MKS asks:

A source of mine wants to know who the five most influential political bloggers in the state are. Put your responses in comments.

Kind of a tough one. After all, define influential? Do you mean influential in state politics? Influential in terms of readership? Influential in, err, any thing else?

When it comes to state politics, probably Bill Hobbs. He’s widely read by people that make decisions. Just ask him, he’ll tell you that.

In terms of getting some major coverage? Instapundit, hands down. He can bring you lots of coverage and expose you to many, many people. I’m convinced to this day that the reason the ATF decided to pay me a visit after my friend was arrested is due to Instapundit’s link, which drew a ton of attention to it.

Most influential Knox County politics blog? Knoxviews.

Most influential media blog is probably Nashville is Talking. Seriously, the folks at WKRN are doing some good stuff with blogs. Good place to go to see what Tennessee blogs are yammering on and on about.

Most influential blog for those with a penchant for guns, politically incorrect dogs, and general smarminess. Me! But that’s a very narrowly defined group which isn’t all that influential.

The various shill blogs are influential at getting supporters to step up and getting the panties of their opposition in a bunch.

There are a ton of good Tennessee blogs out there but most have little influence, including this one. We bloggers tend to influence, err, other bloggers.

Last week, Junior graduated to the toddler bed after trying to climb out of her crib. Now, at night, she’s not railed in. This worked well for about, oh, three days. Then she decided she’d sneak into our bed in the middle of the night and tell us we needed to wake up. And, there was the issue that we had to shut the dog door at night for fear she’d wonder out. Then, genius idea: I turned her door knob around so that it locks from the outside, which keeps her locked in her room.

Just thought I’d pass that on.

Update: Advice from Jay in comments

IMPORTANT SAFETY TIP: Leave one of the pin-key thingies somewhere in the room. Otherwise Junior WILL lock the door with you in her room at least once, and you’ll have to climb out the window and shinny down the farmer’s porch.

Seriously, these are the folks that make the poll? Giuliani, McCain and Romney can blow it out their ass. Frist has doomed himself. Allen is sort of OK. The best looking candidate is the Newtster? Egad.

A while back, the UK banned handguns. Handgun crime went up 40%, which isn’t supposed to happen. Now, the solution is banning swords:

Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson announced laws to ban swords unless sold for legitimate reasons.

Shops selling swords will need a licence, as will businesses dealing with non-domestic knives and other bladed weapons such as machetes.

The measures are the latest steps from the Scottish Executive to curb the problem of knife crime.

Didn’t work the first time so we have to do it more and harder.

Check out the Akins Accelerator. It is a stock/spring system for a Ruger 10/22 that offers a rate of fire of 650 RPM. It’s completely legal (except in Cali and Minnesota) as it is not a machine gun. Video here. A bit pricey at about $1,000 but much cheaper than than a pre-86 registered Ruger 10/22 that comes in at about $10K. Check it:

Update: youtube seems to have gone poof. Video may be up later or you can get it here.

SM has a lot more on potential uses for Tracfones.

Update: more here.

Seen at Knoxviews:

At airport security checkpoints in Knoxville, Tenn. this summer, scores of departing passengers were chosen to step behind a curtain, sit in a metallic oval booth and don headphones.

With one hand inserted into a sensor that monitors physical responses, the travelers used the other hand to answer questions on a touch screen about their plans. A machine measured biometric responses — blood pressure, pulse and sweat levels — that then were analyzed by software. The idea was to ferret out U.S. officials who were carrying out carefully constructed but make-believe terrorist missions.

I think that gets a point or two on the The Libertarian Scale of Things to Panic About. Actually, a point or two on anyone’s scale of things to panic about.

I was curious about this issue concerning the proposed and unwanted Knox County 370-acre industrial park at Midway Road and Thorn Grove Pike. I did not understand what this was all about until I read Sandra Clark’s article in the Halls Shopper. Even WBIR and the Knoxville News Sentinel have coverage. The big question, why is this being run through the system so fast? Why is the price of this land $ 29,000 per acre? Riddled with sinkholes and having no sewer or water connections that is very expensive land for East Knox County.

