At Subguns.com, we learn that the judge has issued a witness sequestration order. This prevents witness from discussing the case. As such, there have been no new updates from the folks attending the trial.

You local gun nuts here in town should note that Coal Creek Armory is having a special in honor of National Ammo Day:

To make it easier to do your part on National Ammo Day, just bring a printed copy of this post into Coal Creek Armory on Saturday the 19th, and receive 10% off your ammunition purchase. Such a deal!

What if I want a gun part? Like say the Olympic 9MM flattop upper receiver I’ve been pestering Tam about?

Or local news agency falls for porn site scam. WATE:

Public places you are likely to visit in your daily activities, like shopping malls, hardware stores, parks and local colleges, are being advertised on the Internet as places to meet up for anonymous sex.

A Web site called cruisingforsex.com is where men can search for places in our area to solicit casual sex.

The places advertised on the Web site might surprise you. They’re also raising concern among some people.

“A lot of these places we go, and we were at yesterday and today,” said James Baker. “It’s unreal that it’s like that.”

The Web site provides step-by-step instructions that take you to public restrooms where men claim to meet for a sexual encounter.

Kathy Kimbrough says the site is going too far. “You wouldn’t let your children or grandchildren go into the restrooms like that if you knew this,” she said.

The Web site lists meetup points inside local malls, several locations around the UT campus, some retail stores.

The site even tells you the best times to go for an encounter.

I went to the site and it’s porn site. Primarily, it’s a gay porn site. But later in the article, we get:

After 6 News uncovered information about local spots for this report we contacted several places about the listings.

Lowe’s Home Improvements was first to respond back, saying, “We are not aware of such activity taking place in any of our stores. We are very concerned about the listing and our attorneys will be contacting the Web site asking that Lowe’s name be removed immediately.”

The University of Tennessee also responded to our call.. We were told University Police are aware of the locations listed on the Web site. They say the have made necessary repairs to the facilities listed, which included locking one bathroom.

So, what we have here is no indication that WATE actually knows that there has been sex going on in these locations. Here’s a newsflash: despite what Al Gore’s Internets tell you, there are no young hot teens who want to meet you for sex. If someone fell for this and thought they’d have anonymous sex at Lowe’s, I’d like to introduce them to my cousin who is a general in the Nigerian army. Feh.

Update: Some people in comments tell me this may actually be real. However, unless the reporter in this case actually arranged a meetup or someone else can confirm it, I ain’t buying into it because I don’t believe everything I read on Al Gore’s Internets and you shouldn’t either.

And I do believe that people try to arrange said encounters. What I have trouble buying is that it happens at Lowe’s and is coordinated through a site that seems to make most of its money off of porn ads.

this week any way.

Yesterday, in reference to an old pic I posted of Politically Incorrect Dog, Tom asked:

Dude, you don’t have a newer picture than that?

Turns out, I don’t have many. I was perusing through our picture files for dog pics and lately we’ve not taken many. However, we have no less than 11,000 pics of the baby. When it comes to pictures, it seems new baby trumps dog.

But here’s one:

Notice the Christmas tree in the background? Yesterday’s pic in the sombrero was actually taken this week. This one, a year ago.

Tom takes it on. And calls me an asshole.

Publicola has a lengthy post detailing his Garand. I have seen Publicola’s Garand and can say that it is the prettiest Garand I have ever seen.

Over at Brutal Hugs, they address Alito’s job application:

I find Alito’s view that we shouldn’t take seriously anything said in the pursuit of employment to be quite odd. I wonder what to make of the fact that all his recent explanations and assurances are just stuff he is saying while applying for another job– Supreme Court Justice.

Over at the Jawa Report, a soldier reviews military weaponry. There is, as is apparently obligatory in these things, the classic debate of AK v. AR, AR v. M1A, 45ACP v. 9MM, AR Sucks debate going on in comments.

Jeff has the latest on gun bias in the media.

Blake writes us a letter on red light cameras:

A recent study found that accidents have gone up dramatically (83 percent) at the intersections where cameras had been installed. However, both accidents and tickets issued have gone down by half after the yellow light timing was increased by one second, and we know that a city hates doing that due to the loss in revenue. In fact, Ft. Collins delayed adding other cameras because of the drop in revenue (from $3000 to $1125).

