The Dems are cringing after (thanks to Cheney’s vote) that $350B in tax cuts passed.

It’s been kicked around on many sites, but are the Dems reliant upon the economy doing badly to regain power?

Who’d’ve thunk it?

Chuck Schumer (D-Fantasy Land), a stout gun control advocate, has an armed guard for protection. Chuck, like Sean Penn, is wealthy and famous. It’s OK for the wealthy and powerful to protect themselves, just not regular Joes.

Invent a keyboard where there is an equal (=) key on the number pad. Hell, put parenthesis there too. Entering formulas with both hands sucks. Stupid excel.

Update: A Tab key would be nice as well.

SayUncle just received its 20,000th page view. It took me 258 days to get the same amount of traffic that Instapundit gets by 10:00 a.m. everyday. Baby steps, baby steps.

Lucky number 20,000 was sent here by a google for Why yo not ban firearms.

Skeen, the suspect accused of killing Sandy Jeffers was in court. (H)is attorney hinted at a possible defense: mental illness. Remember, Skeen’s website talked of how depressed he was and how his dad beat him.

Senate Democrats hope to double the amount of money added to the president’s tax cut bill for bailing states out of their budget messes And this is to the tune of $40B.

I mostly despise instances in which congress makes laws. My reasoning is simply that each time congress passes one, it is an expansion of government privilege, an infringement on civil liberties, or a waste of taxpayer dollars. When congress does nothing, it’s a good thing. Passing asinine feel good legislation is a prime example of a waste of money and infringement on liberties. I do get warm fuzzies when someone proposes a law that repeals another law. In this country, we have too many laws. These laws often conflict and many of them mostly serve to make it appear as though our elected officials care and are doing something (which they often really aren’t doing anything), if they’re not catering to special interests.

I obviously support some laws. One that I support is the current gun manufacturer protection law that prohibits frivolous lawsuits from misuse of firearms (of course, I think the law should be expanded to all products that could be misused). It establishes that if a person misuses an arm, that the manufacturers aren’t liable. It doesn’t protect in the instance that the manufacturers or retailers negligently sold the arm nor does it protect them if the arm is defective. Again, this should be expanded to all products. Why manufacturers should be held to account for the stupidity or evil nature of people is beyond me. It is absolutely asinine. Democrats oppose this legislation and their plan is to filibuster.

This is also the plan with Bush’s judicial nominees. The Democrats are filibustering that too because they think that Estrada is an extremist, which is totally fallacious. He’s a moderate conservative, and here’s one take on his record and it doesn’t indicate extremism at all. Of course, anyone who doesn’t agree with you is an extremist. Because his views run counter to Democrat views, he’s an extremist.

But filibustering is not enough. In Texas, the Democrats aren’t getting their way so they crossed state lines and are holed up. Uberblogger Bill Hobbs explains that this is illegal, in addition to being dereliction of duty. The reason for this ridiculous behavior from the Democrats is that redistricting is up for vote and they will lose their power base. I hope these representatives are unceremoniously arrested and placed in jail.

The Democrats are playing obstructionists, which ordinarily would be a good thing given how I feel about laws. But some things need to be done, like appointing judges, common sense legislation, the will of the people, and budgeting. The Democrats are actively being inactive. No wonder a poll says that most people don’t even know who their Democrat candidates are. They’re not doing anything other than standing in the way.

As I said, congress not doing anything is preferable to them passing laws, but these issues outlined above are out of line and strictly partisan. Pick your battles. Why didn’t they filibuster the hell out of the unPATRIOTic Act? Now the Republicans have more ammunition to bury this party, even more than they had in November.

Good news: The house will let the assault weapons ban of 1994 sunset.

Bad news: Kim du Toit links to this post about the new incarnation of the assault weapons ban, which I suspect won’t make it out of committee. Click the links to discover how ludicrous the new version of the ban is.

In Florida, there is a requirement that to advance to certain grade levels in school, you must pass certain tests. Turns out that a great number of minorities don’t do so well on this test. So the minority community leaders there are looking into ways to improve minorities’ scores through education and community activism. Just kidding (but I had you didn’t I?)! The minority leadership is doing, unfortunately, what most minority leadership does: They’ve called the tests racist and are organizing a boycott until the tests are modified.

