Lots of new stuff over at the Shooters’ Carnival. Go read.

I noticed that Opus by Berkley Breathed was in the Sunday comics this weekend. Breathed as apparently used his time off to brush up on Japanimation.

Ouch!

Mike’s back! For how long, we won’t know.

A small Kansas town passed an ordinance requiring all household to own guns and ammunition. While I think the law is kind of stupid and infringes on people’s rights to not own guns, I still find it amusing.

It does remind me of this, which offers a what would a states’ rights view of the second amendment really mean?

CJ stated in comments here that the outrage over the Republican’s ad by some Democrats was likely from MoveOn (which wouldn’t surprise me):

They sent an e-mail today crying about this ad and asking people to fight back by giving money to them. They also give some talking points that seem to be repeated in the blogs you link to.

Now, prominent Democrats are in fact using the same fictitous talking points:

“We all want to defeat terrorism,” the South Dakota senator said. But “to chastise and to question the patriotism of those who are in opposition to some of the president’s plans I think is wrong.”

Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy called it an “attempt to stifle dissent.”

Running down the talking points, it seems. Say, isn’t that what Dems accuse those who disagree with of doing?

Update: Can’t confirm if MoveOn is issuing talking points, but they are raising money to counter the ad. Where there’s smoke . . .

The Mrs. picked up one of those real fancy digital scales that rounds off your weight to 1/10th of pounds. I discovered the following:

A fully clothed SayUncle with a full bladder weighs exactly 171.2 pounds.

A naked SayUncle with a full bladder weighs 166.0 pounds.

A naked SayUncle with an empty bladder weighs 164.5 pounds.

I discovered two things: 1) who knew bladders held that much; and 2) with a pregnant wife going to bed at 8:30 every night, I have a lot of time to do dumb shit.

Via Kevin, came this article from the NYT which details a pending ad for Bush. The ad is not done by Bush’s campaign team, by the way.

The sum total of the description of the ad in the NYT are these:

. . . portraying Mr. Bush as fighting terrorism while his potential challengers try to undermine him with their sniping.

Ok, fair statement and politics as usual. And another description of the ad:

Some are now attacking the president for attacking the terrorists.

Ok, fair statement and politics as usual. And another description of the ad:

“Some call for us to retreat, putting our national security in the hands of others”, then urges viewers to tell Congress “to support the president’s policy of pre-emptive self defense.”

Ok, fair statement and politics as usual. Some do call for these things but I don’t know of any Dem presidential candidates that have called for retreat, but some non candidates have. I could be wrong though.

Kevin writes:

This is an obvious smear of the worse kind. Anyone with an I.Q. over five knows that questions regarding tactics are not desires to see terrorists go unchallenged. Claiming otherwise is simply an attempt to poison the public discourse by making criticism of the president equivalent to disloyalty. It is one of the most dangerous things a party in power can do – and the Republicans have been doing it constantly. Now, it is their official strategy.

My IQ is about 4.9, so I see no description of the ad that calls them disloyal. Nor does any portion of the ad say Democrats love terrorists (the title of Kevin’s entry).

Kevin’s link was trackbacked pretty quickly here:

Kevin at Lean Left points out that the Republicans are preparing to equate Democrats with terrorists in the upcoming election

Oh my! Kevin said no such thing. Nor does the NYT article.

It gets better: I do a little technorati on the NYT story and get these beauties:

Medley:

The RNC has started running an ad trying to defend this Administration’s policies. Check out the NYT article about it and see how many lies and misleading statements in the ad you can find, just in what’s reported in the article! (Hint, here’s one: “Some are now attacking the president for attacking the terrorists.”) They obviously can’t run on the truth, but it’s quite appalling how much they’ll lie to the American public.

How many lies and misleading statements can you find in Medley’s entry? (Hint, here’s three: there are only two quotes from the ad in the article; what lies is this person referring to; and what is the truth this person is referring to?).

Then there’s this, which is much more accurate despite the scaremongering start:

Waaaay back on November 13, I wrote a post about the Republican strategy of pushing the President’s “Doctrine of Preemption” and painting the Democrats as weak-willed, indecisive and perhaps unpatriotic.

Well, it looks like we won’t have to wait too long to see the first examples of this campaign.