It’s never been about accidents. It’s about cash. Blake recommends we buy PhotoBlocker.

Nathan Moore writes:

Well, I don’t blog anonymously. My ego demands otherwise. However, to compare anonymous bloggers to terrorists is without a basis. Public officials get little benefit of the defamation laws anyhow, so I’m not at all sure what Ms. Stout thinks she has to stand on by attacking anonymity.

Meanwhile, Michael Silence says:

I’m missing something in all this. When did personalities trump policies and ideas? (Did cable TV do that?) What is there to fear from anonymous blogging? One can read those blogs and weigh them on their content. I’ve read SayUncle for more than three years and find it to be one of the best in the area. I don’t need to know him, although I do, to know where he’s coming from. Agree or disagree, his arguments are clear and concise.

Thanks for the compliment. The reason people don’t like anonymous bloggers can be summed up by a comment left by Ravenwood:

It’s simple really. They hate your anonymity because it makes it that much harder to silence you.

Ayup.

A ban on politically incorrect dogs:

City supervisors passed a new set of laws requiring spaying and neutering of pit bulls five months after the fatal mauling of a 12-year-old boy by his family’s pit bulls.

Tuesday’s decision came in the face of a threat of a ballot initiative to overturn a tough new state dog law. It is the latest move in the contentious debate about how to regulate pit bulls after the death of Nicholas Faibish in June.

“This will serve as a model for other cities in how to responsibly craft laws and policies that deal with dog aggression,” said Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who wrote the ordinances. “We needed to do something.”

Yes, we must do something even if it won’t work or make a bit of difference. Breed specific legislation doesn’t work. People will just find another breed.

Dufty said that over the next two to three years, the rules will reduce the number of pit bulls in the hands of irresponsible owners.

They’ll just switch breeds.

The ordinances also require city permits to breed pit bulls and prohibit owners of pit bulls or pit bull mixes from retrieving impounded dogs unless the animals are sterilized.

Owners who refuse to spaying or neutering would face fines of up to $1,000. Breeders of show dogs recognized by a kennel club would be exempt. The ordinances are scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1.

There are quite a few unethical show dog breeders, puppy mills come to mind.

That’s not a bulldog, this is a bulldog:

Update: Fine, here’s a bulldog in a sombrero. Actually, it’s a sun hat but don’t tell him. He gets defensive when we dress him like a girl:

See, I told you:

Vice President Dick Cheney was heckled by protesters Tuesday as he spoke at the groundbreaking for a public policy center honoring former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker.

During Cheney’s brief remarks, about a half-dozen people protesting the war in Iraq yelled, “War, what is it good for?” and held up a large banner saying, “Peace Now.”

Cheney continued speaking and didn’t acknowledge the protesters, who were escorted from the ceremony inside the University of Tennessee’s basketball arena.

I’ve covered this plenty of times but here’s the latest at The Daily Times:

Citizens for and against a proposed civic arts center have one thing in common: they’re busy lobbying their county commissioners this week.

The Blount County Commission will decide Thursday whether to fund its $11.9 million portion of the $55 million facility. Because the rest of the funding already has been committed by Maryville College, the cities of Maryville and Alcoa, and the state and federal government, the future of a civic arts center hinges on the commission.

Citizens for a Civic Arts Center held its last rally Saturday, when about 120 people including U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. walked from the Blount County Public Library to the site of the proposed center on the Maryville College campus. Co-founder Carolyn Forster said Monday that the group is working this week “making phone calls, writing letters and doing what we can to voice our support.”

“We know this is a one-time shot, make it or break it,” Forster said. “We’ve been working on this for over two years, but it all boils down to one night.”

I generally like John Duncan but the man has never seen a bit of taxpayer funded pork he won’t support. Now, from the opposition:

Meanwhile, the anti-tax group Citizens for Blount County’s Future is holding a meeting tonight for all taxpayers against using taxpayer money to build a civic arts center, said spokeswoman Linda King.