In fact, some allege that Gov. Bush made these tests racist on purpose so that minorities couldn’t advance. Why do minority leaders often claim that something is racist then ask for special privileges (i.e., different racism) to compensate for the racism. Assuming blacks can’t pass a test that white’s can is racist, detrimental, and will set black folks up for failure since they’re not held to higher standards. People of all races should be held to the same standards of education. It is a disservice to minorities to lax their requirements.

Instead of labeling the tests racist, maybe the question should be asked: why aren’t minorities doing well on these tests? Then try to increase their educational opportunities. Encouraging people to be stupid and that it’s OK because of their genetic make up is immoral.

Eminent Domain is essentially where a government takes a citizen’s property for the good of the public. I’m not completely opposed to this notion (assuming the citizens involved are more than adequately compensated) as we need roads and such built. But like any government privilege, it’s often abused. Per this article:

A report claims that 10,000 properties have been seized by cities for private developers.

The village had simply declared eminent domain, so that another private developer could build part of a Stop & Shop and parking lot where Mr. Brody’s commercial buildings sat.

A stop & shop is for the public good? You take a man’s private property and give it to another party?

But wait, there’s more:

• In Atlantic City, an entire black middle-class neighborhood was condemned and destroyed to make way for a tunnel to a new casino that was never built.

• Bremerton, Washington removed a woman in her 80s from her home of 55 years for the claimed purpose of expanding a sewer plant, but gave her former home to an auto dealership.

• West Palm Beach County in Florida condemned a family’s home so that the manager of a planned new golf course could live in it.

This sicko, Aaron Lee Skeen, who killed the girl who worked at my bank had a couple of webpages, here and here. The long and short of his website is that he hated his life in that artsy gothic sort of way and he was a redneck into low riders and ground effects. Yet WBIR thinks that his pathetic websites offer some sort of insight into his mind.

Here’s your insight, he likes stupid looking cars and thinks his life is just awful. And he committed a horrible act on an innocent girl, who had a bright future ahead. And he says on his site that he’s a nice person, despite his dad beating him. I’m sure the abuse mention will be played up in the sanity defense in court.

My heart goes out to the family and friends of Sandy Jeffers.

Update: GSMOT at the blab links to his third site. Which has My parody to ” She fuckin Hates me”
called ” He fuckin raped me.

Lawmakers in Tennessee are still working on how to tax internet sales. Currently, Tennessee doesn’t enforce the existing internet tax law and there is no federal requirement for retailers to collect it. My favorite line: Some lawmakers are worried the bill would be used by opponents claiming they’ve raised taxes. Well, isn’t that what you’re doing? A tax we don’t pay becoming a tax we do pay is a raise in taxes.

The North Koreans have apparently fired a laser at US helicopters. That midget needs to knock that crap off before something bad happens.

I don’t have a problem with vegetarians but I have a problem with self-righteousness. A while back, a coworker went to great lengths to explain to me that eating meat was wrong and we should not harm our animal friends. I respect her commitment to her cause but, I am sorry, I enjoy the hell out of rosemary prime rib*. And her generally pissy attitude wouldn’t have persuaded me to change my ways. I will always be mostly carnivorous (I do like salads). In fact, I view chicken as a side dish. I like the red meat.

After said coworker goes to great lengths to explain to me how chickens, cows and pigs are born, raised, and slaughtered and how appalling it is; and how wrong it is for me to eat meat; I made this point:

I’m pretty sure that cows and chickens don’t naturally occur any where in the world today. So I conclude that were it not for human intervention that chickens and cows would be extinct. Here’s why:

Cows are stupid, slow-moving, herd animals. They are easy to kill. If humans had not domesticated cows, I think (given our history with stupid, slow-moving, herd animals) that humans would have caused these bovines to go extinct.

Chickens are dumber than cows. They’re also slower than cows. And they can’t even fly (longest recorded flight of a chicken was thirteen seconds and it probably involved a tall building and a gust of wind). My veggie friend claimed that current chickens go from egg to slaughterhouse in six weeks, due to chemicals and things that are fed to them. I can grow chickens faster than I can grow rosemary for my prime rib (I have no intent of trying to grow chickens as I’m pretty sure my subdivision restrictions prevent it, but rosemary is OK). If humans didn’t consume chickens (given our history with flightless birds), I’m pretty sure they’d be extinct as well.

Pigs do exist in the wild and are largely viewed as a nuisance and hunted. Of course, most pigs are feral but they are smart enough to exist on their own. And they’re meaner than hell.