Well, this ad (based on the NYT article) doesn’t portray Dem’s as weak-willed, indecisive and perhaps unpatriotic. It says they snipe at Bush, attack Bush, and don’t support preemptive self defense.

The caveat is that none of us have actually seen the ad and the images and audio could, I suppose, leave that impression.

The authors are intimating that the GOP is questioning patriotism of Dems (which wasn’t done); that the GOP is accusing the Dems of supporting terrorism (not done), and the GOP is intimating that opposition to the war is disloyalty (not done). Somehow, they see this in that sparsely quoted NYT article.

Does the ad imply these things? Without seeing it, I can’t say for sure. But from the NYT article, those conclusions can’t be reached but the bandwagon is already getting jumped on.

We go from sniping, attacking the president, and telling congress to support preemptive self defense to calling Democrats disloyal, unpatriotic, stating that Dems love terrorists, and Dems will do nothing about it.

Oh my! Why do the Republicans even need to campaign? It seems the Democrat party faithful are doing it for the Republicans. Maybe they’re so afraid of being called soft on terror and unpatriotic that they deny the accusations before the accusations even come to fruition. Why is that?

I’ve addressed dogs and insurance before (click here to peruse my Pet archives), but here’s the latest (via Unknown News):

Virginia homeowner Steve Wells received a nasty shock in the mail recently. His insurance company, Augusta Mutual Insurance Company, has informed him that they are going to cancel his homeowners insurance because they don’t like his dog.

Like many insurance companies, Augusta Mutual refuses to cover homes in which certain breeds of dog are present. This practice, based on the misperception that certain large dogs are inherently dangerous, is illegal in two states and is being examined in others.

Wells had to file a claim recently because of damage caused by the recent hurricane Isabelle. When the claims adjuster from T. M. Everette Claim Service showed up to inspect the damage, Wells was at work and his dog was in the backyard. On the forms he filled out while inspecting the damage to the house, the inspector wrote the words “CAUTION-PIT BULL IN BACK YARD”.

Of course, there is no way to scientifically prove what breed a particular dog is, the only criteria is appearance. Certain breeds are also not more or less likely to bite. The problem is that certain breeds are popular (more dogs means more bites) and certain breeds are popular among irresponsible owners (dog fighters like pit bulls, as do drug dealers who use them to guard stashes).

Continuuing:

Wells’ insurance company stated that they will cancel his insurance for owning a Pit Bull and for “misrepresenting this fact” when he purchased his insurance. However, there is a very big problem with this. You see, Steve Wells doesn’t own a Pit Bull and he never has.

Meet Buster (picture). Buster is a Terrier mix, the offspring of a female Terrier mix of unknown heritage and an unknown male parent. Wells adopted Buster after rescuing him from a negligent neighbor.

According to the American Kennel Club, there is no such breed as “Pit Bull”. Pit Bull is a term used to describe a particular mix of Terriers and other breeds. Combine an American Staffordshire Terrier, a Bull Terrier, a Boxer and a few other breeds and you end up with what people call a Pit Bull (picture).

Buster clearly is not a Pit Bull. The claims adjuster made a statement that obviously is false. Either the adjuster knew the dog was not a Pit Bull or he didn’t know what sort of dog it was. In either situation, to say that the dog was a Pit Bull was a lie and that lie is costing Steve Wells big time.

Mr. Wells sent both companies a fax disputing the statement and threatening legal action. The claims adjuster answered with more false statements, claiming that Wells said in a telephone conversation that he owned a Pit Bull mix that might bite him when he showed up. Mr. Wells never said that the dog might bite anyone, just that he wanted to know when the adjuster would be on his property.

Now, Mr. Wells is unable to find an insurer to cover his home. The companies that don’t refuse him based on his dog are refusing him based on his recent large damage claim. If his house were to burn down on Christmas morning, the false statements of the claims adjuster will have cost Steve Wells and his family their home with no way to replace it.

