This blog is a year old.

Four men with Al-Qaida connections arrested in connection with the shrine bombing.

Tomorrow, SayUncle turns one year old (well, not me but the website – I’m 31.85). No, really, look up my first post. I thought that VRWC bit was funny then. Now it’s kinda mildly amusing, oh how times change. I am going to celebrate by going to the UT game tomorrow and drinking a great many beers.

I found that perusing my original few posts that I have gone from a Southpark Republican to libertarian (with a small L) in a years’ time.

I’d like to thank the guy that inspired me to blog, SouthKnoxBubba. And my loyal readers, there’s about 40 of you. And I appreciate all of you.

I’ve made many friends via this site and only one enemy. It’s been a good run. I enjoy it. Of course, I still do this to entertain me, not you. But if I can entertain a few more folks, it’s worth it.

Amendment 8:

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted

Yet: A hunter was ordered to pay $20,000 Friday and sentenced to five years probation for killing an endangered California condor.

I am apparenlty the number one result of the google search for spiked bracelets. All because I wrote this. I was getting quite a few hits from it.

These are too darn funny!

Donald Sensing says that if the commandments must go then the statue of the goddess Athena must go.

After all, the first amendment is only about freedom of non-christian religions.

Christina kissed the old lady too. I didn’t realize that Christina and Britney were actually singers. Did anyone else know that? I also didn’t realize that Anna Kournikova actually plays tether ball professionally, or maybe tennis. I’m not sure.

Kathy writes:

Oddly enough, today those who claim to be his ‘inheritors’ are those who demand we judge people by the color of their skins, not the content of their character.

Werd!

Remember Eric Hall, the Cookeville cop that shot a family pet during an unwarranted traffic stop? He filed a suit in Nashville that the city violated his right to privacy.

Now, I don’t see how the city searched and seized anything without a warrant. Of course, the Cookeville police were guilty of an unwarranted search during their traffic stop.

Losers.

Which is more dangerous? Rodger knows.

One other thing, in the USA there were 16,765 homicides in 2000. More than 2,300 are in California? Fourteen percent of our homicides occur in one state? We should ban California, not guns.

Some whackjob in Chicago killed a bunch of people with a gun. This will be followed by cries for more gun control. But remember the money quote:

Because he was a convicted felon, Tapia was prohibited from owning a firearm. Investigators were trying to determine how he obtained the weapon used in Wednesday’s shooting.

Wow! You mean to tell me that someone intent on breaking the law had already broken the law in the past?

As Kim du Toit points out:

To my recollection, the last three ex-employee shootings have been in California, Missouri, and now Chicago — none of which three states “allow” their citizens to carry guns on their person.

Not too many incidents like this in places like Texas, Arizona or Vermont, are there? I wonder why — or rather, the politicians in Missouri, Chicago and California should be wondering why.

An Iraqi couple has named their baby boy George Bush in appreciation for removing Saddam.

From Bloomberg:

A former postal worker traded on information he learned from Business Week magazine as it passed through a postal sorting facility on its way to subscribers and newsstands, according to federal prosecutors.
Charged with conspiracy and securities fraud was Davi Thomas, who worked in the Mount Vernon, N.Y., postal facility.

He’s accused of reaping $154,268 in illegal profits by getting names of companies discussed in the mag’s “Inside Wall Street” column from June 1997 to January 1999, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a related civil suit.

Been checking out Mars. Here what it looks like:

*

I was disappointed. So, having no telescope, I had to make due. I got a rifle with a scope (no, I wasn’t trying to shoot down Mars). With the rifle scope, it looked like this:

*

Yup, not real exciting.

I you’re not reading The Lemon, you need to.

Looks like Arnold picked up a copy of the Dubya playbook when describing his positions. Well, except that abortion thing:

The Republican said he is in favor of legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes, abortion rights, an assault-weapons ban and background checks on gun purchases. He said he is opposed to offshore drilling, gay marriage and granting driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.

Schwarzenegger described himself to Hannity as “pro-choice” but said he did not support late-stage procedures described as “partial-birth” abortions.

Another RINO.

Update: I’m referring to the AW ban, of course.

I am surprised that a country that sentences people to death by stoning actually has an appeals process. I bet it’s not a very good appeals process:

Single mother Amina Lawal launched an appeal against an adultery conviction that could see her become the first Nigerian to be stoned to death since the return of Islamic law.

The 31-year-old village housewife has become the best known symbol around the world of the controversy surrounding the reintroduction in Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north of the strict Sharia criminal law code.

Via Bubba, the Rocky Top Brigade welcomes:

Hypotheses Non Fingo, another space blog.

Adam Groves, who was spotted commenting at Bubba’s place.

Musings of a Philosophical Scrivener, who has been around for a while.

Welcome all!

It’s basic. Businesses don’t pay taxes. They collect them. Plus a service charge.

Jeff has the weekly bias chart up. Go read.

Per this:

There is a new attempt to try and cut gun related violence in East Tennessee. The program is called “Project Safe Neighborhoods” and law enforcement officials from multiple agencies are participating.

As part of a new half a million dollar grant, police agencies from Blount County to Bristol will share information and resources in ways they haven’t before. This will include a new emphasis on direct communication with federal authorities.

So, all this money they’re spending and the only thing that the article says it will do is exchange everything from intelligence to photographs.

Are they buying phones and fax machines?

So, some groups are saying Mars being so close spells the end of the world. Guess I better start reading faster.

A law proposed in Kalifornia wants to mandate a loaded chamber indicator on all handguns (claiming it will reduce accidental shootings) and a safety feature that ensures the gun won’t fire when the magazine is removed.

I think safeties are dangerous on handguns, personally. I think they are false senses of security. You should always point a gun in a safe direction. Period. A safety may incline folks to point them wherever because, hey, the safety is on. Also, folks who shoot in competition are required to keep their sites trained on a target while reloading (if the slide locks back and the gun is incapable of firing, they lose points) so the magazine thing would render pistols inneffective for competition. That, and if you ever need your gun, it’d be nice if it was capable of firing without a magazine.

Per this:

In the aftermath of the shooting last month of Councilman James E. Davis, the City Council is pushing ahead with several changes in New York City’s gun-control laws that would make the laws, already among the toughest in the nation, more restrictive.

The Council will hold a committee hearing on Sept. 12 on at least half a dozen bills that, if approved, would seek not only to restrict how gun makers and dealers conduct business in New York City but also to counter a growing movement across the nation to roll back gun-control measures.

The proposals include holding gun makers, dealers and importers liable for damages if their weapons are used to kill or injure people in the city, as well as prohibiting gun dealers from selling more than one firearm to the same person within 90 days. Another proposal would require gun owners in the city to obtain liability insurance.

