Governor Huckabee has criticized Kerry and Edwards on guns and rights:

Speaking at a gun club shooting range run by the Remington Arms company, Huckabee criticized Kerry’s comments that the Second Amendment right to bear arms should stop with state militia and should not extend to individuals. The governor also cautioned Southerners not to be fooled by North Carolina Senator John Edwards as Kerry’s running mate. The governor says Edwards will try to portray himself as a fellow Southerner when he does not hunt, fish, like NASCAR racing or country music.

Emphasis added. There’s your sportsmen candidate for you. I don’t hunt or fit any of those Southerner things but I understand gun rights.

Late start today, been busy but Michael has the latest VTP up.

Blake has an update and request for help regarding Mark Lancaster.

Chris emailed this link that instructs people how to win the debate in favor of extending the assault weapons ban. It does so poorly:

An overwhelming majority of Americans support the ban.

Since, as is often reported here, the ban is misrepresented as banning machine guns, I’d say that is not really the case. After all, other pollsters have been accused of asking loaded questions, such as do you support a ban on AK47s and Uzis to imply machine guns. And the majority of Americans supported slavery and segregation too. Don’t make it right.

The prohibited guns are designed specifically for killing people. The law mentions 19 semiautomatic weapons by name, none of which can be construed to have any sporting purpose. As the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has written, “Assault weapons were designed for rapid fire, close quarter shooting at human beings. That is why they were put together the way they were. You will not find these guns in a duck blind or at the Olympics. They are mass produced mayhem.”

These guns are used in sporting competitions at Camp Perry and they serve other recreational purposes. Actual assault weapons (you know, machine guns) are designed for rapid fire. The banned weapons have the same rate of fire as a semi-automatic hunting rifle. The Second Amendment doesn’t guarantee the right to arms for sporting purposes or hunting, just the right to arms. And if you quote the Brady Campaign, you have already lost the debate.

The ban has been effective. Since the implementation of the law in 1994, ATF found that the proportion of gun crime traced to the banned weapons has fallen by two-thirds. The Department of Justice study mandated by the law controlled for other variables related to the drop in violent crime and concluded that murder rates dropped nearly 7% below what they were projected to be without the ban

Before the ban, these weapons were used in roughly 0.25% of crimes (link – see page 2). Two-thirds of an insignificant number remains insignificant. The drop in murder rate also coincided with a better economy and the increase in the number of states that issue concealed carry laws. Correlation does not equal causation. And since the guns were used in so few crimes to begin with, it likely had no effect. Even the Centers for Disease Control said that gun bans have not been shown to have an impact on crime.

Assault weapons are lethal tools for crime. They have been used in some of the most horrible crimes in recent history, including the Branch-Davidian standoff at Waco and the Stockton schoolyard massacre. Prohibiting these guns does not infringe on hunting rights or rights to self-defense—it only prevents criminals from accessing the best equipment for committing mass murder. The gun lobby’s refusal to conform to the obvious social consensus that banning tools for slaughter is a good idea shows that it places narrow special interests completely above the safety of the American people.

The Branch Davidians used machine guns in addition to assault rifles. Semi-auto versions of AK47s, as used in the Stockton massacre, are still available. They just aren’t available with more than one of a flash hider, bayonet lug, grenade launcher, pistol grip, or threaded barrel. Again, there is no right to hunt guaranteed in the Constitution and I think some Korean shop owners in Los Angeles in 1992 would disagree about them not being useful for self-defense. Lastly, the favored weapon of criminals is a cheap handgun. Assault weapons are typically expensive and are not favored by criminals, as they are only used in less than one percent of crimes before and after the ban.

SayUncle is now the number one Google for “Synonyms for fart”.

Read the whole thing.

WATE reports:

Authorities say a sports utility vehicle exploded and killed a man in a parking lot at Nashville’s largest hotel.

ATF agents say the explosion in the Range Rover happened just before midnight in a lot about a half-mile from the main entrance of Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center.

ATF agent Jim Cavanaugh said the cause of the blast hasn’t been determined. But he says investigators suspect it was a homemade bomb.

Investigators from the federal Joint Terrorism Task Force and the FBI are also at the scene of the popular resort.

Police said the powerful explosion was felt miles away. It left nothing but a shell of the SUV that was found about 200 feet from a day care center.