Mr. Wells is being refused based on a useless criteria that is actually not even true. He doesn’t have a pit bull and breed is not a factor. The site encourages people to send nasty letters to the insurance company:

T. M. Everette Claim Service
www.everetteclaims.com
P. O. Box 15057
Richmond, VA 23227
Phone (804) 746-2656
Fax (804) 746-8255

Augusta Mutual Insurance Company
13 Idlewood Blvd
Staunton Va, 24401-9355
Customer Service 1-800-533-1673
Customer Service 1-540-885-5127
Fax 1-540-886-1683

Last night, I go to Weigel’s to get a couple of gallons of milk. Here’s how it works:

Weigel’s has been processing Milk in it’s own country dairy since 1936. In 1958 the famous gallon in the returnable jug (shown here) was introduced. It has been saving area consumers money ever since. It is available in whole Milk, 2% reduced fat Milk and no-fat Skim D’ Lite®. Customers buy the jug on their first purchase. After that, they trade the empty jug for a full one and pay only for the Milk. They can sell the jug back to Weigel’s for the full purchase price anytime.

Me and the wife have been trading milk jugs at Weigel’s for years. Last night, the milk was in yellow jugs that resembled Mayfields. Weigel’s no longer issues the re-usable milk jugs but will still give you a dollar credit for your jug. The manager of this particular Weigel’s told me that they can’t find anyone to make the lids. I think that is likely not true. I got two gallons last night for $1.19 each.

I think they realized that they could just bypass the jug program and save some cash. In fact, a gallon of milk went from $1.99 to $2.19. My guess is they figured out that the increase in price would pay for the cheaper jugs and they’d save money.

And they’ve implemented a milk buyer’s program. You get a card and each time you purchase a gallon, they stamp your card. After you buy 16 gallons, you get a gallon free.

I’ll miss those jugs. But the landfills won’t.

It seems I am the number two Google for Jim Bob Cooter and this has resulted in many hits to the site. Yet SKB, who has done more to cover Jim Bob Cooter, isn’t in the top 10. Odd.

For all your Cooter needs, please see Bubba.

I should comment on the 9th circuit’s recent ruling but so many others have. And they did a better job. Clayton Cramer does and Volokh does (go to Volokh and keep scrolling).

Turns out the God Resolution passed in my home county last night:

“This is an extremely un-American situation where government employees place their religious beliefs over their responsibility as Americans,” Sillman said.

After the speakers had their say, county commissioners passed the resolution by a 14-6 vote, with one commissioner abstaining. The vote did not come easily or quickly, as some commissioners were torn between their religious beliefs and their duties on the commission.

Guess the lawsuits will start coming soon.

The recent drop in crime may be attributable to enforcing existing laws:

Good news abounds. New data from the Justice Department show the crime rate today is at a 30-year low. Sexual assaults are down 25 percent from two years ago. Attempted theft is down 22 percent. Robberies are down 27 percent.

Sounds good to me. The supposed reasons:

In just two years, federal gun prosecutions are up 36 percent, and 93 percent of those convicted criminals have been sentenced to prison. This explains why gun crimes are down an amazing 32 percent: The criminals who would be using illegal guns are being caught, locked up and sent away. And all this is being done without infringing on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.

Another important factor is the much-maligned Patriot Act.

Sounds good to me.

First, the Rand quote is beautiful:

There is no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is to crack down on criminals. When there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking the law. Create a nation of lawbreakers and then you can cash in on the guilt. Now that’s the system!

After that, I continued to read this and once I finally got over the fact that the US Fish and Wildlife Services carried weapons, I was shocked. A man was detained, had his property confiscated but was not arrested. This was because he may have grown some kind of orchid.

Want to compare a suppressed .22 to a suppressed .45, click away.

Adam is all over this. The issues committee on campus has been accused by a Sikh (in the college paper) of not bringing a balanced mix of speakers. The committee, in response to the criticism, sent out emails saying:

We understand what goes on in the committee and why it is liberal leaning. We have nothing to apologize for.

and

if you see one of those ragheads, shoot him right in the fucking face.

[Sukhmani deserves] torture that would put the Spanish Inquisition to shame.

Oh boy. Adam has the scoop.

Last night, the Mrs. got the urge that I dread. She gets this dreaded urge once a year, usually around Labor Day. That urge is to put up Christmas decorations. Long time readers will recall last year’s tale of SayUncle vs. The Light Nazi. I am still the victim of learned helplessness and decided again this year to not fight it. I suggest that before we put up the tree that we may want to take our evening walk to calm the dogs down. The Mrs. agrees.

