Light blogging. Crap to do. Like go through 35 résumés. Keep running folks off. A few of my peeves about résumés:
It’s spelled résumé (that é can be created by either hitting alt+0233 or using the character map). It’s not spelled resume or resume’.
Leave off the funky fonts and graphics (ETA: Bold, italics don’t fax legibly)
Learn the difference between ensure and insure.
Unless you’re applying for a management job, UN Ambassador, or professorship, your résumé should be one page and one cover letter.
I’m not a fan of putting personal stuff on résumés (like which church you attend, number of kids, married, etc.). I personally hold none of that stuff against folks but some people do. Don’t risk it.
Use an email address that indicates your name, such as firstname.lastname@suchandsuch.com. Not hobbies or sexual innuendo, like darklordofthesyth@suchandsuch.com, hotmom@suchandsuch.com, or ratherbefishing@suchandsuch.com.
Use action verbs. Don’t say Responsible for . . ., say Managed . . . or Administered . . . or something indicating action.
Speaking of verbs, past jobs should be in past tense. Current job, present tense. And be consistent in verb usage.
Less is more: Don’t say due to the fact when because will do. Don’t say in order to when to will do. This is helpful in getting it down to one page.
Focus on accomplishments, not duties.
I know you may have downloaded a template for your letter or résumé and that’s fine. But change the titles. Don’t address me as Dear Hiring Executive or Dear [click here]. Just sayin’.
I will google your name, after the first interview.
Spell check is your friend. In fact, get another friend to read it. S/he may find something you missed.
If you were unemployed, just explain the gap in the interview. If you were unemployed to stay home with children, explain that in the interview too. Don’t say you ran private daycare. It’s not that funny.
I’m not sure how I’d word web-savviness either, but the phrase Proficient in the Internet just doesn’t sound right.
And, really, are you qualified for the job you’re applying for? Just asking.
Update: There is some disagreement over spelling résumé. I blame the French. It’s also a problem for web browsers and email readers, as I noted here.
Commissioner Adam Coggin said he opposed the ban because there are already state laws against reckless endangerment. Anyone firing a gun in a way that could be a danger to another person could be prosecuted under those laws.
Common sense: here’s hoping it breaks out all over.
Handguns “known as Saturday night specials?” When you repeat a meaningless political pejorative as if it’s a correct label your tabloid is practicing a type of reporting known as “yellow journalism.”
Yesterday, I was awarded the coveted Dad of the Year Award, for the third year in a row. It must be tough on you other dads out there to know that every year, I win it. I mean, there really is no competition. I rule. It’s not even close. I get 100% of the votes every year. This daddin’ stuff has its rewards.
In other news, today Junior is three. I really have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact she’s three now. Happy birthday, sweetie.
Jim Webb’s staffer was arrested and detained for illegally having a gun in DC. There was question about whose gun it was:
A senate staffer working for James Webb was busted trying to get a pistol into the senate building. It was the senator’s gun. I guess the senator was taking advantage of the recent Parker v. DC decision? Nah, he’s one of the privileged who gets to disregard laws for little people.
Sen. Jim Webb said he owns the gun that an aide was arrested for carrying into the U.S. Capitol complex in March.
“It’s my gun,” Webb told the Richmond Times-Dispatch in an interview last week.
Webb previously had refused to say whether the gun was his, although his senior aide – Phillip Thompson – had told police the weapon belonged to the Democratic senator.
As to why he wasn’t clear before:
Webb said little about the incident in March, saying he did not want to prejudice the outcome of Thompson’s case.
“It was a matter under legal consideration, and I was precluded from saying anything,” Webb told the Richmond newspaper. “And I hope you’ll understand that in matters of self-defense up here, it doesn’t do anybody’s safety a lot of good by talking about this stuff. We’re pretty vulnerable up here.”
Although Webb now acknowledges ownership of the gun, how and why it was in Thompson’s possession remains unclear.
“I did not give it to Phillip, nor did I ask him to do anything with it,” Webb said in the interview, reiterating what he told reporters in March.
Update: Insty says: How about sponsoring a national concealed-carry bill, Senator Webb? Boy, that would open up a can of worms. I kinda wonder how it’d work, exactly. For example, my two carry guns are banned in one state (maybe two). How, precisely, could that be reconciled?
The most telling thing about AHSA is its leadership. A quick look at the website shows that Bob Ricker is listed as AHSA Executive Director. Hunters will remember that Ricker is a former NRA employee who switched sides and has actively worked for gun control groups for many years now. Most recently Ricker was paid by a Virginia based anti-gun group, where he lobbied to shut down gun shows and put further restrictions on gun owners.
