This is pretty lame:

Working as an office manager in a career services office and hearing the warnings surrounding social networking sites, the mother knew her son could potentially have a problem. The son had created his Facebook.com profile when he was 18. Now 20, he had accumulated a good amount of material—typical college musings and photos—that his friends might enjoy but others might view differently.

The son was beginning a search for an internship, so she asked him to consider limiting access to his profile to just his friends. Understanding the gravity of the situation, he heeded his mother’s advice and did so.

Shortly after, he got the call he had been waiting for. A state agency wanted to interview him for an internship. He prepared for the interview and reviewed the types of questions that could be asked. He was ready, as ready as he could be.

But, during the interview, something he was not prepared for happened. The interviewer began asking specific questions about the content on his Facebook.com listing and the situation became very awkward and uncomfortable. The son had thought only those he allowed to access his profile would be able to do so. But, the interviewer explained that as a state agency, recruiters accessed his Facebook account under the auspices of the Patriot Act.

Well, I’m inclined to think the interviewer is full of it and used Google Cache or some such. At least, I hope so.

Packing.org has posted a judgment in Georgia where the court ruled a person can get a Georgia Firearms License without giving a social security number.

David Codrea:

The Mare’s Leg…was highly illegal by federal standards and required special agents on the set while being used.

While it is illegal to turn a rifle into a handgun as done by Randall it is not illegal to produce such a firearm as a handgun original.

See some Mare’s legs here. Another of those damn loopholes. Only this one is created by a bureaucracy.

First, DC with the most restrictive gun laws in the nation declares a crime emergency. Then NYC with the third most restrictive gun laws, comes a push for more:

These are basically some of the same bills first proposed by Mayor Bloomberg. The laws will almost surely pass, giving New York City some of the toughest gun laws in the nation, but most of illegal guns in the city come from elsewhere so there’s some doubt as to whether these new laws will change anything.

Well, it’s not working now. Obviously, you’re just not doing it hard enough. Meanwhile, the pro-gun bogeyman state of Florida isn’t experiencing such an increase.

Because I Can:

The state legislature first says you can’t practice without getting a license, which of course is provided by the state and not an independent party. But the license isn’t free. You have to pay annually or semi-annually to keep it. But not only do you have to pay for your license, you have to pay an annual tax on it. Essentially the legislature found out that they had a list of people that are hostage to them because they work in their chosen profession at the discretion of the state. So they decided to pick their pockets for an extra little something. They make you get a license, then they make you pay tax on the license to keep it.

I’ve bitched about it before. Seems I don’t have a right to work.

Via AC.

Heh:

There are three books in all and each is worth the effort: Point of Impact, Black Light, and Time to Hunt. I’m reading additional novels he has penned. If you get a chance, I would read them before Hollywood ass-fucks them.

Bill, on the overturning of Tennessee’s illegal drug tax, notes:

Although a judge has ruled that the Tennessee law requiring drug dealers to pay state taxes on their cocaine, marijuana and other illicit drugs is unconstitutional, the state says it will continue to collect the tax because the ruling applies only to one individual alleged drug dealer, and not statewide.

B-Ho seems to not like the idea of the tax. Odd, since back in 2004, he defended the ridiculous law.

Update: Bill clarifies in comments.

I’ve covered the Tennessee tax stamp on illegal drugs for a while. Via the five people who emailed this to me this morning, comes the Tennessean:

A Tennessee judge has ruled that a state law requiring drug dealers to pay taxes on their cocaine, marijuana and other illicit drugs is unconstitutional.

The ruling by Davidson County Chancellor Richard Dinkins bars the state from collecting $1.1 million from Jeremy Robbins, an East Tennessee man who was arrested on federal drug conspiracy charges and ordered to pay taxes on marijuana he is accused of illegally possessing.

But it could potentially cost the state much more if the decision is upheld by higher courts and interpreted as applying to the entire state.

Good. It was a stupid idea and now it’s just stupider. The purpose of the tax was to provide a means for law enforcement to enhance its coffers and this law allowed that by making it a tax issue. It also had the added benefit of completely disregarding due process of law before seizing assets. Sadly:

Last night, state officials said they would continue to enforce the tax, which has brought more than $2.7 million into state coffers since it went into effect in January 2005.

“They’re just turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to the opinion,” said James A. H. Bell, one of the Knoxville lawyers who brought the case on behalf of Robbins. He described the state’s attitude as “cavalier.”

The chancellor’s decision, handed down Monday, applies only to Robbins and, in any case, the state plans to appeal, said Sharon Curtis-Flair, spokeswoman for the state attorney general’s office.

