In MA, you get five years for possessing some sheet metal. If you rape a child, you get up to 3.5 years. The worse crime is not complying with the state.

A visual.

In Alabama, there’s a gun shop next to a sex shop. I find it amusing that one has to state a reason to buy a dildo.

Anti-gunners keep pushing bills that say if a person is on the terror watch list, then they can’t buy a gun. Of course, the trouble is you can’t really appeal that and you have no way of knowing. And since there have been senators and babies on the list, it’s probably not accurate.

Yet, we add 1,600 to it per day.

A look at privacy rankings in the world.

People leaving NY over taxes. Businesses will be next.

Via TP, the police raid and crack open thousands of safety deposit boxes. That place is done.

Why does Nashville have 9 helicopters with thermal imaging? More than NYC.

Governor of California was in a motorcycle accident. He doesn’t have a license for one. So, he’s getting a ticket right? Right?

A law was passed requiring Amtrak to allow firearms to be checked like airlines do. Apparently, Amtrak can’t meet the deadline to implement that policy.

CNS News:

When CNSNews.com asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday where the Constitution authorized Congress to order Americans to buy health insurance–a mandate included in both the House and Senate versions of the health care bill–Pelosi dismissed the question by saying: “Are you serious? Are you serious?”

Ridefast has some reservations.

Man charged with indecent exposure after passerby sees him in his kitchen making coffee naked. Hey, it’s his castle and he can be naked making coffee in it if he wants. Even if that’s weird.

In Cali, they’re looking to ban TeeVees.

Congress looking to regulate the volume or TeeVee commercials.

Matt Welch: What Laws Will Maria Shriver Break Next Year?

Until your assistant makes a $22 error. Then you get financial ruin, one year probation, and a fine.

I think I’m going to request a copy of my FBI file. You can do it too.

Senate hearing lead by Feingold to look at the constitutionality of Czars.

USA Today:

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio says he will continue his controversial “crime suppression operations” despite a Department of Homeland Security decision to strip him of authority to arrest suspected illegal immigrants based solely on their immigration status

I can’t imagine DHS has the authority to strip an elected official of their powers. Anyone?

A look at the FTC ruling and blogs. Meanwhile, Ann Althouse notes some issues with the ruling:

The most absurd part of it is the way the FTC is trying to make it okay by assuring us that they will be selective in deciding which writers on the internet to pursue. That is, they’ve deliberately made a grotesquely overbroad rule, enough to sweep so many of us into technical violations, but we’re supposed to feel soothed by the knowledge that government agents will decide who among us gets fined.

It’s not like they’ll be selective in enforcement, now is it.

Getting your neighbors to form a community terrorist watch list. What could possibly go wrong?

Federal agents decked out in Ninja gear and SWAT weapons ransack a 60 year old grandmother’s house. They don’t answer her questions and emptied file cabinets, pulled books off shelves, rifled through drawers and closets, and threw the contents on the floor. Prior to this raid, she and her husband were under investigation for six months. The reason for the resources, SWAT teams, body armor, and all manner of anti-terror, ninja suits? Orchids.

Yes, these domestic terrorist were guilty of cultivating, importing and selling orchids. Kevin addressed the case a few years back.

The linked article has more heavy-handed buffoonery:

Krister Evertson, another victim of overcriminalization, told Congress, “What I have experienced in these past years is something that should scare you and all Americans.” He’s right. Evertson, a small-time entrepreneur and inventor, faced two separate federal prosecutions stemming from his work trying to develop clean-energy fuel cells.

The feds prosecuted Mr. Evertson the first time for failing to put a federally mandated sticker on an otherwise lawful UPS package in which he shipped some of his supplies.

I’m glad to see these incidents getting more coverage to show the stupidity involved here.

It’s not like his constituents elected him to do anything hard. Senator Tom Carper:

I don’t expect to actually read the legislative language because reading the legislative language is among the more confusing things I’ve ever read in my life.

Grandmother arrested for buying cold medicine.

You commit three felonies a day. And intent? Never heard of it.

On the PATRIOT Act:

Only three of the 763 “sneak-and-peek” requests in fiscal year 2008 involved terrorism cases, according to a July 2009 report from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Sixty-five percent were drug cases.

Been hearing a lot of these commercials on the radio about supposedly closing post office locations. Seems that congress is looking to close some branches. Not surprising. The free market does it better, faster, and guarantees results. The USPS, not so much. And then there’s email, faxes, etc. and those are cheaper and faster than mail. The ads depict doom and gloom about your mail being slow and blah blah. But at the end of the ads, they say something like this ad brought to you by your postal employees. Is the USPS buying ads to save its own skin or is there a union that does that?