I said it would happen quite a few times.

tgirsch posts about the politics of obesity. While an interesting read, I must disagree with his proposed solutions:

outlaw marketing products to children.

Unconstitutional and pointless. Kids will still know what Twinkies are.

limiting sweets (and banning junk food) in schools

I would agree that the government funded schools shouldn’t provide junk food, but defining what is junk food is not an exact science. I’m sure the nefarious candy makers would create something that tastes sweet but meets whatever minimum requirements that would be established as junk food.

If there’s one thing the War on Civil Liberties err drugs and taxing tobacco have taught us, it’s that these things don’t work and cost someone a lot of money.

Update: This post by Bubba illustrates my point.

Chuck emails this article on proposed dog legislation in Alabama. The long and short of the law is that if an owner’s dog goes onto someone else’s property, the owner is guilty of trespassing. I understand the desire to keep dogs (particularly hunting dogs) off your land but, as Chuck pointed out, dogs don’t grasp the concept of property the way humans do. You have to train dogs to respect property with physical barriers, such as keeping them in a fence, otherwise they will roam around and pee on things to expand their territory.

The law is meant to only be enforced if the owner of the property reports the incident but the law is not written that way. The legislation is unnecessary as, I would think, existing trespassing laws would suffice in the event a property owner wants you and your dogs off their land.

I haven’t been on the Knoxville interstate in a while, until today. I noticed signs on the road that read Aggressive Driving Enforcement Campaign. I suppose our local police are cracking down on aggressive drivers. However, the drivers in Knoxville wouldn’t drive so aggressively if they could actually get from one end of town to the other.

Bredesen, what happened to your promise of cleaning this road construction nightmare?

Abercrombie & Fitch Claims 22 Ownership.

Keeping with my policy of fair and balance blogging, loyal reader and commenter Balisardo emails:

I don’t usually comment on blogs to provoke responses, but my comment on your misleading post “Typical,” on August 21 is definitely an exception. I thought I’d drop a line to make sure you were aware of it and not just blowing it off.

It’s your party to blow it off if you want to, but I think I expected more from you. (I think that’s a compliment.)

He is referencing this peice of mine which alleges Kerry and Graham blame Bush for the UN bombing. And it is a compliment. First, I try to respond to most comments if I feel they warrant it. If I don’t respond, it’s because I agree or think your comment stands on it’s own merit. However, I missed this comment. I have therefore enabled the email feature in MoveableType so that I get an email notification of comments. The comment was:

SayUncle, I think you need to add a second update to this post. I was surprised that Kerry and Graham would blame Bush for the bombing when the U.N. apparently had taken responsibility for security of the building, so I went to the article and read more than the headline “Kerry, Graham fault Bush in Deadly Baghdad Bombing.” I’m guessing you didn’t .

In the whole article, there was not a single quote by either candidate that referenced the bombing. This is the only Kerry quote in the whole piece:

“It is becoming increasingly clear each day that the administration misread the situation on the ground in Iraq and lacks an adequate plan to win the peace and protect our troops.”

He was obviously asked for a reaction to the bombing and RESISTED (appropriately) pinning it on the administration, saying only what he has been saying for weeks and months now. And which is rather obvious and hardly even controversial.

Graham came closer, but same goes for the only quote of his that’s given:

“Had the president pursued the war on terrorism prior to initiating military action against Saddam Hussein — as I advocated last year — it is likely that al Qaeda and other terrorist networks would not have been able to take advantage of the chaos that now exists in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq,” Mr. Graham said.

Same thing — he was asked for a reaction to the bombing and said (in part) well, yeah, the chaos that we’re seeing over there now is what I was concerned about last year when I was advocating an alternate strategy to the administration’s decision to go to war. He didn’t specify or even mention the U.N. bombing.

The article itself strikes me as unbiased and unremarkable — yet the headline is an utter misrepresentation of its contents. This is the common modus operandi of the Washington Times (and FOX News) — take a story and twist it enough to politicize it in the desired way, and label it as such, knowing that 95% of their consumers won’t care to poke beneath the headline.

SayUncle, I disagree with you most of the time, but I generally respect the tone with which you conduct your blog. I don’t think you would have posted this knowing how misleading it was.

To the issue: The two quotes listed in the comments of the post (one references the administration lacking a plan and one implies if something else had been done things would be different.) do “fault” the administration. I will buy that “blame” is perhaps too harsh of a word and that Kerry and Graham were goaded into responding. And I will also admit that the article is misleading to an extent but these two do fault the administration to a degree.

And I appreciate comments and emails, it keeps me honest.

I said I’d posted my last entry on Fumento, I was wrong. BigWig has posted a response from Fumento.

I am impressed. It seems maybe Fumento has learned his lesson. His response is reasoned, more polite, and appears to be free of lies. Lesson learned. Score one for blogs.

I was responsible for tipping InstaPundit to the story via email which BigWig (and others) then linked to. I’m certain others tipped Insty off as well but he did respond to my email after he posted his comment, which brought attention to the issue. I am not taking credit for the entire storm laid on Fumento, but I’d like to think I played a small part. So, though I may fall into Fumento’s category of one of the 99% who get no traffic, I did help ensure that the issue got a significant readership. Credit after all goes to Rich.

I am not saying blogs are better than journalists by any means, but they can be a factor. Fumento was goaded to respond to allegations because of blogs. That is a good thing.

I fancy myself to be quite the barbecue artist. I discovered Steven Raichlen has a blog. He is the author of The Barbecue Bible, which is a great book regardless of the level of your barbecue skills. It covers the basics, like grill types and methods of cooking. And it has some amazing sauce recipes.

His book takes you through various types of barbecue throughout the world. His blog is replete with recipes. He’s blogrolled over there on your right. I have his book and you should buy it too.

There’s been some blathering in blogworld about these survival kits. You know, the stuff you should have for when the SHTF* or when the lights just go out for a little bit. These discussions point out things like food, water, flashlights, a weapon or two, purifiers, and backup generators. These are all fine and good but there are items more essential to survival than those.

Let’s face it, when Armageddon comes, you’re gonna have a lot down time. It’s not going to always be about running willy-nilly through the land shooting at helicopters, liberating your captured comrades, and sniping at the evil minions. Here’s a list of the ten most important items you should take:

1 – You’ll spend a lot of time sleeping. That’s why you need a comfortable, inflatable mattress and some fine goose-feather pillows. Since you’ll have all this down time, very comfortable sheets and comforters are a must too. If you’re not well-rested, then you won’t be a very effective freedom fighter.