John Rosenthal is listed as President of the AHSA Foundation. Rosenthal is one of the founders of the Massachusetts based group Stop Handgun Violence, a group that has been a major force in passing some of the most draconian state gun laws in the nation.
Law-enforcement officers raided the wrong house and forced a 77-year-old La Plata County woman on oxygen to the ground last week in search of methamphetamine.
The raid occurred about 11 a.m. June 8, as Virginia Herrick was settling in to watch “The Price is Right.” She heard a rustling outside her mobile home in Durango West I and looked out to see several men with gas masks and bulletproof vests, she said.
Herrick went to the back door to have a look.
“I thought there was a gas leak or something,” she said.
But before reaching the door, La Plata County Sheriff’s deputies shouted “search warrant, search warrant” and barged in with guns drawn, she said. They ordered Herrick to the ground and began searching the home.
“They didn’t give me a chance to ask for a search warrant or see a search warrant or anything,” she said in a phone interview Thursday. “I’m not about to argue with those big old guys, especially when they’ve got guns and those big old sledgehammers.”
The police didn’t get the numbers right: “There is a big difference between 74 and 82,” he said, referring to the house numbers.
Smoking a couple of Boston Butts today. Here’s how. The night before, buy some butts, remove them from the package, run water over them then dab with a paper towel to remove excess moisture. Do not remove the fat. It adds moisture and prevents burning in the event your fire gets out of control. Make your rub. Here’s mine (I use rough percentages because who knows how much you’ll make):
30% Brown sugar
10% Kosher salt
10% Garlic powder
10% Mustard powder
5% Cumin
5% Cinnamon
10% Paprika
10% Chili powder
10% Red pepper (powder, not flakes)
And some fresh ground black pepper to taste.
As you can see, it’s largely brown sugar. Next, rub your butt. Well, rub the, err, rub on the meat. You can even slap your butt a few times for good measure. Do both sides. Place them in a large dish, cover in foil and place it in the fridge over night. This lets the rub really sink in. While your at it, take some mesquite or hickory logs or chunks and place them in a bucket. Cover with water and let them sit over night as well.
The next day, get up and make a fresh pot of coffee (this will be important later). Have a cup or two. Then, fire up the smoker. I like to use charcoal and add my soaked wood chunks every couple of hours. The soaked chips make a lot more smoke.
Now, take one 12oz can of your favorite beer and pour it into a bowl. Add roughly equal parts vinegar and the left over coffee you just enjoyed. Add a bout 1/4 cup of minced garlic to that. This stuff works wonders at both keeping your butts moist and adding a tangy garlicky flavor. Once your smoker settles between about 250-300 degrees (never over 300), put your big butt on there. About once every half hour, I take about a quarter cup of the beer/coffee/vinegar mixture and just pour it over the top of that big ol’ butt. I cook my butts for between 7-12 hours while drinking beer, and lounging around. An empty beer is a good reminder to go and pour some mixture over your butts.
Here we are about three hours in.
Yum. Notice they’re dark from the rub, which is now starting to crisp up a bit. After about 7-12 hours, sample a piece. If satisfied, remove from smoker, chop up or pull apart. Use your favorite mop sauce to have barbecue sandwiches or pulled pork. Also, if you buy one, you may as well buy 2 or 3. You can freeze any leftovers and they’ll keep for months.
ETA: And the garden shovel is to remove coals as needed.
ETA 2: And I rarely flip mine. If I do, I do it once about half way through.
One of the things that really annoyed my wife on our wedding day was, err, me. Moreover, my interaction with our photographer. She was a nice enough lady but she asked me to do some pose that, in addition to being difficult for me to actually pull off and look comfortable, was unnatural looking. Now, I’d had a few adult beverages but I think I said something like I’m not doing that because it looks gay (and I meant gay in the young urban slang way as a synonym for stupid as well as the stereotypical way of effeminate).
This morning was cat herding err family picture day. I hate picture day. Really. I mean, I hate it a lot. If there’s a Hell, it will be me at Portrait Innovations having fake candid shots taken of me and Stone Phillips (I’m sure he’s a fine man but there’s just something about him that gives me the willies). Where was I? Oh, yeah. Hating picture day. I hate it because these pictures are unnatural looking. There’s fake smiling, fake posing, fake background, fake interest, fake everything. The only thing authentic is the kids’ expressions because they’ve not learned to fake smile yet. So, the photographer uses stuffed animals, whistles, toys, tricks and a clown to get them to smile. And kids don’t sit still for pictures. Once you get the kids situated, you have a window of opportunity to take the shot that is measured in nanoseconds. And the photographer misses that window roughly four out of five times, so you have to do it again.