It will be curious to see how this pans out.

It seems that Kerry and Edwards are ranked as more liberal than Mondale and Ferraro.

This just in: SayUncle shocked to learn that Sandy Berger may be a dude.

Read the rest of this entry »

Kevin T. Keith over at Lean Left writes:

Gun-rights Web sites are crowing that the GOP is actively working to prevent any extension of the assault weapons ban – currently set to expire – from coming to a vote, even though Bush has pledged his support for the ban. The reason: Bush’s promise was a lie, and they are trying to protect him from being caught between the gun lobby and his own pledge.

The utter stupidity of the assault weapons ban aside, the politics of this thing are going to come into play and it will cost Bush votes and endorsement by the NRA if he signs the bill. The NRA is currently not endorsing Bush due to his support of the ban. They are, however, slamming Kerry constantly. My prediction is that if the ban sunsets, the NRA will endorse Bush.

Kevin continues with:

[the] above comes from a Libertarian candidate who insists that “both of the major parties are, in fact, the same” and that “the NRA is not a gun rights organization, but merely a fund raising operation for those who blindly follow GOP dictates.” Yep – there’s somebody who thinks that both the Republican party and the NRA are too liberal on gun issues! Super-right-wing whackiness aside, we need to support Senator Feinstein in her drive to attach the ban extension as a rider on current legislation.

The Libertarian candidates are incorrect. There is a difference between Bush and Kerry. Bush signed concealed carry into law in Texas and his Justice Department reversed 40 years of policy by recognizing the individual right to arms. Bush also has not actively pursued the AWB. Kerry, who never misses an opportunity to pose with a gun, would never endorse concealed carry and would actively pursue the AWB. In fact, the AWB was one of those rare bills he and Edwards decided to show up to vote for. Kerry has never seen a gun control law he hasn’t liked.

On the NRA, the Libertarians are sort of correct. There has not been a federal gun control law passed since 1934 that did not have the NRA’s blessing or that they weren’t willing to let slide to get another bill. The NRA endorsed the Gun Control Acts of 1968 and 1986. The NRA could have stopped (as the bill could have been filibustered) the 1994 assault weapons ban but chose not to because the NRA wanted the national instant background check system more to get rid of waiting periods. Not bad for an extremist gun lobby.

I am not nor have I ever been a member of the NRA. I have stated that if the ban sunsets, I will join.

Recently, when the gun manufacturer immunity bill was up for debate on the Senate floor, it was (and still is) widely believed that the NRA was willing to sell gun owners out by allowing the ban to pass in exchange for the immunity bill. The NRA, historically, has gone to great lengths to protect manufacturers (see 1968 and 1986 GCAs). They were, rumor has it, inundated with phone calls and other correspondence telling them that the ban was unacceptable and changed their minds about letting it through.

On the ban itself, there are only four reasons to support the ban:

1 – You incorrectly believe that it does actually ban AK47s, Uzis and machine guns. This is likely the case for most folks because it’s what the press constantly tells you. The ban does not.

2 – You are for gun control and think the ban is a symbolic precursor to the confiscation and/or outright ban of arms in the US, which it is. After all, even Tom Diaz of the Violence Policy Center has stated the ban is ineffective at accomplishing any thing.

3 – You’re an idiot

4 – To play politics and call Bush out on his pledge to sign the bill into law which will surely cost him votes.

I know Kevin’s not an idiot. I think his reason is either number 2 or number 4.

Maybe it’s because the ban doesn’t actually ban any guns but rather bans features:

More than 40 gunmakers in 22 states are currently marketing “post-ban” assault weapons—including UZIs, AK-47s, AR-15s, MAC-10s, Galils, MP5s, Tommy Guns, Stens, and others—according to United States of Assault Weapons: Gunmakers Evading the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, a new study released today by the Violence Policy Center (VPC), a Washington, DC-based national research and educational organization. The study also estimates that more than one million “post-ban” assault weapons have been manufactured in the United States since the ban’s passage in 1994 and warns that today “there are more assault weapon manufacturers and assault weapons available for sale than ever before.” The study proves that if the 1994 ban is simply renewed, and not strengthened, every single one of the assault weapons made by these companies and featured in the study will remain on the market, legal for sale to the American public under federal law.

Good.