Chamber CEO Mike Edwards on WBIR-TV, “Sometimes you have to do what’s best for the entire community.” Okay. I guess that explains it. Business as usual.

Sandra Clark writes, “We’ve had too many white elephants from The Development Corporation – the Farmers’ Market; the Rifle Range Road industrial park, now a bird sanctuary; the Coster Shop property.”

TDC really needs to be investigated. There needs to be some guidelines on the extent of TDC’s power. The idea to spend 30 plus million dollars on an undefined industrial park that has no customers is foolish in a time when the Knox County budget is bursting at the seams. Knox County had a 500 million dollar budget when Mayor Ragsdale took office. Today’s Knox County budget is 575 million dollars. What will next years budget be? We are watching the “Don Sunquist spend happy never worry about tomorrow type of politics”. Spending is out of control in this administration.

How many times must we go through the “If you build it they will come” scam?

The new Hardin Valley High School is being nickeled and dimed to death while Knox County has already spent 5 million dollars to create jobs in Blount County with the Knox County investment in the Blount County Business Park. Now in less than 8 weeks the Ragsdale administration instructs TDC to spend another 30 million dollars? When does this spending orgy end?

The idea that low paying jobs are more important than educating children shows how screwed up the priorities of Mayor Ragsdale’s administration are. This is all so the Mayor can claim credit for creating new jobs and run for Governor.

Can Knox County afford Mayor Ragsdale’s gubernatorial ambitions?

Better than a LULA.

After range day, comes time to learn our numbers. We count by nines. We also don’t stop at 10 like most toddlers. We go to 32. Junior on how to load a 9mm AR magazine:

Step 1: secure magazine and get your ammo ready:

Step 2: With mag firmly secured, grab a round from your Winchester White box:

Step 3: Insert round (use of feet to secure magazine optional):

Step 4: Repeat 31 more times.

Via David and Jeff, comes this bit about some anti-gun person named Jenny Price claiming she was targeted by gun nuts. Some background is that her brother and his fiance were killed by the fiance’s mother. Now, she advocates a total ban on handguns. Anyhoo, she writes:

Targeted by Gun Nuts

After she wrote a gun-control op-ed, the writer got threats and worse: a blogosphere hit job on her murdered brother.

…

I Googled my article. And so began my strange, weeklong trip through chat rooms on such pro-gun websites as keepandbeararms.com freerepublic.com, packing.org and rightnation.us.

I don’t think those are blogs. Those are message boards. Not sure what rightnation is. More:

I was not surprised by the insults directed at me. I’m familiar with the name-calling in gun control debates: “stupid,” “beyond stupid,” “liar,” “criminal-coddling leftist scumbag,” “Los Angeles coward.”

OK, here’s a clue, one of those insults is not like the other. Most are just insults. But liar sticks. And here’s why. In your piece, you wrote (and I addressed it here):

Of the 12,000 guns used to kill people every year, 160 are used in legitimate self-defense. Guns in the home are used seven times more often for murder than for self-defense.

The first sentence consists of weasel words as, what is obviously not included, are self-defense uses wherein no one is killed. The second sentence is a blatant fabrication. Her hysterical piece on banning handguns is just that. She’s close to a victim of gun violence and feels the need to do something, even if it is the wrong thing. Policies should not be based on the factually inaccurate and misguided rantings of those who have suffered a tragedy.

She then notes that some folks questioned whether her tale of tragedy was true:

But objections to my account of my brother’s murder left me speechless. There were two sorts of challenges.

First, many chat-room members declared that the killing had to have been justified and was most likely an act of self-defense.

One participant, “armymarinedad,” wrote: “I would submit it was a liberal mind-set.” Liberals, many others agreed, are mean to their parents — mean enough to warrant homicide. “One can’t help wondering,” went one response to armymarinedad, “what the mother had done in a previous life to deserve … a Liberal for a daughter.”

The second challenge was that I had made up the story of my brother’s murder. “Law-abiding gun owners simply do not commit crimes,” “Gunslinger” posted — logic hard to refute. But like David’s killer, thousands of law-abiding citizens annually become criminals when they pick up a firearm and shoot other people.