2 – Atomic Fireballs are a must. I don’t mean weaponry. I mean a nicely flavored, long-lasting hard candy. And who doesn’t love hot cinnamon? As a bonus, these can be loaded into a slingshot or your homemade rocket launcher and propelled at squirrels for some good eatin’. In addition to being able to incapacitate a squirrel, it adds a nice cinnamon flavor to the otherwise gamey meat. Jolly Ranchers are OK but they aren’t as aerodynamically suited to be propelled at high velocities and are not recommended for squirrel killin’.

3 – You’ll also need a good cookbook. And preferably one that centers around open fire and coal cooking. You’ll become weary of cinnamon flavored squirrel quickly. You’ll need new sauces for your squirrel and this book is great for new sauces. Oh, and you’ll need take along some spices or learn to grow your own otherwise this book won’t be much help.

4 – Various health and beauty aids, such as toothpaste, soaps, nail clippers and lotion. Nothing can tear apart a ragtag freedom fighting machine quicker than poor hygiene. Also, it’s very difficult to lay waste to nefarious communist over throwers when you have problem skin. And nothing will stop your army quicker than ingrown toenails. An ounce of prevention, and all of that.

5 – A good book. Unless you can entertain yourself by reading cookbooks, this may be time to start reading War and Peace or Moby Dick. You’re gonna have lots of down time and TV is not going to be quite as prevalent with enemy forces blowing up communications towers and such. And you shouldn’t take The Bible. Nothing will depress freedom fighters more quickly than all this talk about the end of the world.

6 – A nice fruit basket. When you meet up with your fellow freedom fighters and are seeking alliances, nothing says Trust Me better than an exquisitely assembled basket of fruit and nuts.

7 – Some board games and decks of cards. Self-explanatory.

8 – A 9 iron. Good for clubbing the enemy and you can use the Atomic Fireballs to practice your chipping. If you chip like me, this is not a good method for taking out squirrels unless the squirrels are behind you.

9 – A towel. If we’ve learned one thing from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, it is to carry a towel.

10 – Some good weed. If it’s the end of the world, you’ve got more important things to worry about. So why not smoke something that will slow your reflexes, kill some brain cells, and maybe make your grandchildren impotent all for a good buzz? Plus, it will make dealing with your annoying freedom fighter comrades much more bearable.

Now get out there and assemble that survival kit. If you need to make room, it’s OK to throw out the gas masks and flashlights. These practical items are definitely more important for the long boring task of saving the world.

*shit hits the fan

I wrote Polite Society detailing my difficulties fitting politically with my neighbors. Barry suffers the same thing.

I do confess to identifying more with Republicans, as I’m sure Barry identifies more with Democrats. But diehards from those parties would label either of us as the other guy.

Per this KNS article on website construction:

Surely this has happened to you: You go to a Web site that promises loads of valuable information and easy navigation, but once there you’re stymied. You can’t find anything. Argh!

Should I point out the KNS search engine almost never works, it’s difficult to navigate, and old articles aren’t archived?

Thanks to AlphaPatriot, I am now a marsupial.

So, Friday night, me and the Mrs. are having dinner with friends (a married couple). We’re talking about the usual stuff and somehow the topic of Bush comes up. First, to preface, I rarely bring up politics in conversation. However, if someone else brings it up, I’ll let loose with both barrels. The woman we’re having dinner with essentially announces her support for Bush and then says Oh, you voted for Gore didn’t you? She said it like she took pity on me.

It struck me as odd. First, I despise Al Gore because of his stance on the issues, he abandoned his state while he was VP, and he has absolutely soulless eyes. But I am difficult to label politically. I am pro-gun, for gay rights, anti-death penalty, anti-tax, anti-big government, think abortion should be legal, think responsibility should lie with the people, think civil liberties should never be threatened, but I still see the need for government monitoring of certain things. So, I don’t fit in really with most Democrats or Republicans (or Libertarians for that matter).

I gathered that at some point in the past we had talked about something and I made a comment that lead her to believe I must be a (quiver) liberal. After all, if I think differently than a Republican(Democrat) then I must be a Democrat(Republican). My wife had a good chuckle informing her that Oh God no, he hates Gore. She then asked me my opinion of Bush and I said that he gets two things right 1) tax cuts are good and 2) that little Iraq thing. Pretty much, I think he’s wrong about all the other stuff. Then I said But Ashcroft, he’s a scary fucker and I won’t vote for Bush as long he’s around. Her husband remained silent the entire time.

Then the conversation turned to beer choices. In polite society, you only talk politics with folks who share your views, I suppose.

I wrote this. Manish sends this link saying it ain’t so.

We here at SayUncle are fair and balanced.

Chuck alerts me to an article on Guns and Kids.

Essentially, more kids are arrested for gun possesstion but the money quote is:

McNeal, Columbus Juvenile Court Judge Aaron Cohn and Assistant School Superintendent Brenda Dozier said the biggest single contributing factor to the proliferation of weapons among juveniles is the lack of parental supervision.

Amen! It’s good to see someone identify the real problem instead of blaming an object.

Teresa has a post (that has a great pun in the title by the way) in which she ponders men and their ability to not think. I am capable of thinking nothing and doing nothing for hours at a time. Actually, I don’t think it’s that I am thinking nothing. I think I am thinking things but when prompted can’t remember what the Hell I was thinking. Hope that made sense.

I am reminded of the Wanda Sykes’ joke:

Ladies, if you ask your husband what he’s doing and he says nothing, trust him. Because they can do that for hours.

If you read one thing today, it should be this.

Per this:

France’s Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has just appointed a committee to draft a law to ban the Islamist hijab (headgear) in state-owned establishments, including schools and hospitals. The decision has drawn fire from the French “church” of Islam, an organisation created by Raffarin’s government last spring.

Germany is facing its hijab problem with a number of Islamist organisations suing federal and state authorities for “religious discrimination” because of bans imposed on the controversial headgear.

Those tolerant Europeans. But here’s the real interesting part:

That claim is totally false. The headgear in question has nothing to do with Islam as a religion. It is not sanctioned anywhere in the Koran, the fundamental text of Islam, or the hadith (traditions) attributed to the Prophet.

This headgear was invented in the early 1970s by Mussa Sadr, an Iranian mullah who had won the leadership of the Lebanese Shiite community.

Read the rest for more interesting lies about the Hijab.

Bubba details some local crushing of dissent. More disturbing is that he points out the lack of local media coverage.

Kevin has a good post about guns and racism. As with any study of race factors, the response is to attack such things as racist. I addressed this here a bit back.