So, we had that. Then, the other thing I really hate is fake poses. Today, the photographer dude asked me to sit on the ground with one leg outstretched and one knee raised. I said No. I do not sit like that because I am a man. So, we did a different pose that was fine. Then, I was asked to lay with my belly on the ground and both feet up in the air. Again: No, I will not lay like that because I am a man. And it’s hard to do with a Kel-Tec poking you in the hip bone. The wife was a bit annoyed. Now, this is not some masculine, macho thing where I don’t want to be captured on film looking gay. My thinking is that photographs should capture a natural state and not some contrived, fake scene. That’s what the news is for. And, well, people just don’t sit that way.
Apparently, they’re more than your average thug. They train and are accustomed to being shot at. Frightening. Anyway, here’s some info the FBI compiled on cop killers.
The New Jersey State Supreme Court issued a blow Wednesday to the way municipalities use their power of eminent domain to acquire private land.
In an unanimous ruling, the court said that for land to be taken against the owner’s wishes it must be “blighted” and not merely “not fully productive.”
The ruling is a victory for private property rights but could make it more difficult to redevelop some communities.
It’s sort of a victory, I suppose. A real victory would have been because that’s unconstitutional.
As a follow-up to my post yesterday reporting that the state budget may include nearly $1 billion in unconstitutional spending, Ben Cunningham has posted the video of an exchange on the state House floor between state Rep. Susan Lynn and State Treasurer Dale Sims in which Sims admits the Bredesen administration has violated the state constitution and state law in the way it calculates how much it may spend under the constitution’s “Copeland Cap,” an amendment voters added to the constitution in 1978.
Turns out a lot of gun locks can be opened with little or no force using common hand tools like pliers and screwdrivers. I love how the article is no different than all the ones about how bic pens can open bike locks. It even includes a video of an 11-year-old boy opening various locks with an awl. At any rate, trigger locks won’t deter thieves. They’re really only meant to keep kids from shooting their siblings. If they don’t even do that, I’m not sure they’re worth much.
U.S. Representative Todd Tiahrt (R-Goddard) today blasted the organization behind a comprehensive campaign aimed at repealing current law that prohibits public release of critical data related to ongoing criminal investigations. In addition to a full page ad in USA Today last week, Internet ads and a series of television ads, Mayors Against Illegal Guns has now hired someone to drive a truck up and down busy streets in Wichita falsely claiming the so-called Tiahrt Amendment “puts police at risk.”
“I am no longer surprised with the outrageous claims made by this group,” said Tiahrt. “It is unfortunate that a few media outlets and advertising companies are actually willing to publicly disseminate this misleading and blatantly false propaganda.”
At issue is a campaign urging repeal of the Tiahrt Amendment, which prohibits the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) from releasing gun trace data to the public. The ATF gun trace database contains investigation-specific information and is made available to law enforcement agencies and prosecutors for criminal investigations. The ATF and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the nation’s largest law enforcement organization, support the Tiahrt Amendment and have requested its reauthorization every year since 2003. Both organizations claim repeal of the Tiahrt Amendment would jeopardize ongoing criminal investigations and risk the lives of undercover law enforcement officers.
The organization Mayors Against Illegal Guns is behind the Tiahrt repeal campaign. The group claims to have the support of numerous police chiefs across the country, which is also misleading according to National FOP President Chuck Canterbury.
The Tennessee House has unanimously passed a measure to amend the Tennessee Constitution to further protect the rights of hunters and fishermen.
House Joint Resolution 108 reads, “The citizens of this state have a right to hunt, fish, and harvest game and fish, subject to regulations and restrictions authorized by this constitution and prescribed by law. When reviewing such regulations and restrictions, a state court shall utilize a rational basis standard, as the standard has been defined by state courts through case law. This section shall not be construed to abrogate any private property rights, the state’s sovereignty over game and fish, or regulation of commercial activities.”
Because The Right to Keep and Bear Sporting Goods isn’t mentioned in the constitution.
So, here’s the post on the new National Instant Check System (NICS) bill. The NICS is the database that is used to determine if the purchaser of a firearm is a prohibited person. As I said before, the measure seems to offer incentives in the form of grants to states that keep their NICS data up to date. That is, the bill largely serves as a means to pay for things that are already law. Conversely, states that do not can lose law enforcement grants from the feds. In short, I’m rather unconcerned about the whole thing.
