Les has his weekly gun links up with lots of goodies.

Yesterday I caught All Things Considered on the ride home. One of the stories was on Cheney and Kerry having a political skirmish. I noted that in most cases, the verb Attacked was frequently used to describe what Cheney would say. The word Criticized was used frequently to describe what Kerry would say. They did, at one point, use the word Belittle to describe what Kerry would say.

Nope, no bias there. Remember, Republicans attack and Democrats criticize.

The bill has been watered down:

Dunn’s bill to outlaw the practice was watered down in the subcommittee. Instead of requiring dog owners to tether or cage their dogs in the truck beds, the bill now simply urges owners not to put their animals and other motorists on the highways at risk.

In other words, it won’t be a law. Strangely, they still want to waste time and money to pass it.

Looks like someone is actually pushing concealed carry in Maryland. It is Maryland, so I in no way expect it to pass but I am glad that some one is pushing the idea.

The Brady Campaign and the Million err Twenty Four Mom March must be getting desperate. They have issued an announcement to announce that they will announce a lawsuit. No that’s not a typo, that’s what they did. Trying to build some suspense, I suppose:

The lawsuit is based on information about enforcement of the assault weapons law uncovered through the Freedom of Information Act.

Hmmm. Gonna guess that they will claim the Justice Department or ATF has not enforced the ban by allowing the sale of post ban models.

How did the kid in the local standoff get the guns? KNS:

It has not yet been determined exactly how the youth gained access to the safe in which the guns were stored, Guider said.

“It had not been not pried open,” Guider said.

He said the safe does not open with either keys or a combination lock, but by some other means at the base of the safe. He said that “the carpet around the base of the safe was ripped back.

I heard Neal Boortz talking about this bill before the House:

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “Congressional Accountability for Judicial Activism Act of 2004.”

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL REVERSAL OF SUPREME COURT JUDGMENTS.

The Congress may, if two thirds of each House agree, reverse a judgment of the United States Supreme Court—

(1) if that judgment is handed down after the date of the enactment of this Act; and

(2) to the extent that judgment concerns the constitutionality of an Act of Congress.

SEC. 3. PROCEDURE.

The procedure for reversing a judgment under section 2 shall be, as near as may be and consistent with the authority of each House of Congress to adopt its own rules of proceeding, the same as that used for considering whether or not to override a veto of legislation by the President.

SEC. 4. BASIS FOR ENACTMENT.

This Act is enacted pursuant to the power of Congress under article III, section 2, of the Constitution of the United States.

Now, I am not a lawyer, so naturally anything I say about this should be taken for what it’s worth. But it seems to me that, strictly speaking, this might be Constitutional.

Article III, section 2 does indeed give the give the Court appellate jurisdiction “with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.” Furthermore, the Court’s power of judicial review isn’t enumerated in the Constitution.

Now, that said, I am NOT saying that I think this bill is a good idea (nor do I think it’ll get passed). I may not agree with every decision the Court hands out, but unfortunately the Court is about the only remaining effective check on the government. If this bill passes, there’s no check on a Congress that has a 2/3 majority. 2/3 will over-ride a veto, and 2/3 would, under this bill, over-ride the Supreme Court.

I saw this story at Ravenwood’s and at Smallest Minority.

Basically, the English authorities just released a man from prison after decided he’d been wrongfully convicted. And to show just how sorry they are, they’ve presented him with a bill for room and board for all those years he was in prison.

I don’t have much to add to the commentary, but this did remind me of something. Isn’t it true that after the Soviets executed a prisoner, they’d send his family a bill for the ammunition?

UPDATE: Jeff had the story as well. I’m sure lots of other fine bloggers are all over it, too. I’m one of those people who just found out that Paul McCartney used to be in an English Quartet back in the ’60s.

I just got comment spammed by Edmund’s and Kelly’s Blue Book. Unreal. I expected as much from the pill and smut peddlers but not these guys. Is nothing sacred when respectable companies spam your blog?

From CNN:

PARIS, France (CNN) — French police have opened an investigation after a Paris newspaper received a letter from a Muslim group threatening spectacular attacks that would make “blood run to (its) borders.”