Also, one thing often overlooked is the racist origin of gun control. The first gun control laws were passed to disarm blacks. In Tennessee, for example, there was a law passed that stated the only handgun that could be owned was a Colt. These Colts were too expensive for poor blacks to purchase.

This morning’s topic on the HHH morning show was the 10 commandments thing in Alabama. A woman called in and said Who cares about the athiests? They’re just minorities

I am not making that up. Pathetic.

DiFi has criticized Ahnold for glamorizing guns. Of course, this is the same woman who carried a gun, did a straw purchase of a gun for her son, and has armed guards.

So, he wants to do a post on trolls, of course accusing myself, CJ and Justin of trolling. I left the following comment at his site:

So, you think prefacing a post with a bunch of meaningless rhetoric and calling other bloggers who comment at sites (those sites actually having comment sections by the way) trolls because we challenged the validity of your site visits requires that meaningless image?

How ’bout addressing your little fibbing episode instead? I’ve been anxiously waiting.

The comment was complete with the link to a post of mine. Rush then goes and edits the comment to remove the link and then asserts:

My site visit stats are public by clicking the sitemeter, eXtreme tracking, and blogpatrol icons on my site.
My addressing of your “fibbing” was done exhaustively.
I don’t see you mentioned here anywhere unless you cop to one of the listed appellations.
Any questions?

And Rush is the same guy who created a hate site for Bill Hobbs because Bill banned him and edited a comment of his. Add hypocrite to the list, right after liar. Of course, he has never addressed his fibbing. So, he has lied again. Then he states:

I cannot remove his homepage link and I did not. Why he thinks it important to include his url as well is his problem – maybe he thinks he will get 30 more visits. Draw your own conclusions about who is sad, deranged, and delusional.

No Rush, I was referring to the link I left in your comments.

It’s one thing to lie but it’s another thing to cover it up and manipulate the comments people leave to support your lie. Initially, I even defended Rush stating that he was just passionate about his beliefs. But I was wrong, he is a total liar who suffers from some sort of delusion of adequacy.

At first, I was a bit angry about his lying episode. But then I realized what a sad, pathetic little man Rush must be. I am better than him and so are most bloggers.

And as Barry of Inn of the Last Home points out, they’re not the same Barry. Please don’t get them confused. The one linked is the good one.

Rush is just a sad little man. And I’ll never read his site again. I suggest you do the same.

Kathy calls our attention to some gun bias in the media. I know, it’s shocking. Jeff has more on more bias.

If you’re like me, you keep turning your pillow over so you can sleep on the cool side. Not anymore. Mrs. Uncle bought be a Chillow. One word: Awesome!

Per this:

A BOY of seven narrowly escaped death after being mauled by two American pit bull terriers.

Frankie Knowlden had climbed into a neighbour’s garden to retrieve a football.

Dad Matthew managed to prise him from the dogs’ jaws.

So the child was trespassing? Where were the parents?

It is believed the dogs had escaped from their steel enclosures in the garden.

Police said they had no powers to remove them because the owner had taken “reasonable” steps in the way they were kept. But Matthew plans to sue and is angry that they were not destroyed.

So, your child enters someone’s property without permission and where were you? The owners took precaution.

What really annoys me is that, in typical media stupidity fashion, the article shows a picture of a Pit Bull (not necessarily one in this incident) with the caption: VICIOUS: A pit bull terrier

Pit bulls are no more vicious than any other dog.

Per this:

As a second Canadian aid worker — a woman who was an outspoken advocate for the welfare of children in war zones — died from injuries sustained in Tuesday’s bomb attack against the UN in Baghdad, a row erupted over the security failure at the compound, with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan saying U.S. forces should have known to patrol the area.

It’s all Bush’s fault, I am sure.

Update: I was kidding but apparently Kerry and Graham are saying it is Bush’s fault.

Manish has done an outstanding job hosting the VTP.

Mr. Gates will not be charged and has had six of his guns returned. The police still have the shotgun for some reason. Publicola has the scoop.

Rush Limbaughtomy, taking issue with my post on his traffic, tells me that I should get my facts straight with this (in the comments):

Say Uncle should get his facts straight since any reasonable research would show that Hoggs Online and the Fox fair and balance parodies are not sitemetered with the others

However, if you go to the Google Cache file for HoggsOnline, there is clearly a sitemeter tag at the bottom. And the Google Cache for Blur and Tarnish on August 17 does as well. Those sitemeter links are the same account as the other websites, despite Rush Limbaughtomy’s claim.

It seems I caught Rush Limbaughtomy fibbing.

Update: AlphaPatriot comments below that:

BTW, perusing the ecosystem shows Barry at a highly respectable #89 (at least it was when the system went down). Looking at how he got that high shows 31 links from hoggsonline, 26 from savagecruelbigot, 25 from treasononline, and 17 from bumsrush (none from foxnewsblurandtarnish), accounting for 42% of his inbound links. While 137 inbound links is still highly successful (and admittedly more than I aspire to), it would still knock him down from Playful Primate to smack-dab in the middle of Large Mammel. If, as you say, Barry runs all of these blogs (where does he find the time?), he is inflating his own stats.

We bloggers dig our traffic. Some of us like to brag about our traffic or ridicule the amount of traffic others get. But eventually some upstart will come along and challenge us.

Enter Rush Limbaughtomy, who likes to point out his sitemeter stats to folks. You go to his stats and he averages 404 visits per day, impressive for a new blogger. However (there’s always a however), as of this writing, out of the last 100 visitors, only 16 stayed for longer than 0:00 minutes. If you click the entry pages, you notice the same six blogs listed almost exclusively:

http://www.treasononline.blogspot.com/
http://rushlimbaughtomy.blogspot.com/
http://www.foxnewsblurandtarnish.blogspot.com/
http://hoggsonline.blogspot.com/
http://bumsrush.blogspot.com/
http://savagecruelbigot.blogspot.com/

If you go to those sites, you will find that they all run off of the same sitemeter account. And they are all run by Rush Limbaughtomy.

The same goes for his exit pages.

So, what’s that all about? My theory is he links among his different sites thereby turning a single hit into multiples. So, I figure he gets 67 hits or so a day (404 divided by 6) while making fun of CJ for getting 41 per day.

I could be wrong, but it is a bit curious.

Update: Edited to remove link and remove confusing name.

Wow! If you’re like me, you will become angry after reading this.

From the Huh? department:

The demand for increasingly bizarre cosmetic surgery has taken a new twist, with women undergoing genital operations in order to boost their sex life and their self-esteem.

More than 100 women over the past year have been to private clinics around the UK to undergo surgery which is aimed at improving their relationships, particularly after childbirth.