Most of the bill is 20+ pages of verbiage about grants to states to improve input of mental health records. For me, the critical language is a couple of sections that essentially let a person who was committed at some point in their lives escape the lifetime bar that now exists. The wording is a trifle awkward at times, but as I read it, if the court that committed them makes a finding that they are not a danger any more, or the state creates an entity that can make a similar finding, they’re not a prohibited person and their name comes off the NICS list.
Allowing those who have their rights revoked an opportunity to have their rights restored is a good thing. It seems there is no remedy for relief for other minor infractions (like say a non-violent felony conviction). That has been part of the law but has never been funded by the congress. Some states have provisions for the restoration of rights but they seem at odds with the feds over that. The policy of the ATF has been to follow state law, unless said former prohibited person crosses state lines. However, I will make the prediction that this portion of the law will never be funded. Why do I make that prediction? Because that’s been the case since the the Brady Law authorized the same thing.
The bill should clarify the term adjudicated mentally defective, but I’ve seen no evidence that it does. Currently, ATF policy defines that term rather broadly. I think the bill should clarify that term as open-ended definitions lead to policy issues.
The NRA’s Wayne LaPierre says unequivocally that this is not a gun gun control bill and that efforts to make it so will be opposed by the NRA. Says Wayne:
There’s been a lot of confusion and questions surrounding NRA’s position on a NICS improvement bill that’s being written in Congress. Part of the confusion comes from the fact that the anti-gun media is portraying this as a “gun-control” bill. Let me make it clear: It’s not.
The NICS bill, as written, wouldn’t expand the definition of a prohibited person. It wouldn’t disqualify anyone currently able to legally purchase a firearm. In fact, it would provide an opportunity for people who’ve been disqualified to clear their name. Right now, folks don’t have that ability. Gun owners lose nothing in the bill as it’s currently written, and in fact the bill improves the system for those who’ve been caught in the bureaucratic red tape.
So why is this being called a gun-control bill? In part because one of the bill’s authors is anti-gun Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy. It’s easy to call any piece of legislation from McCarthy anti-gun, even if it’s not. But the biggest reason the media’s calling this “gun-control” is because they’re desperate to report on a gun-control victory in Congress.
Which is basically what I said about it. Sebastian breaks it down further. He says it clarifies the definition of adjudicated mentally defective, however, I have not seen that language.
In terms of the political game being played here, the NRA snubbed Carolyn McCarthy according to the WaPo. Then, it seems the Dems snubbed the NRA by allowing her to be a sponsor. Not really relevant, but it’s some inside baseball that may be important later.
In other news, the astroturf organization funded by the Joyce Foundation got their marching orders wrong. Seems they were, at first, unhappy with the bill. Then, the post got pulled. But Google is forever. It’s quite amusing to read. They were full of sound and fury (signifying nothing, of course) and then pulled it. I’m assuming the purchasers of the astroturf said hey, it looks like gun control so shut up. Life must be hard if you’re a paid shill.
For posterity’s sake, some of Gonzo’s real boners are below the fold:
TN Rep. Curry Todd (who seems to have a last name for a first name and a first name for a last name):
Although it seems to have been clouded by other issues, the General Assembly once again faced several pieces of gun legislation this year.
Because I have a past in law enforcement, I am very much in favor of the Second Amendment, and usually have a hand in much of this legislation.
This year, I sponsored House Bill 411, which has been more commonly referred to as the “Castle Doctrine.” We did pass a version of this, expanding the circumstances under which the use of force is presumed justified. I felt this measure was vitally important; our citizens should be able to defend themselves.
He also notes some gun stats:
The facts show that in countries where gun control laws increase, so too do the crimes that those laws attempt to prevent. For example, according to the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, in Luxemburg, where handguns are totally banned, the murder rate is nine times higher than in Germany, which has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in Europe. Although Russia has one of the lowest rates of gun ownership in the world, between 1998 and 2004 Russian murder rates were quadruple American rates.
This whole area strikes me as a perfect scenario for a law school question. Under what circumstances do the police have a right to shoot dogs? Obviously, they’ll always say that the dogs were attacking, but if the police have invaded private property without a warrant, and the owner of the dogs is given no notice that they were there, how is the dog supposed to know that they were “good guys” and not the bad guys it is their job to protect against? Nothing is more dangerous than police in hot pursuit or police acting under a mistake, as unlike criminals, they’re acting under legal authority, and if you don’t know they are there, anything might happen.
Update: I linked because I thought it was cool. Now, A&E is offering me compensation for the link. Full disclosure, and all of that. So, if you buy something, I may benefit. But that’s not why I linked it. I really dig the show.
