanity in particular penis-bearing individuals.

Next up was the bathroom (which was China Doll as well). The new color for the bathroom is Savannah Moss, which again penis-bearing individuals are thinking That’s not a color, that’s a fungus in Georgia or a porn star. Savannah Moss is light shade of green (or possibly white). This time, however, I could distinctly see the difference between Savannah Moss and China Doll.

Next weekend, the wife and I need two new porn stars to do the guest rooms.

A man in Colorado rescued a dog from the pound. Animal Control Officers received complaints that it might be a pit bull. So the poor guy has spent $600 and taken time off to fight a bureaucratic system. In Colorado, pit bulls are a banned breed. Of course, the guy claims that the dog isn’t even a pit bull and that it is a boxer/border collie mix. But because it has the predominant characteristics it is still suspect.

Note to all you breed specific legislation supporters, I can turn a golden retriever or chihuahua into the meanest animal on earth. It’s about ownership responsibility, not a specific breed.

Looks like some folks are trying to form a government in Iraq. Mark my words, this will go on for a very long time.

Tennesseans who shop on the Internet should pay sales tax when they purchase an item, but most don’t.

The state doesn’t enforce it. And the federal government doesn’t require online retailers to collect the tax.

More from WATE:

In 2001, state and local governments lost about $362 million in e-taxes. That is expected to exceed $1 billion by 2006

Note the colorful use of language, particularly the word lost. The government didn’t lose money, it just didn’t generate as much as it thought it would. As Bubba and Bill Hobbs are fond of pointing out, it sounds like the problem is with the guys that do the projections.

Of course, me and the Mrs. buy stuff online all the time to avoid paying sales tax.

The second one is up at Rich’s. Check it out. In fact, there’s just lots of good stuff over at Shots Across The Bow this week. Go read it.

Well, 100 or so rounds later, I don’t feel quite as annoyed about the SARS Canada thing (the Mrs. is still pretty bummed). Shot my new rifle (20 inch barrel AR15 from J&T Distributing) and it didn’t explode (which made the wife happy; since I built it, she was worried I had no idea what I was doing). And I got about 1/2 inch groups after I sighted it in.

Per the talking heads, Dick Gephardt has developed a plan for healthcare that is considered risky (i.e., suicidal). The run down of the Foxnews piece went like this:

Gephardt blah blah blah healthcare plan blah blah blah Hillary Clinton blah blah blah 1994 plan. blah blah blah Bush tax cuts pay for it blah blah blah Bush economy blah blah blah blah blah blah political failure.

I now have a logo! Thanks to The Comedian. I wish I had Photshop skillz.

Today, me and the Mrs. were supposed to fly to The People’s Republic of Canada for a vacation. However, this travel advisory issued by the WHO regarding SARS has us a bit spooked. The airline refused to transfer our tickets without paying a $200 fee, which is almost the price of the tickets anyway. Today, the airline finally issued a policy regarding the advisory so we got tickets for later in the year for a comparable price. I was looking forward to the trip. Guess I’ll go to the range instead.

Jay links to this article in which Santorum says:

If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual (gay) sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything.

Jay is right.

Naturally, the gay community is upset about the comments and wants him out ala Trent Lott (R-Whitey Town)

Of course, the comment that Santorum made that is more important than offending the gay community is this:

“All of those things are antithetical to a healthy, stable, traditional family,” Santorum said. “And that’s sort of where we are in today’s world, unfortunately. It all comes from, I would argue, this right to privacy that doesn’t exist, in my opinion, in the United States Constitution.” Emphasis added for those of you that need to be told that.

Our politicians don’t even understand our rights and that is more important than offending the gay community.

Update: Notice that the quote has the word gay in parenthesis. I guess his comments aren’t directed at gays but at sex in general.

No, really.

A woman dropped off pictures of her and her child breast feeding at Eckerd Drugs. She was arrested for kiddie porn.

Via UnknownNews, a website you should be reading!

Nancy Pelosi gave a speech to some environmental group. She received applause. She left in a Ford Excursion (known to environmentalists as the Ford Earthfucker™ since it is an evil SUV). On her departure, her audience wasn’t as happy with her.

NOW has distanced itself from the comments of its Morris County president who stated essentially that NOW opposed the double murder charge (one for Mrs. Peterson and one for the fetus), because it fits their position on abortion and human life. It was not a popular statement and NOW did the right thing in distancing itself.

