Marc seems to stay gone for a while at times. But when he comes back, it’s with a vengeance. Just go here and start reading.

I find it funny that most news accounts I see of baseball state something like Cubs Lose! You realize that another team actually won, right?

The VTP is up over at Les Jones‘. Go read.

Ain’t that America! Old buildings are more important than your right to enjoy your property:

Reversing a lower court decision, the Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that Cherokee Country Club cannot tear down an 87-year-old mansion on its Lyons View Pike grounds.

The three-judge panel unanimously found the city’s historic overlay ordinance, which calls for a 180-day moratorium on demolitions in areas under consideration for historic zoning, functions more as a building code than a zoning regulation.

Note to all you historic preservationists: Eventually everything will be old.

Dunno what it is but it looks kinda cool.

Via Paul Muller, comes this article:

The fundamental difference between the decent and indecent left is their contrasting views of American power. The indecent left views American military might through the lens of Vietnam and therefore regards our armed forces as the greatest threat to world peace. Walzer wrote, “The leftist critique, from the Vietnam years forward — has been stupid, overwrought, grossly inaccurate. It is the product of what Philip Roth, in his novel ‘I Married a Communist,’ aptly described as ‘the combination of embitterment and not thinking.’”

This is very similar (in my opinion) to being one of those liberals. I like those liberals. The mindless moonbats are a nuisance as are the wingnuts. To be fair and balanced, there is a decent and indecent right also. You can’t convince the indecent left that there is a decent right; nor can you convince the indecent right there is a decent left.

I have created a new category for this blog called Notes to Junior. Me and the Mrs. are trying to bring a little Uncle into the world (he’d be your cousin, in case you wanted to know). And I am establishing this category so that I can document advice that I want to give him. Advice such as:

Slots are for suckers.

When you move, unpack and assemble your bed first. Otherwise, by the time you’re tired and realize you want to sleep, you’ll be pissed because you have to put your bed together.

The stripper is not going to go home with you.

When you’re out and drinking is the order of the night, stick to one drink. In fact, establish your standard drink so when anyone asks What’ll you have? you have something to say other than Uhh, lemme think about it.

It is sort of funny that I refer to our future child as him and he and the Mrs. refers to him as her and she. Advice posted here will be as it occurs to me and will remind me later what to talk about.

Brian has a good read on road conditions in the US and Tennessee. Worth reading.

Big Stupid Tommy and Mike said I should talk about baseball and boobs, respectively. So, for Tommy, I thought this was funny:

People who minutes earlier had been dancing and singing the praises of their home team suddenly turned their wrath on the fan who grabbed for the fly ball. Obscene chants echoed from inside the stadium and from the surrounding streets, where thousands had gathered to celebrate what they hoped would be the Cubs’ first trip to the World Series since 1945.

Ballpark guards escorted the man, who was wearing a Cubs hat, from his seat along the low outfield wall and into a security office as the game ended. He covered his face with a sweater as he walked past fans who pelted him with cups of beer and shouted obscenities. Some chanted “kill him.”

Maybe people take this silly game a bit too seriously.

And for Mike, the Boobie-Thon. And give a couple bucks, it’s for a good cause.

For the first time, the number of posts in the guns category (conveniently located at your right if you don’t want to click that link) has exceeded all other posts. Maybe I should ease up.

One observation however is that taxes and pets and responsibility are equally as important to me. But these issues get less press coverage. Taxes don’t because they don’t make the news much unless a Democrat is in the spotlight wanting to raise them; and Pets because they don’t make the news much unless a pit bull bites someone.

And as always, if there’s something you’d rather I talk about, let me know.

The good guys have scored a couple:

Per this:

A Senate committee voted Monday in favor of a bill that would allow Wisconsin residents to carry concealed weapons.

Three Republicans on the Senate Judiciary, Corrections and Privacy Committee approved the proposal, adding a few changes that address some of the public’s concerns before voting on it. These changes include permitting private businesses, churches and homeowners to prohibit concealed weapons.

And then this:

Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) have introduced similar legislation in Congress that would reestablish the Second Amendment right to bear arms for the citizens of the District of Columbia.

“The District of Columbia Personal Protection Act,” or H.R. 3191, which currently has 111 co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle would reverse the ban on guns in the District of Columbia, which has one of the strongest anti-gun laws in the United States.

The current prohibition on firearms in the nation’s capital disallows law-abiding citizens from owning a handgun and severely limits the use of a rifle.

“The District of Columbia is a failed laboratory experiment for gun control,” Souder contended in defense of his bill. “It has one of the most comprehensive bans on firearms in the nation, and it also has one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation.”

Souder says the connection between the crime rate and citizens not being able to defend themselves in the District of Columbia is clear.

“In 2002, [the District of Columbia] had the highest per capita crime rate of any city in the nation,” he cited. “This is not a coincidence.”

Werd!

Remember, however, that DC is a city that the our elected federal representatives made. It’s awful because federal politics are awful. Oh and that gun thing.

Wow!