I’m no biologist, but I’m certain the original animals that chickens and cows evolved from probably bear little resemblance to current cows or chickens. Also, I don’t even know that they currently exist.

We’re doing cows and chickens are great favor by eating them. We ensure the continuation of the species, which is what it’s all about.

* Recipe for rosemary prime rib

Equal parts fresh rosemary, paprika, salt, and fresh ground pepper. Garlic to taste. Chop in food processor until rosemary and garlic is finally diced. Rub mixture directly on meat (this mixture is also great on any type of beef). Cook on smoker or in oven at 250 for several hours. Yummy!

What Is Your Animal Personality?
brought to you by Quizilla

Thanks to Arguing with Signposts.

I (being the RTB’s official trouble maker) engage in debate with other folks in their site’s comments section sometimes. It’s clean fun and most of the time I am content with the fact that we agree to disagree. However, it is very rare that anything constructive comes from this activity. In any political debate, you rarely change the other person’s mind. It is an exercise in futility, in most cases.

And here’s why:

Rhetoric, insults and unproductive content: Invariably, when you disagree with someone, people will insult you or engage in rhetoric. For example in my recent bout over at LeanLeft, I asserted that:

Bush did not wear a military uniform because it lacked insignias, ranks, honors, etc. I asserted it was definitely militaristic.

I also asserted that Bush landing on the aircraft carrier was a waste of taxpayer dollars and a publicity stunt. I also asserted that other politicians engaged in the same type of publicity stunts at a cost to taxpayers yet certain folks aren’t as quick to recognize that as well.

Someone then calls me a wingnut (apparently popular rhetoric from the left) and implies I was defending Dubya. Such a comment contributes little to constructive debate. The right is guilty of this as well by calling people un-American when it is uncalled for. Even I have an affection for calling certain lefties tree-huggers.

But they didn’t address my assertions. However, other folks did in a respectful manner.

Assumptions: Each side of a political debate often has assumptions about a particular issue and these assumptions are not always shared. It is often times fallacious to make these assumptions and it is always fallacious to assume that your opposition shares these assumptions with you.

As an example, in the epic battle of SouthKnoxBubba vs. Bill Hobbs (this war is waged in the comments section over at Bubba’s daily), there was debate about Republicans’ and Democrats’ respective records on civil rights (click comments). Essentially, each side tried to assert that their party had a better record. The problem is that they are comparing apples to oranges. Some Democrats equate entitlement programs (affirmative action, welfare, etc.) as civil rights. Most Republicans do not. And this is a matter of debate, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that one who opposes entitlement also opposes civil rights.

If you wish to have a productive debate, you’ll likely have to agree and define a set of assumptions. You need to make sure that you are comparing apples to apples.

Party Politics: Self explanatory. People will defend or scold the same action depending on which party the person committing the action belongs to. I promise you, if something surfaces about Dubya’s penis, the Democrats would be all over it.

Party politics will damn the republic.

Take political debate with a grain of salt, and odds are you’re not going to change anyone’s mind. But it is fun as hell.

Bubba said Sen. Bill Frist (I’m ashamed he’s from the same state as me!). I will therefore not buy any of Bubba’s albums, nor his merchandise, and I will not go to any of his concerts. I ask that you do the same. Also, don’t click on that gratuitous link to his site because that would violate the spirit of my boycott.

In fact, everyone out there should announce your boycott of his site on your own site (be sure to give him a link).

Boycott Bubba before this freedom of speech thing gets out of control! Boycott Bubba, your freedom is at stake! Why, it’s unAmerican.

Update: Don’t buy his Free Bubba T-Shirts either! The pic in the middle is just wrong.

Except that it’s in the name of security. Tennessee will receive $11M in Free Federal Funds™ for Homeland Security.

My digital camera went nuts, so I just now managed to get pix of the new gun:

First day at the range (without the scope) and the first five rounds looked like this from 25 yards(after I adjusted the sites after the first shot there at the bottom):

Getting rusty in my old age.

This building AR15s is addictive. I just got the scope this week, no opportunity to try it out yet.

With all the budget problems, I’m glad Tennessee’s legislature can make time to vote to allow Pro-Life license plates. Oh, and Titans license plates too. Glad to see we have priorities. I would like a Tennessee’s Senate is wasting your money license plate.

They call me the father of techno, and I don’t even like it. – Gary Numan

I’m not the only one who doesn’t like techno.

