You can call it chili with beans but you cannot call it chili.

I could give my chili with beans recipe but just listing the ingredients will cause your cholesterol to rise by 10 points.

Via R. Neal, looks like Blount County Commissioner Wendy Pitts Reeves has a blog. Excellent. We need more blogging politicians.

Second amendment carnival.

You may recall my past coverage of this case. If not, it’s here. The Cliff’s Notes version: Police get warrant to arrest Diotaiuto for selling drugs. They get a no-knock warrant because Diotaiuto has a concealed handgun permit, he is therefore automatically dangerous. Police bust down door. Something happens and we’re not sure because the story changes each time but police say he had a gun. The police put 10 rounds of 9mm into Diotaiuto’s chest, killing him. The police found less than one ounce of marijuana.

The family filed a lawsuit last week:

In addition to the city, the suit names as defendants Detectives Andre Bruna and Sean Visners, the two officers who shot Diotaiuto; Police Chief David Boyett; the SWAT team leader and two other SWAT members who broke down Diotaiuto’s door.

Other details:

About 6:15 a.m., police broke into the home. Neighbors have said the SWAT team didn’t knock or announce its presence before breaking in. The department said the officers did both.

After tossing a diversionary grenade, officers followed Diotaiuto to his bedroom closet, where, police said, he armed himself with a handgun. Bruna and Visners shot Diotaiuto 10 to 13 times in two volleys after he pointed the gun at them, they said, according to the grand jury’s report.

The lawsuit said Diotaiuto fell in the closet after the first volley, and was shot in the top of his head, hand and knee from 3 feet away in the second volley. The lawsuit also said the department for 3 minutes delayed an EMS crew from entering the home and treating Diotaiuto.

“The opportunity in that 3-minute time span provided an opportunity to get together and change some facts around,” Scherer said.

The facts have changed many times since this happened.

Stops 50 cal at point blank range. And an M-60. Sweet.

In comments here, from nk:

Saint Michael sees God busy at work and asks, “What are You doing, Lord?”
God says, “I’m making the world”.
Saint Michael asks, “What’s Your plan?”
God says, “I’m trying for balance. Arid deserts and lush valleys. Rocky mountains and rolling plains. Humid jungles and pleasant beaches. Wolves and deer. Snakes and eagles. Well … you get the picture.”
Saint Michael says, “I understand but You missed a spot. There’s this beautiful little island in the North Atlantic that’s never too hot or too cold, has no wolves or snakes, no inhospitable mountains or dry deserts. Where’s the balance there?”
And God says, “Wait till you see what bastards I’m giving them for neighbors”.

A holiday of my people, the Irish. Sigmund Freud once said of the Irish:

Update: Made it green so you can’t pinch my blog

I mentioned before that I was boycotting Pilot Oil because Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam is a member of the Joyce Foundation-funded Mayors Against Guns. And his family owns Pilot Oil. Apparently, the boycott has other followers too.

Thanks to my referral logs, I discovered that Say Uncle is also the name of a gay porn movie.

I went to the grand opening of the new Maryville Wal-Mart to 1) annoy hippies and 2) snatch some 12 pack Coke products for $2.80. The top 5 things I saw there:

1 – Instead of importing products from slave shops in China, they just imported some Chinese children. They keep them in a big glass dome in the center of the store where you and your kids can watch them work their fingers to the bone.

2 – New buggies!

3 – Youngest employee: 73 years old.

4 – Union flyers

5 – All employees were wearing vests that said: Welcome to Wal-Mart; Death to Small Business

Over at legally armed, they have some:

Knox County # of handgun permits: 11,361

Blount County # of handgun permits: 3,992

State total: 202,585

Sick Kids + Mrs. at Conference = Light Blogging

Each kid has it coming out of a different end. Not fun.

Sorry, but if your comic art looks like this, you shouldn’t make fun of other web-pages’ header graphics. As a bonus: my header is actually funnier.

BTW, header was designed by The Comedian. But I have been thinking about changing it.

Over at subguns, they’re reporting that Century’s Romanian PSL-54c (a semi-auto AK lookalike) has been reclassified by the ATF as a machine gun. Apparently, the receiver has hole in it for the auto sear. Century has welded those holes shut but that isn’t good enough. Once a machine gun, always a machine gun.