Accounts Receivable Tax

Alcohol Tax

Building Permit Tax

Capital Gains Tax

CDL license Tax

Cigarette Tax

Corporate Income Tax

Court Fines (indirect taxes)

Dog License Tax

Estate Tax

Excise Tax

Federal Income Tax

Federal Unemployment Tax

Fishing License Tax

Food License Tax

Fuel permit Tax

Gasoline Tax

Hunting License Tax

Intangible Tax

Inheritance Tax

Interest expense (Tax on the money)

Inventory Tax

IRS Interest Charges (Tax on top of Tax)

IRS Penalties (Tax on top of Tax)

Liquor Tax

Local Income Tax

Luxury Taxes

Marriage License Tax

Medicare Tax

Property Tax

Real Estate Tax

Septic Permit Tax

Service charge Taxes

Social Security Tax

Road usage Taxes (Truckers)
Sales Taxes

Recreational Vehicle Tax

Road Toll Booth Taxes

School Tax

State Income Tax

State Unemployment Tax
Tobacco Tax

Telephone federal excise Tax

Telephone federal universal service fee Tax

Telephone federal, state and local surcharge Taxes

Telephone minimum usage surcharge Tax

Telephone recurring and non-recurring charges Tax

Telephone state and local Tax

Telephone usage charge Tax

Toll Bridge Taxes

Toll Tunnel Taxes

Traffic Fines (indirect Taxation)

Trailer registration Tax

Utility Taxes

Vehicle License Registration Tax

Vehicle Sales Tax

Watercraft registration Tax

Well Permit Tax

Workers Compensation Tax

For the punchline, visit Rodger.

The Rocky Top Brigade welcomes into its fold:

Beyond the Whispers
Drawing Dad
Filthy Hippy Speak
SemiPundit

Welcome all!

Remember Lyle Barkley? I blogged about him here:

Lyle Barkley is bulldozing four-foot berms around his three acres in Bay Township and requesting support from conservative militia groups to prepare for a possible armed confrontation with county law enforcement officers over a zoning dispute.

Well, he’s got his own blog and another here. His actions lead to the sheriff meeting him and potentially avoiding an armed stand off:

The Barkley family and Charlevoix County and Bay Township officials agreed Thursday to put off any confrontation over a contested zoning violation until after a circuit court judge has ruled on the matter.

They agreed on:

“First, we got a commitment from Mr. Olson that he would have control of the militia and that they would take no aggressive action.

“Second, we will all await the decision of the judge (Circuit Judge Richard Pajtas) in the appeal process, and until then there will be no arrest of Mr. Barkley and the township will make no effort to remove the trailers in that period of time.

“And third, we will meet again after the judge’s decision and before any enforcement action is taken.”

Spoons details the origins of his distrust in the media based on an experience when he was ten years old. Read it.

In a similar incident to Spoons’ story, my dad sent George Bush 1 an invitation to my high school graduation. I received a fancy envelope from the White House, with a fancy letter inside. It read (paraphrased): Regretfully, the President can not attend your wedding.

Analysts say gun control is a non-issue in 2004. Well, I guess I’ll stop blogging about it then. Highlights:

Though a spate of gun violence has torn through schools and offices of late, hardly a word has been spoken on the campaign trail, angry moms are not marching and few lawmakers are waving their fists, leaving some to conclude that gun control is no longer a vital political issue.

Gun control advocates blame a lack of media interest and an aggressive pro-gun lobby on the inattention to gun violence.

“The modus operandi of the gun lobby is to keep the discussion down,” said Eric Howard, spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Handgun Violence

Of course, the Brady Campaign’s modus operandi has been to lie about gun violence. And this is a total lie. Gun folks like to have the discussion because when it’s discussed, pro gun folks win the debate.

Read the whole thing for some more political insight into the gun issue.

The Blount County Commissioners engaged in some shady activities prior to voting their own pay raises. A local resident is suing to have the raise rescinded:

His lawsuit alleges that commissioners met “secretly by electronic means, discussed the proposed raise, and polled the members prior to the meeting in direct contravention” of Tennessee Code Annotated 8-44-102, 104, 108 — the state’s public meeting laws.

Day filed the suit Monday in Blount County Chancery Court.

In August and September meetings, he promised to take each of the commissioners to court and — acting as his own attorney — put them on the witness stand about the vote.

“It was the biggest slap in the face to citizens, and to county employees,” said Day. “It was done surreptitiously.”

From the WaPo:

Saad bin Laden, one of Osama bin Laden’s oldest sons, has emerged in recent months as part of the upper echelon of the al Qaeda network, a small group of leaders that is managing the terrorist organization from Iran, according to U.S., European and Arab officials.

I really wish baseball season would end. I personally don’t like baseball because a game lasts for about nine hours and it’s boring as Hell. Out of that nine hours, it’s maybe fifteen minutes of actual game play. The rest consists of watching men spit & scratch; listening to idiots state some arbitrary & meaningless statistics (this is the first time this has happened on the second Tuesday, with a full moon since the last time it happened); more spitting and scratching; the occasional fight; and overweight men (spitting and scratching) while standing around looking like they’re discussing something important.

But that’s not why I want baseball season to end. I want it to end so that all of those great bloggers out there will stop talking about baseball.

There is apparently a bit of a scuffle involving the proposed name change of Atlanta’s airport:

A push to add the name of former Mayor Maynard Jackson to the title of the city’s airport pits the legacy of two popular mayors against each other and has reignited simmering tensions of new Atlanta vs. old, and black vs. white.

snip

This really shouldn’t be about what the white business establishment would allow,” state Rep. “Able” Mable Thomas, a former city council member, said at a public forum. “It’s really what the strength of the African-American community will allow. What will we stand for?”