In our neighborhood, there has been this small, yappy dog running through the fields behind our house. On the back porch, you can hear it barking sometimes.

The Mrs. and I took the dogs for the evening walk, about two miles. We walk the dogs on those 25 feet retractable leashes. Towards the end of the first mile, Politically Incorrect Dog (PID) suddenly became aware of something and went to investigate. It was dark and we couldn’t really see. PID does a little bow and starts playing with what we assume is the yappy dog. PID is bouncing back and forth, and is generally having a good time. Suddenly, Politically Correct Dog (PCD) becomes interested and aggressive. He runs full speed at the yappy dog with the Mrs. tugging on his leash to get him to knock it off. PCD growls and is in an attacking posture. Suddenly, both dogs come running back at us.

Yappy dog comes closer and gets into the range of the street light where we can see him. I suddenly realize yappy dog is not a yappy dog at all. Yappy dog is a berserk skunk and is charging at me, the Mrs., and the dogs. And I mean running full speed, which by the way is not real impressive for a skunk. Who’d have thought skunks were aggressive? It ran right at us, well kinda hopped and wiggled really.

I say to the Mrs. Run!. And we ran like the wind. After we stop a few hundred yards down the street, I smell it. The funk. I say to the Mrs. that someone got sprayed. I smell PID, he’s fine. After all, he was just playing with the skunk and the skunk seemed to be playing back. The skunk, it seems, is not the natural enemy of PID. His natural enemies include geese and catfish. My dog attacking the catfish is a story for another day. And I’ve told the story of the geese before.

I smell me, I’m OK. The Mrs. is fine. PID is fine. PCD got hit right between the eyes and it was horrible. He would actually stop in the middle of the street and roll his head and back around on the asphalt in an effort to escape the horrid stench. The walk back to the house was the longest, funkiest walk ever. Man, did it reek.

PID sniffed PCD a couple times and wanted nothing to do with him after that. We get to the house and I make the skunk smell cure. I then spend the next couple of hours applying the skunk smell cure to PID and PCD. PID needed but one coat as he only had a contact funk from sniffing PCD. PCD required about six applications before being allowed in the house. Lather him up, wait about 10 minutes, rinse. Repeat.

The skunk smell cure consists of one quart of hydrogen peroxide, one quarter cup of baking soda, and enough soft soap (tablespoon or so) to make it foamy and sticky. This stuff can’t be stored and can only be mixed when needed. It attacks the oil that causes the skunk spray to stick. It also will take all the oil out of your skin, get ready for some heavy lotioning after you handle this stuff. And when you wash your clothing after handling it, use cold water. Hot or warm will bleach your clothes. A country boy can survive, with the help of a web search. This stuff is also good to add to a carpet cleaner to get the funk out of your carpet. And a mist of half and half water and vinegar will alleviate some of the smell if it gets in your house. Unfortunately, the only real cure for the funk is time. As of this morning, PCD was still leaving vapor trails, which were faint but noticeable.

After it was over, the wife said You’ll really do anything to get out hanging up Christmas decorations, won’t you?

Yahoo news:

Hirsch had only a 3 1/2-inch knife blade when he came across the bear in his backyard in Williams Lake, about 190 miles northeast of Vancouver.

“He came out of nowhere,” said Hirsch, 61, an avid hunter and outdoorsman.

“I can remember thinking that he’s not stopping — he’s coming,” said Hirsch. “I just didn’t feel I had any place to go.”

He was attacked Oct. 29 while checking on the 15 turkeys he and his wife, Sharon, raise on their spread.

As the bear began to circle him, Hirsch faced it like a wrestler in a ring.

“It was like a knife fight that you’d see in an old-time Western,” he said. The bear swatted out at him, but each time it lunged, he managed to stab it.

“I couldn’t tell you if the fight lasted three seconds or three minutes,” Hirsch said.

Three stabs to the bear’s chest and one to its neck finally did the bruin in.

Family Guy may return to TV. Kick ass.

So the White House was evacuated due to an emergency situation:

A plane flew within five miles of restricted airspace around the complex, the Secret Service said.

Let me make sure I understand, the plane was not actually in restricted airspace but was close to restricted airspace. Dumb.

He’s recovered from his bout with pregnancy.