Two forms of the surgery, which involve cutting out a piece of the vagina to make it smaller, and labial reduction, which is where fatty tissue is removed from around the organ, are performed under general anaesthetic.

From this:

Gov. Gray Davis called the recall effort part of a wider effort to “steal elections Republicans cannot win,” evoking the impeachment of former President Clinton and Florida’s 2000 presidential election fiasco.

Wow, you know a Dem is desperate when he refers to the Clenis and Selected, Not Elected at the same time.

So, it seems there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

A spammer has closed shop due to being repeatedly harassed after his personal information was published on the web. Somehow, I’m certain Steve is responsible.

Me and the Mrs. took Politically Incorrect Dog (PID) and Politically Correct Dog (PCD) for a walk around the Maryville Greenway a couple of weekends ago. The dogs enjoy the walk and it’s good to socialize them with people and dogs.

As we rounded a corner (me and PID were ahead of the Mrs. and PCD), another couple was walking their Golden Retriever and headed in our direction. I looked at the guy walking the dog, he looked at me and we smiled and nodded to affirm that we’d let our dogs meet. PID saw the Retriever and bowed his head (i.e., quickly outstretched his paws and lowered his head while keeping his rear in the air, which is dogspeak for you wanna play?). The Retriever began snarling, growling and had his hackles raised (which is dogspeak for I’m gonna kick your ass). Upon seeing this, I pulled PID towards me and gave a heel command.

At this point, you would (assuming that the owner of the Retriever knew anything about dogs) think that he would command his dog back to sit or heel. He did not. Instead, he sort of smiled and kept allowing his dog to come forward with this look on his face that seemed to say Look at my dog, he’s gonna teach this bigger dog a lesson.

Me and PID behaved. PID never once growled, snarled, or bucked up to the dog. He stayed at my side, obeying my command, and wagging his tail. PID has never acted aggressively to any other dog (except for PCD, when they have spats over toys and food). He has been socialized and is dog-friendly. Surprisingly, PCD is not real dog-friendly. Both are extraordinarily people friendly (maybe even too friendly, you have no idea how many times we’ve had to get two 70 plus pound dogs out of visitors’ laps).

The point of this rant is that the owner of the Retriever above should have corrected his dog. At the very least, you would expect him to refrain from encouraging the behavior. He did neither. He essentially encouraged his dog to threateningly approach PID (who is perfectly capable of grabbing the Retriever by his throat and shaking him until he dies). It defies common sense. I can understand wanting a protective dog (who doesn’t?) but your dog should be under your control at all times, otherwise the dog is a danger. Even if you are the type of ignorant dog owner who encourages your dog to fight, you don’t want them picking fights they can’t win.

Had I not had control of PID and the Retriever attacked, PID would have won the skirmish. The police would likely have been called and PID would most likely have been taken by animal control, despite the fact he was not the aggressor.

Control your dogs and learn to spot and correct aggressive behavior.

The ATF is publishing cartoons to explain gun transactions. Publicola has more.

Yup, Al Qaeda done it:

Al Qaida’s Abu Hafs Brigades has claimed responsibility for the blackout last week in the Northeast and Midwest United States. A communiqué by the Abu Hafs Brigades made reference to Operation Quick Lightning in the Land of the Tyrant of this Generation.”

Kevin links to The Warren’s series on what kind of guns should a person starting a collection acquire. Kevin also offers his suggestions. I have compiled my suggestions below but bare in mind I haven’t completed my own collection.

A while back (circa 1997) SayUncle had a firearm collection of around 20 guns. I moved from my hometown to Knoxville into a rental house that was not in the safest of neighborhoods. Much to the disdain of anti-gun folks, I sold off my collection (without doing background checks), except for two handguns, out of fear they’d get stolen at my new residence. I had no place to store them. I kept the two handguns (I sold one a while back) until finishing graduate school and now that I am a suburbanite, I am replenishing my collection. Also, I am a very functional sort of guy. I don’t collect antiques or fancy thingamabobs. It’s about function, utility, and toughness. At a minimum, my collection will look like this (and it would be my recommendation to a novice collector starting out – even in order of importance):

Combat Handgun: The absolute first purchase. This gun should be in a respectable caliber (preferably 45) and reliable. Many fine options available for this:

SigArms P220: Sig makes the finest handguns and are my personal preference.
H&K USP: Also, excellent handguns that come in a variety of configurations.
Glock: Some folks love them and some hate them. I think they feel clunky and are ugly. But these guns are reliable and are very easy for beginners to operate. And they’re darn near indestructible.
1911: The old reliable. Combat proven for decades and easy to operate.

SHTF: This is the gun you should have for when the shit hits the fan. I am, of course, reminded of the LA riots and seeing the Korean shop owners with their SKS and AK47 variants on the rooftops of their shops keeping looters at bay (total side note: funny how the LAPD was captured on video running from the riots. But after it was over, the LAPD got brave and went back to arrest these shop owners). This gun should be reliable, easy to use, and be in a military caliber. Good choices are:

Any AK variant: Cheap, reliable, easy to get. ‘Nuff said.
FNFAL: Expensive but worth it.
AR15: Scalable (models range in price from $500 – $5,000) and military standard.

Shotgun: A shotgun can substitute for a SHTF gun pretty well. I recommend pump action because the distinctive Ka-sheenk sound made when pumped is one of the scariest sounds in the world. A shotgun is also good for hunting doves, rabbits, and squirrels. As for a brand, there are so many variants depending on price range. Remington makes many models at varying price ranges.

Compact Handgun: This is the gun you will carry. Each of the combat handguns mentioned above comes in a compact version and all are excellent. In fact, the compact handguns mentioned can substitute for your combat handgun. That is unless you’re going for a pocket gun, which is not a substitute for a combat handgun. A SigArms P229 (which I have), and many others can pinch-hit as both.

Hunting Rifle: A rifle for bagging game. Savage model 10 series are great as are many fine Remington products.

Plinker (Rifle): A small caliber rifle, such as a 22. I prefer semi-autos such as the Ruger 10/22. My current plinker is actually a Crosman 1077 semi-automatic pellet rifle (I wanted something I could shoot in the backyard). Any .22, .17, or pellet rifle would work. This rifle is good for practicing as the ammo is cheap. It’s also good for getting critters off your property.

And if I had to choose only one gun? I’ve addressed that already.

WeckUpToThees! Good stuff but I don’t know what the name means.

The RTB welcomes the following into its fold:

Long Pauses, nominated just in time to take a break.

Chris, who has been lurking over here and at Rich’s.

Stoney and the Mrs.

And half of Cox and Forkum lives in Nashvegas.