While community leaders ponder this important issue in race relations, SayUncle estimates that in the US today approximately 20 black people will be murdered, 506 black people will be arrested for drug trafficking, and 22 black people will commit a murder. Glad our priorities are straight.

Today’s Day by Day cartoon is pretty darn funny.

I missed this but apparently in August 2002, the Supreme Court of Alabama ruled that four pit bulls were not vicious. The city’s attorney argued that pit bulls are genetically prone to viciousness, which is a ludicrous claim. The court rightfully ruled that there was no genetic evidence that one breed of dog was more dangerous than another.

There is no scientific way to determine what breed a dog is. Breed identification is based solely on appearance. I think I’ll start telling people that Politically Incorrect Dog is a Chihuahua.

Via HIAHB, comes this story of a dog being attacked by another dog. He wants to know what he can legally do to defend a dog. I think this varies by state. I know in East Tennessee that if a dog is on your property uninvited, you can pretty much shoot it. I don’t know if that’s the law, but it is common practice. If my pup was attacked by a large, unrestrained dog, I would kill the dog before allowing mine to die. Otherwise, I’d try to stop the fight then call animal control.

On dog fights:

First, try to avoid them. Don’t let your dog out of your yard unless he’s on a leash with you. If he is on a leash, learn the signs. Remember, some dog owners aren’t as responsible as you and will let their dogs run wild in neighborhoods. Dogs fight for dominance and territory (fighting over food is typically a dominance issue). If two dogs meet, the following can indicate a pending fight:

Hackles raised on one or both dogs (he’s scared) and may attack.

Snarling, growling, and barking.

Staring at each other.

Butt sniffing can lead to fights. A dog who is typically dominant doesn’t appreciate his butt being sniffed.

A dog licking the inside of another dog’s mouth. This is a dominance display in which one dog tries to get the other to spit up his food.

A dog on a leash or tied to something is more likely to fight. They feel restrained and will attack out of fear.

No matter what signs you learn, some times dogs will just attack each other without provocation. They’re that way.

Socialize your dog. Take him to the park, PetsMart, or anywhere he can meet dogs. Make sure you have him on a choke collar. When he approaches a dog and acts appropriately, praise him. If he attacks another dog or displays aggressive behavior, give him a correction by snapping his leash and tell him No!

Breaking up a fight:

Unless you fear a dog will die, it’s probably best not to get into the fray. You can get hurt if two big dogs are going at it. Dogs will rarely fight to the point they kill each other. It does happen though with poorly socialized dogs and rescue dogs that were rescued from dog fighting operations. Dog fighting rescue animals usually make fine pets, but don’t play well with other dogs. Avoid letting them come into contact with other dogs until you know they’re over this little problem (they may never get over it). Typically in a fight, one dog will submit pretty quickly (lays down, pees on himself) and it’s all over but the crying. But if you must break one up:

Your dog should be on a leash. Pull him away. If the other dog is unrestrained, stepping between them could be bad. If your dog is on a leash, and you pull him away and the other dog continues it’s attack, kick the attacking dog as hard as you can right in the jaw (or anywhere you can reach). If you have pepper spray, use it. If you run, the dog will chase. Stand your ground then walk calmly away.

Yelling loudly at both dogs can sometimes be effective but don’t count on it.

The easiest way to break a fight up is with a water hose. Spray them, they will quit. Of course, hoses aren’t always available.

Pick up a dog’s back legs and drag it back. This is only effective if you have someone who can grab each dog. If you pull one off, the other may continue to attack.

Hit the attacker with a stick or whatever is lying around.

When you get the fight stopped, separate the dogs immediately.

If you want to introduce your dog to another dog, it is best to do so on neutral ground. Take the dogs someplace where neither of them lives, there is no food, and there is plenty of space. By doing this, you’ve eliminated the territory issues and some dominance issues. This will avoid unnecessary dog fights.

One last thing, be smart. My dog looks intimidating, even though he is a sweetheart. But if he gets in a fight, he will be viewed as the bad guy because of his breed (American Bulldog). In this day of soccer mom nannyism, it doesn’t matter that the Golden Retriever started it. My dog is the bad guy because he looks a certain way. I am very cautious when I introduce Politically Incorrect Dog to any other dog. I don’t worry about his behavior, I worry about the other dogs’ behavior.

Damn Foreigner has moved. Make a note of it.

Publicola discusses handloading at the Shooters’ Carnival.

Chris, his attempt at belittling me aside, has more on campaign contributions. A very good read I have to say. It does prove my point that the highest dollar value contributions go to the Democrats:

What those numbers tell us is the political skew of a very slim top percentile — the very rich.

That would fit my (and most folks’) definition of the richest.

The exchange is confusing to follow, so I suggest you read this in this order:

For Tom
Fat Cats
Party of the Rich
Lies, Damn Lies and . . .

And this post you’re currently looking at.

And I wasn’t rebutting Chris’ post, I just think we disagree on what constitutes rich and richest.

By the way, he must be right because his chart is prettier than mine. Nice job.

Barry has the scoop on how awful it is.

His site is bloggered, head down to Walking in Darkness, Looking for the Light.

