For Kevin:

Of course, the obvious is that current Senator Robert Byrd was a Kleagle in the KKK. Not just a member, he was management.

Dick Gephardt sought endorsement from white rights groups.

Chicago Alderman Dorothy Tillman, formerly of Pensacola, said the law will “lead to open war on black males.”

And the opening salvo of this speaks for itself.

See how easy that is? 10 whole minutes of Googling. Yet, it doesn’t prove that there’s any sort of institutionalized racism in the Democrat party just that there are instances of it.

The House voted to restrict provisions of the PATRIOT Act:

Advocates of rewriting the USA Patriot Act are claiming momentum after the House, despite a White House veto threat, voted to restrict investigators from using the anti-terrorism law to peek at library records and bookstore sales slips.

Good.

Obvious:

The public’s image of the Supreme Court has eroded over the past few years, with just over half of those in a new poll saying they have a favorable view of the high court.

Well, let’s see. In the recent past, the SCOTUS has:

Killed the federalism and states’ rights (states’ rights is a racist codeword by the way, and that makes me a racist), while kissing the commerce clause good-bye.

Continued killing the fourth amendment. Just repeal it already.

Ignored guns by refusing to hear a variety of cases. Yet, finds the time to tell the ninth that it needs to take a pro-gun ruling back.

Its refusal to address those being detained who were not charged with crimes.

Killing the first amendment in the name of campaign finance reform.

The Supreme Court, often thought to be the last hope, merely shills for the powers that be.

Update: Yeah, killed the commerce clause was not appropriate. Corrected.

Kevin is hosting a debate with a supposed gun control moderate. Go here and scroll.

There’s a push in Columbus to ban weapons that look like assault weapons. This bit is particularly scary:

The proposal is geared toward taking high-powered, semiautomatic assault weapons off the streets. Anyone who bought the firearms before the ban took effect would have 90 days to register them.

Why on earth would they need to be registered? And here’s their criteria for a weapon that looks like an assault weapon:

The new Columbus proposal defines an assault weapon as a semiautomatic rifle with a detachable magazine with any of these five components: a protruding pistol grip, a grip for the nonshooting hand, a thumbhole stock, a shroud covering a hot barrel and a muzzle brake to reduce recoil.

That may be the stupidest definition I’ve seen. The NRA convention for 2007 is in Columbus. They’re threatening to pull out.

A good idea: In Frisco, the local Humane Society is paying people $10 to bring their Pit Bulls in to be neutered.

Meanwhile, Xrlq notes another pit bull attack and wagers:

Once again, watch for ample coverage of the fact that the pit bull was a pit bull, and relatively sparse coverage of the fact that the dog had a history of aggressive behavior, and sparser coverage still over whether or not he was neutered (the smart money says he wasn’t).

And, I’ll add, the smart money says the dog wasn’t socialized properly.

Update: Xrlq was correct.

USA Today on blogs (particularly blogs getting people fired):

Blogs are proliferating as fast as a computer virus

The Buffalo News is continuing its all-anti-gun-all-the-time nonsense. LOU MICHEL, SUSAN SCHULMAN and DAN HERBECK misleadingly write:

…the NRA in recent years has succeeded in getting the nation’s assault weapons ban repealed…

The ban was not repealed. It contained a sunset provision to expire on its own after ten years. Additionally, the NRA wasn’t particularly active in its sunset. But, I’m pretty sure they knew the fix was in.

This is a reminder that the contest for designing some line art for my gun projects is still on. Submit your ideas!

I commented that the senate measure to apologize for the Democrats filibustering laws to make lynching a federal crime 100 or so years ago was nothing but a Dog and Pony show (none of the current congress monkeys were around then and this measure will bring no one back). And I stand by that. It’s a pointless resolution designed to garner some publicity. Though it passed unanimously, my understanding is that only six senators were present and there was a voice vote.

Now, the partisans with Ds after their names are equating non-sponsorship of the measure as racist. They are even stating that if you didn’t sponsor this bill, then you are pro-lynching. That is probably the stupidest thing I have ever heard. I share the Commissar’s position. This is nothing more than hateful propaganda. It is vile and disgusting. Now, I expect hacks like Kos and Atrios to engage in such vile, hateful rhetoric. Since they don’t have a branch of government, rhetoric’s all they got. However, when people whose opinions I typically respect play into the asinine propaganda that non-sponsorship equals pro-lynching, it makes me sad.

Thoughts of an Average Woman maintains a list of bigots and attempts to chide Alexander into supporting it. While I support efforts to get senators to act on the will of the people, calling him a bigot is shameful and despicable. Meanwhile, Lamar responds:

There is no resolution of apology that we can pass today (Monday) that will teach one more child to read, prevent one more case of AIDS or stop one more violent crime

I also tend to share La Shawn Barber’s view:

In light of the serious problems we face in the world and our own country, I think this apology is one of the dumbest, emptiest, most politically correct pile of rubbish I’ve heard about in a long time.

We’ve got fanatics trying to kill us all in the name of their god and hiding among us. We’re being taxed to death taking care of deadbeats and criminals, while President Bush is sending even more of our money to brutal dictators in Africa. And the Senate apologizes for failing to pass anti-lynching laws 100 years ago?

Kevin pushes the lynch mob meme too by listing them. He also points out the original sponsor was trying to get away from his racially insensitive past.

If the senate wants to apologize for this crap, that’s what press releases are for. Or each individual senator can go on TeeVee and make an announcement. Trotting out the dogs and ponies is a waste of time.

Update: And I should point out that the senate leader killing a roll call vote is equally asinine. Senators should place their names on what they vote for. Accountability is such a novel idea in government.

Online pics translated.

Brutal Hugs tells us about Gay Camp:

Apparently gay camp is more like fat camp. In fat camp, kids are shamed into eating less. In gay camp, they’re shamed into eating less cock. It’s where you send your kids to have the queer beaten out of them.

Here’s one of the Gay Camp kid’s blogs.

Also, the Republic of T rounds up the issue.

On this whole gay camp thing, at first I thought it was sad but found it to be mildly humorous that parents think this gay thing can be treated like obesity (note to my gay readers: this week, is being a gay a lifestyle choice or biological? I always forget). Anyway, I don’t think you can scare the faggotiness out of gays and why you would try to, I don’t know. The kids are confused enough at that age anyway without going to a manly, man re-education center (do they spend their days chugging beers, watching football and hitting women? Or participate in activities aimed at strengthening wrists?). Try, say, talking to your kids. If the kid has no problem with being a homo, then the problem is with you, I would think.

Then again, I do often meet people who claim that they like gay people and have no problem with them. However, if they found out their kid was gay, they’d probably throw a full-fledge manly, man hissy-fit. And there’s also the people who have no problem with gays other than the fact that gay people give them the willies. And, of course, there are raging homophobes who think the gay mafia is trying to turn all their kids into pillow-biters.

You’re not going to scare the gay out of your kids. Either man-up and talk to your kids about it or shut up.

Update: Just realized this is occurring in Tennessee. Another embarassment for the state.

Jeff has the latest. Apparently, the Buffalo news continues to be all anti-gun, all the time. The slammed gun traffickers and a guy who makes inexpensive guns (remember, there will always be a cheapest gun).

There latest is on the supposed gun show loophole. Guys, the unlicensed, private seller is just a regular Joe engaging in lawful commerce.

The California DOJ, after giving approval [you mean they have to give approval? stupid nanny-statists! - ed.], have now demanded the recall of an assault weapon. This assault weapon is the dreaded Walther P22. It is a 22 long rifle target pistol. The reason is because the barrel has threads on it and someone may put a (gasp!) flash suppressor on it.

I seem to have lost my dog and pony. See, they do this little show. Can you help me find them?

Nevermind, there they are.

The local Board of Education has banned the Confederate flag at events:

The Rebel flag will no longer be allowed at any Maryville school system events.

The Maryville Board of Education voted on first reading to ban flags, noisemakers, sirens, whistles, laser-pointers and hand-held signs Monday night during its monthly meeting.

“This would prohibit bringing in any kind of flags,” Director of Schools Mike Dalton said.

The exemption to this policy will be equipment, approved by the principal and Dalton, used by groups such as cheerleaders and the flag team.

The no-flag policy eliminates the use of a symbol long associated with the school system but one that has caused growing concern over the years.

The local high school is known as The Rebels. I wonder if they’ll change the name. This comes in light of recent race related crimes in our area, some of which occurred at schools. This policy seems a bit overreaching though:

The event safety policy also prohibits any action “associated with oppression, hate, or anything else that may cause other students, parents, visitors, constituents, school district employees, spectators, or any other individuals to feel uncomfortable based on race, color, creed, gender, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, religious belief/non-belief… This includes verbal, non-verbal, and physical acts.”