I, like the vast majority of Americans, think abortion is bad. However, I (like the vast majority of Americans) think that abortion should remain legal. Noticeably absent by some in the pro-choice movement is the acknowledgement that abortion ends a life. And noticeably absent by some in the pro-life movement is the realization that abortion is a necessary evil.

The problem with the pro-life side is that it is riddled with fanatics who harass (even kill) abortion doctors. They also cannot distinguish that in certain cases abortion is the safest option. This damages the pro-life folks’ credibility.

The problem with the pro-choice side is that they view the issue entirely in terms of choice and women’s rights. The abortion issue is more complex than that. It is not completely and only about those two aspects. It is a human issue and not just a women’s issue. The pro-choice side also fails to deal with the fact that abortion ends a life by dismissing entirely that a fetus is a potential human, which harms their credibility.

I don’t like either of them.

Remember the guy who saved his dog and got arrested? Apparently, quite a few people are upset about it and calling Metro Police. Good!

The head of American Airlines made a big mistake by not properly informing the carrier’s workers of executive compensation plans, he told a hastily called news conference on Monday as unions threatened to vote again on already-ratified concession pacts aimed at staving off imminent bankruptcy.

Sadly, this information was not a big secret. It has to be disclosed on quarterly public filings. The 1933 and 1934 securities acts require this. Ironically, these acts were passed in response to the depression and the ignorant public’s view of accounting information. The average Joe doesn’t quite understand financial information and these acts were passed to protect them.

Now, I can see why the workers may not have known, but the union should have. They do employ financial guys.

The city of Arcata passed a resolution telling local law enforcement not to honor requests by federal agencies under the Patriot Act.

Link Via Bigwig.

Someone at Roane State has assigned a portion of the RTB as homework. Cool. What would you like me to teach you, boys and girls? Of course, the site has a disclaimer about potentially offensive material. I wonder who they could be talking about?

For Buy A Gun In Spite of Michael Moore Day, I got a 20 inch barreled AR15 kit this weekend and assembled it. Pix coming!

Heard on the news today that current senate bill allows free scholarships to anyone who has a 3.0 GPA and scores 19 on the ACT. The Tennessean has more.

Lenoir City has voted to allow sales of liquor by the drink.

Rich Heller is a special police officer in Washington, D.C., licensed by the city government to carry a handgun in the performance of his duties protecting the Thurgood Marshall Federal Judicial Center. While city officials want Heller to carry a gun to protect federal judges on government property, they have barred him from possessing a similar gun in his own home to protect himself and his family from criminals in his high-crime neighborhood.

So, Mr. Heller is suing based on the second amendment (maybe equal protection would work too!)

Also interesting from the article is that: Studies by the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics dating back to 1994 show that a crime victim is actually as much as 50 percent less likely to be injured if they use a firearm to resist a criminal than if they resist with any other weapon, resist with no weapon, offer no resistance or cooperation or even fully comply with the criminal’s demands.

Again, debunking the Brady Center’s claim that you should just comply with the robbery, rape, or your own murder; and you’ll be safe.

Mr. Martin’s apartment caught fire. The firefighters were there. He could see his dog in the window and the blaze approaching the dog. He waited 30 minutes for firefighters to get the dog. He finally (much like I would have done) went and got his dog on his own, despite warnings from firefighters to back away. He was then arrested for disorderly conduct and reckless endangerment. Sad day when you can’t save your dog without getting arrested for it.

The Humane Society wants to open an off-leash dog park in Knoxville. Of course, they want money for this. Go here if you’re interested.

Anyone who took took my advice and watched Wanda At Large would not have been disappointed last night. Those who missed it, one of the funnier scenes:

Coworker: You should have a child, it would mellow you out.
Wanda: So does weed. And it’s more fun to take to the zoo.

Yup, good stuff.

My pup is getting older and is testing limits everyday. He is slowly ensuring that he will never have freedom to run the house. At our house, we have a dog door that goes to a screened porch and a dog door from the porch to the yard. This arrangement should be ideal for a well-behaved dog (such as our elder dog). He can come and go as he pleases and no need for us to rush home because he has to pee.

Now the pup is a different story. After he was sufficiently potty trained, we let him have run of the house and yard while we were gone.

The problem: He dug six foot trenches in our backyard.

The solution: We close off access to the yard and let him free in the house (he was potty trained). Nope, then the game was (and I am not making this up) to move the couch into the center of the living room; or pull the Oriental rug out from under the coffee table; or dig up all the house plants.