Denver has confiscatory breed specific legislation:

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to own, possess, keep, exercise control over, maintain, harbor, transport, or sell within the city any pit bull.

(b) Definitions.

(1) An “owner,” for purposes of this chapter, is defined as any person who owns, possesses, keeps, exercises control over, maintains, harbors, transports or sells an animal.

(2) A “pit bull,” for purposes of this chapter, is defined as any dog that is an American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, or any dog displaying the majority of physical traits of any one (1) or more of the above breeds, or any dog exhibiting those distinguishing characteristics which substantially conform to the standards established by the American Kennel Club or United Kennel Club for any of the above breeds. The A.K.C. and U.K.C. standards for the above breeds are on file in the office of the clerk and recorder, ex officio clerk of the City and County of Denver, at City Clerk Filing No. 89457.

Howard Margolius has had his dog taken and has subsequently relocated her:

Animal control took my dog away simply because of her looks and kept her in a cell for 4 days.

Cyan is sweet and loving and would only LICK you to death!

I have moved her out of the city otherwise they would of KILLED her! AND I cannot have my dog unless I too move.

Im looking to move only a few miles away where she is legal…yes only a few miles away.

And Cyan is a cutie!

Howard is advocating a petition against BSL in Denver.

I’ve addressed the problems with BSL before.

Go sign the petition and Howard, I wish you the best of luck!

Chris does some digging regarding my post on Democrats being the party of the rich. He compares presidential contributions greater than $200 and greater than $2,000. He rightly points out that the article has issues. But comparing contributions of $2,000 doesn’t indicate fat cats, unless his definition of a fat cat is different than mine.

So, via OpenSecrets, I compared the parties with Republican data and Democrat data as follows:

The top 20 contributors show that high dollar donors give $44,674,795 more to the Democrats. It takes the top five Republican donors to exceed the Democrat’s number one donor. It’s also ironic that the DNC makes the Democrat top 20 but the RNC doesn’t make the Republican top 20.

So, as I said before, they’re both the party of the rich. The Democrats are just the party of the richest.

Justin addresses the question of Hey Justin, where you be? What did you think about the “Total Recall” and Arnold?

His answer:

I will probably quit blogging about anything political per se because everyone has a fucking opinion and no amount of blogging will change it no matter what side of the fence they sit on politically.

Also, I’ve noticed a lot of bloggers that I regularly read slacking off in the frequency of their posts. Additionally, most blog readers are, well, other bloggers. I guess blogging is slowly losing its coolness.

Never fear gentle reader, your humble host here blogs to entertain himself. I still find it entertaining and will continue to do so.

Tom asked me to provide a link after my assertion that Democrats receive more large contributions from wealthy folks. Here goes:

A new study by the Center for Responsive Politics found that in the last election cycle, people who gave less than $200 to politicians or parties gave 64 percent of their money to Republicans. Just 35 percent went to Democrats. On the other hand, the Center found that people who gave $1 million or more gave 92 percent to Democrats — and a whopping eight percent to Republicans.

A link to gun ethics is posted at the Carnival.

Newsday:

For farmers in Uganda, AK-47 assault rifles are used instead of spears. In Somalia, weapons are so common that some children are named “Uzi” or “AK.” In countries such as Iraq, there is more than one gun per person.

These findings were included in a report released Thursday by Amnesty International, Oxfam and another group as they launched a campaign in more than 50 countries aimed at controlling what they call a dangerously unregulated global arms trade that routinely allows weapons to reach repressive governments, human rights abusers and criminals.

The report said the possession of increasingly lethal weapons is becoming an integral part of daily life in many parts of the world. It also said that the U.S.-led war on terror, launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, has “fueled weapons proliferation rather than focusing political will on controlling arms.”

But here’s the scary part:

The “Control Arms” campaign — launched by the three groups at news conferences around the world Thursday — focuses on promoting a new international treaty covering arms transfers, as well as a number of regional and local measures designed to limit arms proliferation and misuse.

The groups began a petition drive aimed at gathering 1 million signatures supporting their draft international Arms Trade Treaty, which they hope to have adopted by the United Nations and its member countries by 2006.

Via Glenn, comes news of black leaders being angry over Ghettopoly:

Cheap Trick Avenue instead of Boardwalk? Hernando’s Chop Shop instead of Reading Railroad?

Black leaders are outraged over a new board game called “Ghettopoly” that has “playas” acting like pimps and game cards reading, “You got yo whole neighborhood addicted to crack. Collect $50.”

This I found funny too:

Shine displayed the game board, with properties including Westside Liquor, Harlem, The Bronx, and Long Beach City, and squares labeled Smitty’s XXX Peep Show, Weinstein’s Gold and Platinum, and Tyron’s Gun Shop.

I’m sure the black leaders are upset at the non-black stereotypes listed above too.

Insty says he should link me more often. I agree. How ’bout it?

Oh, he just did. That guy, always one step ahead.

Seriously, I appreciate any links to me. And thanks to those who do.

Somehow, I left off Feces Flinging Monkey from my last blogroll update. Added and you should be reading.

My wife and I attend a Presbyterian church. I’m not particularly Presbyterian but at least they leave out all that gay bashing and drinking is evil nonsense that pollutes some local Baptist churches, which is why I like them. It turns out that the Presbyterian Church USA supports renewal of the Assault Weapons Ban.

