I think I just heard George W. mention RTB’s own Rex Hammock on the radio. Congrats!

Yup, I did! Cool.

Some TSA stats for us to swallow:

Tom Blank, assistant administrator for transportation security policy, testified before Congress last week that the Transportation Security Administration has intercepted more than 1,650 firearms, more than 3 million knives and more than 57,000 incendiary devices since shortly after the terrorist hijackings on Sept. 11, 2001.

No word on how many toenail clippers, paper clips, scissors, or sewing equipment was confiscated. No count on how many violations of civil liberties either.

Look to your right, I am running my first blogads.

With apologies to SKB.

For reference, the ads are being added to the More button.
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The AP:

Frederick, 54, said his problems with the National Park Service show an increasingly hostile attitude the agency is taking toward private property owners inside the country’s largest national park. There are several hundred inholders inside the 13.2 million-acre Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, and collectively they own about 1 million acres.

“The Park Service will do anything to get `inholders’ out,” Frederick said. “They don’t want anybody living in their park.”

So, the plan is to deny road access to his land and enact arbitrary fines. The government land grab continues. Thankfully, no one has approached the park service about building a Wal-Mart there.

Michael examines the voting records of some senators. Edwards and Kerry seem to be skipping on their day jobs.

Jeff rips Kerry a new one.

And if you’re a gun owner, Bitter has some pictures of Kerry you must see.

Xrlq has more here and here. Personally, I love civil disobedience and wish all the people getting married well. Power to the people. But Xrlq addresses the breaking of the law, which is a valid criticism. After all, we expect Roy Moore to comply with court orders.

Chris Muir, who does the entertaining strip Day By Day, wants your help to get his strip syndicated. Go here and help a brother out.

John Kerry’s camp is apparently guilty of referral log spamming. I continue to not like this guy.

Les has the latest VTP up. Give it a read.

Does it bother anyone else that we refer to an official in this country as the Drug Czar?

WATE:

Study: Some Older Drivers More Likely to Get into Crashes

A new study says drivers over 65 are 25 percent more likely to get into auto accidents than their middle-aged counterparts, and the very elderly even more so.

The study by AAA’s Foundation for Traffic Safety finds that people age 85 and up are nearly four times more likely than middle-aged drivers to be killed if they get into a crash.

The study finds that as drivers age, they suffer increasingly from decreased perception and motor skills.

I really wish Tennessee had periodic re-testing of drivers.

He’s challenging the handgun ordinance using privacy rights. Odd.

I just realized I fired off 25 (now, 26 actually) blog entries today. Maybe time to slow down.

I got a reflex holographic scope for my AR15 on Ebay. It’s the thing on top of the carrying handle for you non-gun types.

Pretty neat! Allows target acquisition at greater ranges, while allowing the shooter to keep both eyes open. It also is about the best platform to quickly acquire targets. Put red dot on the target (in my case, that will be little pieces of paper) and shoot. The laser is projected onto a lense so only the shooter sees the laser.

Helen & Harry Highwater rip the TV show Judging Amy a new one. Sample quote:

The producers of Judging Amy abhor freedom. That’s the subtext, virtually every week.

The show revolves around a juvenile court judge (Amy Brenneman) who’s always looking our for the children, and her mother, Maxine (Tyne Daly), a career child-welfare monitor who’s also always looking out for the children. Brenneman’s the star, but the show’s more ominous subplots and Message-with-a-capital-M often revolve around Maxine.

She’s *always* nosing around in other people’s family matters — it’s her job, and she’s really dedicated to doing her job. Charlize Theron got rave reviews for playing a “Monster”, but this woman is a much more believable, everyday monster.

I think something similar of cop dramas on TV. They relay the message that it’s OK to violate civil liberties so long as the cops get their man. I addressed that here in this note to David Caruso. Side-note: What an odd coincidence that that post has a link to the ACLU card that summarizes your rights when detained I mentioned over at Mr. Wage’s site?

And since our kids aren’t being taught their rights, what’s the future going to look like?