Solution 2: Pupster is now crated during the day. No problems with this plan, except that sad look he gives us in the morning.

Latest problem: We have new neighbors who have two pre-teenage sons. And they have a boxer puppy. The sons were playing catch while their puppy was going potty. Then my pup hops over our fence for a little visit. My pup isn’t mean or violent, he just wanted to play with the boys and the pup. However, he is an intimidating looking dog so this is a problem. The boys had no problem with it and actually liked my dog.

Latest solution: We broke out the old shock collar. We gave up on the shock collar in the past because it didn’t phase him. We’d apply the zap! and he didn’t care. So, I broke out the instruction manual last night and discovered the collar had a level setting. Woohoo! We’re in business. The elder dog was easily trained on setting one. The pup started responding on setting six (it only goes to eight). Now, when he places his paws near the fence, he gets a little zzztt!

Now, if he’d just realize how much happier he (and I) would be if he would behave, we could get through this. I don’t ask much. Just don’t destroy stuff, don’t dig, and stay in the yard. Mind you the elder dog has figured all this out and can pretty much come and go at his leisure.

The Germans (go figure, have you seen their porn? Eek!) are planning on creating a penis-numbing condom. Sure, it may make sex last longer but there is the disadvantage that, well, you can’t feel it.

42% of Americans don’t use the Internet. How do they book flights? Oh, the telephone. It occurs to me, if I didn’t have an alarm at my house, I probably wouldn’t have a telephone. I have a cell phone and can get alternate access to the Internet. Someone needs to invent a home alarm system that transmits data via internet connection and not the phone. There’s the money making idea for the day. Too bad I don’t know how to do it.

Oh wait, I’m one of those. Rich talks about the war that is going on in your country. I suggest you read it. Excerpt:

Another war, one much more vital to the future of America than the one in Iraq is being fought right now, and it’s being fought here, in this country. It’s being fought to determine the future of America. Will we be a nation of free men, or nation of vassals to an overweening federal government, controlling what we do, what we say, and even what we think?

As I’ve said on this site before: Our rights are being whittled out from under us and all we do is argue over who is doing it.

Of course, Rich thinks we’ll lose that war. I’m more optimistic. I don’t think the revolution will occur in my lifetime but it’s coming and it won’t involve many guns.

Now that the war is over, some of those Republitarians need to focus on civil liberties again and not the state of the roads in Baghdad. The Leviathan is growing.

As I said before, the DNA database for the Feds is moving along quickly.

Oh, did I mention the Feds also datamine retail databases of purchases too. When is that Fourth Amendment gonna do its thing? I mean the lowered the threat level, so the Fourth Amendment is back, right?

Some new members to the RTB:

Missives Anonymous
JaNell
The Bully Pulpit
Lay Lines

Welcome to all!

Apparently, some cartoonist has drawn an image surprisingly similar to and image that Steve over at Little Tiny Lies created. Then the cartoonist’s wife gets uppity. Yup, journalists are ethically superior to bloggers as are cartoonists. I’m glad mainstream press has that code of ethics. Go here and scroll down. His page is full of correspondence with Mrs. Bish.

No not tax day. Buy a Gun in Spite of Michael Moore Day. My kit hasn’t arrived yet but it’s on its way.

Tennessee will get the tobacco money. Thanks to the legislature for spending these non-permanent funds and putting Tennessee in the financial shape that it’s in. Good job, guys! Of course, their solution is to use leftover lottery money to fund their pet projects, but that is unconstitutional. It’s still the spending, stupid.

This day should serve as a reminder to visit Citizens Against Government Waste. Find out where your cash is going. Another friendly reminder that you’re getting screwed can be found here.

Apparently, Dubya has decided to support the Assault Weapons ban.

Instapundit says: Sounds like a good way to be a one-termer, to me.

Even Clinton stated: And we smile about that, but there are some people who would be on this platform today who lost their seats in 1994 because they voted for the Brady Bill and they voted for the assault weapons ban, and they did it in areas where people could be frightened.

Of course, I’ve yakked about the ban for a while:

Irrelevant Aesthetics and Constitutionality
Activist Judges and the Second Amendment

The good part is that the ban will sunset unless it is reintroduced and passed again, which I don’t think will happen anyway.

Jay and Jane are hosting pictures and commentary on the pets of various bloggers. Go check it out! I have been ribbing Jane some over her affection for cats. See, SayUncle isn’t a cat person. Mind you, I like cats (other peoples’) and am not cruel to them or anything like that (hoses don’t count, right?). But I am definitely a dog person.