I imagine my tithing will cease immediately and I’ll likely be converting. The wife is going to be a bit angry when I explain this one to her.

My soul or my principles? Blah, without principles, you have no soul.

Update: I was wrong.

I saw this at Lean Left and dismissed it as spoilsport, sore loser nonsense. Then I saw it at Jay and Jane’s and decided I’d comment. Here’s the quote:

So what’s next? The California recall is just the latest in a lengthening string of naked power grabs that reveal the cankered soul at the top of the Republican party these days. Even leaving aside Florida 2000, we’ve seen unprecedented mid-decade redistrictings in both Colorado and Texas; campaigns that compare Democrats directly to Osama bin Laden; an indecent and truly morally bereft performance following Paul Wellstone’s death; the end of the traditional blue slip rule for judicial nominees in the Senate — because control of both houses of Congress and the White House and most of the judiciary isn’t enough for them; and the Valerie Plame affair, a scandal that, I think, is truly an “At long last sir, have you no decency?” moment.

Politics is dirty pool. All the way around. Seems he’s just upset the Democrat dirty pool of various sex scandals didn’t work. Hell, we had 8 years of Clinton to get the American public apathetic towards sex scandals. After all, that’s what the Dem party line was for 8 years: It’s just a blowjob. Regardless of the fact that Clinton’s sex life was also about lying, perjury, sexual harassment, groping, and Clinton paying Jones $850K to go the Hell away. Democrats got their wish and sex scandals aren’t a big issue in politics and it’s bitten them square in the ass. Beautiful.

Republicans are the party of the rich? Yeah, I see all those poor, starving Democrat politicians scraping to get by. Democrats get most of their funding from large dollar value donors whereas Republicans get their money from many middle class voters and the wealthy. They’re both the party of the wealthy. So can we all please acknowledge that and drop the class warfare nonsense?

If the roles were reversed, I think Democrats would be saying nanny nanny boo boo. As it stands, they’re hearing nanny nanny boo boo and, after last November, it has a loud, dull ringing to it.

Eric addresses some issues with the recall. Particularly insightful is this:

Arnold Schwarzenegger was a fluke — for the simple reason that he was able to successfully bypass the tyrannical, yes evil, primary system. He could never have survived the primaries to become the Republican candidate — precisely because he is in touch with reality, and in touch with the thinking of the majority of Californians.

The KNS reports:

Knoxville Police Chief Phil Keith said Wednesday the number of drive-by shootings has significantly decreased over the last eight years, and so has gun violence.

The chief said concerned citizens who called in to tell officers where the criminals were made the difference.

“I wish I could say my officers had a lot to do with it,” Keith said Wednesday. “The community had the most to do with it. They said enough was enough.”

Also, in 1996, Tennessee became a shall issue carry permit state. I think maybe this coupled with the 40 year low murder rate may indicate a pattern.

The Michigan State University Olin Health Center has this wonderful diagram instructing folks how to put condoms on . . . with their mouths.

Via Pat Gang.

Some newbies to the blogroll (you should be reading them too):

Rocket Jones
Classical Values
Indigo Insights
Robert Prather
Gut Rumbles

And by newbies, I don’t mean new to blogging just new to me.

Arnold, if you ever need advice on the state of California or want to grope another girl, call me.

-Porn star and California Gubernatorial candidate Mary Carey

From WBIR:

A judge dismissed charges against three people accused in the largest crack cocaine seizure in Hawkins County because an official arrived with the search warrant after investigators had entered a defendants’ house.

Sessions Court Judge David Brand ruled evidence in the search was illegal because of the delay.

The defendants — all from Michigan — were released from the Hawkins County Jail.

I’d like to see a counter suit against the police now. Sure, these drug dealers aren’t model citizens but the authorities should know (and act) better.

The Sierra Times writes:

Up until Sept. 26, Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale was the primary official catching all the heat about parking passes for the city-county parking garage.

All public parking for the garage, located under the city-county building in Knoxville, TN, was suspended because of so-called “terrorist” threats.

The city, citing concern with elevated security threats, limited the city-county parking access to select city-county employees.

After threat levels were dropped, the city-county refused to reopen the parking garage to the public.

The official reasons for the closed parking blew higher than a terrorist bomb on Sept. 26. That’s the day Knox County Sheriff Tim Hutchinson became the bad guy in the parking hot-seat.

The sex scandal aside, do they really think that Al Qaeda is going to target the City-County Building?

The sex scandal, however, does illustrate Sheriff Tim’s continued scandalous behavior.

Gallup says that 45% still think the media is too liberal.

Though it seems sad on the surface that it takes an action movie star to get a high voter turnout in the California recall, there could be one good result. I assume that Arnold has a fan base (movie fans, bodybuilding fans) that voted for him. The effect could be that people who have never really paid attention to politics or voted may now start paying attention and voting because one of their idols is now involved.

Anything that gets more people involved in America’s abysmal political scene can’t be all that bad.

Via the Comedian, comes this. MoveOn turned its sheeple loose on Bob McManus by having the same sheeple call him constantly and harass him. MacManus responds with:

Well, that cuts two ways.