Update 2: Nevermind, I’d have to sign up for an ad network and all of that. Still, it’s a cool show which is why I linked in the first place.
Better alternative: stick fingers in ears, scream lalalalala
Via Sebastian, some hoplophobic mom is all spooked because her ex wants to teach her son to shoot. Now, here’s the deal: I don’t advocate getting everyone out to shoot. And I don’t advocate forcing people to. And I don’t advocate dragging hysterical pant-shitters to the range. But I do advocate education. Now, the kid doesn’t want to shoot (at least, that’s what mom tells us – I don’t know of many young boys that don’t want to watch stuff go boom!) and that is fine. But acting like firearms are some mythical beastie that should be avoided like uranium is not healthy. If nothing else, such an exercise would teach the kid how to safely secure a weapon. And what to do if he comes into contact with one.
That said, I have some close friends who will not have a gun in the house. Well, more to the point, the woman of the family is the hysterical kind about guns, which means the rest are. But even they have asked that I take their children shooting so that they learn gun safety as they know (this being rural Tennessee) that eventually the kids will probably be in close proximity to a weapon. Teach them what to do because ignorance kills. More importantly, the exercise would likely teach him not to be hysterical about guns, which is probably the mom’s real fear.
In answer to the question, “Will stricter gun control laws increase or reduce violent crime?”, 40% said it would have no effect at all, 16% said it would increase violent crime (only the criminals are armed. . .) and 37% said it would decrease crime.
We heard the stories about rampant gun confiscations in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. Now, a suit alleges:
For nearly two years, pet owners from the low-lying Louisiana parish of St. Bernard have accused sheriff’s deputies of having wantonly killed dozens of dogs they forced evacuees to leave behind during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, without regard to the dogs’ size or the potential threat they might pose.
One owner said her family was forced at gunpoint to leave its dog behind. Another owner said residents became frantic when, they said, they overheard one deputy claim that “once everybody’s gone, we’re going to have target practice tonight.” They claim in court papers that deputies were under ” authorization…of their superiors and employers.
Two deputies have already been indicted by a grand jury in New Orleans on charges of felony, aggravated cruelty to animals. The Louisiana attorney general’s office is investigating and this morning lawyers for a group of owners will file a comprehensive complaint in federal court in Louisiana seeking class action status for their clients.
When the shit hits the fan, the law should act like the law and not a bunch of goons.
Governor Bredesen on Monday signed into law a measure to extinguish most workplace smoking in Tennessee.
The law will go into effect in July, but the ban will not be enforced until October to give businesses time to comply. The ban would apply to most businesses, including restaurants.
Exclusions include bars or restaurants that prohibit people under 21 years old at all times, businesses employing no more than three workers and retail tobacco stores.
The market has pretty much instituted the same rules and has done a fine job regulating smoking. Where do they allow smoking in Tennessee other than bars? But someone who owns a business should decide what otherwise lawful activities they allow in that business. We don’t need big brother making those decisions.
A bill to allow the state to build its first modern toll roads passed the state Senate today by a 20-10 vote.
The Tennessee Department of Transportation would be authorized to develop two pilot toll road projects — one road project and one bridge project — under the legislation. The House is scheduled to vote on the bill during its session at 5 p.m. today.
So, in years of record surpluses, our congress monkeys decide to allow the state to build toll roads. And, of course, the increase in cigarette taxes also corresponds to record surpluses. When there’s a shortfall, they need to tax. When there’s a surplus, they need to tax.
To my fellow Tennesseans: vote every one of these morons out.
The Tyler native added to his resume last month when he won the Texas State Rifle Association’s High Power Rifle Championship at Camp Swift near Elgin, during a two-day competition.
Well, that could explain it. I await verification but I thought the truck driver looked familiar. Kinda doubtful that all those folks would be in it together.
Scientists may have figured out how to make stem cells without embryos.
Old trick: Put a nucleus from a skin cell into a gutted human egg, and let the egg’s processes turn it into an embryo, thereby producing embryonic stem cells (ESCs).
New trick: Identify the relevant processes and apply them directly to the cell, turning it into an ESC with no egg or embryo required. Pro-lifers approve the new method.
Remaining hurdles:
We’ve only done this in mice; it might be harder in humans.
We did it with viral genetic engineering; we need to find a safer method.
Some of the genes that worked also caused cancer in many of the mice; we need to find other genes.
Optimistic view: We’ll solve all these problems and fulfill the promise of stem-cell therapy.
Realistic view: We don’t need to solve the safety problems to achieve what stem cells are really about: facilitating disease research.