The ATF crackdown on semi-autos continues.

Update: And if you have a Century Kalashnikov style rifle, you may want to pop the receiver cover off and have a peak inside to see if there’s a weld in there.

That’s the punchline of this joke.

Over at B-Krumm’s joint, Braisted on the governor wanting the authority to take weapons in an emergency:

I don’t think that the Legislature should uniformly strip the Governor of the power to protect all citizens in the event of a crisis.

As I said there, Confiscation of weapons would not “protect all citizens in the event of a crisis.” It would only ensure that mobs were more powerful and more dangerous. Or, rather, that individuals would be powerless against mobs.

Update: and the Hitler references are stupid.

AC notes:

It appears that Phil Bredesen has a a beef with Senate Bill 1597 which would prohibit the Governor from confiscating weapons from law-abiding citizens or restricting the ability to purchase guns and ammunition during times of natural disaster or declared emergency. The Governor currently has this authority.

Republican Leader Mark Norris is receipt of a letter from Mary Freeman, the Governor’s Director of Legislation, requesting he “consider halting further action” on Senate Bill 1597. The missive states that the administration “disagrees with the intent of this legislation and therefore cannot support it.”

That, my friends, is infinitely disturbing. Why do you think we have the right to bear arms? For times of peace and tranquility?

It is disturbing. I find it pretty deplorable that the administration would entertain the notion of confiscating arms or restricting their sale during a time when said arms are most likely to be needed. I also find it quite odd as Bredesen has been pro-gun and even signed into law SB1658 which states:

The sheriff or chief of police of the city of residence of a person purchasing any firearm, defined by the National Firearms Act, 26 U.S.C. 5845 et seq., shall execute within fifteen (15) business days of any request all documents required to be submitted by the purchaser if the purchaser is not prohibited from possessing firearms pursuant to § 39-17-1316.

The bill in question is here.

The governor can be reached at:

Governor’s Office
Tennessee State Capitol
Nashville, TN 37243-0001

Phone: 615.741.2001
Fax: 615.532.9711
Email: phil.bredesen@state.tn.us

Seems that the .gov would rather let Angel Raich die an agonizing death than smoke a little weed. Jed says it for me:

You know the drill; even if the state in which your reside and smoke has legalized medical use of marijuana, the feds can still bust your ass. It is a disgrace and an abomination that the federal government is spending our tax dollars to go after people who are sick and dying. Neither Angel Raich, and others like her, nor those who grow pot to supply these people, are a in any way a public harm or threat. So why do we treat them like criminals?

In The War on Drugs, drugs are winning.

One you’ve seen a bit of lately and will continue to see more of.

Xrlq noted the comparisons here. Now, GLN wants some info. He notes:

Parker v. District of Columbia challenged D.C. law based upon its effective prohibition of ownership. The short story is that you had to register your handguns sometime in 1976 or 1977. After that date you could not legally register any handgun, so no new handguns were legal.

Additionally, young people were prohibited from ownership as transfers are not allowed. Legal registrations required you to be 21, so all registered handguns in D.C. are now owned by those over 50.

This implementation of a firearm ban most resembles the Hughes Amendment to FOPA 86. Since May 19, 1986, no new full auto firearms have been added to the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record (NFA 34 database).

Any law that imposes registration on firearms and then a subsequent law prevents adding to that registry is a target.

Repeal of online gaming ban sought:

Barney Frank, the Democratic chairman of the powerful House financial services committee, is working on legislation to repeal the sweeping ban that was passed in Congress last year against online gaming, he told the Financial Times in an interview.

Mr Frank called the ban, formally known as the Unlawful Enforcement Gambling Act, one of the “stupidest laws” ever passed and said he wanted to “repeal” the law.

Also, former NY Senator and poker player Al D’Amato has joined the Poker Players Alliance as chairman.

Over at Traction Control, there’s more second amendment links than you can read.

Now that The Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Ownership has a blog, their lies can be addressed in comments. I find it particularly amusing that, so far, every post I’ve read over there has significantly more pro-gun comments than anti-gun. Any way, Helmke is bleating about judicial activism in the Parker case. Have at thee.

Take the hint, guys. No one is buying what you’re selling.