Welcome all!

In Maryville, nothing happened.

When life imitates Cox and Forkum:

Hillary Clinton: I happen to think that making sure we have a reliable, affordable system of energy is a national priority. And I don’t think that this administration sees it that way. They have continued to try to push deregulation and privatization, and to try to undo a lot of the systems in changes that many of us thought were important and necessary that we tried to work on during the Clinton administration under Secretary Richardson’s leadership. And frankly to throw in a lot of roadblocks in the way of Governor Davis, when he tried to clean up some of the problems that he had with the manipulation of the energy markets by Enron and others. So, no, I don’t think the federal administration under this president is really focused on making sure we don’t have these problems in the future.

Wasn’t Richardson pushing deregulation too?

Update: Yeah, Richardson was pushing deregulation in 1998:

We are on the vanguard of deregulating the electricity industry–a remarkable development that will save American businesses and consumers 20 billion dollars annually. Technological innovations and competition from deregulation will cause power plants to become more efficient in the future.

Hat Tip on the update: Jay

The Powers That Be to SayUncle: That’ll teach you to be a smartass!

tgirsch writes:

There is no other way to describe this than hypocritical and disgusting. This President, his Administration, and his party have vilified anyone who questions the motives for war as “not supporting the troops” has the gall to not only cut Veterans’ benefits, as Kevin reported earlier, but also to try to cut hazardous duty pay. This isn’t some oversight, this was deliberate: the only reason the idea is being shelved is because of the negative attention it receives.

A review of the article reveals that Bush has not cut any benefits (after all that is a function of Congress, for those paying attention). It seems Bush, his Administration and his party have neither advocated nor promoted any such thing.

Any excuse to hate Bush more, I suppose. It’s not as though there aren’t plenty of other real reasons to dislike him (Ashcroft, The Patriot Act, snubbing the assault weapons ban) but pick one that really exists.

Update: Jay has more.

Apparently, electricity stayed on in most of the nation.

Shumaker, during his tenure as UT President, actually spent $0.39 to Super Size his fries at McDonald’s. His appalling spending habits have scandalized the university and this is one example of his flare for the finer things in life.

I work hard for my money and I never have the luxury of Super Sizing my fast food meals! said Knoxville resident Penny Less, This type of extravagance absolutely discredits the office of the president and has tarnished the university for years to come she continued.

Local residents were also shocked to learn that Shumaker expected to get paid actual money for his work. Other news outlets have also reported the following moral and ethical lapses Shumaker has had:

Shumaker has actually had sex.
Shumaker may have masturbated as a teen.
Shumaker may have cussed at some point in his life.
Shumaker’s poop actually stinks.
Shumaker’s marriage wasn’t happy.
Shumaker once returned a cordless drill because it didn’t work.
Shumaker upgraded the memory on his computer from 256K to 512K.

Let this be a lesson to those who would use government money to Super Size their value meals, said Governor Bredesen the press will needlessly pry into your life and crucify you. But you deserve it because you’re a bastard.

Marc has a rundown on Huffington’s hypocrisy.

AlphaPatriot has a good piece on corporate corruption and its ties to tax codes. I tend to agree. A great many problems in this country could be solved by simplifying the tax code.

County executives now called county mayors. I guess now we know why:

County executives are required under a new state law to use the title ”county mayor,” according to the state attorney general, but there is no penalty if they do not.

The opinion by state Attorney General Paul Summers does not appear to settle the uproar over the legislature’s decision to change the name.

”Since 1978 we’ve been county executives, and it’s taken until now to get the word out about what our responsibility and roles are, and now suddenly we’re changing in midstream,” said Billy Ray Patton, the Rhea County executive who does not want to be called mayor.

Glad they have time to work out such pressing problems as these.

Grill with Minor Scratches Turned down by Shumaker

Good! Prodigy doesn’t have to pay sales taxes on services it provides in Tennessee.

He as blocked email addresses of the people commenting over at Rich’s and refused to address their legitimate arguments:

His only response was an email saying my email was now blocked. Mmm, seems he is running away from a fight. Maybe because I nailed him to the wall too successfully?

He blocked others as well.

We can now add coward to the list.

Two new blogs I’m reading, The Spoons Experience who also has this fine entry dispelling anti-gun lies.

And the USS Clueless, which apparently needs no introduction but strangely I’d never seen it before yesterday.

A group of Libertarians wants to take over a state government. They figure if 20,000 of them move into one of 10 sparsely populated states, they can do it:

The Free State Project (FSP), a small group of libertarian activists, is trying to make a big difference in state politics by recruiting 20,000 like-minded people to move en masse to a small state and flex enough political muscle to shrink the government.

“The government has gotten too big, and [project members] want to return to a lifestyle pre-PATRIOT Act and pre-Roosevelt…New Deal kind of nanny statism,” FSP Vice President Elizabeth McKinstry explained.

Specifically, the loose-knit group of activists wants to do away with many taxes, as well as laws regulating home schooling, marriage, controlled substances, small businesses and the Second Amendment.

According to McKinstry, the group now boasts 5,000 members who are this month voting via mailed-in paper ballots to select a state, using an “instant runoff” voting method called Conder sets. The winning choice is scheduled for an Oct. 1 unveiling.

Alaska, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, Maine, Delaware, Vermont and New Hampshire are the 10 states on the short list. Low population is the top consideration. “The numbers indicate that any state under about 1.5 million population could be significantly affected by a group of 20,000 political activists,” said McKinstry.

In an Aug. 9 release, the FSP boasted N.H. Gov. Craig Benson (R) as having “signed on as a supporter,” something the governor’s office politely suggests is overstating the situation.

Does Jeff know they may come to his state?

State Troopers in East Tennessee are riding and following school buses in an effort to catch motorists violating the law:

The program to stop drivers who violate state law by driving past buses that are stopped to load or unload schoolchildren will begin today in Roane County, said Lt. Jessie Brooks, safety education officer with the Knoxville office of the THP.

“We’re giving warning that we’re going to be doing this,” Brooks said. “We don’t want to be sneaky; we want to keep the children safe.”

Guess they don’t have much else to do.

Apparently this best selling author either can’t copy and paste or has again proven himself to be a liar:

Original Post: By your numbers, SARS had an overall mortality rate of approximately 9%. Since other respiratory ailments generally run at less than 1%, even in the elderly, that one factor alone warrants considerable concern

Fumento’s site: By your numbers, SARS had an overall mortality rate of approxinmately (sic) 9%. Since other respiratory ailments generally run at less than 1% (sic), even in the elderly, that one factor alone warrants considerable concern – Emphasis Added

So, in addition to being a sub-par writer who is poor at research and a jerk, we can now conclude that he is also a liar.