If it’s unconstitutional, why does it apply only in one case? And this bit is scary:

Since 2005, state Department of Revenue officials have assessed $51 million in drug taxes owed, with the vast majority of the money going uncollected.

Very few people have actually bought the stamps. During the law’s first year, taxpayers spent $1,492 in stamps for illegal drugs.

That’s a lot of money. And people didn’t buy the stamps because 1) it’s fucking stupid and 2) the state made it unnecessarily difficult to do.

The court agreed with SayUncle’s due process findings:

“The court concludes that the manner in which the tax is assessed deprives taxpayers of due process and, to that extent, the statute is unconstitutional on its face,” the chancellor wrote.

He also found that levying the tax and charging someone with a crime was equivalent to double jeopardy because it punished the dealer twice for the same crime.

“(The) statute violates the double jeopardy provisions of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and … the Tennessee Constitution to the extent it may be employed against a dealer otherwise subject to state prosecution relating to the unauthorized substances subject to the tax proceeding.”

SayUncle: Like the courts, only faster.

Update: In comments, Xrlq says not so fast. Read it.

Popular Mechanics has a piece (with scary photos) on NYPD’s terrorism unit. Key quote:

“The response we usually get is, ‘Holy s—!'” Nieves says. “That’s the reaction we want. We are in the business of scaring people–we just want to scare the right people.”

Well, you’re not going to scare me as long as members of your crew put their Aimpoint Comp red dot sights on backwards (which they’ve been known to do):

A few years back:

Seventeen Stratford High School students are suing the city of Goose Creek and the Berkeley County school district in federal court, alleging police and school officials terrorized them in a drug raid last month.

In the raid, which was caught on tape leaked to the press, students were threatened and handcuffed. No drugs were found. Now, Pete reports:

The American Civil Liberties Union announced today that a federal court has approved a landmark settlement in its lawsuit challenging police tactics in the high-profile drug raid of Stratford High School in Goose Creek, South Carolina. The settlement includes a consent decree that sets a new standard for students’ rights to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.

Absent a warrant, police will now need either to have probable cause and pressing circumstances or voluntary consent in order to conduct law enforcement activity on school grounds – effectively granting Goose Creek students the essential privacy rights enjoyed by all Americans.

“Goose Creek students now have a unique place in our nation,” said Graham Boyd, Director of the ACLU’s Drug Law Reform Project. “They are the only students in the nation who have complete protection of their Fourth Amendment rights of search and seizure.”

That last part is kind of sad with them being the only ones. I mean probable cause or a warrant, who’d have thunk it?

So, DC, how’s that gun ban working for you:

D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey reacted yesterday to a recent surge in homicides by declaring a “crime emergency,” a move that gives him the freedom to quickly adjust officers’ schedules and restrict their days off.

Thirteen people have been killed since July 1 in the District, and police are being pressured to take action by residents at community meetings and vigils to honor the dead. The victims included a popular store owner slain at closing time, a community activist killed in a park and a British citizen whose throat was slit in Georgetown.

And in Florida, which is the Brady Campaign’s idea of a gun-crazy state, how are things:

Well, the Palm Beach Post reports that Florida’s crime rates have fallen to the lowest level since 1971. “A telephone message left for comment after hours with the The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence in Washington, D.C. was not immediately returned.”

I asked if there were any libertarian candidates in the Senate race. AC says:

No, I don’t believe so. The announced candidates are:

Ed Choate
David Gatchell
Emory “Bo” Heyward
Gary Keplinger
Chris Lugo

Gary G. Davis (D)
Harold Ford, Jr. (D)
John Jay Hooker (D)
Charles E. Smith (D)
Al Strauss (D)

Ed Bryant (R)
Bob Corker (R)
Tate Harrison (R)
Van Hilleary (R)

I kinda dig this David Gatchell:

In August, 2005 I legally changed my middle name to “None Of The Above”. [View the court order]

The State Election Commission is refusing to place my complete name on the Governor and U.S. Senator ballots for the November, 2006 elections. They insist on listing me incorrectly as ‘David Gatchell’ instead of by my preferred full legal name David “None Of The Above” Gatchell.

This obstruction comes despite the fact that they have seen fit to OK the three-part names Carl “Twofeathers” Whitaker and Walt “Combat” Ward. (Among numerous others across the state.) And, to my knowledge, “Twofeathers” and “Combat” are not even legal names, but rather nicknames.

I’m taking the State to court in an effort to correct this. Their side will be argued by the Attorney General’s office.