The Lakers got whooped. Quote from Charles Barkley last night: Kobe is the only athlete the Lakers have.

A protest was held at last night’s Dixie Chicks concert. The wife and her friend went and they never saw any protestors.

Zimbabwe’s police chief has been appointed as the honorary vice-president of Interpol.

“The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one designed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all other rights have failed, where the government refuses to stand for re-election and silences those who protest, where courts have lost the courage to oppose, or can find no one to enforce their decrees,”. – Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski

Big Fat Update: Bubba makes a most excellent point in comments (so excellent, I’m putting it here), which reads:

The 2nd Amendment is for all practical purposes moot in its original intent.

Not really.

If citizens can’t own tanks, artillery, aircraft carriers, f-18s, JDAMS, and nukes, it’s kind of irrelevant isn’t it?

Actually, in the early part of America’s history, cannons and warships were owned by individuals and essentially lent to the government. I’m sure it’s possible to buy an F18, but I doubt you could equip it with arms. I think now most scholars agree that the right to bear arms consists of arms that can be carried.

And judging from Rumsfeld’s assessment of our military victory in Iraq, he wouldn’t need more than a couple of platoons to suppress any ragtag yahoo hillbilly uprising.

I’m no military tactician, but it seems that our military is capable of destroying other standing armies handily. I tend to doubt that it is capable of defending against essentially an infinite number of pinpricks, which is what your ragtag yahoo hillbilly uprising would be. Plus, such a scenario is dependant upon said military personnel (who live here) to be willing to fire on their own countrymen, destroy their own hometowns, and be blindly allegiant to politicians. Our military doesn’t have a history of doing that. In fact, militia men even refused to invade Canada and Mexico. Having the gumption to order your men to fire on citizens would probably also be deterred by the fact that they can shoot back. They’re not going to carpet bomb or nuke Knoxville, would be my guess.

And we can’t even have AK-47s.

Actually, you can have an AK47, but the criteria for such possession are arbitrary and meaningless. You can legally have a fully automatic one if it was made and registered under the NFA before 1986 and you pay a $200 tax. You can have semiautomatic ones made after that date but prior too 9/14/1994. And they can have any feature you want. For those made after 1994, you can’t have a flash-hider, bayonet lug, collapsible stock, or threaded barrel capable of accepting a flash hider. At the end of the day, regardless of when the gun was made, you can still have a rifle capable of firing a 7.62 X 39 cartridge at a high rate of speed and capable of accepting magazines that hold up to 300 rounds (those big drum things). Said magazines are perfectly legal, so long as they were manufactured prior to 1994. Entirely arbitrary criteria defined by dates are pointless, as none of the features and criteria affect the gun’s performance.

An excellent reference (written by Instapundit) is here (it’s where I got a lot of that stuff).

Not quite as big an update: The reasons for the Second are to resist government tyranny, repel invasions, and defense of self. So even if the first reason is moot, the other two aren’t.

The most overturned of the circuit courts has essentially agreed not to hear a case about a decision by a lower court stating that there is no individual right to arms. It seems that the precedent has now been set to take this issue to the Supreme Court. The Fifth Circuit Court has ruled there is an individual right and the Ninth says it ain’t so. We therefore have two case laws with separate conclusions, the law of the land is divided.

The Volokh Conspiracy folks are all over it. Here, here, and here. And they know more about that sort of stuff than us non-lawyer types.

Could get interesting.

San Francisco is hosting a masturbate-a-thon to raise money for the Center for Sex and Culture, a non-profit organization that provides sex education.

The lottery bill was amended to lower the requirements for low income students. So much for merit, I suppose.

Invest in Pork! Apparently, only pork joins alcohol, drugs, and porn as being recession proof. Actually, it seems that pork grows in value all the time. This year, a record $22.5 Billion (yes, with a B) was identified by Citizens Against Government Waste. Republicans are not the party of less government that they say they are anymore. $22.5B will buy a lot of votes.

Some highlights:

-$33 million for the National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa.
-$25 million for the International Fund for Ireland.
-$21 million for the Magdelana Ridge Observatory in New Mexico.
-$7.7 million for the Alaska Wide Mobile Radio Program.
-$4 million for the International Fertilizer Development Center
-$1 million for a DNA study of bears in Montana
-$500,000 for the International Coffee Organization.
-$350,000 for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.