The letter, from a previously unknown group calling itself the “Servants of Allah the Mighty and the Wise,” said it planned to take action after Muslim girls were banned from wearing headscarves in schools.

But the part that caught my eye was this:

[The group described] France as a country of “wine, pigs, loose morals and nudity.”

That sounds like a 4-star review to me. I’m calling my travel agent. RIGHT NOW.

Last year, Aaron declared April 15 Buy A Gun For Michael Moore Day. Aaron has started his campaign again this year. Last year, I built an AR15 to honor the occasion. This year, I am torn. I want either to buy a Ruger 10/22 or this cute little fully automatic BB gun. I don’t know if BB guns are sufficient enough to make a gun statement but it looks fun as hell.

Rhea County, Tennessee (home of the Scopes Monkey Trial) county commissioners voted to ask state lawmakers to introduce legislation amending Tennessee’s criminal code so the county can charge homosexuals with crimes against nature:

“We need to keep them out of here,” said Commissioner J.C. Fugate, who introduced the motion.

That’s gay.

I just got back from lunch. Seems like every restaurant now has a “Low Carbs” menu.

I wonder how long before we start seeing “Low Carb” bottled water?

UPDATE: Powdered water—just add water! The question still remains: is it low-carb?

Ted Rall can’t draw and isn’t funny. This is surprising because he apparently had this comic strip. I kind of thought being funny and being able to draw were important characteristics of people who did comics. I now know what one of the the problems is. He apparently can’t distinguish humor from facts. Jeffy Weffy has a Dowdified a humorous quote from Glenn Reynolds and Rall has used this quote to slam Glenn.

The fact he can’t identify other people’s humor may explain why he isn’t particularly funny. However, I have no idea why he can’t draw.

Over at the Shooters’ Carnival, Kevin reviews his new Makarov.

Since Kevin posts at his site and the carnival, I hope Spoons doesn’t take issue with the double linky loving. Ok, now I am just being a smartass.

Bubba details Doug McDaniel’s problems with Google Ads, a problem Les has had before.

I share Brian’s sentiment that maybe if news folks covered, you know, news instead of all the other assorted crap, their audience wouldn’t be in decline.

I guess when they’re not mislabeling things as sniper rifles or assault weapons, the VPC then misleads people about 50 calibers:

Fifty caliber sniper rifles are weapons of war that can penetrate armor plating and destroy aircraft, but under federal law are sold with only the same restrictions as standard hunting rifles, and with fewer restrictions than handguns. Reports issued by the VPC citing the threat posed by the weapons include: “Just Like Bird Hunting” — The Threat to Civil Aviation From 50 Caliber Sniper Rifles and Sitting Ducks: The Threat to the Chemical and Refinery Industry From 50 Caliber Sniper Rifles

50 calibers are a threat to airplanes and chemical refineries? Oh goodness. All these claims are based on MK211 exploding ammunition being used in the guns. These rounds are not available to civilians, nor is any exploding type of ammunition.

An anti-gun reporter in Indiana has been found to have a concealed carry permit. This is after said reporter was critical of the concealed carry provisions in Ohio.

Knoxville is rated the worst city for asthma. And half of Tennessee adults are functionally illiterate. Oh boy.

I love Rudyard Kipling’s writing. Some folks may not like him or his work, thinking him racist or imperialistic, and I won’t argue with them (not that I necessarily agree; I just don’t want an argument).

Fortunately for me, a lot of his work is public domain, and thus is available for free on the web. Lately I’ve been skimming over his American Notes, and I was intrigued by his impression of our “defenseless coasts”.

A man in the train said to me:–“We kin feed all the earth, jest as easily as we kin whip all the earth.”

Now the second statement is as false as the first is true. One of these days the respectable Republic will find this out.

Unfortunately we, the English, will never be the people to teach her; because she is a chartered libertine allowed to say and do anything she likes, from demanding the head of the empress in an editorial waste-basket, to chevying Canadian schooners up and down the Alaska Seas. It is perfectly impossible to go to war with these people, whatever they may do.