Courtland Milloy has a screed against the new found freedom in DC to freely own a handgun carry it from one room to another. He cites (incorrectly) the Kellermann study:

Several studies have shown that a gun in the home is up to 22 times more likely to be used for suicide or to kill a family member than to fend off a burglar.

It’s one study. The study showed it to be 43 times more likely. And the study is misleading because included in the number are murders of one criminal by another who live at the same house. Also, the study completely discounts any defensive gun use that does not result in someone’s death (which is estimated to occur between 750K and 2M times per year, depending on who you talk to). If you’re going to use bogus statistics at least get the bogus statistics correct.

The rest of his screed compares gun owners to children.

By a score of $750, Aquafina wins.

Conversely, hats off to IBM repair service. It went like this:

Monday: I call. They tell me a box is on the way
Tuesday: Get box. Ship it
Wednesday: They get box. Call me with damage assessment
Thursday: I should get my laptop back

Excellent service.

I’d like to give a shout out to my homey, Christian Trejbal.

I see from my logs that you’re reading this post. No doubt, looking for the evil midnight bomber what sends mailing labels at midnight.

Stick around, you might learn something. Such as: yes, you are allowed to publish public information but that doesn’t mean you’re not an asshole. It does mean you’re an unethical nitwit.

In other news, no extra police patrols were ordered for the 135,000 concealed carry permit holders whose name and address you published at The Roanoke Times.

And you’re still a pussy.

Update: They’re fast at The Roanoke Times. They read this post too.

Not here but here.

One of the worst decisions by Knoxville Mayor Haslam and his administration was the approval and installation of Redflex Red Light cameras. But much worse than that decision was the decision not to change the Yellow Light timing to ensure traffic safety.

Whether this was oversight, incompetence, or greed will be difficult to ascertain. The engineering department of the City of Knoxville has stated it is too expensive to change the Yellow Light timing. Some think it is about the money. The Redflex system has already earned over two million dollars with a portion of that money going to the City of Knoxville.

One man has decided to go over the head of the Haslam administration and take this to the Tennessee General Assembly. That man is Rep. Joe McCord, the Republican from Maryville. Rep. McCord has introduced a bill that will require Yellow Light durations to be set at 5 seconds at all intersections where cameras are set up to photograph motorists.

In a story in today’s News Sentinel McCord was reported as saying, “he has heard reports that the yellow lights on Knoxville’s monitored intersections are set at 3 seconds to boost ticket revenue.”

Thank you Joe McCord for standing up for the people that have to drive on Knoxville’s streets. The first goal should be safety not revenue.

Rep. McCord’s bill mandates, “that the yellow, or caution, light be set at 5 seconds at all intersections where cameras are set up to photograph motorists. Another portion of the bill would forbid local governments from contracting with private companies to operate red light camera systems.”

Effectively this would end the contract between Redflex and the City of Knoxville.

I wonder if the Yellow Light duration will be changed now? Well Mayor, what do you think?

Christian Trejbal, the pants-shitting editorial writer who published a list of concealed weapons permit holders in Virginia and compared them to sex offenders, continued his pants-shitting:

Extra police patrols were ordered Tuesday at the home of a newspaper editorial writer after a suspicious package was delivered there following a storm of criticism of a column he wrote about concealed weapons permits.

What was in the package? Mailing labels:

The brown cardboard box about 15 inches by 15 inches was full of mailing labels similar to those used by mail delivery services, Sisson said. He said the package had been delivered by a DHL truck and left at the front door.

Pussy.

Clayton Cramer notes that Parker is about as good as it gets for a test case:

4. Unlike many of the right to keep and bear arms cases that have worked their way up through the courts over the years, where the defendant is a criminal of some sort, or at least an unsympathetic character, such as Dr. Emerson in USA v. Emerson (5th Cir. 2001), we have squeaky clean plaintiffs on this case, so the Court doesn’t have to worry about releasing a criminal if they make the right decision.

5. Rather than directly challenging the bearing of arms, or the right to own some rather unusual or exotic weapon, this case involves the right to have a loaded and functional handgun in your home for self-defense. This is about as much of a no-brainer as there can be for the courts. While the decision doesn’t directly challenge the constitutionality of a handgun registration law, it does make it clear that the current DC strategy of prohibiting new registrations for handguns is unconstitutional.

Via Les, who I’d also like to strangle for giving me an ear worm.