The War on Food Poor People Eat. Same as why the taxes on cigarettes are far higher than the taxes on cigars.

Katherine Mangu-Ward:

I’m the average American: Take 30 percent of my paycheck and I’ll shrug. Nationalize the car companies and I’ll change the channel to cartoons. Add 10 cents to the cost of my Cherry Coke and, so help me God, I will start a revolution.

It doesn’t make a lick of sense, but that’s the way people are. Tea parties notwithstanding, trans fat regulations, smoking rules, parental advisory stickers, and light bulb bans have long been some of the best recruitment tools libertarians have.

The WaPo:

Democrats Target Bank Overdraft Charges

A backlash is brewing on Capitol Hill against banks that charge large fees for overdrafts without asking or telling customers, the latest sign that the financial crisis is shifting the balance of power from banks toward borrowers.

Banks struggling to survive have become increasingly reliant on the fees, which could total $38.5 billion this year.

But congressional Democrats, who pushed through new restrictions on credit cards this spring, now are promising a crackdown on overdraft fees, using words like “criminal” and “rip-off” to describe the practice of letting people overspend and then charging them fees without warning. Most overdrafts are now incurred on debit card transactions.

The result of this will be either interest free loans or not covering written checks. And the fees for bounced checks are usually more because, in addition to a bank fee, the place you bounce a check to probably charges a fee for that.

My Fox DC:

At least 22 states that ban texting while driving offer some type of service that allows motorists to get information about traffic tie-ups, road conditions or emergencies via Twitter.

Where Great Britain used to be:

Millionaire faces jail for attack on knife raider at his home

We’re losing the war:

A group of police and judges who want to legalize drugs pointed to new FBI numbers released today as evidence that the “war on drugs” is a failure that can never be won. The data, from the FBI’s “Crime in the United States” report, shows that in 2008 there were 1,702,537 arrests for drug law violations, or one drug arrest every 18 seconds.

Obama administration looks to extend provisions of PATRIOT act.

David Brooks is now shilling for limited government and fiscal restraint. A bit of a different tune from back when his guys ran the show. And now Republican Senators decide to fight out of control spending.

Why, it was just like yesterday that the Democrats were the party of smaller government.

One of my issues with the tea party movement is that of timing. After all, they want limited government and all that. So, where were they from about, say, late 2002 until recently? You know, back when Bush and the republican led congress was busy growing the federal government to the biggest it’s ever been in the history of the country? Anyone?

Also, Bush’s Third Term? Hope and change.

So, there’s this program called cash for clunkers. Maybe you’ve heard about it? Seems the .gov is going to give everyone who trades in an old car for a new one $4,500 and a magical pony. Program was popular, which of course means the .gov will screw it up. And it did. Seems they owe car dealers about $3B and those dealers want their money. Up next is, and I am not making this up, cash for refrigerators. Same concept: get cash if you trade in your old appliance for a newer, more efficient one. Why, it’s almost like people want to get some of their money back. So, we should just pay people to buy stuff. And that’s really a government policy. Amazing. You know what else gives people their money back? Tax cuts.

Also, in a bit of a twist, cash for clunkers seemed to help Toyota, Honda and Ford. And not Chrysler and GM. Notice the pattern? For those who did not, the bailed out companies sales dropped. Those who did not embrace governmental control of the means of production had sales increases. Beautiful.

The feds to crack down on secondhand sales. Asking folks to keep up with recalls that could go back decades is ridiculous. I was at WalMart recently and on their big poster board of recalls, I counted 58 recalls on the wall. And those were just currently released.

We libertarian sorts point out that it is to the point where there are so many laws that it’s impossible to not break them. Good thing that issue is getting some attention from law professors.

You love kimchi or hate it. There is no in between. I happen to love it. If you happen to hate, I won’t try to convince you otherwise.

That said, in The City (My The City) there is a market called, interestingly enough, The Market. Good meat selection, seafood, and locally grown veggies. I’m a fan.

Stopped in a bit back and they had kimchi. I struck up a conversation with the owner about it and how I make my own and how it’s a lot of work. He explained to me that one of his regular customers came in and said her husband, who had a terminal illness, served in Korea. And he said he wanted some good kimchi. The owner took it upon himself to track down some one local who could make it. And he did. He started selling it for her. I bought some that day in the event that it was good, so I could stop making my own. It was good. Delicious. I’d buy it all the time.

Today, I swing by to get some kimchi. And they don’t have any. I ask about it and the guy behind the counter (different guy) says that the FDA told them they couldn’t sell it anymore because the supplier was not a licensed manufacturer. Of course not. The supplier of good kimchi was a Korean lady.

Government: Keeping the world safe from good food.