They really do warm the cockles of my heart. Rick DeMent writes:

I have a strict rule, never mess with anything dangerous if you don’t know anything about it. This is why I don’t own a gun (it’s also why I don’t have a pet cobra). It’s not that I don’t like guns or that I fear guns, in the hands of someone trained in their use, who does not have evil intentions, they are a useful tool. But guns and politics don’t mix, unless you leading the revolution.

Which is why I have always thought the Assault Weapons ban is pretty stupid. Even my limited knowledge of firearms informs me that there are guns far more powerful available to anyone who whishes to own one then those banned under the AWB. Say Uncle is doing a check of left leaning types that think that the AWB is bad policy and I just thought I would count myself among them. (sic)

There’s more worth reading. Additionally, Rick’s co-blogger Dietz Smith writes in the same post:

Just wanted to let Uncle know that I have been very pro-gun as long as I can remember. I’m not completely convinced the Second Amendment grants all citizens the right to bear arms without restrictions and what’s more I don’t care. This is a right we have, as a nation, appropriated for our selves and as such would be foolish to give up.

Not all citizens, just those that aren’t criminals, insane, etc. And I don’t oppose all restrictions either. I oppose infringements. I don’t, for example, oppose registration. I oppose it to the extent it can be used as a means of confiscation. And I don’t oppose background checks. I also don’t oppose requiring licenses for concealed carry since said licenses are issued typically after competence with a gun is demonstrated.

I do oppose bans. I do oppose portions the 1934 National Firearms Act (taxing a right is illegal); the Hughes Amendment (limiting machine gun purchases to those made prior to 1986 is an infringement); and the Assault Weapons Ban (it bans arbitrary features). And I think every state should have shall-issue concealed carry permits.

No, not me. Michael Silence informs me that Tom Humphrey of the Knoxville News Sentinel will be blogging both conventions. Keep an eye out at their site for the coverage.

Mild-mannered SayUncle is actually a CPA by day. However, this stuff bores even me. Hence, accounting blogging is rare.

It is good to see the bill requiring stock options to be expensed getting blocked:

The House voted Tuesday to block a rule that would require companies to count stock options against their profits, after a party-splitting debate over corporate accountability, economic growth and jobs.

The vote was 312-111 for a bill overriding a proposal by the rule-setting board for accounting. The board wanted to force publicly traded companies to record as an expense all forms of share-based payments to employees, including stock options.

(snip)

The rule change proposed in March by the Financial Accounting Standards Board could dramatically reduce the reported earnings of many big companies, particularly in the high-tech industry where stock options have been popular.

Equity is always equity. Such a change would have a dramatic impact on profits for companies and would artificially decrease earnings. The result on the markets would probably be bad as collectively companies would be doing worse on paper. This is up for consideration due to corporate abuses (*cough* Enron *cough*).

It is not surprising to me that the Big Four accounting firms support it. After all, it gives them more work to do.

When I was in high school, there was this asshole. He was a major league asshole too. He’d pick fights with the retarded kids from special education, after making fun of them. He wanted his car painted so he intentionally rammed a grocery store shopping cart into his car figuring the grocery store would be liable for damages and pay for it (he was wrong, witnesses saw him do it). He’d intimidate kids and try to take their stuff. The list goes on. He also wasn’t particularly bright.

Then one day, he died. He died a particularly horrendous death. After drinking a bit too much, he ran off the road into a ditch that was slightly wider than his car. His car caught fire and he couldn’t open the doors because the walls of the ditch prevented him from doing so. Truly a horrible way to die and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

As you may have guessed, this asshole became the saint of the school. The school gave everyone a day off to go to the services (I didn’t go). Memorials left and right, mention in the school newspaper, special graduation memorial, the high school founded a chapter of SADD in his name, etc., etc.

All this for an asshole. What changed? Now, he was a dead asshole.

I guess when people pass on, we become forgiving. Or forgetful.

I bring this up because I was going to do a post on a professor I once had. This professor was an ideologue. For example, he had the class watch a movie on abortion that was blatantly biased toward the pro-choice side. People left in the middle of it (it was particularly offensive to any pro-lifers who may have been there) and reported him to the department head.