If you point at something, a dog will look where you’re pointing; a cat will sniff your finger. You can train dogs to do a variety of things, with cats the only trick they learn is where to crap. Dogs also alert you to intruders, while cats mess up furniture. Dogs are whores for affection and loveable, cats are in it for themselves.

And the big one: a dog does both onesies and twosies outside. Cat litter boxes are absolutely the most disgusting things ever. Maybe I’m weird for not wanting to keep a box of turds in my house.

C&S has turned one year old!

Would-be robber thumped severely!

The customer walked in through the front door of the pharmacy and distracted the gunman yesterday just long enough for the pharmacist to reach under the counter and grab an aluminum baseball bat.

I just picked up the bat and started hitting the guy over and over and over, probably 30 times.

The kicker:

Smith said that while things worked out, police don’t recommend this course of action.

Active resistance is usually the best course of action, particularly if you’re armed, I don’t care what the Brady Center and Oprah tell you.

Special interests + money = law

A state Senate committee accepted a $78,300 check from a special-interest group today and then approved a public school voucher program the group supports, saying the money was welcome given the state’s financial crisis.

“If everyone would show up with a check, that would make this job so much easier,” said state Sen. Ron Teck, a Republican from Grand Junction.

It’s all about the Benjamins!

Hat tip: Unknown News

The Mrs. and me survived the camping trip. Had a blast. Just finished getting that campfire smell out of everything (including two very confused as to why we’d want them to smell any different dogs). Note to self: Self, it’s cold at Frozen Head in April.

It’s rare to find good television these days. But there’s a new show that I found to be absolutely hysterical: Wanda at Large. It came on Wednesday night, which at the SayUncle household is known as minority night TV. We watch My Wife and Kids, George Lopez, Bernie Mac and now Wanda at Large.

Bernie Mac is always hysterical. Wanda at Large is about an in your face reporter in DC. Go watch it.

Of course, why is Wednesday the only night I really notice minorities on TV?

Wal-mart stopped selling guns in California and in NY, Wal-Mart stopped selling toy guns.

California: Sadly, this is the mentality we’re dealing with:

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer virtually described Wal-Mart stores in his state as weapons fronts for al-Qaida.

Of course, the errors in CA are mostly of a clerical nature:

Wal-Mart officials counter that store employees – who are not paid like your average CEO, to put it bluntly – mostly violated the state’s gun paperwork requirements. On a few occasions, guns were sold to inappropriate parties, but even Lockyer’s office has denied Wal-Mart showed criminal intent.

New York:

Wal-Mart on Thursday suspended all sales of toy guns in its New York stores days after the state’s attorney general sued, accusing the nation’s largest retailer of selling toy guns that lack required safety markings to distinguish them from real weapons

The toy guns have orange caps on their barrels, as required by federal law. But they don’t have the nonremoveable orange stripes down the barrel’s length that New York law requires

This is ludicrous. We now have federally mandated criteria for toy guns (that are similar to criteria for Assault Weapons, in that the criteria are merely aesthetic).

I wish Wal-Mart had some balls. Sam must be spinning.

Head on over to Barry’s to find out what Tennessee is thinking. Good stuff!

Clayton Cramer has a piece on Sean Penn packing a gun. He asks the question: Does anyone out there know if Penn has done any political work on behalf of gun control organizations? I haven’t found anything indicating he has.

Of course the issue I take with the fact that Penn has a carry permit is not that he has one. But that others in California don’t. According to packing.org (an online conceal carry data site), California is a may issue state. Meaning, the local law enforcement officials may (or may not) issue you a permit. In Tennessee, we are a shall issue state. In other words, if you apply and meet all requirements, you must be issued a permit. I imagine Joe California has a difficult time getting a permit in California but Sean Penn, being famous and all that, is entitled to special privileges due to his fame and his wealth. It is surprisingly similar to Diane Feinstein, who doesn’t want you to have a gun, but she admitted to carrying one.

In light of The Agonist’s plagiarism incident, some are mulling the creation of some sort of ethical guide to blogging. Obviously, the comparisons to journalism and its code of ethics (like you’d know they had one) will come about. I think there is most definitely a distinct difference between blogging and journalism. At my site for example, I don’t really report much in the way of news. I opine. This is an op-ed program, so to speak. I also seek to entertain (myself mostly, but some others too).