Why am I being singled out?

Heh.

The AFP:

The Pentagon pledged to respect the rights of “war on terror” suspects, as the US Senate began looking into new ways to prosecute detainees at its Guantanamo Bay detention center.

In a memo, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England instructed US military leadership “to promptly review all relevant directives, regulations, policies, practices and procedures under your purview to ensure that they comply with the standards of Common Article Three” of the Geneva Conventions.

“You will ensure that all DoD (Department of Defense) personnel adhere to these standards,” said the memo, dated July 7 and made public Tuesday.

The Pentagon announcement appeared to be a reversal of the George W. Bush administration’s long-held stance that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to Taliban, al-Qaeda and other combatants targeted in the US-led “war on terror.”

The unexpected shift, as well as Tuesday’s Senate hearings, were prompted by a Supreme Court ruling late last month rejecting the Bush administration’s plans to impanel special military tribunals to try the terror suspects.

The high court ruled that such panels were a violation of international and domestic law.

The court ruled on international law?

I’m often critical of the use of the term loophole because, well, when used it doesn’t usually refer to a loophole. So, I found this highly amusing:

Senate Approves Loophole For Importing Canadian Drugs

Heh. Now, loopholes are approved by lawmakers.

There’s a new one at The County Seat.

A ranger is catching some flak for carrying an AR-15:

Lisa Schutzberger pulled one on a wanted felon holed up at a campsite in Oregon. She slung another over her shoulder before confronting a mob of unruly paint-ballers in Idaho.

Now, as one of only two rangers in charge of maintaining law and order on the 4.3 million acres in the Bureau of Land Management’s Twin Falls district, Schutzberger said she is glad the BLM issues her a weapon — a highly accurate semiautomatic AR-15 rifle.

The agency began outfitting rangers with the semiautomatic rifles a few years ago. Rangers, the agency said, are no different from police officers; they just patrol a much larger beat.

[snip]

Some in southern Idaho, however, have begun questioning why bureau rangers need the AR-15 rifles after Schutzberger’s gun went missing in May.

Now, I have zero issue with arming the police with rifles. I take issue with her intimidating paint-ballers with it and, of course, with the fact that she lost the gun.

Syd Barrett, founder of Pink Floyd, has died.

A gun buy back in my fair state:

Officers say before you show up to the Pyramid Saturday, take the gun you plan to turn in, remove the ammunition, and do everything else to make sure that fire arm is not a hazard.

“The mitigating factor is you’re bringing this gun to turn it in, and the way to do that is put it in a paper sack, unload it make sure that you are going to have it in a safe manner,” said Sgt. Vince Higgins, spokesperson for the Memphis Police Department.

Higgins said guns turned in Saturday will cataloged and destroyed. He believes that fewer guns on the street will result in fewer shootings and fewer homicides.

“Many times these guns are the result of law abiding citizens’ homes being broken into, or their car being broken into, or theft or some sort,” Higgins said. “We want people that have these weapons that they don’t have any use for, that they feel are unsafe in their home, to bring them to us.”

Higgins said gun experts will be on hand at the Pyramid to help answer key questions about any guns you may bring.

“Part of this is to teach safety about handguns,” he said. “The other part is lets get them off of the street. That gun that’s turned in in our gun turn in campaign? It’s going to be one less gun to be stolen and used in another crime or, sold for crack, or some other drug.”

I wonder if they’re buying them or if it’s just a turn in? If they buy them, some enterprising upstart may be able to score a good deal. Any way, getting guns off the streets this way isn’t likely to help. Those inclined to turn them in likely aren’t the type to commit crimes anyway (well, unless they can get paid for them).

Ask any police politician (chief or sheriff) and they will deny there is a speeding ticket quota. Ask any beat cop and he’ll tell you otherwise. Of note:

Coopertown Mayor Danny Crosby routinely told police officers to ticket at least three or four motorists a day so the city could pay for services without a property tax, two town police officers testified in court this morning.

The mayor also told police that Hispanics were “easy targets” for tickets and told officers to monitor particular roads in search of political adversaries, according to testimony.

District Attorney General John Carney filed a court petition to have Crosby ousted from office. He’s accused in court filings of illegally running a speed trap in the small Robertson County town; having cops profile Hispanics, soldiers and out-of-towners for tickets and using officers to harass and threaten some members of the community

And there’s the issue of harassing political enemies.

Gun Law News has it.

As readers know, I’m into building my own guns. Never occured to me to build my own knife. But Irons in the Fire is doing it and showing us how. Nice.

Via Jeff.