“This is Noah Weiner of MoveOn.org,” he said – in a smug have you had enough yet? tone – into voicemail late Thursday. “Please give me a call at (718)832-6459 . . . ”

Get calling.

Jeff has the weekly check on the bias. It deals largely with the big story about the CDC’s heart being broken. The CDC said the study that indicates gun control doesn’t affect crime is inconclusive (i.e., give us more federal funds to study) which has to break their heart.

Mike has gotten to the bottom of the whole Hillary running for president thing that’s been running about.

Barry details some people who are actually using capitalism to motivate French Connection United Kingdom. Good for them. The local folks are still morons.

A public school library carries all kinds of magazines. Your child will be exposed to this stuff there or other places (TV, the web, the fat pimply kid in their class who has been held back three grades). Your best strategy is to deal with it by talking to your child about that stuff. Actually, this stuff is mild compared to what kids already know. I was dropping F-bombs at about the age of eight. Your kids are too, just not in front of you.

Accosting a library doesn’t help the kids. Are they going to go to the grocery stores and whine about all the bikini magazines? Where does it end? Deal with it by communicating to your children.

Barry is right that some people get it and some don’t. I just think our local gaggle of soccer moms doesn’t get it. And Barry, i didn’t say get over it, I said deal with it.

Sad news.

It apparently wasn’t even close. Governor Ahnold has some work to do.

After my first Google and Guns post, Les posts a letter he received from google. Google adwords suspended his account because he blogs about guns. Abysmal.

Yesterday, I emailed NZ Bear to let him know that the Ecosystem is counting links from the Shooters’ Carnival to SayUncle multiple times. The Ecosystem shows me as a Large Mammal. I’d love to be a Mammal but when you subtract the Carnival links, I only get 94 links. That would actually classify me as a Marauding Marsupial.

I also asked him what I should do about it.

The cover up, dirty laundry, and [insert Watergate pun here] is kind of made up:

President Bush demanded his staff meet a Tuesday deadline to turn over documents for the Justice Department’s investigation into who leaked the identity of an undercover CIA officer.

He said he hoped the probe would send a clear message to administration officials that other leaks must stop.

“I’d like to know who leaked,” Bush said on Monday after meeting with the president of Kenya.

“I have told my staff, I want full cooperation with the Justice Department. And when they ask for information, we expect the information to be delivered on a timely basis. I expect it to be delivered on a timely basis,” he added.

The demand came as about 2,000 White House employees scrambled to meet Tuesday’s 5 p.m. deadline to hand-deliver documents for the department’s investigation into who disclosed the identity of a CIA officer whose husband had challenged Bush’s claims about Iraq’s weapons threat.

So, it’s unreasonable to have your lawyers peruse documents that you’re turning over to law enforcement authorities? I think not.

Via AlphaPatriot. Good thing it doesn’t involve a game of grab-ass or oral sex.

Feces Flinging Monkey points out a deceptive little chart regarding crime rates and race. Go read.

Somehow, I missed it. Just kidding. I don’t care about the results but that won’t stop me from predicting Ahnold victorious, Republican In Name Only.

Per this:

A federally licensed firearms dealer in Connecticut is upset the Google search engine will accept ads for pornographic websites that illegally show their materials to underage children but will not accept ads from licensed gun dealers selling a legal product to adults. A spokesman for Google said Monday that the policy is “part of our terms and conditions.”

Some Knox County folks with no sense of humor are upset about ads for French Connection United Kingdom:

A group of Tennessee parents are livid about a teen magazine ad for a company known for its provocative acronym, FCUK.

Clothing store company French Connection United Kingdom ran an ad for one of its perfumes in Seventeen magazine, which is available at several Knox County public school libraries in Knoxville, Tenn.

Some parents were so outraged that they complained to school officials, prompting at least a dozen schools to review all their magazine subscriptions.

Hate to break this to you guys, but kids are exposed to stuff at every turn (cable, billboards, the internet) so it is up to you parental types to deal with it. I understand most of you can’t deal with that and have to blame magazines, libraries, and crappy perfume. Take care of your own mess.

Buck has an update regarding the Caucasian only club. Choice quote:

A teacher told her in front of the class that he’d rather see her “drugged out and pregnant” than on the news talking about her club.

When it’s about white folk, it must be racism.

AlphaPatriot asks: Where’s the media outrage?

Insty observes: Funny that this gets so little attention. Also, what the hell is going on in Iraq? You’d never know watching the news.

Hobbs asks: Subpoena the Reporters?

And Bubba asks: The KNS also reminds us that “Haslam had the support of most of the movers and shakers in the community, both Democrat and Republican.” No kidding. Wonder why they weren’t talking about that last week?

Jeff has been pondering the state of his blog.

I recommend he continue to blog and only use one website. That way people get more exposure to his non-gun stuff and he increases his readership. I don’t understand multiple blogs, unless one is a specialty blog.

And while you’re at Alphecca, read this, about the fact the murder rate has dropped to a 40 year low which coincides with the fact that states have recently began passing concealed carry laws.

Kevin at the Smallest Minority has a good post debunking Maryland’s attempt at an assault weapons ban. His page is bloggered so scroll down to More Propaganda.

Also, scroll down to Here’s an Interesting Quote from a Law Enforcement Officer and you will see:

“Very few of these weapons have hunting applications,” said Rockton police officer Ron Dippel, eyeing an Air-15, similar to the military’s M-16 assault rifle. “Home defense. That’s the only reason for having weapons like that.”