While I never saw anything wrong with harvesting embryos for stem cells, now that a good alternative appears promising, we should probably stop doing it. After all, it would be great if the social harm caused by abortion opponents didn’t spill over into curing diseases.
A hypothetical situation: two men who have not seen each other in a while finally decide to get together for a beer. One dude shows up at the other dude’s house. Here’s an actual conversation they might have.
Dude 1: Hey, man, what’s up?
Dude 2: Aah, not much. You?
Dude 1: Same old, same old. New TeeVee?
Dude 2: Yeah, wanna beer?
Dude 1: Sure, man.
They proceed to watch the game. To you women readers (both of you) that’s all you see. But to men, what they really said was this:
Dude 1: I understand you’ve been having a hard time lately and I’ve come to check in on you and make sure you’re OK.
Dude 2: Yeah, the new job might be more than I can handle. I think I may have overextended myself financially. Me and the significant other aren’t quite getting along like we used to. The IRS is kicking my ass. If this deal doesn’t go through, I might be screwed. I feel a bit depressed and I’m hoping that you can provide me with some advice and companionship to get me through this tough time. And I think my house has termites. What significant things are going on in your life?
Dude 1: Stressed out about raising kids. Feeling the effects of middle age. I’m kinda tired all the time. Marriage ain’t what it used to be with constant activities involving kids. I really need some more me time and alone time with my wife. I need to start working out and taking better care of myself because I want to be there for my kids when they’re older. And I should probably have this twinge checked out but I hate doctors and I hate bad news from them more. So, in the fine tradition of men, I’ll just ignore it. And, given your financial troubles, you bought a new TeeVee?
Dude 2: Yeah, not smart. But I needed something to take my mind off of things. And I appreciate you coming by and showing concern for my general well-being during this tough time. And I’m here for you.
Dude 1: You know I’ll always be there for you, in that non gay way, of course.
Yes, I know it’s broken. No, I can’t do anything about it. Some blogs don’t get picked up for some reason and some counts of inbound links don’t work right.
First Deadwood, now The Sopranos. Seriously, did you see that shit? So, Meadow walks in, Tony looks up, screen black? I thought my TeeVee went out. Feh. I am totally not watching another HBO series.
Update: In other news, I decided to check the news to be sure. Nothing there. But there are already hundreds of angry bloggers noting the same thing. Blogs: like news but faster. But they’re right, that sucked and just served to leave the door open for other crap.
Update 2: hbo.com is down. I’m guessing everyone is pissed. My prediction: a movie.
NICS deal – hey, lets’ pay for stuff that’s already law
You’ve probably heard by now that the NRA and Democrats reached a compromise on the band aid after Virginia Tech err NICS improvement act. Overall, not a bad deal, really. It looks to have a means of getting firearms rights back if convicted of minor infractions. Of course, currently this was the case but Congress never funded it nor did Congress fund appeals to have rights reinstated. Looks like the feds will be picking up the tab for the checks and offer incentives to states to keep the database up to date (which it rarely is because there were not standards and each state was on their own). I wonder how this will affect states that have their own system, like Tennessee.
The law may result in more criminals getting their hands on guns. That’s especially true if more citizens seek permits to carry guns in their vehicles and those vehicles are broken into.
Well, simple solution is to repeal restrictions where guns can be carried (like bars, .gov property, etc.) so folks don’t have to leave them in their cars. I mean, if it will get guns off the street and save just one life, it’s worth it. For the children.
And we don’t have permits to carry in our vehicle. We have permits to carry handguns.
I noticed since the NYT ran their piece on black rifles, that I’m getting quite a few google hits for the term. Be careful though as black rifle disease is a serious disorder that eats up time and money:
“Unbelievable” was the reaction from PetPAC today after Members of the California State Assembly voted 41-38 to outlaw the existence of mixed-breed dogs and cats in the Golden State.
Assembly Bill 1634, authored by Los Angeles Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, will allow only select purebred dogs and cats to breed. Pet owners who don’t sterilize their mixed breed pets by four months of age will face a $500 fine and possible criminal penalties.
“This crazy measure will end up costing families heartache and taxpayers billions,” said Bill Hemby, Chairman of PetPAC, an organization dedicated to the rights of pets and owners. “California will be the poster child for an invasive and overreaching government mandate that is impossible to fund, administer or enforce.”
AB 1634 will blanket all 58 counties in California with an expensive forced spay/neuter law that not all shelters want – or need. According to the State of California, dog impounds have fallen 86% over last 30 years. Puppies and kittens are already being transferred between counties to alleviate a shortage of adoptable pets: San Francisco and Marin Counties need to bring pets in from other areas to be adopted locally. In San Diego County – which has no mandatory spay/neuter law – only one adoptable animal was euthanized in 2004-05.
a few distinct differences account for the different breeds. However, some supposedly different breeds have been found to be genetically identical. And some dogs are genetically closer to wolves than other dogs.