To remind everyone to read the comments to this post. There’s some new ones. Traffic on that post has subsided since I am now no longer the #1 google for spiked bracelets. Still, I get the occasional comment and thought I’d pass them on to you. They’re quite hysterical.

A bill introduced in the House is being offered to Allow War Veterans and Heirs to Legally Register War Trophies:

U.S. Congressman Jim Gibbons (R-Nev.) today reintroduced the Veterans’ Heritage Firearms Act which will permit veterans and their heirs to register war-era trophy firearms that the U.S. military had allowed them to take home after their tour of duty. The legislation has bipartisan support with over 50 original cosponsors, including House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs, Alan Mollohan (D-WV).

“Innocent veterans who possess war relic firearms are in jeopardy of being unjustly convicted of serious felonies,” stated Gibbons. “These veterans fought to secure freedom and preserve our national security. When our servicemen returned home from battle, they focused on reuniting with their family, securing an education, and building a home– not on wading through the burdensome bureaucracy associated with registering a firearm.”

The bill extends amnesty to those who served through 1968. Why can’t our boys overseas bring home some souvenir AK47s? Why can’t anyone own a machine gun made after 1986? Why does someone have to spend $12K on a gun that retails new for $1K? How about amnesty for the population of law abiding citizens?

Update: I’m still angry. How about amnesty for: Hale DeMar, Mark Lancaster, anyone who wants to put a pistol grip on their Springfield M1, people who possess tube fed .22 LRs in New Jersey, handgun owners in DC, people who want to put regular capacity magazines in their guns without paying too much, otherwise law-abiding citizens who have violated some arbitrary standard set forth by some bureaucratic shill at some government agency, etc.

I always look forward to coming home from work and not just because it means I’m done working. I like to come home because once I get all my knickknacks out the car and walk through the garage, I am greeted by two dog butts moving left and right at approximately the speed of sound.

Sometimes, if I’m lucky, the Mrs. even joins in the butt shaking (woohoo!); though more often I get a smooch. Then, after telling the dogs down a couple of times, I make my way to the nightstand to unload my pockets. At this point, Politically Correct Dog has found some toy or treat that he wants to show me. He brings it in, prances around, lays it at my feet, and scurries around for more. I scratch his head and tell him he’s a good boy.

Politically Incorrect Dog loves when I go to the nightstand. This is when he jumps up on the bed then jumps into my arms for a hug. It’s awkward because he weighs over seventy pounds but it is worth it. I realize I could be teaching him bad habits but thankfully he has yet to jump into anyone else’s arms. But how can you turn down dog hugs?

Dean was all like I’m outta here.

Edwards was all like Score!

Kerry was all like Maybe I shoulda been nicer to Dean. His peeps will vote for me, right? What do you mean there’s another John running?

Kucinich was all like Put that weed down, guys. The press might show up. And pass me that hair grease.

Sharpton was all like Can I have that hair grease when you’re done?

I am amazed that in 17 days I have received hits from 176 Googles for Kitchen Fresh Chicken.

Yes, I did.

It’s getting to be baseball season apparently. The only reason I know is that blogs that I like to read are covering it. How long is baseball season? Like 11.5 months? Blah!

Hope it ends soon so these guys can start talking about important and entertaining stuff.

A town in Maine wants to dissolve itself for tax breaks:

“They’ve got absolutely nothing. They don’t have any fire department. They don’t have a police department. No water department. No sewer department. There’s nothing,” said Rep. Jim Annis of neighboring Dover-Foxcroft, who wrote the bill proposing the town’s deorganization.

Roughly half of the state belongs to unorganized territory, bringing an estimated 22,000 accounts when property tax is assessed each year.

Snip

The last time a town dissolved in Maine was in 2001, when Madrid, population 180, won lawmakers’ permission. Centerville, population 25, in Washington County will do so this year. And officials said inquiries have come from other towns, including Cooper in Washington County, in light of Atkinson’s push.

The battle for the Maryland Assault Weapons Ban is heating up:

The battle over a state ban on assault weapons appears to be turning into a partisan showdown between Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. and Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.

Ehrlich (R) has personally lobbied senators to kill the bill, while Miller (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach said he wants a ban to pass.