Bubba’s back from wandering the earth.

Heartless Libertarian predicted this a week ago. Since the Supreme Court has stated in Raich that there are no states’ rights and the commerce clause is a big, fat wet blanket capable of covering every aspect of every thing ever to exist, they have now remanded the Stewart case (where the guy made homemade machine guns that were not involved in commerce and the Ninth Circuit said that was OK) back to the Circuit. TriggerFinger has some analysis and, with respect to hearing Stewart on Second Amendment grounds, notes:

A pure 2nd Amendment challenge is unlikely to succeed in the 9th Circuit.

David Hardy is extensively covering the issue as well:

There are similarities and distinctions between the two cases. On the one hand, given that the medicinal pot case says you must consider the entire of the economic activity and not just the defendant’s actions, or what was legal activity, it undercuts the original Stewart rationale. It’d be a safe bet that there is enough illegal commerce in full auto to pass any likely commerce test.

And a note to David Hardy, there have been two crimes (excluding violations of the NFA) that I know of committed with NFA registered machine guns. In 1988, a police officer in Ohio killed an informant with a registered submachine gun. Note this was after the 1986 Hughes amendment to ban transfer of new machine guns to civilians. And the other case occurred in 1992 when a doctor used one to kill another female doctor he had been stalking (again, after the 1986 ban on real assault weapons).

Matt has more.

Update: Kevin says:

It’s pretty obvious that the Supreme Court just told the 9th Circuit, “No homemade machineguns. To hell with limited powers.”

Ayup.

Via Jed comes the legal guide for bloggers.

Robert has finished up his nice looking AK-74 (henceforth, referred to as the dyslexic AK). Nice looking gun.

Me and a buddy are about to embark on the AK building project. By my calculations, it goes like this:

Parts Kit (which includes compliance parts): $125 (IMPORTANT UPDATE: Robert points out in comments that you still need to add two more US made parts to be 922 compliant. He recommends gas piston, pistol grip, or muzzle brake. The kit below does have more compliance parts.)

Receiver Flat: $13.

Grand total of $138. Or we could get the evil black variety with folding stocks and other goodies that scare people for $75 more.

Maryland, where crime is rising, will be the first state to implement the federal law that lets off-duty and retired cops carry guns. And then the gun control nuts show up:

Leah Barrett, executive director of the gun-control group CeaseFire Maryland Inc., said allowing officers to carry a gun anywhere at any time is “essentially dangerous.”

“We have too many guns in this country and too many people carrying them,” she said. “Accidents happen.”

This guy chick actually violated the gun control mantra that cops should have guns. I find that odd. Meanwhile, we need some pool control. Those things are everywhere.

Cowboy Blob has updated his list of gun bloggers. I’m listed as:

RKBA/guns, politics, and property rights

I’ve also won some sort of award at Tennessee Bloggers. They write:

He’s all across the board, but spends a good deal of time writing about assault weapons.

I’m listed in the category of Best Pro/Anti-Something. Heh.

Via Volokh, Professor Bainbridge dismisses those who advocate armed self-defense as gun nuts. He later modifies it to the French (giggle) sounding fanciers, which will only enrage gun nuts further.

As a gun nut, I think the term gun nut is more appropriate. After all, AR15s can become quite habit forming. It’s a disease, I tell you.

Now normally in a movie I root for the good guys. It is the base nature of myself that I want good to win and evil to lose. Sometimes what is defined as evil is vague and hard to define.

An example is the movie “Wall Street” with Martin Sheen and Michael Douglas. Michael Douglas played the character of “Gordon Gekko”. Now I like the subtle usage of a cold blooded lizard as his last name. In it he gives a speech that I consider one of the best several lines in a movie ever spoken.

“The point is, ladies and gentlemen, greed–for the lack of a better word–is good. Greed is right; greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed in all its forms–greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge–has marked the upward surge of mankind, and greed–you mark my words– will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the U.S.A.”

Greed creates profit and direction, and yet today it is used as a four letter word by so many. Ones who are oblivious to the fact that they normally work for companies whose greed for profits keep them in a job with all of the benefits that come with it.

So after watching that movie I came to the conclusion that it was a simply sad attempt to attack something that works so well for this country, capitalism and the greed.

So when I was reading this post on The Free Liberal about the pirate like nature of Brazil and pharmaceutical drugs one thing jumped out at me and like so often today I ended up mad at our own government.

Brazil – endeavoring to become a socialist paradise under its current president, former union leader and avowed communist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva – provides a HillaryCare-type of system in which the government provides free HIV treatments to all its citizens. And socialized health care of that kind is, naturally, expensive.

So on June 1st, Brazil’s lower house approved a bill suspending patents on AIDS-fighting drugs. The bill’s sponsor declared, “Constitutional protection for patents is not absolute, but subordinate to social interests.” And a deputy for the Workers’ (of the World, Unite!) Party added, “Patents have to be suspended if they’re harming public health.” Both lines could easily have been lifted right off the pages of “Atlas Shrugged.”

So they have decided that international laws are in the way so to heck with them. If a company knows that whatever it makes will be stolen by other governments then why will it invest in it? It wouldn’t waste it’s time, and because of that greed people are alive.

Now piracy aside it is what our government did that bothers me so much.

Of course, like every good crook, the Brazilians have found a way to justify and rationalize their piracy. See, there’s a clause in the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement, which both Brazil and the U.S. have signed, commonly known as TRIPS. As Drug Industry Daily explains, TRIPS “allows a developing country to temporarily ignore drug patents to bring affordable drugs to its population in times of health emergencies.”

So what does it say in the TRIPS section of the WTO charter that allows that? I went and found this about the rights that a patent holder has and international eminent domain.

Article 31
Other Use Without Authorization of the Right Holder

Where the law of a Member allows for other use (7) of the subject matter of a patent without the authorization of the right holder, including use by the government or third parties authorized by the government, the following provisions shall be respected:
……
(b) such use may only be permitted if, prior to such use, the proposed user has made efforts to obtain authorization from the right holder on reasonable commercial terms and conditions and that such efforts have not been successful within a reasonable period of time.

Sounds like eminent domain. They will make some proposals, and if you do not like it they take it anyways. Our government has just opened the door for foreign countries to have eminent domain over our patents, our ideas. Mental theft using the power of the state.

So why should a company invest years and millions into something earth shaking when the WTO laws would allow other countries to “borrow” it if the social need exists? Greed is movement even if you do not like the word, legal theft by a government is a death sentence for everyone not saved by items not invented because of TRIPS

This will probably be the only thing I say about the Michael Jackson case (until the verdict, maybe). Nothing has happened for a week yet the news reports always come in stating Jury still deliberating or Jury resumes deliberations. Seriously, guys, we know that because that’s what they were telling us last week. We know the jury is deliberating. The only thing to tell us is the verdict.

This is pretty stupid:

If Nashville’s police union has its way, anyone who makes a formal complaint against a Metro police officer could face felony criminal charges if the department’s internal investigators clear the officer of wrongdoing.

Update: Turnabout being what it is, how about if an officer files charges later unfounded against a regular Joe, they get charged with a felony?

The Rep states that Bredesen’s campaign manager was busted for statutory rape of a 13 year-old boy.

Sharon Cobb (go there and scroll away) indicates that all the state’s TennCare troubles were a ruse designed to get the Governor re-elected:

A six month investigation into TennCare reform has unearthed some startling documents and disturbing revelations about Governor Bredesen and his administration’s plans to blame the Tennessee Justice Center for the TennCare cuts, then as part of their political strategy, reenroll some of those cut from TennCare in 2006—before the election.

And what he said. Bill Hobbs has a round up of reaction.

Phil, now would be a good time to fire up that blog of yours and maybe explain yourself.

Update: Ironic headline of the day:

Officials warn of scams related to TennCare cuts

Blogging may be light but here are some links that are related to make an overall point. TriggerFinger notes that in the 20th century, over 170,000,000 people were killed at the hands of their own government. In Zimbabwe and Darfur, genocide is happening right now. The problem in Zimbabwe has even prompted a Canadian to accept that there is a universal global human right to arms.

David Hardy notes an interesting read entitled Negroes with Guns:

When the Klan came shooting, it soon found that its targets shot back. A Klan cavalcade (sort of a mass drive-by shooting) came to shoot up the home of the vice-president of the chapter, and found a number of members in sandbagged positions with rifles. After a gunfight, the Klan abandoned that approach . . .

Also, in Oklahoma, a law has been passed stating that employees cannot be prohibited from keeping arms in their personal vehicles by their employers. I personally don’t understand why that would need to be a law. After all, my car is my property, rather like my home. TriggerFinger rounds up the issue. I concur that self-defense rights trump property rights. And Matt notes that at least one court agrees.