“Chances are very good,” wrote “Plutarch” on freerepublic.com, “that her brother, if she has one, is alive and well.”

Plutarch and his freerepublic fellows Googled my story about David — and were encouraged when they came up empty because they were certain that “this remarkable murder” would have received massive media attention.

“I love to catch them [liberals] lying!” declared “mad_as_he$$.”

Now, look. If you wish to challenge Ms. Price on the merits of her argument, please do. But this witch hunt to find some dirt on her or her family is uncalled for. Period. It is disgusting.

I did a search for her name and found little. Then I searched for “Jenny Price” handgun ban and found a bunch of blog entries by bloggers I know and read. I cannot find (after searching) the bits she refers too. I searched the KABA archives as well. I don’t venture over to freerepublic, so I don’t know.

Still, it’s another lie as none of the sites she lists are blogs. The blogosphere did not do a hit. Angry, hateful people on message boards did. Try perusing some anti-gun boards some time.

She closes with:

I can cite statistics, and I can tell you why the right to carry a 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun with a 10-shot clip is not guaranteed by the 2nd Amendment. .

No, you can’t.

But the paranoia and bone-chilling hatred that spew from such sites as packing.org and freerepublic.com make for an equally — and unusually — effective argument for a ban on handguns

Pot to kettle. Come in. Over.

Now, Jenny Price, try addressing the reasoned responses to your tripe, if you have it in you.

First, we saw it here:

The proposed changes come at a time when the FBI is reporting a rise in violent crime, especially in mid-size cities. Police are beginning to tie newly legalized assault weapons with increased gang violence. (When Congress refused to renew the ban on assault rifles two years ago, who did it think would be the market for AK-47s, Uzis and Tec-9 pistols — the Rotary Club?)

It was a lie then. My sooper seekrit sources told me that she claims that some police told here that. Not exactly a legitimate tie to an increase in gang violence. And now:

Authorities said they have also noticed a spike in the number of high powered weapons on the street since the ban on assault weapons was lifted in 2004.

Another lie. A weapon that was banned under the AWB is no more powerful than anything else. The ban only affected the aesthetic features of the weapons. They are not high powered.

NJ gets one right:

The American Dog Owners Association (ADOA) and two of its members, Natalie Wells and Mia Rodriguez, who reside in Englewood, New Jersey, were granted an interlocutory judgment against the City Of Englewood in New Jersey Superior Court this week in the challenge to overturn the city’s illegal breed specific ordinance, Docket No. BER-L-5285-06. Judge Jonathan Harris found that the city’s aggressive dog ordinance, which defined specific breeds of dogs as dangerous, was a clear and direct violation of state law, which explicitly prohibits breed discrimination. The American Dog Owners Association, the country’s largest independent dog owner’s organization, had asserted that the City of Englewood, New Jersey failed to provide its residents equal protection under the law by denying the residents’ applications to license their dogs and has subjected them to harassment.

“Breed discrimination is illegal in New Jersey, and now all good dog owners with good dogs in Englewood can breath a sigh of relief”, said Maureen Hill-Hauch, ADOA’s Executive Director. She noted that New Jersey’s Vicious and Potentially Dangerous Dog Act is one of the strongest dangerous dog laws in the country. “The City of Englewood has a duty to protect the public health and safety of all of its citizens, as well as protect the rights of responsible dog owners, regardless of breed. We’re so pleased that the court will require the City of Englewood to comply with state law”.

In a colossally stupid move, the NRA endorsed someone early just because they have an R after their name. Bitter says:

And if Smith wins, NRA is going to throw him under the bus for the Republican just because the guy has an R following his name. Way to go NRA. Show the moderate Dems that you’ll abandon them at the first opportunity and that you really are just a tool for the Republican party. That’s just the kind of message we want going into the next few years when Republicans will probably face some significant losses.

S&C is in too.

For you. In Memphis:

On July 29, Nicks graduated from skeet to hitting some of the same firing range targets that FBI agents use. Nicks was among 50 participants in the FBI Citizens’ Academy firearms training held in Memphis at the Shelby County Sheriff’s Range.
The academy is designed to teach business, civic and religious leaders some of the techniques and tools that FBI agents use to solve crimes. One of the goals of the program is to give residents a better understanding of how the FBI works.