Rich has more.

Remember, he’s a best selling author and syndicated columnist and I’m just like some guy, you know.

It seems Rich’s post about the rude, arrogant, and not particularly talented Fumento’s email has received quite the following:

DailyPundit
Spoons
USS Clueless
MySelf

You can access Mr. Fumento’s site here. You can send him an email at fumento@pobox.com.

Update: Here’s a review of one of Fumento’s scholarly endeavors. Some choice quotes:

After a sycophantic foreword by JoAnn Manson, an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical who should know better, you’ll find a nasty, simplistic book devoid of significant substance written by an average-sized man who lost 25 pounds and considers that weight loss one of his life’s biggest accomplishments.

It becomes apparent after reading the first few pages that Fumento desperately tries to be funny. His idol seems to be Dave Barry, but he isn’t in Barry’s league. Example: “I found a stack of papers so high that a pair of bald eagles built a nest on top.”

Fumento (ab)uses all those footnotes to make wild statements that are often neither explained nor substantiated. Instead, there are footnotes and more footnotes, sometimes four or five within just a couple of paragraphs, giving the author carte blanche to make just about any statement he wants. Who’s going to go to the library to check what’s really behind a reference like “Lawrence Garfinkel, “Overweight and Mortality,” Cancer 58 (8 [15 October 1986]: 1826-29″?

And all those footnotes notwithstanding, Fumento often struggles with fact. For example, he calls executive director Sally Smith “president” of NAAFA. For an author who frequently cites the NAAFA Newsletter and Workbook, that seems a glaring error, especially for a medical journalist who must be especially careful with titles and credentials. Is the rest of his research equally shoddy? He also claims that NAAFA had polled its members and decreed that to qualify as fat a woman had to be 289 pounds, a weight which, Fumento offers, “is grotesquely, horribly, obscenely fat.” In fact, NAAFA never did such a survey. He gleefully calls model Anna Nicole Smith “the first obese playmate” though at the time she was featured in Playboy, she wasn’t statistically overweight. He says he lost 25 pounds at one point in the book, then later brags that he lost 20% of his body weight, which would indicate that he started at an unlikely 125 pounds. Is the rest of his math off, too?

Yup, he’s better than bloggers.

Update2: Seems Fumento has what is basically a blog and he mentions his encounter with Rich by being insulting.

Bill has some info on a Fairer Tax, a National Sales Tax. Why didn’t I think of that? Oh, I did.

It’s getting a bit silly, what with these Dubya action figures.

Self,

Never, ever chase cherry-flavored NyQuil with Five Alive again! That has to be the worst taste recorded in human history.

Good stuff, go read.

Briefs filed for Silveira v. Lockyer.

Regarding this, AlphaPatriot has an excellent summary of the horrors of the diamond slave trade.

A company in Florida can now make diamonds.

I hope this means we can be rid of the third world horrors that people in diamond mines have to go through. And supposedly diamond sales support terrorism, according to Bill Maher.

Of course, the money making thing to do would not be to sell the manufactured diamonds as manufactured diamonds but merely manufacture some to sell at inflated prices, while you keep your invention a secret. Ahh, I love the smell of capitalism in the morning.

Bigwig has more.

A six year study on the Supreme Court and the Second Amendment reveals the Supreme Court supports the individual right to arms. And other stuff:

- The Court has not been quiet on this subject as previously thought, using some form of the word “gun” in its decisions 2,910 times (gun, rifle, pistol, shotgun, firearm, etc., even Winchester five times) in 92 cases. Three dozen of the cases quote or mention the Second Amendment directly.

- Armed self defense with personally owned firearms is recognized and supported in more than a dozen cases, is a distinct right of American citizens, and an ancient “duty to retreat” is not obligatory.

- The often-cited Miller case from 1939 is inconclusive, which is why gun-rights and gun-control advocates both claim it supports their position. The record shows that the Court actually remanded this case back to the lower court for retrial and a hearing on the evidence, since there was no evidence presented. Because Miller had been murdered by that time and his co-defendant had taken a plea agreement, no retrial or evidentiary hearing was ever held.

- All 92 cases are reproduced to show what the Court has actually said. More than 1,000 interesting quotations are highlighted, and each case includes a plain-English description. A special “descriptive index” reduces each case to the firearms-related question(s) it answers.

Bill Hobbs compares the current big government GOP and the Democrats. His conclusion (paraphrased, of course) is support the lesser of two evils. Additionally, he states in comments:

Well, you can vote Libertarian, and have no influence, while the Dems win and expand government exponentially while losing the war on terror, or while the GOP wins and expands the govt a little less rapidly and wins the war on terror. No good choices.

Herein lies my dilemma regarding the presidential election: Who do I vote for? I don’t like any of the Democrats, as they are big government cronies engaging in class warfare. I think Bush is slightly less bad than the Democrats (he’s big government, despite the rhetoric) but Ashcroft (who is only slightly better than Reno since he hasn’t burned down a religious complex yet) absolutely must go (even some other hardcore conservatives feel this way).

Others have advocated a legitimate third party, some even sort of in jest. Sadly, the third party can’t win under current political conditions. But they can ensure that someone will lose, remember Nader?

As of now, I fully intend to vote for the Libertarian Party (big L) candidate and hope others will do the same. Some people have called this idea stupid. There reason is that they don’t want Democrats in office, ever. But I, being up to my nefarious shenanigans, have decided I am willing to accept four years of a Democrat administration to send the message to the Republican Party that they need to return to being the party of small government and that they can’t forsake their political base to make some power plays. And the Bush administration only plays lip service to gun rights.

So, my campaign slogan is: Vote Libertarian! Maybe Someone Will Notice!

Update: Bill comments back at his blog that I am off the mark by stating he actively supports the lesser of evils. He does not, in fact, mean he supports them in that manner but that the GOP is kowtowing in the spirit of compromise to the the Big Spenders. However, the de facto implication is that he supports the GOP because they are not as bad as Democrats.

The Game Show Network is going to spoof the California Recall:

“Who Wants to Be Governor of California? The Debating Game” will include a political debate produced in the style of a game show, the channel announced Monday.

“Politics is the ultimate game and the California recall election is one of the most bizarre contests in American history,” Rich Cronin, president of the channel, said in a statement.

The channel said it is lining up five candidates to take part in the Oct. 1 program. The show will chronicle their campaigns and include a “wide-ranging” debate, including buzz-in answers and bonus questions, the channel said.