Now, this may come as a shock, I may not always be right. But if I state something that is a fact, I link to the source of the fact (if available). As such, I’ll retract some things that I state are facts. I doubt I’ll retract opinions unless I change my mind about an issue.

And I think Instapundit hits on the only real Code of Ethics bloggers would need:

Don’t lie, cheat or steal, or tolerate those who do.

Link to the source except in extraordinary cases.

I might add:

Keep debate civil and be nice to other folks.

But your mom should’ve taught you that.

Update: I touched on this in comments, but I have to admit to a certain level of frustration. I attempt to write stuff that is somewhat entertaining and (I think) of decent quality. Yet, I’m a very small fish in the astronomically huge blogpond. And there are thousands of bloggers out there who write quality stuff and no one has ever heard of them. Yet, a prominent blogger essentially masters the ability to cut and paste and his traffic jumps exponentially. Plus, the fallout of this scandal has likely lead to an increase in his traffic. The blogosphere is a harsh mistress on the little guys.

I’m done crying now, as you were.

We took Baghdad in less time than it took to get the funds appropriated for the war

-Some guy who called in on a local radio program this morning.

Hanoi Jane’s at it again. Maybe we can stop her at the border….? Nah, the Canadians probably don’t want her either……

Originally posted by Korwyn

If the North Koreans (i.e.–Lil’ Kim) keep spouting off like this, God help all those innocent people that idiot dictator is going to get killed. I’ve got news for him, doesn’t he realize who he’s mucking around with? Sure, Japan is a tiny little nation, relatively small in population, but for Christ’s sake! They nearly conquered all of Asia by themselves! Ok, I know they’re just not the same now (read: imperialistic), but they’ve got some really big friends, with some really big guns, who have a whole lot of money tied up over there. I don’t think even the U.N. would sit on their hands if Lil’ Kim tried to attack Japan. Bad move, little buckaroo!

Originally posted by Korwyn

the game is over

Oh just go to One Hand Clapping! His page is full of them!

Groups representing the state’s restaurants, hotels and motels are not terribly happy about a new proposal that would allow people with gun permits to carry their weapons into places where alcoholic beverages are served, even though they would be prohibited from drinking.

As someone who has a carry permit in the State of Tennessee, I’ve pondered this for a while. The proponents of the bill say that it’s for safety, as a gun is more likely to be stolen from a vehicle parked in a restaurant parking lot than a person. The bill also provides that people packing in restaurants can’t drink.

My solution to the problem would be basically the same as the rules for drunk driving. I think that allowing people to carry into establishments that serve alcohol would be fine. But if a person is carrying while intoxicated, they should be subjected to the same (even stiffer) penalties of those driving while drunk. As it stands now, a permit holder can have a gun in his possession and be legally drunk. Unless this person is driving or in a place where he is forbidden from carrying (government property and places where alcohol is served), he’s not violating the law. That seems a bit ludicrous. I think it should be illegal for a person to be in possession of an arm while drunk. We don’t want drunk folks packing pistols while walking the streets. Of course, I’m certain such a person would be charged with some combination of public intoxication and reckless endangerment. I do, however, doubt that is enough.

Don’t drink and pack!

Saddam is dead. No, he’s not. Saddam is dead. No, he’s not. Saddam is dead. No, he’s not. Saddam is dead. No, he’s not. Saddam is dead. No, he’s not.

WMD found in Iraq. No, they weren’t. WMD found in Iraq. No, they weren’t. WMD found in Iraq. No, they weren’t. WMD found in Iraq. No, they weren’t.

The market is down. The market is up. The market is down. The market is up. The market is down. The market is up. The market is down. The market is up.

Dubya is evil, No, he’s not. Dubya is evil, No, he’s not. Dubya is evil, No, he’s not. Dubya is evil, No, he’s not. Dubya is evil, No, he’s not.

Ad infinitum.

A precedent for getting the second amendment into the Supreme Court:

In 2001, in the case of U.S. v. Emerson, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi) ruled that firearms ownership is an individual right, subject to certain reasonable restrictions. This ruling was handed down a few months after Attorney General, John Ashcroft, issued a public statement announcing that the Second Amendment clearly protects the right of individual(s) to keep and bear arms. A writ of certiorari for a Supreme Court hearing was denied for this case.

In 2002, in the case of Silveira v. Lockyer, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Arizona, Alaska, and Hawaii) rendered a ruling that the Second Amendment does NOT apply to individuals.

