This blog is a year old.

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

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

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

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

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

Amendment 8:

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

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

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

These are too darn funny!

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

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

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

Kathy writes:

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

Werd!

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

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

Losers.

Which is more dangerous? Rodger knows.

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

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

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

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

As Kim du Toit points out:

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

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

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

From Bloomberg:

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

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

Been checking out Mars. Here what it looks like:

*

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

*

Yup, not real exciting.

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

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

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

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

Another RINO.

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

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

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

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

Via Bubba, the Rocky Top Brigade welcomes:

Hypotheses Non Fingo, another space blog.

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

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

Welcome all!

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

Jeff has the weekly bias chart up. Go read.

Per this:

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

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

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

Are they buying phones and fax machines?

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

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

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

Per this:

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

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

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

I said it would happen quite a few times.

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

outlaw marketing products to children.

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

limiting sweets (and banning junk food) in schools

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

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

Update: This post by Bubba illustrates my point.

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

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

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

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

Abercrombie & Fitch Claims 22 Ownership.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*shit hits the fan

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

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

Per this KNS article on website construction:

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

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

Thanks to AlphaPatriot, I am now a marsupial.

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

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

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

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

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

We here at SayUncle are fair and balanced.

Chuck alerts me to an article on Guns and Kids.

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

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

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

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

I am reminded of the Wanda Sykes’ joke:

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