And the wolf kept locked in its genome everything that was necessary to make a Pekingese to a Great Dane.
But then given how politicians typically deal with dog issues, I don’t find this sort of stupidity surprising.
Update: And who exactly determines pure breds? There’s only about two dozen registering entities.
The Knoxville News Sentinel breaks a story today about extravagant spending from the humble public servants of Knox County.
Do any of you spend over $300 for dinner at a restaurant? Sounds like John Edwards “Two Americas”. Like John Stossel says, “It’s your money”.
From the News Sentinel:
County Commission Finance Committee Chairman Paul Pinkston blasted the county mayor’s staff Thursday night over credit card expenses for meals in Knox County, travel and one trip that included a charge of $917 for a hotel stay in Beverly Hills, Calif.
The credit card expenses dominated the commission’s agenda during a public hearing on the budget – expenses that totaled $715,537.51 over a period of less than three weeks.
Those charges are for the use of all 350 credit cards issued to employees across the county, including school workers and those in other departments.
A $187 charge to Club LeConte by Cynthia Finch, the senior director of community services.
A $351.15 charge to Morton’s of Chicago in Nashville by Ragsdale.
A $322.61 charge to the Palm Restaurant in Nashville by Ragsdale.
A $290.96 charge to Morton’s of Chicago in Nashville by Finance Director John Werner.
A $322.61 charge to the Palm Restaurant of Nashville by Werner.
The new NFA handbook that I linked in the past is creating quite a stir in the NFA weapons community. Apparently, the handbook has some new rulings and those seem to be designed entirely to make the life of those who work with guns hard. Some examples from subguns.com:
1.) The outfit doing the parkerizing is also a “manufacturer”, and must therefore be an 07/C2.
2.) Since this is a transfer of a post-sample, and not at the request of a LEA, this process must first be granted a variance from ATF to allow the refinisher, who is a “contractor” in this scenanio, to receive the post-sample without a demo letter.
3.) The contractor, in this instance the shop applying the finish, is required to mark the firearm with their manufacturing information, unless they request a receive a variance from the requirements.
Yes, someone basically applying a coat to a firearms is now a manufacturer.
whoever cuts down your barrel had better be a 07/C2 as well or they are committing a felony
Whoever cuts your barrel on your lawfully registered short barreled rifle must be a licensed manufacturer.
No more 80%?
They say it’s also designed to apply the 11% federal firearms excise tax more liberally.
Seems that any work on an NFA items is now manufacturing. So, if you have multiple customizations done, each manufacturer must stamp the firearm receiver. Wow. It seems the ATF is trying to get the little guy out of the game as only the big players can succeed in this environment.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Thursday won an early round in his high-profile campaign for greater access to federal gun-tracing data.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., said she would remove language from a massive spending bill that restricts how much information the government can share about the dealers and purchasers of guns used in crimes.
The language, known as the Tiahrt amendment, has been part of appropriations bills every year since 2003, when Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., first offered it.
While the bill remains in the early stages of review in a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, Mikulski’s action as chairwoman of the panel makes it more difficult for the Tiahrt amendment to survive this year.
“It is time to remove this provision to help bring corrupt gun dealers to justice,” Mikulski said.
A House subcommittee is taking up its version of the bill next week.
This honored tradition went completely unchallenged until the 1900s. Then New York passed the Sullivan Act in 1911, one of the first gun control laws. This law required that firearms small enough to be concealed on a person be registered. This state law became a test measure for future gun control laws.
IIRC (and there is no guarantee I do) the first gun control law in this country was passed in Tennessee to disarm blacks and poor. The law basically said the only handgun allowed was some expensive Colt and, of course, poor folks couldn’t afford that one handgun.
I guess I’ve arrived as a blogger since people are sending me free books. I received John Lott’s (website here) Freedomnomics yesterday. Made it through two chapters. One of the interesting things the book says it will discuss (and a theory I’ve heard before) is that the increased size of our federal government is tied to women’s suffrage. Don’t know yet what Lott says about it but the theory I’ve heard is that women tend to be a bit more, err, protectionist.
Lott’s book is also a counter to Freakonomics, which I’ve been meaning to read.
Annapolis narcotics officers hit the wrong apartment last night while serving a search and seizure warrant, terrorizing the four tenants and damaging their home.