We now have a situation where the law of the land in the Fifth Circuit is diametrically opposed to the law in the Ninth Circuit. Considering that this is a federal Bill of Rights issue, it is in the best interest of our nation for the Supreme Court to render a final ruling that applies to all.

Determine spending after you know the revenue sources and amounts.

Bredesen also wants to establish scholarship values annually, instead of setting them in the bill as both the Senate and House versions now do.

Just think, business has operated like this since forever.

Kermit rolls a fatty.

During the 90s, when the Democrats had control of the government, there was The Crazy. The Crazy consisted of right wingers and their claims of the impending New World Order, various (and often unfounded) murders/scandals of the Clinton administration, and the emergence and opposition to Political Correctness.

Now, we live in The Return of The Crazy. The left is now making very similar claims about the government since their boys aren’t in control anymore.

* The New World Order has become American Imperialism. Instead of UN world control, it’s US world control.

* The various murders/scandals of the Clinton administration have become Big Oil motivation, plutocracy, and corporate takeover. It’s not Lewinsky, it’s Halliburton.

* The emergence and opposition to Political Correctness has become the emergence and opposition to Patriotic Correctness. It’s not banning the Confederate flag, it’s the Dixie Chicks and Pearl Jam.

Of course, the loudest voices in The Crazy and The Return of The Crazy are often the extremists. And the people eat it up and it fuels party politics.

People are divided so much by party that they can’t effectively deal with issues. Our rights are being slowly whittled away right out from under us all the while we are arguing over who is doing it.

Kevin links to this post by Calpundit that touches upon why some people are liberal. Calpundit says:

I believe that the purpose of government (and civilization in general) is to force people to act like decent human beings even if they don’t want to.

Kevin says:

That is part of the reason why I am a liberal, because I believe the rules of society can, eventually, set the internal “rules” for individuals.

It is also why the current nasty incarnation of conservatism bothers me so much. If you reward nasty, brutish, unsociable behavior, then you will get nasty, brutish, unsociable people. If you weaken the social contract, you create a society with a set of rules that allows for unpleasant behavior to be seen as acceptable.

SayUncle says:

A premise that our government is based on is minimal impact of said government into the lives of citizens. The Constitution does not grant citizens rights. The Constitution assumes that these rights are God-given (or natural for you atheists, maybe the better term is preexisting) and serves to limit the government’s ability to infringe on these rights.

In essence, Kevin and Calpundit are stating that because a few people can’t handle or abuse their preexisting freedom, that the government needs to intervene by force. This is the type of thinking that leads to the infringement of our rights. In addition, it sets a precedent that the many must suffer for the few. Or that many must pay for the few.

The facts are that no matter what sort of social contract is in existence, there will be people inclined to abuse their rights and the system. And you can not legislate around that in every instance. What should society do? Instead of taking a shotgun approach to solving the problem (i.e., mandating penalties for everyone), an effort should be made to identify the specific abusers and punish them instead of the whole population.

Kevin, you’re no longer leaning left, you fell left and hit your head.

Buy a gun in spite of Michael Moore Day is one week from today. I ordered this little kit here.

Local law enforcement agencies are forming a partnership for Homeland Security.

The partnership is called the East Tennessee Homeland Security Council. Police, fire, and law enforcement from a 75-mile radius of Knox County can offer their expertise or specialty, like a bomb squad or aviation unit.

Looks like we may finally have gotten Saddam. I guess we’ll know more very soon.

On a related note, did anyone else catch Letterman? He had this to say about the war in Iraq: “Iraq’s elite Republican Guard is doing so badly they’re changing their name to the Democratic Guard.” Too true.

Originally Posted by Korwyn

The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would shield the gun industry from liability lawsuits.

The NAACP is blaming gun manufacturers for deaths and claming that gun violence disproportionately kills poor, urban blacks and it accuses gun companies of not doing enough to stop it. So, following the great American tradition, it is suing gun manufacturers.

Other NAACP claims:

. . . African-American males between the ages of 15 and 24 are almost five times more likely to be injured by firearms than are white males in the same age group.

The reality, of course, is that gun violence doesn’t kill black people. Black people kill black people:

. . . while blacks make up only 12 percent of the population, they account for 46 percent of total violent crime and 90 percent of the murders of other blacks.