Err, there’s a point in there somewhere.

Head has what I would consider to be the final word on Wolf Ammo.

A good article on Pit Bull behavior:

Pit bull’s demeanor depends on who’s holding the leash
Training determines breed’s disposition, animal experts say

The bottom line, she said, is that dogs do what they are genetically designed to do.

“Pit bulls are great with people,” she said. “They’re bred to be aggressive with dogs and other animals.”

Where the situation breaks down is over-breeding and poor handling. Pit bulls tend to be the dog of choice for gang members and methamphetamine addicts, and they proliferate in poor areas, both urban and rural. It can be a lethal mix because, as such, they don’t get the proper care and attention from their owners and they suffer from too much inbreeding, Seraphin said.

Also, I caught a few episodes of that show The Dog Whisperer. People who have problem pets call this guy and he shows them how to deal with those issues. The guy is good. Most episodes I’ve seen show that the number one problem with doggie misbehavin’ is the result of lack of exercise. I highly recommend the show.

A lawmaker in Utah is setting up free concealed carry classes for legislators there. Ordinarily, this may qualify as a like you and me, only better situation except that:

Clearfield Republican Rep. Curtis Oda says the sessions are aimed at educating lawmakers and debunking gun-control advocates’ criticism of Utah’s gun laws.

SayUncle’s sis: We got a new dog.

SayUncle: Cool, what kind?

SayUncle’s sis: A Chow, Shitzu mix

SayUncle: They use a ladder or a lubricant?

I am remiss in mentioning that Brutal Hugs is back. It’s at a new URL and apparently only one person is posting, not that I could tell them apart in the first place (they all look the same, you know).

The Carnival of Cordite is up. Check it, yo.

Apparently, the detainees at Gitmo don’t know anything about real Koran abuse.

Update: And no, SayUncle does not endorse desecrating various cultures’ holy books. I do, however, appreciate some good gun porn.

Update 2: In light of some comments received and this post at BH, I feel obligated to point out that I think it is insensitive (hence the title of the post). However, I’m no more offended by it than I am, say, an episode of South Park.

Remember, I’m having a contest. So, enter if you can.

Since people commented that they expected me to talk about guns and eminent domain and guns (as though I’m a one maybe two-trick pony) here’s something different. Tennessee has a windfall of extra cash. Specifically, they have some “unexpected revenues” compared to budget. Of course, given how the budget of the state plays out, I have no assurances that expenses stayed in line. If revenue is up marginally but expenses are up significantly, there is no surplus.

The issue, as Stacey Campfield notes, is that the pigs are lining up at the trough to spend it. Campfield advocates returning the money to the people, a noble idea, but the state should set the cash aside for future shortfalls that it will no doubt have.

Bill Hobbs reports that spending these unexpected revenues is unconstitutional. The Tennessee Constitution says:

No public money shall be expended except pursuant to appropriations made by law.

The race to spend the money is asinine. Back when Tennessee received cash as part of tobacco settlements, the legislature blew it. They didn’t factor that this money would eventually run out. And it did. And we were in a fiscal crisis with calls for tax increases and income taxes. Some fiscal responsibility is in order here, folks. After all, you have TennCare to save and other existing operations to manage. Yet, they want to line this money up for new things?

And . . . ooh look, guns.

Note: This is the final repost of stuff I did while guest blogging at No Silence Here.

The question:

What is the newspaper loophole?

The answer:

Made up. It’s funny how a law that was never intended to do certain things has a loophole for not doing those certain things.

President Bush is pushing for the renewal of the PATRIOT Act. Whatever happened to the party of smaller government?

Seems most folks didn’t like it.

Is this better?

Update: anyone know why suddenly there’s a ton more space between a paragraph and blockquote? Update within the update: Nevermind.

Update: Still playing with it.

Les is getting spam comments in draft posts. Yesterday, I enabled trackbacks. About an hour after that, I was getting deluged in trackback spam.

Trackbacks are dead, again.

Blake looks at the Fords’ past troubles.

In Tennessee, a 60 year-old man recovering from cancer smoked marijuana to alleviate the pain and depression. He has since been arrested and had his money and cars seized and a lien placed on his house. All this without due process of law, which is blatantly unconstitutional. The fifth amendment states that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law. Why was the man’s property illegally seized? He failed to pay the drug tax, a topic I’ve covered at length.

The illegal drug tax is serving its purpose, which is confiscation of property without due process of law. When you’re arrested for dealing drugs, you’re delinquent in tax payments. And 75% of the tax goes to the law enforcement agency that made the bust. So, your property is taken to settle that delinquency.

What if, being a good citizen drug dealer, you decide to avoid possible property seizure by actually paying the taxes? Good luck, as it has been reported that the Department of Revenue won’t accept payments.

So much for due process of law and property rights.

Note: Another reprint from guest posting at No Silence Here.

Farnam:

I advise many students who indicate they want to buy a $5,000.00 pistol to, instead, buy a $500.00 pistol and $4,500.00 worth of ammunition and professional training. In the end, they’ll have a superior pistol, and they may even know how to use it for some practical purpose!

Ok, maybe not cruel. But it’s interesting:

Tennessee lawmakers recently passed a bill that would give judges the option of forcing offenders to do manual labor.

They would have to spend at least three days picking up trash from the highway while wearing a vest with the words “I’m a drunk driver” on it.

Humanoid robots look strange.

New look for the blockquotes:

So, what do you think?

Yay or nay?

More specifically, the color.

Despite the fact such regulation is illegal, SF authorities, who have a history of acting outside the law, will be discussing the regulation of dangerous dogs.

Caught a TiVoed The Daily Show yesterday. They were doing this section on Iraq when they cut to some video coverage of the troops. They showed a US infantryman who was carrying an AK-47 and not the military issued M16. They then cut to another guy descending some stairs and he had an AK-47 as well. Neither guy appeared to be special forces, so I was wondering if that was allowed under military policy. Anyone know?

As regular readers know, I like to build stuff (particularly guns). They also should know (if they were paying attention) that I’m going to be machining my own AR15 lower receivers. See, when you buy a gun, the receiver is usually marked with some sort of logo or brand name and a serial number (all my machined lowers will be numbered SU000X). I need some line art to put on them. So, dear reader, I need a good logo. Any reader is allowed submit one or more suggestions for line art in an image format.

The rules (such as they are):

Submit as many as you like via email to saysuncle at yahoo dot com (or post them on your blog, if you have one). They must be in JPG or GIF format.

All images must be line art (i.e., can be reproduced using only lines).

Images should be monochromatic (i.e., black and white).

Judging will be entirely based on my preference (though I’m not opposed to the idea of a reader poll to determine winners). I’m probably going to do three lowers at first so I may have first through third place prizes unless I really like one in particular.

No porn.

And the prize(s) will be something gun related. Either something from the existing SayUncle stockpile of mags, scopes and other goodies. Or a $30 gift card to a fine gun oriented website like Midway, Tapco, Ammoman, MWG, or even Amazon for you non-gun types. Also, a gratuitous plug on the blog. And, of course, the satisfaction that your creation will be immortalized on an assault weapon.

Update: At Countertop’s suggestion, if a receiver is available, that could also be a substitute prize. But a bit of a warning:

Me and my build partner each want three lowers. We got eight on the assumption we’d screw two of them up. Should all lowers make it, the winner may get one. The difficulty would be getting a FFL dealer to transfer and whether or not it’s legal in the winner’s state of residence. Here at SayUncle, we do not violate gun laws. As such, a lower could be a potential prize but don’t be disappointed if, legally, that can’t happen.

Update 2: Oh yeah, submissions should be received by June 30, 2005

It’s not often that the Brady Bunch issues a press release that contains good news but here it is:

A shooting range here has announced a ban on use of its shooting facilities by employees of the California Department of Justice because the Department is supporting two bills in the State legislature that the club opposes.

The bills are that ridiculous bullet identification bill and the bill that makes the gun stamp the bullet with a serial number. The club is the Folsom Shooting Club’s Sacramento Valley Shooting Center. A letter can be seen here. And here is their website.

Excellent. I also wish all gun manufacturers would stop selling to California agencies, like Barrett did.

Good. Dog fighting is a deplorable practice. However, I found it odd that a grand champion pit bull went for $60K. Does it come with a Mercedes?

My faith in them protecting me is minimized by the fact they won’t protect each other:

A surveillance video shows that the partner of a police officer who was shot three times during a car stop last week in Brooklyn ran away and, for several minutes, failed to help the wounded officer, a police official said yesterday.

I found it because it linked to me but this blog is interesting. It’s a blog by a food economist (we have those?) about US food policy.

Charles Hurt reports that Congress has censors:

Only in this town of lawyers along the Potomac can politicians utter statements that were, according to official history, never spoken.