She said the taxpayers she talks to — “And I do talk to a lot of them” — all feel the same: that a civic arts center should not come from taxpayer dollars. The meeting is an opportunity, she said, for those people to get together and brainstorm the best way to make their opposition known to commissioners.

The group successfully rallied against a wheel tax in July. Commissioners decided that night to send the wheel tax back to committee and ultimately voted to hold an August 2006 referendum on the issue instead of voting in a wheel tax themselves.

I would say this boondoggle is a done deal and when the day comes (and it will) that it’s largely unsuccessful, I can take comfort in the fact that I told them so.

Update: In comments:

We could have had a new school or two

Heh.

A little background on Kim Stout. It seems the purpose of her letter is to fish out a blogger in Franklin that is well respected for keeping an eye on the Franklin government. Apparently Kim Stout would like to do a “South Knox Bubba” on the anonymous blogger that runs the “Drinkin’ the Franklin Kool Aid “. Pesky anonymous bloggers are always asking questions. Reminds me of those pesky anonymous revolutionaries that founded this nation.

A local politico, fearless leader of the GOP of Knox County, Brian Hornback writes that anonymous bloggers are cowards and have NO credibility. Hornback is a former school board member who spends a lot of time attacking the school board. Ironically Brian Hornback will not allow comments on his blog. Go figure. Not very credible is it?

Hornback writes, “My point is this, bloggers that have enough intestinal fortitude to put it out there, knowing that their identity is on the line have far more credibility than those that want to remain anonymous. When I look at a blog and the person is a coward that refuses to reveal who they are. I ignore them and tell others to ignore them, they have NO credibility. If you are going to spend your time to affect public opinion and public policy then be man or woman enough to identify yourself.”

Of course allowing comments on said blog is optional. Hornback has nice little friends like Tyler Harber that will come play with you if they figure out who you are and where you work. It’s a lot of fun; ask Jamie (Hagood) Woodson or school board superintendent Dr. Charles Lindsey. Who was it that created caswalker.com? Many people think it was Tyler Harber, able lieutenant to GOP leader Brian Hornback. Pot, kettle, you get the idea.

Keep it up pesky anonymous bloggers. We are the new press. Somebody had to step up because the politicians took over the old press. Remember the lesson learned by South Knox Bubba, the politicos will lean on you if they can.

In an otherwise decent piece on the San Fran gun ban, Stephen Chapman writes:

It’s not easy to do, but gun control advocates in San Francisco have come up with an anti-firearms measure that embarrasses even some gun control advocates.

Really? Like who? The Brady Campaign is for it. The Violence Policy Center is for it. The Million Mom March campaigned for it.

Did I leave anyone out?

Update: Mr. Chapman informs me he was referring to Zimring, Feinstein and Newsom, who were referenced later in the piece. I take him at his word. However, when I think of anti-gun advocates, I tend to think of their lobby and not the politicians.

Nothing ever is. It’s the fault of society, my parents, somebody else or any various addictions I may have. At least, that’s the message we in America hear every day.

Whitney Houston honestly believes that she is a victim of drug addiction. No Whitney, you’re a crack head with too much money.

Hillary Clinton honestly believes she’s the victim of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. No Hillary, you’ve done some questionable things in the past. And when you stepped into the limelight some of that stuff reared its ugly head. And your husband isn’t a saint.

Some old granny thought it was McDonald’s fault that she spilled coffee in her lap. No, you shouldn’t have spilled it on yourself.

And a burglar in New York City broke into a woman’s home and cut himself on the glass. And guess what! A jury said it was the woman’s fault. No, you shouldn’t have been breaking into people’s houses.

What has happened to our country? We’re too litigious, nobody is responsible for anything, and we actually sit idly by and absorb this crap. Who’s at fault? I have some ideas:

The media: They pipe this stuff into our homes and (quite often) take the side of the imbecile that thinks the bad things that they’ve done were the result of them ‘not being happy.’ Hey moron, none of us are happy all the time. Happiness comes in little tiny bursts, it’s not a perpetual state of bliss. Contentment, however, is attainable.