Wow! A cop said that? About a bullet hose?

From the WaPo:

Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-R.I.) scolded Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean for his friendly relations with the National Rifle Association during a Capitol Hill rally last week to drum up support for renewal — and strengthening — of the federal ban on assault weapons.

While other speakers stuck to the subject of assault weapons, Kennedy assailed Dean, saying he was “saddened” that one of his party’s leading presidential candidates is “pro-NRA.” He suggested that Dean has “compromised his principles” as a physician by opposing stronger federal gun controls.

Dean has stated he supports the AW ban, he is therefore not pro-gun enough. Heck, I’d vote for Dean if he opposed the ban. Dean, a Vermont Democrat, is understandably pro-gun. That or maybe he learned the lesson from the 1994 ban in which many Democrats were not re-elected as a result of voting for the ban.

Yahoo news:

Up to a dozen flights were delayed and a concourse was sealed off Saturday when an FBI agent reported his weapon and credentials missing. They were found 30 minutes later in a restaurant where he had eaten.

The agent, whose name was not released, apparently lost track of his bag when he left the restaurant to make a phone call, Transportation Security Administration spokesman Mike Fierberg said.

I have a carry permit and carry a weapon all the time. I always know where it is and I always know that it is secured. And I’ve never had any sophisticated FBI training.

Publicola has been busy. Two new entries at the Carnival. The Economics of Handloading and The Proper Use of the Rifle Sling.

Some folks like the color. I tried two columns but it looked funny. I made the fonts more similar and added some horizontal bars. Take that!

I am about to engage in a site re-design. I’m thinking two columns instead of three. Dunno about the color scheme yet. Any suggestions or ideas?

Kay’s report (the horse’s mouth here) has all kinds of interesting finds. Read it. Bill Hobbs and Alex Knapp are all over it.

Proof my wife abuses our dogs.

Guy Montag has the low down on Rush and drugs. Choice quote:

Amazing! Somehow, a high profile subject of a drug investigation is being alerted through the National Enquirer that he is the subject of an investigation!

While on the subject of scandals, Clayton Cramer calls hypocrites, well, hypocrites.

Hi other foot, my name is shoe.

The Ninth Circuit gets one right:

A federal appeals court on Thursday declared unconstitutional a 2000 law that requires federal prisoners or those on supervised release to give blood samples for the FBI’s DNA databank.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the first federal appeals court to address the federal DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act, said requiring convicts to give blood for a criminal database is a violation of their Fourth Amendment rights against illegal searches.

Ruling 2-1, the San Francisco-based court said it was an unlawful invasion of privacy because the samples were taken without legal suspicion that the convicts were involved in other crimes.

This does, however, bring up an issue I’ve been pondering lately:

When someone is convicted of certain crimes, we revoke their right to vote and keep and bear arms. People seem to be OK with that. Can we then revoke privacy rights, speech rights, peacable assembly rights, etc.?

Thoughts? Opinions? I’m stumped.

Missouri Governor Holden vetoed the conceal carry bill last year and has fought the concealed carry bill tooth and nail. Because of this, Anheuser-Busch is no longer backing and funding him.

Per this:

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Thursday staged a protest outside a KFC restaurant in Washington, D.C., alleging that the company mistreats chickens, . . .

You mean by killing them? Hard to eat live ones, ya know. They squirm

. . . but was met with resistance from local residents who shouted at the animal rights activists to “go home.”

Good.

Per the Associated Press:

A sweeping federal review of the nation’s gun control laws — including mandatory waiting periods and bans on certain weapons — found no proof such measures reduce firearm violence.

The review, released Thursday, was conducted by a task force of scientists appointed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC said the report suggests more study is needed, not that gun laws don’t work. But the agency said it has no plans to spend more money on firearms study.

The RTB welcomes StraightWhiteGuy and Rexblog into its ranks. Welcome fellas!

Does anyone know where Bjorn went?

Per this:

Kuwaiti security authorities have foiled an attempt to smuggle $60 million worth of chemical weapons and biological warheads from Iraq to an unnamed European country, a Kuwaiti newspaper said on Wednesday.
The pro-Government Al-Siyassah, quoting an unnamed security source, said the suspects had been watched by security since they arrived in Kuwait and were arrested “in due time.” It did not say when or how the smugglers entered Kuwait or when they were arrested.

The paper said the smugglers might have had accomplices inside Kuwait. It said Interior Minister Sheik Nawwaf Al Ahmed Al Sabah would hand over the smuggled weapons to an FBI agent at a news conference, but did not say when.

What I really want to know is: Which unnamed European country?

Oh, and Lil’ Kim is making A-Bombs.

Rush Limbaugh made a comment critical of the media. However, the story you hear is that he made a racist comment, which isn’t the case. He quit his job over it. It seems too many lefties are happy that he’s gone even though he’s gone for the wrong reasons. Mountains out of molehills.

I am not a fan of Limbaugh and don’t listen to his show because his politics are entirely party line nonsense. It’s kind of pathetic that some are celebrating this as a victory. It’s only a victory if you think getting an ideologue off the air is good. It’s not a victory for race relations or football. And Rush was not being a racist. He was criticizing the media.