All those reports that said violent crime in DC was declining were horse shit:
Violent crime in the District jumped nearly 9 percent last year, the latest police statistics show — a big turnabout from earlier claims that the numbers had dropped from the previous year.
Police revised the yearly crime tally after turning up major discrepancies in their crime databases, officials revealed yesterday. An internal review uncovered crimes that were misclassified or not counted, officials said.
The new figures show significant increases in assaults and robberies, in marked contrast to the preliminary tallies released at year’s end. Police officials first flagged questions about the record-keeping last summer and have been working to reconcile the numbers. But they made no mention of these problems when they provided the rosier crime outlook in December.
Al Sharpton has come forward to claim a double standard exist in the treatment of Paris Hilton who was released under house arrest and must wear an ankle bracelet for the remaining 40 days of her sentence for DUI.
So after the Steve Gilliard “Nashville is Talking” dustup of 2007 we now have Al Sharpton of all people claiming there is a double standard in America.
This weeks Pot and Kettle award goes to Al Sharpton. Runner up Jesus General, aka Patriot Boy, was unavailable for comment.
Al Sharpton said, “Though I have nothing but empathy for Ms. Hilton whom I have met and appeared with on Saturday Night Live the night I hosted in 2003, this early release gives all of the appearances of economic and racial favoritism that is constantly cited by poor people and people of color. There are any number of cases of people who handle being incarcerated badly and even have health conditions that are not released.
I have served several sentences for civil rights and civil disobedience actions and I even fasted which caused health concerns to prison authorities who paid for a doctor to come see me daily rather than release me. This act smacks of the double standards that many of us raise.”
This parliamentary crap goes on all the time. Bills are brought up and bills are passed just to make a statement or prove a point or settle the score and it is all hid behind this pomp and circumstance.
I understand we have to have a legislature but do we need two separate bodies? It seems like if we were able to merge our two bodies into one unicameral legislature we would have somewhat less of this nonsense.
Au contraire, mon cracker. This is one case in which the Leviathan gets my support. I like when there’s a pissing match between them. It keeps them from doing really stupid stuff. When a large group of politicians agree on something, it’s probably bad for me and you. Hell, I think six houses would be good.
Police arrested Charleeda in 2001 after she and fellow gang members admitted dumping the badly mutilated body of a young man — shot at close range in the head at No Guns’ offices — near her dad’s property in San Bernardino. The victim was found with his hands and genitals badly burned.
This was the treasurer of the anti-gun group No Guns, who received $1.5M in grants.
I’ve known (well, as much as you can know someone on Al Gore’s Internets) Andy Axel for a while. He and I have probably agreed on issues a sum total of two times in all that time and those agreements were with respect to the Brittney Gilbert dust up and brands of air rifles. Andy has always had a sharp wit and displayed intellectual honesty and integrity when we disagreed. And he’s not afraid to throw civility out the window when warranted. I know nothing about the guy other than through his opinions expressed at various blogs and forums. He can eviscerate those with whom he disagrees and he does so quite handily. Exhibit A:
It’s the daily death by a thousand cuts, and the guy almost always wielding the knife for the coup de grace in this godforsaken place always seems to have a donkey on his lapel. (And I do mean “his.”) And then we get to play laughingstock to the smug, self-righteous “fuck the South” types. Not saying that Tennessee doesn’t earn it at times, but Brittney Gilbert sure as hell didn’t. These people conveniently forget: If Al Gore had spent five minutes here, he’d probably be president today.
Great. Your scalp is claimed. Now take that flickering “conscience” you claim to possess, and feel free to wander back to your Tom Schaller books, continue to write off all the people of the South, continue blithely to claim that you were 100% in the right, smugly to assign blame to victims, and know that you didn’t make a damned bit of difference to help drain the swamp of pervasive racism in the South. You just pissed on the margin of it.
He can bring the righteous verbal smack down. He’s not a hack. We don’t agree on much but I respect the guy. And that’s the difference between him and some schlub like Oliver Willis.
A meeting on preventing gun violence scheduled at the Centreville Regional Library for June 4 was canceled because pro-gun activists were videotaping it.
About 30 people showed up for an informational meeting about gun laws organized by the Million Moms March of Northern Virginia, according to Terry Hartnett, past president of the organization.
Before it started, organizers asked two men associated with the Virginia Citizens Defense League wanting to videotape the meeting to sign a handwritten contract promising to use any “photographic representations” recorded for private use only.
One of them refused, and the meeting was canceled, said Hartnett, a Burke resident.
“We just want to have meetings without everything getting distorted and ending up on YouTube,” Hartnett said.