A vote in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee had been planned for last week, but it was postponed with the vote in doubt. Freshman Sen. John A. Giannetti Jr. (D-Dist. 21) of Laurel appears to be the sole swing vote on the committee and is the target of intense lobbying from both sides.

Giannetti acknowledged calls and face-to-face meetings with Ehrlich, but said he has not decided how he will vote.

Miller made the assault weapons ban a partisan issue at the beginning of the legislative session, singling it out in a speech to Democrats in which he sought to tie the governor to former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and congressional Republicans.

He said Tuesday that he would like the General Assembly to at least keep in place the federal ban on semiautomatic Uzis, AK-47s and other assault weapons that is set to expire in September because congressional Republicans refuse to allow a vote to extend it.

My personal favorite:

“I think we should not reward [U.S. House Majority Leader] Tom DeLay and the right wing of the Republican Party, who believe that people ought to be able to bear arms at will and with the weapon of their choice,” Miller said, noting that he is a gun owner. “I don’t own assault weapons, and I don’t want them on the streets I represent.”

Well, what exactly do you think the second amendment means?

This article entitled Dangers of owning pit bulls demand strong regulation made many points that I and other politically incorrect dog enthusiasts have made:

“Burglars who are into meth will have pit bulls around to act as a guard for the house,” said Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer.

These people have set their dogs on deputies coming to make arrests. They have let them loose on neighbors and their pets. They fight them against each other.

“We’ve had a dog-fighting problem in the South Puget Sound for quite a while,” Sayre said.

Troyer agreed. Deputies have heard of the fights, and have found dogs that appear to have been injured in them.

“Unfortunately, people buy that breed and train them to do that,” he said.

Meanwhile, the number of pit bulls who end up confiscated or abandoned is rising.

In 2002, the Humane Society for Tacoma & Pierce County took in 910 American pit bull terriers, Staffordshire terriers and predominantly pit bull mixes. Last year, the number was up to 1,142, of which 887 came in as strays. The vast majority were put to death.

The population explosion also shows up in Seattle Purebred Dog Rescue’s statistics. The pit bull heads the animal welfare group’s “Top Most Unwanted Breeds” list. In 1999, the group had 168 pit bull referrals. The numbers climbed to 413 in 2000, 1,023 in 2001 and 1,096 in 2002, the most recent year on the chart. Those dogs were not killed, but they consumed a huge share of the society’s resources.

It’s a dangerous and untenable situation.

However, she concludes with this:

We need a countywide campaign, including animal protection and law enforcement officers, to bring pit bull owners into compliance, educate the public on how to effectively report dangerous dogs, and seize those dogs.

Without it, hundreds of pit bulls will kill other animals and attack people. Without it, thousands of pit bulls will be put to death.

Without it, we’ll have a good case for breed-specific legislation.

BSL is not the answer because dog-fighters and criminals will switch to another breed and train the animals to be aggressive. There is no way to scientifically determine what breed a particular dog is. Owners are responsible for their pets, dogs are just being dogs and are doing what they’re taught to do. It makes criminals out of ordinary pet owners and could lead to the killing of long-time, well-trained family pets.

I told you the media wants Edwards in the race so pundits can keep their jobs a while longer. Miniluv offers proof. Nope, no bias here.

Another supposed Kerry scandal, this time alleging he took contributions from the Chinese.

While I applaud the civil disobedience in SF, I also like Clayton Cramer’s thought experiment on applying it to guns:

If I were the sheriff somewhere like Lassen County or Modoc County, I would be very tempted to just ignore California’s assault weapons law, start ordering them up on department letterhead, and then sell them to any resident of the county who passed the background check for firearms transfers in California. I mean, the sheriff could argue, and with as much accuracy, that the assault weapons law violates Article I, sec. 1 of the California Constitution

Jeff is back. He may not be tanned, but I’m sure he is whatever the Vermont equivalent of tanned is.

Les has blogged Bredesen’s TennCare speech.

Manish has blogged his observations of the SF gay marriages. A thought provoking post.