The five will compete for a prize of $21,200, the maximum corporate campaign contribution allowed by California law, the channel said. The prize will go to the candidate in the group who receives the most votes in the Oct. 7 recall election.

Rich has been pretty critical of this Fumento person (who I’ve never heard of except on Rich’s blog, by the way). And, at last count, Rich is definitely winning the battle between the two. Rich received an email from the guy which states:

But the nice thing about all this is that you are an absolute nobody who can publish nowhere outside of his own blog site that I never would have heard of had my name not come up. I am a weekly syndicated health and science columnist who is read each week by literally millions of people. One of my SARS pieces was in the New York Post, with over three million readers alone. Do you get three million hits in one day?

So then Mr. Fumento, why do you feel the need to justify your actions to an absolute nobody? I suppose it’s worse to be outwitted by a nobody than to be outwitted by a somebody. At least the somebody will draw attention to you.

This is beautiful:

On Friday, a Memphis federal jury acquitted FedEx pilot Vernice Kuglin of six counts of felony Tax Evasion and Willful Failure to File tax returns.

Ms. Kuglin’s attorneys, Tax Honesty Movement barristers Larry Becraft and Robert G. Bernhoft, told reporters that Kuglin was indicted seven months ago and had refused to plead the case out for a lesser sentence. During her testimony Kuglin testified that since 1995, she had sent numerous letters to the IRS requesting that they inform her of what law required her to pay the Individual Income Tax. To this day, she has not received an answer.

At 1:30 Friday afternoon, the jury returned not guilty verdicts on all counts.

After the jury had been excused the U.S. Attorney reportedly demanded that the Judge order the defendant to file her forms, pay her taxes and obey the law. The Judge reportedly replied “Sir, I don’t work for the IRS.”

The case is: U.S. District Court, Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) # 03-CR-20111, USA v. Kuglin.

Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Foxnews is suing Al Franken for using the phrase Fair and Balanced.

What has Franken done lately other than make a dime at the expense of the leftist fringe?

Go read this now, or read my play by play below:

Francis Warin had a nagging habit.

Nearly 30 years ago, he toted a submachine gun into Toledo’s federal courthouse and made a simple demand: Arrest me.

He got his wish.

Two months ago, the Ottawa County man mailed a homemade gun and silencer to an assistant U.S. attorney. To ensure there was no confusion, he sent the package by certified mail, complete with his return address.

Now the 72-year-old gun-rights advocate is fighting to get out of the Lucas County Jail – staging a hunger strike to try to force authorities’ hands.

The French immigrant insists his actions make sense. They’re part of his on-again, off-again quest to challenge what he perceives as restrictions on the right to bear arms as covered by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

His accent still thick after 42 years in America, the balding professional weapons designer believes the courts have stripped the Second Amendment of its meaning, and he’s willing to be the legal guinea pig to fix it.

Never mind that Warin’s tried before and failed. Never mind that nearly all courts, for six decades, have limited the power of the Second Amendment. Never mind that even some pro-gun advocates question Warin’s tactics. Never mind he could now spend more than two years in a federal lockup.

In 1972, the mechanical engineer filed a class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Toledo asking the federal court to revisit the interpretation of the Second Amendment. The court refused.

In 1974, the father of two young boys decided to engage in “civil disobedience” to call attention to his cause. He built his own “cheap” submachine gun and refused to pay the $200 registration tax.

After no one would arrest him, an inpatient Warin hauled the homemade machine gun to the ATF’s courthouse office. He expected ATF agents to handcuff him immediately.

“They said, ‘OK. Go home. We’ll call you,’” Warin recalled.

They wouldn’t arrest him then?

Most recently:

The package arrived in the U.S. Attorney’s office in Toledo about 12:30 p.m. on a Monday. An employee signed for it, but immediately became suspicious of what could be inside.

A security officer X-rayed it, and it was eventually opened. Inside was a small, homemade gun capable of firing 22-caliber bullets. Attached was a cardboard silencer. A one-page letter was enclosed asking for “prosecution and return of property.” It was signed “sincerely, Warin.”

Prosecutors would follow at least one of his wishes.

Two days later, on May 21, agents arrested Warin on weapons charges and confiscated more than 46,000 rounds of ammunition, six hand grenades, six firearms, four handguns, and diagrams of firearms and silencers, according to court records.

And prosecutors went one step further than their predecessors three decades ago: They put him in jail and fought to keep him there.

“He’s increasingly desperate to gain attention, and his behavior is desperate over the years,” Mr. Weldon said. “In these times, with the heightened security alerts, why should we assume he’s not a danger? We have to assume he is.”

Friends disagree.

“Francis is a good person. He’s a compassionate person,” Mr. Roder said. “He is not a crackpot. He has very strong convictions – whether you agree with him or not.”

Warin’s family declined to be interviewed for this story. Warin said his wife, who works in an Oak Harbor nursing home, hasn’t been surprised by his actions: “She has been with me for 42 years.”

He dreams of a full-fledged hearing on his case before the U.S. Supreme Court. The pro-gun interpretation has been adopted by a growing number of scholars and even Attorney General John Aschroft – making it more likely the high court could eventually step in.

But Warin’s prosecution likely won’t be that test case.

Ms. Zemmelman gives it a “zero” chance. So does noted gun-rights advocate Stephen Halbrook, a Virginia attorney who has fought in many high-profile gun cases.

He scoffs at Warin’s tactics.

“I don’t know of any responsible Second Amendment advocates who would suggest that anybody get arrested,” he said.

Before being wheeled back to his cell, Warin said he has no regrets. His explanation comes with a simple shrug.

“I had to do what I had to do,” he said.

After Davis’ death, here come the calls for more gun controls. New York has some of the most oppressive err toughest gun laws in the country. Yet an above-the-law politician committed this crime.

Key quote from Bloomberg: We have got to get guns off the street.

I think you need to get guns into the hands of ordinary folks, not just famous people and politicians.

Here’s a link to a story detailing a ten count indictment against a pornography firm.

Thought we had to devote effort to terror and drugs and stuff.

Via Buck comes this:

Four years after lifting a ban on the dog breed, City Council voted 8-1 Wednesday to reinstate it.

“For too long in this city we were too tolerant of disorder,” Councilman Pat DeWine said. “When it comes down to it, I think we need to err on the side of people being safe in their neighborhoods.”

Heaven forbid we err on the side of, you know, freedom and responsibility. They required registration until recently but:

Registration “can’t work if it’s not enforced, and that’s a large part of the problem,” said Grando, who spent almost $800 on insurance and the other requirements for her dog, Shunka.

So, one approach failed and this one will too. Oh wait, it already had failed the first time. As the lone dissenter in the vote points out.