The NAACP is abusing the passive verb tense quite a bit, claiming gun violence is responsible for deaths. Neither gun manufacturers nor gun violence are responsible for black folks killing black folks. It takes the will of a human being and their finger to pull a trigger. It is a conscious thought. Guns are not roaming the country side on their own shooting black folks arbitrarily. The black community and the failures of its leadership are responsible for the disproportionate numbers of deaths from guns. This kind of fallacious thinking of blaming objects is absolutely asinine. Of course, it’s better than the NAACP admitting that it has failed to educate the black community. It’s also better than black community leaders admitting they are, in fact, ineffective at dealing with the problems of the black community (like drugs, poverty, and gun violence). It’s easier to blame others and rally support against an imaginary foe than to proactively change mindsets, which, you know, requires effort.

Now, if I wanted to sue all black people, that would be ludicrous. As is suing gun manufacturers. Now, someone will call me a racist.

Somebody stole Bjorn’s blog name!

The UN now knows of a slaughter in the Congo. They also knew about Rwanda, Uganda, and Iraq. So, I don’t expect them to do much. The UN is making itself ineffectual.

I am right now listening to Eugene Volokh on the Mancow show talking about affirmative action. You’d think Volokh would have announced it on his blog or something. As you can guess, neither he nor Mancow are for affirmative action.

Planted one tree
Mulched four trees
Planted fourteen non veggie producing plants
Planted nine herbs and spices (fresh rosemary, yum!)
Built a new dog door
Assembled one workbench (for building ARs on)
Carpeted my screened-in porch
Mowed
Weed ate (weed eated?)
Vacuumed
Swept the house
Did a load of dishes
Drank 17 beers & 5 glasses of Bowmore’s
Disposed of excess lumber
Soaped and scrubbed my porch
Planted two bushes
Mulched two bushes
Oh yeah, mulched those 14 plants too
Placed sod at portions of my yard that pupster had dug craters in
Made two trips to Lowe’s and two to Home Depot
Spent $472 on those four trips
Carpeted a walkway through the garage to our cars
Met three of my new neighbors
Built a tomato garden
Planted seven tomato plants
Planted one green pepper plant
Walked the dogs
Played tug, fetch and ball with same dogs
Had some kickass chicken wings at friend’s house

And I’m spent.

Never say that to a police officer at a sobriety checkpoint. Last night, after dinner, the Mrs. and me were heading home. On Alcoa Highway, there was a roadblock set up for sobriety checks.

First, these things piss me off because they are blatantly a violation of civil rights.

Second, I’m not stupid enough to actually say anything like: Thank you for randomly harassing me tonight, officer! to the officers involved because then I would go to jail (they’d trump up something, or just harass me).

A sobriety checkpoint is clearly a violation of fourth amendment rights. But, some judicial officials decided at some point (and I am not making this up) that because each person traveling on a road is equally likely to get stopped, that this practice is legal. So, as long as we infringe on the rights of everyone equally, we can do it.

Let’s apply this theory to other rights, like speech. Is this a precedent for saying that all citizens can’t say a particular phrase, such as: I’m dissatisfied with sobriety checkpoints? Since it applies to all of us, I guess they could. Of course, I’m taking it out of context I guess. I am, after all, not a lawyer. But they do that to guns don’t they? After all, you can’t have certain guns and that applies to everyone.

Of course, they warn you with big signs about a mile in advance, so all the drunk people could turn off and take an alternate route well before getting there. So, it was ineffective. In addition to violating civil liberties, it wasted 15 minutes of my life because traffic was stopped and backed up a pretty good way. Bah!

Bubba alerts us to the fact that the Blount County School Board has rejected books that discuss evolution but not creationism. Mrs. Uncle and me moved to Maryville because they have the best school system in the state. Apparently, that was in terms of funding and ratios and not in terms of teaching children useful and objective things. Teaching children about God and religion is a personal matter and should not be incorporated into public education. This is 2003, right?

A vegan couple was charged with neglect and convicted for allowing their child to be malnourished. It was on the parents’ vegan diet and weighed 10 pounds at 15 months. Unbelievable.

I’m watching live on TV pictures from the Baghdad airport that is clearly under US control. At the same time, footage of Iraq’s DisInformation Minister telling Iraqis that the Republican Guard has retaken the airport. Now we see why Al Jazeera was kicked out of Baghdad. You’d think they may want to maintain some credibility, even at home.

Looks like it was made after the war broke out, but it’s not too recent. Also, given his tendency to use doubles, the world may never know.