When writing the Constitution, the Founding Fathers mandated the recording of Congress’ proceedings, but its form was left to the lawmakers who established the Congressional Record and the rules that allow them to clean up regretful remarks, miscues and misstatements before they are published.

So, whenever a member of congress says something stupid or offensive, the record of it is wiped. Too bad there’s not such a feature for their stupid actions.

Note: This is a reprint from guest posting at No Silence Here.

A very somber heh.

The Mountain Press:

A government’s right of eminent domain was never intended to give local officials an absolute, unlimited power to take somebody’s property for virtually anything. It is supposed to be used primarily to permit government to pay fair market value for land needed for public improvements, such as roads or utilities. Yet in recent years some governments have sought to use their eminent domain authority to obtain land for other purposes, from a new Wal-Mart Supercenter to a shopping complex. While those developments would serve the public good, they are private enterprise efforts.

Yup. At issue is the city of Pigeon Forge (where Dollywood is for you non-locals) is trying to take private property to build a parking complex.

This game is called Guess who’s lying. A local police officer shot a woman’s dog (which the press dutifully points out is a pit bull mix). The pit bull mix was shot in the head with a .40 caliber handgun, was treated by a vet, and is still alive [Damn, tough dog or weak ammo - Ed.]. So, on to the game:

Blount County Deputy Lt. Patrick England claims:

England was following up a missing child report Sunday, near the Wallace Harris Avenue residence of Sybil Patty, owner of the dog.

According to a report, by deputy Steve Blankenship, England “approached” the front door of Patty’s residence. When she opened the door the dog ran out and she attempted to grab it. England reported the dog ran at him in an aggressive manner, and that he attempted to shove the dog off of him with his hand, but missed.

England also reported that he began to back out of the yard toward the corner of Wallace Harris Avenue and Bramble wood Drive, and that the dog continued to make “aggressive advances” toward him. When the dog was within a short distance, England reported he drew his weapon and fired one round striking the dog in the “top left of the head.”

Versus what the owner and witnesses say:

Witnesses disputed England’s report.

Patty called the dog back, and Petey turned and began walking toward the house, according to Davidson. The officer followed and the dog turned around and barked, and the officer hit him with a flashlight, said Davidson. Patty thought the dog was hit with a stick.

Witnesses are unsure what the dog was hit with, and there is no mention of the dog being struck in Blankenship’s report.

So, England, genius that he his, follows a dog who was dutifully defending his property but told to retreat by its owner. Then, he hits the dog. Not smart. And:

The dog wasn’t closing in on England, according to Davidson and Johnnie Dover, a Howard Jones Road resident who said she saw the shooting. She said that had England stopped and given Patty a chance, she would have gotten the dog back in the house.

Dover didn’t think England would have shot the dog if he wasn’t a pit bull.

“All because he’s got (pit) bulldog in him,” Dover said. “That’s a bunch of bull — all pit bulls aren’t mean.”

You can call the Blount County Sheriff’s Department at (865) 273-5000. Or you can go here and send them an electronic message.

Senate committee OKs new FBI powers.

The renewal of the Patriot Act, it’s been waiting in the shadows until now, and here it is. Should it not be voted back in the bill is scheduled to sunset late this year, so Congress is setting forward a new bill to ammend those powers and renew the bill itself. The usual suspects are once more pushing the bill out onto the Senate floor, but the committee members are still adding ammendments to it.

Word from CNN is that these Senate members are trying to impose additional limits on the bill’s powers and make it easier for the use of these powers to be challenged.

I guess the only thing to do is write your Senators. Personally, I’ll just wait and see…

Blogs are definitely the small furry mammals running around the feet of dinosaurs. – David Codrea.

David wrote that in an email to me once. David is the Co-founder of GunTruths and Citizens of America. He has also written for Guns and Ammo, Handguns and is currently the field editor for Guns. He also maintains a blog called The War on Guns.

You see, I contacted David a while back regarding various gun magazines. I buy a few of those a year but much less than I used to. The reason I buy fewer is because of gun blogs. By the time I read something in a gun magazine about a new product, I’ve already seen it at any one of the many gun blogs.

Even issues regarding guns pop up faster on blogs. I’m convinced that the inspiration for a recent Massad Ayoob article on the jamming issues the US military is having with the Beretta pistols they carry as a result of buying low quality magazines came from blogs. This article appeared in last month’s issue of a gun magazine I bought. Problem was, it was old news. Mark covered it almost a year ago. Shortly after, The Comedian was already advocating sending our boys overseas new springs to remedy the problem.

By the time the article printed, it was old news. And it’s not just gun magazines. I’m sure other net-savvy folks get more current information on-line from message boards and websites than magazines about their particular hobby of choice.

And the media too. By the time the evening news comes on, I already know about every story they cover (except those hokey investigative, sensationalist reports that I don’t care about and are usually wrong). When I picked up the newspaper this morning, I already knew what it would say. In fact, I said most of it yesterday.

As a result of these observations, I recommended to Dave that gun magazines should do a feature story on gun bloggers and that those magazines should set up their own blogs. David told me that gun magazines are struggling to maintain their core mission and make a profit. Also, there is a fear of losing some readership if they do an all on-line format as older gun types probably aren’t particularly savvy with Al Gore’s Internets. As such, the resources weren’t there for this particular venture. My suggestion would be to blog the articles as regularly as the come in and then once a month make some hard copies to distribute for those who don’t read on-line.

The problem, of course, is that catering to the print audience will only work short term. More and more people are becoming like me and getting their news, information, and commentary on-line before the newspapers, TeeVee and specialty magazines have even formatted their graphics.

Is old media dead? By no means whatsoever. Magazines, TeeVee and newspapers deal in mass audiences. A gun blogger gets a few thousand hits per day and that’s if the blogger is fairly popular. Blogs need to draw an audience while old media needs to keep one. Blogs in total, however, get massive readership. Blogs in the aggregate are a force to be reckoned with. An individual blog, not so much.

Blogs are definitely the small furry mammals running around the feet of dinosaurs.

This is another reprint of a post from guest blogging at No Silence Here.

Nope, none here. Apparently, some folks out on a boat used a shotgun to thwart pirates (yes, real pirates) but the press doesn’t mention that.

No, really:

Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based Arab television network famous for airing images of beheadings and mutilated bodies, rejected a 30-second commercial from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals showing abuse of Australian sheep.

Les has the skinny on the investigator the Knoxville Titty Council paid to go buy lap dances. He also has links to the guy’s report.

Gunner has links to some contests where you can win guns and gun related program activities right here on Al Gore’s Internets.

The Geek is pimping some shirts and other stuff.

Ravenwood notes NY’s proposed 50 caliber ban will ban some shotguns.

Heartless Libertarian provides some analysis regarding US v. Stewart in light of the horrendous Raich decision.

He plans on appealing.

Jeff has the latest on gun bias in the media.

In Illinois, there is now a 24 hour waiting period for Tasers and other stun guns. And background checks.

Speaking of Tasers, Les wrote a while back:

People today are naming their sons Colt and Ruger to evoke toughness and an Old West sensibility. In a dozen years or two parents who want their kids to have a tough name that’s futuristic will name their sons Taser.

I tend to think not for the same reason no one names their kid Rape Whistle or Pepper Spray.

A 28 year police veteran being interviewed:

As a police officer, weren’t guns the enemy?

Douglas: No, never. I always wanted armed civilians, but I wanted them trained. Period. You learn early in your career that you’re not going to be there when the murderer shows up, or the rapist. So I’m all for training the civilian population.

And anyone carrying a homemade sword, a hatchet, a knife, brass knuckles and a chain saw stained with what appeared to be blood:

U.S. customs agents confiscated the weapons and fingerprinted Despres. Then they let him into the United States.

And they found out he killed someone. My personal favorite bit:

Anthony conceded it “sounds stupid” that a man wielding what appeared to be a bloody chain saw could not be detained. But he added: “Our people don’t have a crime lab up there. They can’t look at a chain saw and decide if it’s blood or rust or red paint.”

None of them exist. By abuse of the commerce clause, the Supreme Court (in Raich) has abandoned federalism and ruled (6-3) that sick or dying people can get arrested by the feds for smoking weed to alleviate pain even if state law allows it.

Good summary here.

Also, you know something is screwy when Howard Dean starts making sense.

And Mike is back and, man, is he angry. On the basis of the judgment:

A farmer, named Wickard, grew wheat on his own farm for his own use. This was in excess of what the federal government allowed him to grow, so they arrested him.

Think about that for a minute.