Over five weeks, participants attend meetings held at their local FBI office and learn about everything from the way the FBI sets up jurisdictions to the procedures involved in collecting and preserving evidence.

“I’ve always been interested in learning about the FBI and what they do,” Nicks said.

One of the most anticipated sessions of the academy is the firearms training, said My Harrison, special agent in charge of the Memphis Field Office of the FBI.

TriggerFinger has been doing a ton of work on it. TOC is here. Other info here. I’ve not read it yet. Can someone give me the cliff notes version?

Gun lobby should compromise:

Why is the NRA aggressively trying to repeal the Brady Law (background checks)

The NRA is doing no such thing and Diane Barde is a liar. She continues:

It’s time for the gun lobby to come to the table and meet us at least halfway in passing common-sense gun laws

They met you all the way on background checks and you still lie about them. The NRA opposed the waiting period portion of the Brady Law.

Congrats to Pete at DrugWarRant for making the Washington Post.

Philly Burbs:

Proposals to limit handgun purchases to one per month may finally see some legislative debate in the state House of Representatives.

Whether support for the idea will gather any momentum is another question, considering that hunters and other gun owners have a vast number of allies in the Legislature.

The House will attempt to gauge support for a variety of crime-fighting measures – including new handgun regulations – by meeting as a “committee of the whole” on Sept. 26 and taking informal votes. Those votes will determine which bills merit further consideration in regular session.

Limiting handgun purchases to one a month is not a crime-fighting measure. Such a measure has no impact on crime and only affects the law-abiding.

1/3 of people will believe anything.

BTW, with no title, it’s hard to link to that post.

Heh:

500 jobs at $7.50 an hour are better than 0 jobs at $10 an hour, but it’s hard to explain that to a union worker.

So, what would these guys be doing with 600 phones? Rich wonders if they’re making money off of illegal immigrants.

Luke (AKA: Politically Correct Dog)
1998ish to August 11, 2006

Godspeed, old friend.

Bredesen at it again:

Gov. Bredesen repeated his request to the Judicial Selection Commission to select a new panel of three candidates to fill a vacancy on the state Supreme Court.

Bredesen rejected a panel of finalists in July, saying it was unacceptable to have to choose between two white candidates following the withdrawal of the only black finalist.

So, where’s the Asian, Indian, Hispanic, and Jew? To bad no one nominated a Hispanic, Hindu, French-speaking, physically-handicapped, communist, gay black woman*.

*Bonus for the reference.

So, what kind of person wipes their own feces* on the stall of a public restroom? Sick bastard.

* I assume it was their own. I mean, they could have wiped someone else’s feces on the wall, which would only make it slightly more disgusting.

The AP:

A judge ruled Friday that Gov. Ernie Fletcher, under fire for a hiring scandal, is protected by executive immunity and cannot be prosecuted while in office.

Special Judge David E. Melcher essentially stayed the case until Fletcher’s term expires, or unless he is removed through impeachment by the legislature.

Fletcher, Kentucky’s first Republican governor in three decades, was indicted in May on charges alleging his administration rewarded political supporters with protected state jobs. He has accused the Democratic attorney general of conducting a politically motivated investigation in the case.

Screw that. Elected officials should be held to high standards. This is the kind of stuff that should cause people to grab their torches and pitchforks to storm the castle.

Abysmal.

Thanks to MKS, our pledge to be a McCain-Feingold free zone is getting some local press coverage on the local newspaper’s web page. See past posts here.

Doh:

While I’m impressed by the police work of the Brits and the rapid response of our own Transportation Security Administration, there is one troubling impact on fliers this morning:

Planes full of cranky people with no deodorant and no toothpaste.

See background on Sandy Abrams loss of his FFL here. Via PGP, comes this bit by John Lott in the other biased Washington Paper:

The Washington Post’s front page on Sunday illustrated the problems with both the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives abuses as well as the media’s out-of-control attacks. The article examined the supposed abuses by Sandy Abrams’ gun shop in Baltimore, a shop he took over from his father in 1996. The second paragraph points out that “there were 422 firearms missing — more than a quarter of his inventory.” The count listed guns as missing if there were simple paperwork mistakes (e.g., two digits in a number transposed).