Rubber duck races and raffles would be OK, but bingo and casino games wouldn’t be under a recommendation from a joint legislative committee. And this is only with respect to charity gambling. I suppose the fact that someone somewhere may have a good time while supporting a good cause is unacceptable.

But let’s bring on that state run gambling! Our lawmakers can’t wait to get their hands on some lottery money.

An Iraqi Lawyer tipped off coalition forces to the whereabouts of PFC Lynch.

Looks like it.

American troops claim to have found thousands of boxes of white powder at an industrial site south of Baghdad.

Update: The powder was explosives.

The EU demanded a UN role in post war Iraq. I recommend the role of one of those background actors that say things like soda water & rutabaga to make a restaurant in a movie look bustling. Which is pretty much what the UN has done in the past.

Powell was noncommittal. One bright spot, he didn’t tell them to fuck right off.

I’m not sure I do anymore. Ask this guy!

The state Appellate Court has ruled invalid the warrants used to arrest a Farmington gun collector and seize his legally-registerd weapons in 1999. (sic)

The search warrant identified specific guns, known to police because they were legally registered.

A search warrant was issued to search for legally owned and registered guns. Why would they need to search for legally registered guns? In addition, the victim, Thomas Walczyk, incurred legal fees of $40 – $50K. Sad times when you must spend that much cash to uphold your rights. The guns haven’t been returned yet either, and I’d bet one cold beer that Mr. Walczyk will have to sue to get them returned and incur more legal expenses.

Last night I was watching TV and there was a new CALLATT commercial. It sucked just like they all do. The good news is that Carrot Top wasn’t in it. I can’t stand that guy (or the Dell kid and the Dell interns; Geez, they are annoying as Hell). I hope this is the end of Carrot Top’s stint as the CALLATT spokesman.

These CALLATT commercials are annoying and they’re on all the time. It got me to thinking though, it has probably been over twelve years since I’ve made a collect call. Does anyone still make collect telephone calls? We have cell phones, email, and other forms of mass communication that are cheaper. Who makes collect calls? I can’t tell you the last time I even used a pay telephone. I guess collect calls are big money to warrant that much commercial time but I don’t see how.

Passengers of a Greyhound bus travelling on I-40 to Knoxville Thursday morning tackled and subdued a man who was threatening the driver with a knife.

I heard this ad on the radio this morning that basically stated that Senate Candidate Kilby had used his status as Morgan County Executive to threaten local policemen who were investigating incidents involving his relatives. The KNS has more. The ad was paid for by some Republicans.

Oregon Law Would Jail War Protesters as Terrorists

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled a district judge was wrong in ruling that a county law that prohibited a gun show in Maryland should be struck down.

The law, passed by the county council in May 2001, denies county support to any organization that “allows the display and sale of guns” at one of its facilities.

The case began in the spring of 2001 when Frank Krasner, owner of Silverado Promotions, applied to host his biannual gun show at the Montgomery County (Md.) Agricultural Center. The center turned him down, saying that under a new county law, it would lose county money if it approved the show.

But county attorneys argued that only the agriculture center was affected by the threat of lost funds, and only it had a right to sue — not the gun groups.

One bright spot was that gun shows have continued in the county.

Saddam says: Victory is at hand! Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t know which hand. Or even what victory means, really.

De Genova is in hiding after pissing off just about everyone in the country.

The Republican Guard can now be safely picked up with a Dustbuster. On a related note, it is good with butter or jelly on it (toast, get it?).

Another chopper is down. Why do so many of these things seem to crash?

US troops are close to Baghdad. It’s all over but the running and hiding part.

A result of political correctness is that, essentially, a group of the minority impose their will on a majority. It’s actually probably worse than minority oppression by the majority.

Anyway, police in San Francisco were barred from wearing bandannas that were patriotic because it may offend someone. Of course, such bandannas should have been barred because they were out of uniform. It’s all in the presentation.

In East Texas, gun sales are up since the war. I wonder what the national numbers are? Probably comparable. Somehow, Mr. Du Toit is responsible for this.

The Living Wage Campaign is at it again. This time, instead of proposing taking from some to give to others, they’re upset that our fair city is going through budget cuts and freezing wages. Sorry folks, but it is not economically viable to pay $19,500 to a burger flipper. If fast-food did that, there’d be no fast-food.

OW says Foxnews is like Al Jazeera. LGF doesn’t like it. And the battle of words ensues. By my count, it appears to be LGF: 3, OW: 1. Can’t we all just get along?