Dog owners were having their insurance cancelled based on the breed of dog they had. Apparently, this is illegal in Michigan, so the insurance commissioner sent a nasty message.

Brian has the latest edition. Give it a read.

Oh one more thing, Bubba is back.

Looks like New Hampshire was chosen for the Free State Project so Jeff doesn’t have to worry about his property values.

Folks voted for the state but it’ll be curious to see how many people actually move to New Hampshire. I think not near as many as projected.

Via LeanLeft, Michael Moore has posted to his site a rebuttal of the claims of his critics who have said that Moore lied and misrepresented facts (which I have done too). The entire first half of the rebuttal is useless rhetoric in which he attacks his critics as wound up in their anger and hatred, not nice people and they don’t play nice, pre-adolescent, Orwellian, and gun nuts. The first half is also filled with the strategy of attacking the attacker. Pot calling kettle, come in, over. Yes, there are some angry pro gun guys who tend to give other reasonable pro gun guys a bad name. But the same is true for the anti gun crowd. The difference is the level of acceptance. Reasonable pro gun guys try to disassociate themselves from the militia types, the lunatic fringe, and the skinheads. However, among the anti gun zealots, they welcome into the fold the fanatical lies of anyone who supports their claim.

The relevant portions of the post include Moore attempting to address the criticisms of those who have pointed out his factual errors, lies, and selective editing.

Says Moore:

So, how crazy are the things they’ve said about “Bowling for Columbine?” Here are my favorites:

“That scene where you got the gun in the bank was staged!”

No critique I’ve read said it was staged. What the critics say is that The audience never sees the process whereby the bank requires Moore to produce photo identification, then contacts the FBI for a criminal records check on Moore, before he is allowed to take possession of the rifle. Moments later, Moore is handed his new rifle in the North Country Bank & Trust lobby, at which point he asks another unnamed bank employee, “Do you think it’s a little dangerous handing out guns in a bank?”.

Moore has changed the argument of his critics to something he can refute. He also admits to having been background checked. No legitimate critique said the scene was staged with actors. He has proven his critics to be correct.

Moore then states:

Here’s another whopper I’ve had to listen to from the pro-gun groups:

“The Lockheed factory in Littleton, Colorado, has nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction!”

This is not true. The assertion made is that currently and at the time of the shooting Lockheed was not manufacturing the weapons.

Moore then states:

As for what’s currently manufactured in Littleton, McCollum told me, “They (the rockets sitting behind him) carry mainly very large national security satellites, some we can’t talk about.”

Since that interview, the Titan IV rockets manufactured in Littleton have been critical to the war effort in both Afghanistan and Iraq. These rockets launched advanced satellites that were “instrumental in providing command-and-control operations over Iraq…for the rapid targeting of Navy Tomahawk cruise missiles involved in Iraqi strikes and clandestine communications with Special Operations Forces.”

In the past, Moore stated: [T]he Lockheed rockets now take satellites into outer space. Some of them are weather satellites, some are telecommunications satellites, and some are top secret Pentagon projects (like the ones that are launched as spy satellites and others which are used to direct the launching of the nuclear missiles should the USA ever decide to use them).

In addition to having backpedaled twice, he never addresses the assertion about the timing of the production of weapons. He has proven his critics to be correct.

Moore then addresses the critics of the Heston speech as follows:

The oddest of all the smears thrown at “Bowling for Columbine” is this one:

“The film depicts NRA president Charlton Heston giving a speech near Columbine; he actually gave it a year later and 900 miles away. The speech he did give is edited to make conciliatory statements sound like rudeness.”

Um, yeah, that’s right! I made it up! Heston never went there! He never said those things!

He has again changed the argument of his critics. The critique is that Heston’s speech in which he raises the rifle and states from my cold dead hands is shown just before Moore’s voice states that 10 days after the shooting the NRA had a convention in Denver.

Moore does state: As for the clip preceding the Denver speech . . . but the movie doesn’t distinguish that the speeches were separate. Definitely selective editing intent to deceive. He has proven his critics to be correct.

He then addresses the crime statistics and actually makes his point. His critics said his stats didn’t agree with the FBI stats for the US but his critics have conceded they agree to CDC statistics as follows:

Then — to their gun homicide figures, add the figure for legally-justified homicides: self-defense and police use against criminals. Presto, you have exactly Moore’s 11,127.

So, add justified homicides to homicides and you get homicides? The criticism of Moore also challenges the homicide rates of other countries, here is a good summary.

And he addresses whether the kids went bowling or not, which is irrelevant to me.

In closing, my favorite quote from this Moore piece is:

Of course, it’s a silly discussion, and it misses the whole, larger point: that blaming bowling for their killing spree would be as dumb as blaming Marilyn Manson.

Blaming the gun lobby is equally silly. In the film, Moore rightfully attacks the people that blame video games, music, Marilyn Manson, and even Satan. Yet, he attacks the gun lobby who is as much at fault as Marilyn Manson, Lockheed Martin, or the Easter Bunny.

Moore has been accused of selectively editing his film to make his points. Now he has selectively edited his critics’ assertions in the same fashion.

There are dozens of other critiques of the film at Bowling For Truth, address them all Mr. Moore without changing the arguments.

Jeff has the weekly gun bias chart up.