Taking all these mistakes since Sandy Abrams took over the store in 1996 and comparing them to his current inventory, not the 25,000 guns that he has sold over the last decade, borders on journalistic malpractice. It surely doesn’t provide readers with an accurate understanding of what is happening.

So, what is the right number of missing guns? Mr. Abrams claims it is 19. Nineteen out of 25,000 isn’t perfect, but .076 percent is a lot less scary than 25 percent — a difference of 329 fold. More importantly, the government has apparently never connected any of those guns to crimes committed. As Mr. Abrams notes, “we have had the paperwork and successfully traced every gun whenever [the government] asked.”

Is this the type of gun dealer who should lose his license? The BATFE thinks he is a prime candidate. Nine hundred rules violations over 10 years certainly sounds impressive — that is until you realize that violations include writing “Balt.” instead of “Baltimore” or that his government-approved ledger was apparently missing a column. Of course, the information the column was supposed to record was redundant anyway.

He has some other background info on how tough it is to be a dealer:

It is tough operating a gun shop with harassment from the federal government and unjustified media attacks. But the harassment could get a little better with legislation by Reps. Howard Coble and Bobby Scott which may fix some of the problems.

Since 1992, when Bill Clinton was elected president, the number of federally licensed firearms dealers in the United States has plummeted by 80 percent. Kmart no longer sells guns, Wal-Mart just recently stopped selling guns at one-third of its stores and tens of thousands of other gun shops have gone out of business. With all the talk of recent legislative success by the National Rifle Association, it is winning some battles but may be losing the war. The gun-control movement may ultimately be winning where it really counts.

Part of the drop in licensees was simply due to fees imposed by the federal government. Many licensees used the licenses only for their own personal purchases or only for selling a small number of guns, and the fees made that unprofitable.

The constant breakdowns of “instant” background-check systems during the Clinton administration halted gun sales for hours or even days at a time, costing stores untold sales and causing them to raise their costs. Even by the end of the Clinton administration, from September 1999 to December 2000, the system was down about one hour for every 16.7 hours of operation. The breakdowns often came in big blocks of time, the worst during a period covering 60 hours during two weeks in the middle of May 2000. Try running a business where neither customers nor sellers are ever informed of how long outages are expected to last.

It’s tough to be a dealer. It’s tough to design guns and stuff too. I, for example, have an idea for a rimfire suppressor that I honestly figure I can make for about $20. And sell it for $50. That means a buyer could add the $200 tax stamp and transfer fees and get in a suppressor for less than three bills. But for me to do that, I have to:

waive my fourth amendment rights
spend $500 for a special occupational tax
spend $150 for federal firearms license
I’d have to actually rent a location to have my ‘store’ because FFLs aren’t given unless you comply with zoning requirements
Notify the local police

When, honestly, this is something I could do in my garage. But, gotta stay legal or risk 10 years in federal pound me in the ass prison.

Many more bloggers have signed up to stick it to the incumbent protection act:

Misha:

The First Amendment means what it says, and if the Federal Gummint wishes to sue us for exercising our rights, then go right ahead. The Second Amendment means what it says too, in case you’ve forgotten.

Chris:

The McCain Feingold campaign finance law is unconstitutional, and another step on the road to tyranny. It is, in present form, just able to be born; If the congress should attempt to extend it’s powers even further, it is our duty as free men to disobey.

Oscar Poppa:

The McCain-Feingold Incumbent Protection Act, aka Campaign Finance Reform which suspends those First Amendment rights. If you’ve been under a rock for a while, the bill effectively puts a ban on ads that mention federal candidates’ names in the window 60 days before the general election. In other words, the Holier-Than Thou’s have made a law that abridges the freedom of speech and press.

DirtCrashr is in too.

Make a pledge for free speech:

Any organization* that wants to run a political ad criticizing any politician in that window can do so here. Not only will I run the ad free, I’ll do a post on the ad on the front page.

Update: And a thirty aught six is in too.