He also told us that when we turned in a paper, we couldn’t use the words he or she. We had to use the non-sexist word ne. I forgot the rule for his and her. Obviously, ne wasn’t an English teacher. I had written a paper and turned it in and I, while referring to a specific person who was matter-of-factly female, used the word she and her quite often. Ne tried to ding me some points for doing so but I sought out the department head and created a stink about how teachers shouldn’t allow their preferences to affect proper English.

Now, ne wasn’t an asshole. He add various little socio-political idiosyncrasies that were annoying. Ne was ideologically obtuse. Ne allowed his ideology to consume his professional life and ne wanted to exert his influence on his students and mandate they be exposed to his worldview and that they comply.

To his benefit, ne encouraged me to think by pissing me off.

I Googled up his name today to see what happened to him. Ne died of a massive heart attack at the age of 44 two years ago. Bummer.

Via Rodger:

“I’m not a vegetarian because I love animals. I’m a vegetarian because I hate plants.” – A. Whitney Brown

I am remiss in mentioning that the epic battle of good vs. evil that was being played out over at Classless Warfare is no more. Jay has moved here and Jane has moved here.

Local satire site Knoxpatch is looking for writers. Of course, it could be a joke. I’m just saying, you know.

Update: Just noticed I didn’t have a permanent link to Knoxpatch on here. Problem corrected. Of course I had to lump them in the sites without feeds category. Tsk, tsk!

It’s not a big deal, but this story on the nacho-cheese covered naked man refers to my town of residence as Marysville. The name of the town is Maryville and it’s pronounced Murvul.

Via Ravenwood.

A few lefty bloggers are stating that the Assault Weapons Ban hysteria is just rhetoric. Good for them. Yglesias tells us that the ban is basically pointless. Mark A. R. Kleiman concurs, in part.

I think more important is that Yglesias writes that the ban is a political loser:

Last but by no means least, gun control is bad politics and, at best, middling policy. The nation’s crime problem should not be dismissed lightly, but compared to other problems we face, it simply isn’t that big a deal. If you had to trade making zero progress on crime control in exchange for making progress on health care and education, you’d be crazy not to take the deal. And what’s more, there are lots of ways to make progress on crime control (the easiest step would be better drug treatment and supervision of parolees) that have nothing to do with gun regulation. The Post’s use of the term “weapons of destruction” to describe the prohibited firearms, meanwhile, is a piece of silly rhetoric worthy of the Bush administration and not of a great newspaper; one that directly recalls the president’s newfound concern about Saddam’s “weapons of mass murder.” In Rwanda they killed an awful lot of people with farm implements; that such things can “destroy” and wreak “mass murder” is neither here nor there from the point of view of designing a regulatory regime.

It’s good to see some on the left not cater to the hysteria. Some on the left get a part of it correct but it’s not a passionate issue for them. Now, if more liberals would arm themselves, we’d be on to something.

The Knoxville Libertarian tells me that UT professors make more than I would have figured.

The Democrat Party has released its 2004 platform. It says, in part, that:

We will protect Americans’ Second Amendment right to own firearms, and we will keep guns out of the hands of criminals and terrorists by fighting gun crime,

Great so far, where do I sign up?

reauthorizing the assault weapons ban, and closing the gun show loophole, as President Bush proposed and failed to do.

So, they plan on protecting our Second Amendment rights by infringing on our right to own guns? And, of course, they have a desire to close a non-existent loophole. Transactions at gun shows undergo the same procedures for dealers as they do at a gun shop.

A Tennessee man has filed suit claiming the $1M tax on hope payout wasn’t random:

Dennis Perry, a 57-year-old disabled veteran from Fayetteville, won $10,000 on June 26 during a drawing for the largest prize awarded since the Tennessee Lottery began in January. He was one of three finalists for the $1 million grand prize.

In a lawsuit filed in Lincoln County, Perry is seeking as damages the remaining $990,000 he did not win.

Perry’s attorney, Raymond Fraley, of Fayetteville, said that proving damages would be difficult. But he said mistakes made during the televised drawing kept it from being random, making the results invalid.

Perry “didn’t get to pick an envelope because it was done for him,” Fraley said. “And that goof-up involved something as important as who wins $1 million.”

Drawing rules provided that the three finalists select an envelope that would award them $10,000 or send them to the next round for possible prizes of $25,000 or $1 million. The envelopes were attached to a wheel that was spun to mix them up.