Lawyers: Well, someone’s gotta get rich off this lack of personal responsibility nonsense. Since lawyers and their clients make big bucks off this crap, it perpetuates.

The medical/psychiatric/therapy/self-help crowd: By far the biggest enabler of this trend. Psychology (from the Greek Psych meaning ‘to make’ and –ology meaning ‘stuff up’) has given us several new tools to avoid being responsible for ourselves. We get Chronic Fatigue Disorder to justify why we’re tired all the time, it has nothing to do with not sleeping, taking care of ourselves, or anything like that. We get Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder to explain why we can’t control our kids and must drug them into compliance (by the way, the US is the only country that actually recognizes this as a disease). We get Obsessive Compulsive Disorder to explain those little quirky things about ourselves that we don’t like. And we get Manic Depression to explain why we feel different ways at different times. And the catchall: Depression. If you’re not happy all the time, you must be depressed. None of us are happy all the time. Deal with it.

A story about me: Several years ago, there was about a two month period in which I lost (while not dieting) about 20 pounds. This is a big deal when you only weighed about 160 pounds at the time and are six feet one inch tall. So, concerned, I go to my doctor. They poke, prod, and take samples. All the tests come back and I am the pillar of good health apparently. So, my doc says he’s going to prescribe mood elevators for me. I get a nifty prescription to Zoloft. Which I took for exactly three days and threw away. It made me non-reactive to my surroundings, apathetic, and, of course, I had a problem with the erection that I had for three days straight (ordinarily, that wouldn’t be a problem but I wasn’t dating then). I called up the doctor and asked what Zoloft did. He told me it elevated my mood. I asked how. He couldn’t answer. I did some research and found out Zoloft slowed the production of serotonin, which is what makes your body regulate various processes. I stopped taking the stuff after reading the side effects and realized I was having some of them. I finally concluded I was stressed and just wasn’t eating right and all returned to normal shortly thereafter because I started eating a big breakfast. The moral: they had no idea what was wrong so they doped me up. And this behavior continues today.

Parents are willing to administer drugs to kids that are possibly addictive and could lead to kidney failure because they can’t control their kids. Since the can’t control them, the kids must have ADHD, so your local psychobabbleist will prescribe you anything you want. It has nothing to do with poor parenting skills. Doctors are willing to administer drugs to people and really don’t know what the drugs do.

Now, obviously, I’ve gone to the extreme on this. I do realize some people are legitimately depressed or legitimately have ADHD or these other ‘disorders.’ But these are definitely over-diagnosed and are used as excuses for bad behavior. Like when the woman killed her five kids because she was depressed. I really wish the medical/psychiatric/therapy/self-help crowd would take a bit more care in diagnosing this stuff. But not every single one of us who does something stupid has a psychological disorder.

I’m off to write my own self-help book. It will be entitled I’m Okay, You’re Fucked Up.

Ed Note: Not feeling it today, so this is a reprint.

James has some advice on how to draw your weapon.

Mephistophocles (which I don’t recommend you pronounce phonetically) takes on the anonymous bloggers are like terrorists silliness that I mentioned here:

This sort of thing can only be countered by maturity and culture, and I believe that the Tennesean (sic) (as a newspaper, which should, I think, be generally a furthering and promoting culture) should be ashamed of themselves for printing it. Yes, sure, everyone has the right to say what they think, but some opinions, like the people that utter them, really are assholes – and aren’t worth anyone’s time. The Tennesean, by printing this garbage, is implying that it has merit, and I believe this only serves to lower their credibility to an even more abysmal level (assuming that’s possible). I say that the rest of us take a lesson from this woman and her hatred – don’t be like her.

Read it all.

Dick Cheney will be in Knoxville today to give a speech. I wonder if any local bloggers are headed that way to cover the event or cover the protests of the event (which I’m sure will happen)?