The Lowell Sun:

Massachusetts may have some of the strictest gun laws in the nation, but the state is woefully inept at keeping track of the whereabouts of guns seized by local police departments.

An expose in The Sunday Sun (July 2) revealed that thousands of guns confiscated from individuals facing domestic-abuse violations wind up in bonded public warehouses for firearmas and are rarely, if ever, returned to their rightful owners.

So what happens to the guns?

Sun reporter Rita Savard posed the question to countless police, state officials and warehouse owners over three months. Incredibly, no one could give an exact answer.

Despite a comprehensive gun law enacted in 1998, Savard found there is no trail of public records on the seized guns, nor is there a state agency monitoring the storage, disposal or resale of the guns.

The findings are alarming, leaving police and gun-control advocates wondering whether the seized guns are being recycled into the population through auctions or Internet sales offered by owners of the bonded public warehouses.

Wow. And more:

While the state Executive Office of Public Safety has the responsibility of implementing the law, Savard found officials to be clueless about the gun-warehousing provision. After repeated inquiries, officials admitted finally that because no public records existed to document the transfer of the seized guns from local police departments to the bonded public warehouses. The admission was surprising, since public warehouses charge a $20 transfer fee for each gun to cover the costs of paperwork, specifically federal and state forms.

Once told about the inconsistency, the Office of Public Safety issued a statement saying the 1998 Gun Control Act doesn’t require the state to monitor seized guns.

If you can’t own up to the responsibility, just dismiss it entirely. That’s basically what the Office of Public Safety is saying.

I wrote about Christian’s piece here. S/he’s has replied to critics by stating, err, I’m not sure what. Anyhoo, Aunt B. ain’t happy.

In comments to his post, Christian non-responds with his tripe:

Either owner seems to not care for the dog’s life or the actions taken by the majority, as represented by their elected officials, to ban them from their neighborhoods.

I suppose Christian then is OK with the notion of denying rights to gays. I mean to do otherwise would be to not care for the actions taken by the majority, as represented by their elected officials. Right?

I’m not a fan of Lieberman. He’s a statist and only seems to appeal to the conservatives lately entirely due to the war. But his opponent, Lamont, is saying the right things:

LAMONT: Look, you want to boast about how many earmarks you bring to the state of Connecticut? Alaska gets 10 times what we do. We’re not doing very well on that front. But more importantly, I think we should outlaw these earmarks.

(CROSSTALK)

LAMONT: Hear me out, sir. I think we should outlaw these earmarks. I think they corrupt the political process. I think they are written by lobbyists and they’re wrong.

LIEBERMAN: Try to explain that to the (inaudible).

LAMONT: I think these things should go through the congressional process. Sir, you have been there for 18 years. You support the earmarks, you work with the lobbyists, and that’s what needs to be changed.

And that’s from a Democrat. Here’s hoping he actually means it.

So, does the Libertarian party have a candidate in the Tennessee Senate race? I searched and found nothing. I’m not sure who to throw my vote away on this time.

AC says that Giuliani’s PAC has launched a website.

Good:

An FBI raid on a Louisiana congressman’s Capitol Hill office was legal, a federal judge ruled Monday.

Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan said members of Congress are not above the law. He rejected requests from lawmakers and Democratic Rep. William Jefferson to return material seized by the FBI in a May 20-21 search of Jefferson’s office.

In a 28-page opinion, Hogan dismissed arguments that the first-ever raid on a congressman’s office violated the Constitution’s protections against intimidation of elected officials.

“Congress’ capacity to function effectively is not threatened by permitting congressional offices to be searched pursuant to validly issued search warrants,” said Hogan, who had approved the FBI’s request to conduct the overnight search of Jefferson’s office.

Der Commissar:

A three-story building at 32 East 62nd Street in Manhattan exploded this morning and is burning.

Hundreds of firefighters and rescue workers are on scene at what FDNY officials are calling this a “major incident.”

There are reports of multiple people trapped inside the building, but there are no confirmed injuries at the moment. FDNY workers are now climbing over the rubble of the collapsed building to try to get to those who are reportedly trapped underneath. The FDNY Collapse Response Unit has arrived on the scene and has joined the search.

No cause given as of yet.

Update: The AP:

The cause was not immediately known, though White House press secretary Tony Snow said there was no indication of terrorism.

Update 2: Allah says Foxnews reported it was a gas explosion.

Michael Bane laid out his. The Department of Justice has theirs.

Via Bob, comes Knoxville 520, which (per Bob) featur(es) assorted and sundry entertainment options in mighty KnoxVegas.