Bridget Magers-Elliott of Stantonville spun the wheel, and announcer John Dwyer of WKRN-TV in Nashville instructed her to take the envelope that was closest to where a pointer on the wheel landed.

Dwyer then told the third contestant, Mark Silor of Knoxville — who won the $1 million — to take the envelope next to that one. Perry had to take the remaining envelope.

If I understand this article correctly, they’re telling us how to get some porn:

Management at a local Cadillac dealership acted quickly to correct their web site Monday when they learned that Internet searches brought visitors to a porn site from Poland.

When 6 News went to the Knoxville News-Sentinel’s link for knoxcars.com on Monday morning, the first listing was for Airport Cadillac. But the web site had been stolen.

The dealership didn’t know their domain name airportcadillac.com had expired or had been hijacked by a porn site.

“I feel like my privacy has been invaded quite a bit on it,” said Airport Cadillac’s General Manager Marc Zlotogura.

Actually, your privacy hasn’t been invaded at all. However, your stupidity or laziness has gotten the better of you.

I wonder how many hits the site got due to this news report?

Regarding the assault weapons ban:

“If the ban is lifted, people will be able to purchase fully automatic weapons, and they will be able to use those automatic weapons,” he said. “It could jeopardize the lives of the public or police officers or others.”

The ban, of course, doesn’t affect fully automatic weapons.

Then, there’s this:

Bans on assault weapons may be well-intended, but they’re ultimately pointless.

“I didn’t do my homework on that vote,” Platts now admits. A little homework, he says, would have shown that the difference between an “assault weapon” and a hunting or target-shooting weapon is largely semantic. Put a certain fold-up stock or other feature on a legal rifle, and it becomes an “assault weapon.” They’re not “machine guns.”

Amazing. It’s like they’re talking about two different things.

Is it odd that the song Welcome to this World by Primus calms my daughter when she’s fussy? Thought so.

1 – If you ever want a good reminder of why you went to college, spend a couple of hours digging post holes.

2 – I watched the TV news today and had two stories that affirm my reasons for not watching TV news. The first story was of a tragedy where a child on a field trip slipped and fell into some rough water and drowned. The solution to prevent this was field trip checklists. Huh? Number two involved the guy that slipped and fell on another worker. As a result of the fall, the other worker accidentally shot six nails from a nail gun into the guy’s head. TV news then pointed out that nail guns hold sixty nails, shot them as fast as you pulled the trigger (a distinction not usually made for semi-automatic guns that shoot bullets), and that these guns didn’t have safeties. Again, huh? How would a safety have stopped that?

Tomorrow we’re having our party primary elections, and some non-partisan judicial elections. I’ve had the local Evil Talk Radio station on in the background, and I’ve noticed a lot of ads for Republican candidates. I wasn’t listening too closely to one of them, until I heard it disparage one candidate for being affiliated with the Libertarian Party:

“You know, the party that wants to legalize all drugs, opposes the gay-marriage amendment, and opposes President Bush in Iraq.”

Those fiends!

The top- and bottom-of-the-hour news has also mentioned that you’re only supposed to vote for candidates of one party tomorrow. Unaffiliated voters can choose Republican or Democrat, but registered Libertarians can only vote in the non-partisan contests.

UPDATE: That quote isn’t really a quote; it’s kind of what I remember them saying. I think I remembered part of it wrong; I fixed it. My bad.

One word: Yum!

1/4 cup bourbon
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
3 table spoons ground mustard
1 table spoon garlic
1/4 cup of honey
1/4 cup soy sauce

Whisk ingredients together and marinate 2 to 4 steaks in it for several hours. Grill and eat.

I told you that DeLay said that the Assault Weapons Ban will not be called up for a vote. Howard M. Metzenbaum
says:

There you have it. The president says he supports the assault weapons ban but refuses to lift a finger for it. And the powerful House majority leader — who does not support the ban — is pretending that all it would take to pass it is a word from the president.

Other reports say DeLay has affirmed that he would bring it up for a vote if Bush asked. But AWBSunset says it’s not so:

Tom DeLay never said, nor implied that the ban would pass in the House if President Bush made this “magic” phone call. In fact, you are omitting a significant fact, part of the DeLay quote you are distorting… “The House leaders have always been clear: The votes are not there in the House to extend the ban.”

Good for DeLay.