Wickard went to court, and lost. Why? The commerce clause, of course. Since the feds have the power to regulate interstate commerce, they therefore have the power to regulate how much a wheat a farmer grows for his own use. Incredibly, this was based on the logic that any wheat he grows for himself is wheat that he would have otherwise purchased! That means that his personal garden falls under the commerce clause, and the federal government can, and did, tell him exactly how much he could plant, and arrested him when he failed to comply.

And dissenting Justice Thomas writes:

If the majority [of the Supreme Court] is to be taken seriously, the Federal Government may now regulate quilting bees, clothes drives, and potluck suppers throughout the 50 States.

and

One searches the Court’s opinion in vain for any hint of what aspect of American life is reserved to the States.

Xrlq on Thomas:

Justice Thomas did not disappoint (except, of course, in the sense that he did disappoint the allegedly non-racist moonbats who expect him to vote reflexively with Justice Scalia every time) . . .

Radley Balko on Thomas:

He’s easily the most principled and consistent defender of federalism on the court.

In the last few years, the supreme court has quashed free speech; federalism; right of people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures; and states’ rights. I expect that property rights will be next.

Fuckers.

One of the plaintiffs has said she will defy the ruling:

“I’m going to have to be prepared to be arrested,” said Diane Monson, who smokes marijuana several times a day to relieve back pain.

Eric has more on Frisco’s proposed ban on politically incorrect dogs:

I want to address Newsom’s apparent contention that people who own pit bulls don’t “think what’s in their best interests.” I’ve had these dogs since the mid 1970s, and while I’ve perhaps not written enough posts about this issue, it’s because it makes me so sick that the government would try to take my dogs away because someone doesn’t approve of them that I fear I’d be overly redundant and emotional.

I blog about pit bulls and other politically incorrect dogs all the time. Since I have no problem being overly redundant and emotional, let me state that you will get my dog from my cold dead hands.

Kind of funny how the dog ban parallels gun bans, namely the assault weapons ban. We don’t want to ban dogs but want to ban scary looking dogs based on arbitrary criteria (i.e., appearance) since there is no easy way to genetically identify what breed of dog a specific dog is as they share approximately 99% of their genes with other dogs. And pit bull is not actually a breed but rather a type of dog. Don’t believe me? Go here and play a game of find the pit bull.

Eric also links to what he calls Joe Gandelman’s thoughtful post on the issue, which notes:

But common sense would screech out this: if you have a kid, don’t buy a pit bull.

Actually, common sense would dictate that you don’t leave a kid and a dog unattended. Ever. Regardless of dog breed. And when baby is interacting with the dog, it helps to have a camera handy to capture the savage mauling the child will receive:

Some other tales of pit bull viciousness here and here.

The problem with pit bulls is that people who shouldn’t own any dog and are going for the macho, tough look get pit bulls. They then encourage the animals to be aggressive. Or they’re abusive to the animals. The other problem is that they are the preferred breed of drug dealers and people who engage in the horrendous practice of dog fighting. And, of course, people predisposed to keep dogs that are mean are typically not predisposed to obeying the law.

Pit bulls have better than average temperament and, as Xrlq noted, are not represented fairly in the media. In fact, the media even reports when someone is attacked by a dog and the dog is not a pit bull, that the dog is not a pit bull as if to convey surprise.

The similarity between guns and dogs is striking. We must ban mean looking dogs/guns. Dogs/guns are represented with either ignorance or willful deceit in the media as long as the story can scare someone. Laws passed regarding both are reactionary, ineffective, and not well thought out.

Breed specific legislation is ineffective. We need people control, not dog control.

Fortunately for all involved, California code prohibits breed specific legislation. However, the mayor of San Fran, as Xrlq points out, is not above breaking the law.

Update: Hell has frozen over as Tom agrees with Xrlq.

It seems the UN is alarmed that the equipment that was not used to not make weapons of mass destruction has been removed:

U.N. satellite imagery experts have determined that material that could be used to make biological or chemical weapons and banned long-range missiles has been removed from 109 sites in Iraq, U.N. weapons inspectors said in a report obtained Thursday.

U.N. inspectors have been blocked from returning to Iraq since the U.S.-led war in 2003 so they have been using satellite photos to see what happened to the sites that were subject to U.N. monitoring because their equipment had both civilian and military uses.

Sure, they had equipment to produce WMDs but that means there were no WMDs, right? And there were no WMD related program activities? And they were in compliance with various UN resolutions regarding WMDs and their production, right? I mean, I’m just saying, you know.

Another repost from my guest blogging stint at No Silence Here:

I’m the sort that is distrustful of the government. And for good reason. Here’s a few of those reasons:

A librarian in Washington details her interaction with the FBI thought police:

On June 8, 2004, an FBI agent stopped at the Deming branch of the Whatcom County Library System in northwest Washington and requested a list of the people who had borrowed a biography of Osama bin Laden. We said no.

[snip]

We told the FBI that it would have to follow legal channels before our board of trustees would address releasing the names of the borrowers.

[snip]

Undeterred, the FBI served a subpoena on the library a week later demanding a list of everyone who had borrowed the book since November 2001.

So, the FBI is monitoring reading habits. After all, if you (like the FBI) take an interest in America’s number one enemy, obviously you’re suspect in something.

Also, gunner at No Quarters details how his mail is getting inspected.

And AlphaPatriot reports that:

A Minnesota appeals court has ruled that the presence of encryption software on a computer may be viewed as evidence of criminal intent.

Clearly, the encryption that I use on my home WiFi network makes me intentionally criminal.

I prefer Unclestan, which is not to be confused with Uncle Stan. And I am not an Osmon nor a wingnut.

A cop in South Carolina pulled over a stolen car. He knew it was stolen because it was his car.

I posted this while guest blogging at No Silence Here but want a copy in my database. So, here’s the reprint:

Cheating to win

This story, which went largely unreported in local media but was popular among Tennessee bloggers, is one from the vault. There was a bill making its way through Tennessee that would allow citizens with handgun carry permits to carry their handguns into establishments that serve alcohol so long as they weren’t drinking. The merits of the bill aside, it actually had support in the legislature. But House Speaker Naifeh broke the rules of the house to avoid a floor vote.

Rep. Campfield, Tennessee’s first blogging legislator, broke the story. And it spread like wildfire around Tennessee blogs. Bill Hobbs covered it extensively as did Blake and I.

The press virtually ignored Naifeh subverting house rules to get what he wanted. Bill Hobbs correctly noted that Tom Humphrey of the KNS never once mentioned Naifeh’s deliberate failure to follow the rules in his coverage of the event.

Additionally, Espo provided extensive coverage of the biased non-reporting of the incident:

The Speaker said this during the House session on 28APR. You can watch it here. He said multiple times that this was his opinion on what happened, and Rep. Todd rose to counter the Speaker’s statement. The article makes no reference to this as an opinion and certainly doesn’t recognize Rep. Todd’s statement. Rep. Cochran of Elizabethton’s account of what actually happened in the subcommittee is here.

and

What isn’t proper is allowing a committee to kill a bill like HB2225 which has 63 sponsors (enough to pass on the House floor) because the House Democrats are opposed to it.

Unless you were reading blogs, you probably had no idea this was going on. The local press either ignored it or supported Naifeh while failing to deliver the entire story.

Law and sausage. Media and sausage.

Yesterday, Rep. Campfield reports that the bill is back but not all of its 63 co-sponsors supported it in a house vote:

It came to a vote. 66 votes were needed to bring it to the house floor, but only 54 voted yes. 36 members voted no, and 8 didn’t vote. Curious is that there were 63 sponsors and co-sponsors of this bill. It now appears obvious that some members signed on as co-sponsors banking on the standard operating procedure that it would be killed in committee and never come to a vote.

It looks like those “sponsors” were put to the test. When the rubber actually meets the pavement, how did they vote?

Xrlq has the skinny on some media bias against dogs. Well, certain dogs that are politically incorrect. He also has some good advice. Most importantly:

Never trust your dog around a child, unattended

Yup.

From Ravenwood in reference to Florida’s recent change in self defense law (note: the new Florida law puts them in line with the majority of states in the country):

Chicago Alderman Dorothy Tillman, formerly of Pensacola, said the law will “lead to open war on black males.”

“It’s almost a way to eliminate people. Black men will be under the ground more than ever.”

Sounds to me like Dorothy is making some racist statements. Where’s the outrage?

Dorothy has a history of doing stupid stuff.

Denise categorized the different anti-gun types and addresses how to deal with them. It’s a good read. She left out Dumb Ass.

Buck is getting his CPL. Sweet.

Espo made the mistake of buying Sudafed. It’s getting to the point where people would just rather be sick than be sick of their government.

WATE reports that Lawyers say Tennessee’s illegal tax law is ripe for abuse:

Defense lawyers say a new law allowing authorities to tax illegal drugs allows officials to bully people not convicted of crimes into paying thousands of dollars.