I have to confess that I really enjoy conspiracy theories. It’s not that I believe them but I find them entertaining. And I don’t mean the Who Shot JFK variety but the explanation of the world type. You know, the New World Order, Illuminati, Masons Rule The World, Black Helicopter, and laundry gnomes. Pick any conspiracy theory like those and read about them. You won’t be disappointed. It is amazing the level of detail that true believers will get into. Seriously, they go into great detail to explain things and, sometimes, they almost make sense More importantly, they’re darn entertaining. I think there’s a market for taking any of them and making a movie or TV mini-series about them. The latest, which I’d read a while back at Knoxblab, is about a time traveler from the future who details the collapse of our society and civil war.

So, go read about John Titor, time traveler from the future with a message. Here’s a timeline of things.

Der Commissar is asking readers to nominate and vote for the greatest blog post ever. Head on over and cast your vote.

Kim Stout of Franklin, Tennessee penned a nasty little letter comparing anonymous bloggers to terrorists, that The Tennessean printed:

Regarding the political blog sites, I see no difference between cowardly terrorists hiding their faces beneath hoods and citizens spewing vile statements about public officials while not identifying themselves. If a blogger is confident in the truth of their slander, they should claim ownership of their thoughts.

Even this newspaper will not publish unsigned letters. Freedom of expression is one of the greatest things about our country, but in the name of common decency — cowards, identify yourselves. Civil discourse will always be more productive than Web sites that are channels of hate.

Kim Stout

Yup, I’m a terrorist. The Tennessean doesn’t publish unsigned letters but here’s a big list of their unsigned opinion pieces.

Kim Stout, you’re a vile, hateful and despicable sort of idiot. Stating that someone who expresses themselves anonymously is similar to a terrorist is disgusting and you should be ashamed of yourself. Sure, there are legitimate complaints one can level against an anonymous blogger but comparing them to terrorists isn’t one of them.

Update: Make that two idiots today:

Why do people read Say(s)Uncle? After his? their? little rant today against someone who thought anonymous bloggers were cowards, “he” pitched a little hissy fit and posted it for the world to see

As I said: There are legitimate complaints one can level against an anonymous blogger but comparing them to terrorists isn’t one of them.

Ricky asks:

Anyone seen these guys [Kerry and Edwards – Ed.] in black churches since November 2, 2004?

No time for that with all the hunting I’m sure they’re doing.

The latest local political scandal involves allegations that law enforcement officers who contributed to the governor were promoted, reports the Tennessean:

Two-thirds of Tennessee Highway Patrol officers tapped for promotion under Gov. Phil Bredesen gave money to his campaign or had family or political patrons who did, a Tennessean investigation has found.

Among those with such connections, more than half were promoted over troopers who scored better on impartial exams or rankings, according to an analysis by the newspaper of three years of the patrol’s promotions and proposed promotions.

Meanwhile, Stacey Campfield (who says he was beat to the punch) writes of one such promotion:

The trooper was just getting off of a suspension for wrighting (sic) tickets to dead people,had several sexual harassment claims against him as well as other questionable activity that was still being investigated. I will tell more as it becomes available and is verified.

The best law enforcement money can buy!

Ravenwood reports that some Columbus (OH) citizens became criminals last week:

Though 115 people registered, some registered more than one weapon. One person registered 45 weapons, Jones said. City officials said it’s hard to say if 115 was more or less than they expected, because no one has estimated how many assault weapons the city’s 730,000 residents own.

I’d say there are quite a few Columbus residents who have no idea they just became criminals.

With the various AR projects and AK builds I have going on, I don’t need The Judicator telling me how fun customizing a FAL is. I’d love a FAL but need to wrap up my other projects first. Though I may want to start before prices go up.

Folks in Toronto live in fear of gun violence. In the past, the politicos there blamed US guns claiming that over half of the guns used in crime came from here. Of course, that number was completely made up. Since that was made up, they now blame US guns (though they don’t give a number) and our gun culture:

Residents of Canada’s biggest city are living in fear of increasing gun violence and blame their neighbour, the United States, for exporting their gun culture and weapons north, officials told AFP.

Area police reported hundreds of shootings this year, including 46 homicides. Some 1,782 guns were seized, including a cache of illegal weapons confiscated from a local online retailer this week — Canada’s first such bust that included a bullet-proof baseball cap and a military gas mask.

A bullet proof baseball cap? I thought this registry was supposed to fix all this stuff.