AlphaPatriot links to the latest on Google bias.

This is odd:

New York’s highest court has heard arguments in the case of a man who has refused to cut his dog’s tail for national competitions.

Manhattan dog owner John Hammer wants the Court of Appeals to reinstate his suit against the American Kennel Club and the American Brittany Club which seeks to bar them from enforcing a 1926 breed standard for judging spaniels that takes points off for dogs with tails longer than four inches (10 cm).

Hammer contends that the “docked-tail” standard violates state law against intentionally injuring an animal and constitutes illegal discrimination because his dog’s tail is 10 inches (25 cm). Lower courts have dismissed his complaints.

“These organisations encourage you to be cruel to animals and they punish you if you aren’t,” Hammer’s attorney, Joseph Foley, told the six-judge panel.

The AKC is a club and can set whatever standards for showmanship it wants. As for me, my opinion on docking and cropping ears and tails is that it’s unnecessary. Dogs have ears and tails for a reason. Tail docking is usually done a few hours after birth (most breeders do it immediately) and heals pretty quickly. Plus, some folks say, the little pups don’t have fully formed nervous systems so pain is minimal.

Cropping ears has to be done when the dog is older. It’s painful and they have to wear that cup on their heads. My parents had a Doberman when I was young and he had his ears cropped. He was running down the steps when the cup slipped over his eyes, which caused him to fall down the stairs. No harm done, but just awkward.

And large dogs that have their tails cropped are sort of funny. Ever seen an excited boxer? They have no tail to wag so they wag their whole butt.

I like my dogs natural. No cropping or docking for me. Of course, I don’t even register my dogs. But then, I don’t show them either.

Update: One more thing, ear and tail cropping has their origins in dog fighting. They’d crop them so that the opposing dog would have less to grab hold of. It has horrific origins.

WATE tells of a Knoxville man who chased a couple of robbers. Pretty neat.

This won’t work because it doesn’t have an audience that gets in a car and travels to work?

or

This won’t work because there will be no dialogue. If someone calls in and says I feel . . ., you can’t debate feelings.

You pick the joke.

Pat Gang emails a picture of children’s toys available on Gaza strip.

This post is just some random stuff that I want to say but not really put into separate posts. Here goes:

A list of stuff not in the Constitution:

Congressional Districts
The Electoral College
Executive Order
Executive Privilege
Impeachment means removal from office

Innocent until proven guilty
Judicial Review
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness
Of the people, by the people, for the people
No taxation without representation
Number of Justices in the Supreme Court
Political Parties
Qualifications for Judges
The right to privacy
The right to travel
The right to vote
The separation of church and state
Slavery

And no mention of the word God either.

This whole homosexual marriage thing:

Bubba has it right, why do people care? Jeff at ALMTTR opines and it has to do with God. God has no place in my government. From a purely legal standpoint, marriage is a contract. Some people get married in the eyes of God (heck, I did) but the state can’t use that because it is respecting the establishment of religion. That’s a no-no.

Why guns?

Some folks falsely think that I don’t care about other civil liberties as long as I have guns. Not true. Why do I devote so much time to the right to arms? Because that right is under special attack and no one significant is looking out for it. The NRA? Yeah, right. The largest pro-gun organization has supported a lot of gun control laws and kowtows to anti-gun stuff pretty quickly.

The right to drive?

Every driver’s handbook says driving is a privilege not a right. Why? I’d say it’s one of those rights that remain with the people, or the state. Of course, the people don’t regulate anything so the state does. I think you have a right to drive as part of your right to get to work, which supports your right the pursuit of life, liberty, etc.

Our country has gotten to the point where we assume a right doesn’t exist before we assume it does.

I updated the links at the left there.

The Mega Blog alliance?

Seems the RTB has allied with the Bear Flag League. As soon as the BFL violates the pact of non-aggression (and they will), we will invade.

Why do birds suddenly appear?

It’s called reproduction.

From Chuck:

The Second Annual God Bless Fort Benning Day Rally will be held again this year on the property of Express Automotive Service at the corner of Torch Hill Road and Fort Benning Road on Sunday, November 23rd between 1 and 4 pm. Admission free. Bring a new toy. Honor our soldiers.

If you’re in the area, drop by.