Tennessee’s Department of Revenue has collected nearly $400,000 in taxes.

Another $$11 million in taxes have been levied, but not collected because debtors can’t afford it or are in jail, since the law took effect in January.

Wow. That’s a lot of money. The lawyers say the authorities can abuse it. SayUncle said that before the law even passed.

Joe Huffman reports that he lost his job because, well, he’s not sure why. But they did investigate his blog and his website devoted to reactive targets. I used to have a Q Clearance when I did some contract work for a particular agency. This is also why I blog anonymously.

Since he asked, I’ll take both for $500, Alex.

Rich notes that the Knoxville City Council (henceforth known as the the Knoxville Titty Council) are pimps:

The dancers must pay a fee to the City of Knoxville in order to ply their trade. Now, what’s the street name for somebody who profits off of a woman’s sexuality?

In order to be a stripper, you must pay a tax. He also has come up with the wonderful new slogan for Knoxville tourism:

Hi! Come to Knoxville! We’ve run every sports team that isn’t irrevocably tied to the city out of town; we’ve passed taxes that insure that no major musical act will ever play our city again; we have no museums of any note and we’ve voted down every idea that might have brought some culture or entertainment to our downtown area. (Except for a new movie theater, an idea we found to be quite daring.) We’re closing the titty bars, and we require that you show your papers every time you buy a drink; we’re working on banning smoking in public but we don’t mind if you chew, as long as you don’t spit.

And our most exciting attraction is the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame!

I’m back. Blog related program activities will resume. Many thanks to my co-blogger Thibodeaux, Andrew, Gunner and Mike for pitch hitting in my absence. In fact, I’d say overall blog quality improved in my absence. You guys still have access to the site so feel free to blog here in the future.

One more thing: Yes, I probably got your email. But, due to the volume of going a week without checking my mail, I probably didn’t read it. So, apologies for that. If you sent something important, re-send it.

The Uncle family has safely returned from a wonderful vacation. The view for most of the week was like this:

Mmmm, Guinness. Behind that view was the pool and the place we were staying at. I had lots of time to ponder a great many wonderful things which you have come to expect from me; such as sign ordinances, how it’s funny that the dude who turned out to be Deep Throat was no one any one heard of, and why M. Night Shyamalan thinks we’re all pussies. More to come. Oh and one more snapshot:

I am a science fiction junky. I can read it with the absolute ability to believe it is real and submerge myself totally into the story. SciFi is simply a foretelling of what will happen in my eyes.

Today that foretelling is rather bothersome.

One of the many themes that runs through a lot of stories involve the future development of industry and their individual powers. Not just financial power but basic physical power. Armed raw power backed by guns and cuffs. I’m not talking about the mall ninjas that sit at the entrance to the mall and threatens you with the standard “stop, or I’ll say stop again”. No. I’m talking about police with the ability to dress up like the shock troop outfits that the ATFE, FBI, and other alphabet soup agencies enjoy.

In the stories the company police have the support and total backing of the government. These private police, while having to answer to the law in their actions, know that they work for, and serve, the company. Serving a company and enforcing the law creates a conflict in my eyes. You can only serve one master is the phrase that comes to mind.

So today I was reading about the FedEx and how they are bending over to help the police. This article also mentioned other companies that are also falling in line to help the state. The victim is our privacy. But that does not seem to be a large issue with the government today.

Before Sept. 11, 2001, when federal law-enforcement officials asked FedEx Corp. for help, the company had its limits. It wouldn’t provide access to its databases. It often refused to lend uniforms or delivery trucks to agents for undercover operations, citing fears of retribution against employees as well as concerns about customer privacy.
…..
Federal agents privately praise Western Union for sharing information with Treasury and Homeland Security investigators about overseas money transfers. Time Warner Inc.’s America Online has set up a dedicated hotline to help police officers seeking AOL subscriber information and also proffers advice about wording subpoenas. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which has a sophisticated supply-chain security system, has been helping U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents figure out how to better track international shipping, say Homeland Security officials.

Now you may feel that helping to fight terrorism is the highest act that you can do today, But at what price. The FedEx may be a prime example of what happens when a company goes to far into serving the state while the cost of privacy is suffered by you and me.

In December 2001, according to court records in Illinois, a FedEx driver became suspicious after making a series of deliveries of boxes to an apartment complex in suburban Chicago. The cartons were always the same size and shape and came from the same address in Los Angeles. Worried there was something sinister afoot, the driver informed his bosses and FedEx called the police.

Suspecting narcotics or explosives, the police showed up at the FedEx depot with bomb- and drug-sniffing dogs. The dogs didn’t signal there was anything illicit in the boxes. FedEx then invoked the authority granted to it by every customer, which the police don’t automatically have, permitting it to inspect any package without a warrant.

With a police officer looking on, FedEx popped the carton. Instead of anything dangerous, the boxes contained several hundred pre-recorded compact discs. Local police launched an investigation that eventually uncovered a CD-bootlegging operation.

Their is something called due process that is a strict ruling that defines what a police officer has to do before he searches you, or a package. So because the company decided something was wrong they did an old run around your rights. The company can open your package, and a cop was there who could not. They both win and your rights lose. This is a super example of why a overly friendly police company relationship can be a dangerous thing.

It was while reading up on the issues of company efforts that I came across something that raised my eye brows. FedEx has its own police force, small yet a lot of influence.

FedEx Corp. has come up with a novel way to battle terrorist threats and other crimes: start its own 10-man police force.

The FedEx cops dress in plain clothes, detective-style, and are accredited by the Tennessee government. They can investigate all types of crimes, request search warrants and make arrests anywhere in the state, although they haven’t busted anyone yet, and likely won’t.
…………
Tim Edgar, general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, questions whether corporate cops can be trusted to act in the public interest, and argues that a watchdog agency should oversee the company’s performance. “You’re given all the powers of someone accountable to the public, but you’re driven by the profit incentives of a private company,” he says.
…………
The company wouldn’t make the corporate cops available for interviews.

As for questions of inside information, Krause says the company’s police can’t give other firms a heads-up because they can’t share sensitive law-enforcement data. During industry forums, though, FedEx may talk generally about security issues with competitors, she adds.

The bold type in the last paragraph offers me a lot of worry. If they are police then they have the duty to inform other firms if there is an issue they need to know of, but they can’t.

But don’t worry. FedEx is not the only with its own private forces running around. The RIAA has a few of their own uniformed security.

Though no guns were brandished, the bust from a distance looked like classic LAPD, DEA or FBI work, right down to the black “raid” vests the unit members wore. The fact that their yellow stenciled lettering read “RIAA” instead of something from an official law-enforcement agency was lost on 55-year-old parking-lot attendant Ceasar Borrayo.

The Recording Industry Association of America is taking it to the streets.
…….
With all the trappings of a police team, including pink incident reports that, among other things, record a vendor’s height, weight, hair and eye color, the RIAA squad can give those busted the distinct impression they’re tangling with minions of Johnny Law instead of David Geffen. And that raises some potential legal questions.

Some just make themselves look like cops. Gives a whole new meaning to hands on customer service

Private firms should not have the legal powers that the police have. Most police should not have the powers that police have. A very dangerous line has been crossed people in the name of fighting terrorism. I don’t like it and neither should you.

The article quoted one specific line from the law. “substantially equivalent”. I’m glad because after spending 20 minutes looking on the Tn LexisNexis site I realized they buried this law deep. Luckily there were only 18 hits on “substantially equivalent” and only one in 2004 when the law was passed. Turns out they are more then police. They are Homeland security officers in all of their glory.

Here is the law that does not mention FedEx.

38-3-114. Acting as peace officers for the office of homeland security.
(a) The office of homeland security may apply to the commissioner of the Tennessee department of safety, to commission such number of its officers who directly support state, federal, and local law enforcement activities involved in countering or responding to acts of terrorism, as the office shall designate, to act as peace officers for the office of homeland security.
(b) The commissioner, upon such application, may appoint such person as the office of homeland security designates, or as many people as the governor deems proper to be such peace officers, and shall give commissions to those appointed.
(c) Each such officer, throughout every county in the state, shall have and exercise, for the sole purpose of carrying out the scope of assigned duties as specified or limited within the exclusive judgment of the office of homeland security, all the powers of a peace officer, including the power to make arrests for public offenses anywhere in the state. Further, such officers may serve process in criminal and penal prosecutions for such offenses, and shall have authority to carry weapons for the reasonable purposes of their offices and while in the performance of their assigned duties.
(d) The keepers of jails in any county or municipality where a violation occurs, for which any such arrest is made by an officer of the homeland security office, shall receive all persons arrested by such officers to be dealt with according to law, and persons so arrested shall be received by keepers of jails on the same basis and shall have the same status as prisoners arrested by any other law enforcement officer.
(e) Every officer so appointed shall, when on duty, have in the officer’s possession a badge and identification card identifying such officer as an officer of the office of homeland security, and such officer shall exhibit such badge and identification card on demand and before making an arrest within a reasonable time.
(f) When the office of homeland security no longer requires the services of such peace officer so appointed, it shall file a notice to that effect with the commissioner’s office. Thereupon, the powers of such peace officer shall cease and terminate.
(g) Homeland security officers appointed under this section must complete appropriate initial training and recurrent law enforcement training substantially equivalent to the requirements of the Tennessee peace officers standards and training commission.

There is just something not right about a private police force like this. You may rightly feel I am seeing to much in the shadows, but it feels wrong on a lot of levels.

So you better return those videos on time. Or else.

Slow news day today. Don’t forget to check out the Carnival of Cordite, if you haven’t already.

I am a huge fan of the Japanese movie Battle Royale. It’s never been released in America and likely never will be. We’d find it too controversial and unsettling. The studio that made it won’t even talk with distributors. You can only get the British release of the Korean two-disc special set in America.

What’s the fuss about?

The film opens with some exposition about how, “in the near future,” the Japanese economy collapsed and kids lost hope in the future and their parents’ generation. Kids began to “boycott” school by the hundreds of thousands, and those who bothered to go were disrespectful and violent, making schools a dangerous place. The “Battle Royale Act” was passed by the Parliament in response.

Every year, the worst ninth-grade classes in the country were nominated by their teachers. A lottery was held and the “winner” was sent to an isolated island that had only the ruins of an abandoned small town, for the Battle Royale. Only one student would be allowed to leave the island alive.

The film cuts to a crush of reporters swarming around a military jeep inching its way along a jungle path, surrounded by soldiers. We see a small girl with her head bowed in the passenger seat. The reporters are trying to get a shot of her, talking about “this year’s winner” in the Battle Royale (BR for short). The girl looks up. Her face is covered in blood, as is her nightgown and the small doll she holds. Her expression is breath-taking, a shocking mix of glee, pride and malevolence, the kind of expression I’m sure no parent ever wants to see on their child, it is so horrifying. It’s a viscerally disturbing image, almost iconic.

That’s the first five minutes. After twenty minutes, we’ve met the latest class of BR (Battle Royale) and watched them deal with their horrifying and incomprehensible new situation. The rest of the film is watching the kids try to survive.

How can this be entertainment? Because the theme is one that’s crucial in modern Japan: the parental generation has failed in their duty to their children. Instead, they find themselves increasingly abandoned to grow up on their own, or exploited by adults for cruel amusement. For example, high school prostitution is a going concern. There is a “pop idol” who has F-cup breasts and is a sensation; she’s 11 years old.

Japan’s equivalent of the baby boomer generation has watched their society collapse. They’re angry and turn it against their children. That’s the basis of the movie’s theme.

What makes it work is that the kids in the film are real kids who act their age. They aren’t the Hollywood-style twenty-somethings playing over-mature kids, or the sitcom staple of the sassy, too-smart child-adult. They look and behave like children. And they’ve been tossed into Hell. Think of a cross between Lord of the Flies and The Most Dangerous Game.

The review is 4000 words long, so I won’t post the whole thing here. You’re welcome! You can click on this link to read it. I cannot recommend this movie highly enough to folks who think they can stomach the idea. It’s not nearly as violent or gory as any American R-rated movie, just shocking. Over in East Tennessee, you may have to do some looking to locate it.

But it’s worth the hunt. You’ll find yourself turning scenes from the film, and its themes, over and over in your mind for days. You’ll look at the kids around you a little differently, a lot more sympathetically. You’ll wonder what kind of future we’re creating and handing down.

Long-time followers of Tennessee politics are familair with Democrat John Jay Hooker. He could be favorably called a maverick and a lone voice, or he could be unfavorably fitted with the British label, “loon.” His most recent foray was to run as the no-hoper Democratic gubernatorial candidate against Don Sunquist. His party gave up and no one wanted to have a losing campaign to their name, so Hooker stepped up with a self-finanaced run. The media indulged him; no one criticised the Democrats for their bizarre abandonment.

These days, he’s a blogger. He only discovered blogging a month or so ago, but has embraced it whole-heartedly. At an age when most men look back, Hooker continues to forge ahead. For that, he must be respected. As a life-long, veteran Democratic activist and candidate, his views must also be paid heed.

Hooker has sent a editorial letter to the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Whether they print it or not, it’s important to read. My suspicion is the CA won’t print it, at least not as a stand-alone guest column, since he’s telling the paper’s favorite political son to step aside.

And what I’m afraid of is that many of the democrats who may be unwilling to vote for Senator Ford will make it impossible for him to win. I think the 2006 election is going to be difficult at best, as Governor Bredesen is now burdened with the TennCare problems. And therefore, I think the Democrats are going to have their hands full in re-electing Governor Bredesen, and consequently, that a losing Democratic effort in the senatorial race could be very detrimental to Governor Bredesen’s re-election.

On the other hand, if young Harold, who is thirty-six years old, will keep his safe seat in Congress while he weathers the storm regarding his uncle, then I suspect the day will come when he has an opportunity to either run for the United States Senate, or run for governor, or maybe, just maybe, God being willing – PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

I believe this is the first serious Democratic voice to call on Ford to stand down.

The news broke this evening. At the regular meeting of the Shelby County Democratic Party tonight, disgraced State Senator Kathryn Bowers resigned as party Chair. What I didn’t know was that her term was set to expire in just six weeks anyway! More here and here, though all three stories are essentially identical.

That she went ahead and resigned anyway, leaving a mark on her tenure, shows she was either subject to a lot of pressure or didn’t feel she could win a fight. To me, for a renowned scrapper to cave, that’s indicative of her awareness of the strength of the case against her. I’ve heard that the video evidence is damning.

What’s amusing in this is to compare two versions of what Bowers said to the party in resigning. From WPTY/24, it’s:

“I don’t want the problems that are besetting me or before me right now to interfere in anyway with the progress of this party because that is the most important thing to me,”

And from WMC/5, it’s:

“I am insisting that I do not want in any way whatever it is the problem’s that’s besetting me, that’s befalling me right now, to interfere with the progress of this party,”

Presumably both reporters were sitting in the same room with her, taking notes and with video cameras. Remember this when the mainstream media wants to criticise bloggers for accuracy.

Jackson Baker of the Memphis Flyer was there and filed a fuller report. He says:

The diminutive legislator was politely received and was interrupted several times during her remarks by applause that ranged from perfunctory to enthusiastic. Some did not applaud at all. The mixed reaction probably owed more to pre-existing factionalism on the committee than to specific feeling about her legal situation.

That’s our Jackson, always willing to cut some slack to the Democrats. Baker looks into that division, its factions and the likely coming warfare over control of the local party. It boils down to Ford vs. Herenton. Given the Fords’ fortunes of the past weeks, it’s either going to be lopsided or bloody.

Thaddeus Matthews was also there. He writes:

When she entered the room some clapped, some stood,some remained seated, and some even booed.

Both Baker and Matthews note that Bowers claimed starting a regular SCDP newspaper as one of her accomplishments. In line with the indictments, allow me to tell new readers that the editor of that paper, Professor of Literature Dr. Roger Easson of Christian Brothers University, was caught by Half-Bakered plagiarising an article from the Internet! There are links to comparisons of the texts involved, so you can decide for yourself. More on that episode here. Bowers herself used that misleading plagiarised article for a story under her own name in the North Shelby Times. Bower’s work isn’t plagiarised, but derivative of Easson’s work, which is.

We’re now 1-3-1 in the standings. One indictee is still in her elected office: State Senator Kathryn Bowers. There are three resignations: Ford from the Senate; Dixon from the Wharton administration; and Bowers from the SCDP chairmanship. Lastly we have Barry Myers, who has no elected office but was tipped to run for Kathryn Bowers’ old House seat. Given that Dixon and Bowers were expected to boost him, we can safely assume Myers’ plans have been scotched.

And the next inning is due to start any day now….

AFTER MIDNIGHT, WHEN THE Commercial Appeal FINALLY POSTS UPDATE Had to wait for the CA to update their site at midnight. They have an even longer and more detailed report than Baker’s, though it has some problems.

As the meeting began and she arrived, half of those in the room applauded and stood. The other half sat in silence.

That’s the third description of the reaction of the crowd and it differs from the other two! Just think, in the old days, this would have been the definitive version, too.

Not only that, but we get the third version of what Bowers is supposed to have said:

“Regardless of what my personal situation is, I am not going to let that stand in the way of the progress of this party.”

Not one of these versions closely tracks the others. This is the vaunted superior fact-checking and accuracy of the mainstream media? This one reads like the “what she meant to say” version.

The article ends with three paragraphs about Cherry Jones, who is only identified as “one of” several candidates to replace Bowers, but not by her faction nor her relation to Gale Jones Carson, who was mentioned earlier in the article. Both are Herenton partisans. Joe Young gets no mention at all.

And here I thought there was a neutral, fair, objective and balanced version of events that could be reported! That’s what newspapers have been telling us for decades now. And here we have three moderately different versions, two by veteran reporters supposedly trained and certified in the guild arts.

Hmmmmmm….

Twice in his indictment, it says that disgraced former State Senator John Ford travelled to Miami, Florida. In court testimony at his second bond hearing, Federal prosecutors said they flew Ford to Miami for “fun weekends.” Tim Willis and Michael Hooks, Jr. are also said to have been in Miami. Both are satellites of the sprawling Ford family political machine.

The obvious question is, “Were they in Miami to vist, stay with, or conduct business with elder Ford brother, Harold, Sr.?” Harold Ford, Sr. has a lucrative “consulting” business there and lives in a very exclusive location: Fisher Island. With all of America to visit, and the fact that E-Cycle has offices in Atlanta, Nashville and Knoxville only (so far as I know), why would all these principals choose Miami and Fisher Island? The coincidence is beyond striking.

I called the Tennessee Western Division office of the Federal prosecutors today and got nowhere. The spokesman, LeAnn Jordan didn’t know but also said she couldn’t comment anyway if she did. She was very polite and friendly, but I didn’t expect her to be able to answer, frankly. Still, I think the circumstantial evidence is strong enough to call this one answered.

I should also point out that I had wondered that John Ford only had two guns to turn in when he was arrested. Sure enough, he had two more. Can’t wait the anti-gun lobby and their sympathisers in the press make hay of Ford’s owning four guns. What possible use could anyone have for four guns, right?

According to that same article, Ford’s attorney, Mike Scholl, let slip the name of Tim Willis twice in such a way as to make clear that he is the informant the FBI and Federal prosecutors were using. That squares with print reports like this and this, and television news reports like this. So why is Willis denying it all? Is it just reflexive “I didn’t do it?”

I also have confirmation, of a sort, about a theory I had regarding how Willis got dragged in. As this story confirms, Willis was still in trouble with the FBI, even after his Mississippi credit card fraud conviction:

Willis was a close friend of the Fords who had worked on their political campaigns.

He’d also been convicted of a federal crime in Mississippi, FBI Agent Mark Jackson conceded.

Willis was convicted of credit card fraud in 2002 and served four months in the federal facility in Millington.

Scholl also elicited testimony from Jackson that Willis was the subject of another FBI investigation and was trying to keep from being indicted.

What that investigation is, and where it’s headed, aren’t revealed.

You have to wonder if it connects to the Shep Wilbun case. Wilbun and two other co-defendants were involved with illegal payments to cover up a sexual harrassment charge in the Juvenile Court Clerk’s office a couple of years ago. Willis had connections to them, mostly through Calvin Williams I think. Remember how that whole case mysteriously was stopped on the first day of trial, after months of delay? Did any of those parties perhaps cut a deal with the Feds on the Tennessee Waltz investigation? Time may tell.

Williams, by the way, is another voice with reason to know who says more indictments are coming.

Whatever, as the young people say today.

Then there’s the Hooks, Michael Sr. and Michael Jr., Shelby County Commission Chairman and City School Board member respectively. Hooks Jr. had his name brought up in relation to the Miami visits, and was forced to issue a statement of innocence. So did his father. You can read both in this Memphis Flyer story. This is a marked contrast to Willis’ behavior. The Hooks name has only come up in relation to the Ford visits to Miami, other than this oblique reference and this story about Shelby County Mayor AC Wharton calling for a review of any County business done with or proposed for E-Cycle. (You almost have to pity poor Wharton, who seems to regularly have to put down allegations of misbehavior in County government.) As I noted below, this smacks quite loudly of ass-covering in advance of trouble.

It’s a knotty and convulute problem, isn’t it? There are at least four FBI investigations and/or Federal grand juries working right now. One is Tennessee Waltz; one is the Juvenile Court Clerk case; there’s the MLG&W bond deal with Memphis Mayor Herenton; the last is the unspecified Willis case. Are these subsets of a larger case? Are they cooperating with each other?

As bad as the present situation is, it seems it can get a lot worse.

what about my constitutional rights? And they said ‘not at this point … you don’t have any’.”

I would like to say that the TSA has really stepped in it this time. I would like to say that the TSA may be restrained after comments like this, but I cannot.

You see people we are living under the Niemöller effect. A term I like to use to show that most people will just sit back, watch their MTV, eat the curly fries and be happy, as long as they are not bothered.

Cecilia Beaman is a 57-year-old grandmother, a principal at Pacific Middle School in Des Moines, and as of Sunday is also a suspected terrorist.
……..
But Beaman says she couldn’t find a third knife. It was a 5 1/2 inch bread knife with a rounded tip and a serrated edge. She thought she might have lost or misplaced it during the trip.

On the trip home, screeners with the Transportation Security Administration at Los Angeles International Airport found it deep in the outside pocket of a carry-on cooler. Beaman apologized and told them it was a mistake.

“You’ve committed a felony,” Beaman says a security screener announced. “And you’re considered a terrorist.”

Beaman says she was told her name would go on a terrorist watch-list and that she would have to pay a $500 fine.

Now many under the Niemöller effect will say things like “she should have been more careful”, or “It’s her own fault she is in trouble. Why should I worry?”.

I think you should worry people because of what the TSA goons were reported to have said next.

She says screeners refused to give her paperwork or documentation of her violation, documentation of the pending fine, or a copy of the photograph of the knife.

“They said ‘no’ and they said it’s a national security issue. And I said what about my constitutional rights? And they said ‘not at this point … you don’t have any’.”

Technically goon number one is correct. We have no constitutional rights. We have constitutionally protected rights. The constitution was not made to give rights, it was made to protect them, and until recently it almost did the job.

So right now you have a lot to worry about.

Appeals court rejects lawsuit against gun manufacturer:

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. Jun 1, 2005 — An appeals court on Wednesday rejected a lawsuit that the widow of a teacher gunned down by a 13-year-old student had filed against a gun distributor.

Pam Grunow’s lawsuit argued that Valor Corp. was negligent in selling the cheap handgun used in the shooting and should be held liable for the May 2000 death of her husband, Barry Grunow. He was shot in the doorway of his middle school classroom by Nathaniel Brazill, who stole the gun from the man he considered to be a grandfather.

“We certainly sympathize with Grunow and recognize the tragedy of the events that transpired. However, it was Brazill, his grandfather, and perhaps the school that were liable, not Valor,” the opinion said.

Interesting. What could the school have done to prevent this?

Grunow’s attorneys said federal officials had told Valor for years that its .25-caliber Raven handgun was frequently used in crimes and that the company had a legal responsibility to make the weapons safer.

I guess that means they were making assault weapons. Those are the “weapons of choice” for criminals, I’m told.

Baltimore is running a gun buyback program:

Nine hours later, the police had spent $45,050 to buy 427 guns, many which are the types used in violent acts throughout Baltimore, police said.
…
[Deputy Police Commissioner Marcus] Brown said the weapons purchased yesterday included a Mac-10 assault rifle, an Uzi and a semi-automatic Ruger handgun.

A Mac-10 assault rifle, eh? I thought the MAC-10 was a machine pistol chambered in a handgun cartridge like 9mm or .45ACP. But then, it’s a scary black gun, so that makes it an assault weapon, which is the same as an assault rifle, right? QED.

I know I’m starting to sound like a broken record. I know I probably haven’t written an original thought on this blog in maybe forever. I can’t help it; it just boggles my mind.

I’m probably driving away SayUncle’s audience in droves. Or if not in droves, then in AMC Gremlin Sport Utility Vehicles.

“Those are the weapons of choice on the streets of Baltimore,” Brown said. “We feel we’ve taken some of them off.”

I wonder if they’ve got Christopher Walken dancing around the police headquarters.

I just got back from the doctors for a followup and I am happy. I posted in January that I was going to have an operation to help me lose weight. While they could not finish the operation due to my blood pressure dropping so bad, they did get part of it done.

So today I went and was checked out, and weighed. I decline to say what I was, or am now, but I will declare that I am now 80.564784053156146179401993355482% the man I used to be.

I’m also very happy when just last week my wife purchased me some new shorts and they were to big. Not just to big, but when she returned them for one size smaller they were still to big. I’m losing my rear one pound at a time.

In the last 6 weeks I have lost just a hint over a pound a day.

Life is very good right now.