They are much too nice, in the first place, and in the second, it would throw out all the passenger traffic of the Atlantic, and upset the financial arrangements of the English syndicates who have invested their money in breweries, railways, and the like, and in the third, it’s not to be done. Everybody knows that, and no one better than the American.

He then goes on to discuss how the USA’s lack of a real navy leaves her vulnerable to an unscrupulous power that does have a navy: pay ransom or have the coastal cities shelled into oblivion:

When one hears so much of the nation that can whip the earth, it is, to say the least of it, surprising to find her so temptingly spankable.

The average American citizen seems to have a notion that any Power engaged in strife with the Star Spangled Banner will disembark men from flat-bottomed boats on a convenient beach for the purpose of being shot down by local militia. In his own simple phraseology:–“Not by a darned sight. No, sir.”

Ransom at long range will be about the size of it–cash or crash.

I bet Kipling never expected the day would come when the US Navy eclipsed the Royal Navy.

From Bill Hobbs:

[This is] the stark choice America faces in November. Do we keep the coach who is playing offense in the War on Terror, taking the battle to where the enemy lives and breeds, smashing their stronghold in Afghanistan, setting a trap for them in Iraq, and confronting Islamist terrorists by planting that which they loathe the most – freedom and democracy for Muslims – in the heart of their territory. Or do we hire a new coach who will switch to defense and focus on preparing the firefighters and police and “first responders’ to douse the flames and dig the bodies from under the rubble of the next attack?

I like it.

Anybody got a good, reliable source for information on what’s happening in Iran? I thought initially there was just some unrest in a small northern town, but now Instapundit says there are reports of unrest in Tehran. There are also reports of riots in Syria.

I’m just wondering what are the known knowns and the known unknowns, so to speak.

I mentioned a State Department report on the right to arms here. Eugene Volokh essentially pointed out some errors in the essay. Now, we find the essay has been pulled and is under review.

Fatal Dog Attacks has a page with statistics that are quite interesting. Most notably:

Of the 28 single dogs responsible for a fatal attack between 2000-2001; 26 were males and 2 were females. Of the 26 males, 21 were found to be intact (the reproductive status of the remaining 5 males dogs could not be determined).

That’s an case for neutering if I ever heard one.

Some friends came over for dinner the other night and brought their five-month-old son. This proved as a test run for the dogs with respect to their interaction with babies. They both have a lot of exposure to small children but minimal exposure to babies. They both play well with children. Since Politically Incorrect Dog was a pup, we’d subject him to all sorts of dry runs for behavior. We’d grab his tail, ears, jowls, whiskers, feet and take various food items/toys from his mouth. He never once was aggressive while we did this, which is the goal. We’d praise him for reacting positively to these pokes and prods. We do these things so that we can get him accustomed to not overreacting and acting aggressively when these things are done to him by kids. That way, when a child grabs something, he will not bite.

Our efforts have been successful. Politically Incorrect Dog was very interested in the baby. He sniffed quite a bit and didn’t want to be too far away from the action. At the same time, we also don’t want him getting too excited or playful and jumping. He’d approach the baby and gently sniff or gently rest his head on the child’s tummy and we’d praise him. Once, the child reached up and grabbed a big handful of whiskers and started tugging. Politically Incorrect Dog was the model of good behavior. He sat patiently while enduring this pretty unpleasant experience and never once snapped or pulled away. In fact, he seemed excited about the experience in general.

As an added bonus, Politically Incorrect Dog can detect poopy diapers in about two seconds.

Politically Correct Dog gently sniffed a few times and was uninterested in the baby after that. They have no idea what’s coming. So, we’re also preparing them for that.

We set up the nursery and displayed some of the toys. The hard part is informing the dogs that those toys aren’t their toys. We let them sniff the toys and give them praise. When they try to pick one up, we gently take it from them and praise them when they let go. We are being very careful not to give unpleasant corrections when they show interest in baby stuff as this could make them uncomfortable around baby stuff.

Also, after little Ms. Uncle is born, I will make a few trips home with blankets and clothing that baby has used. I’ll let the dogs sniff the items and praise them so that they associate the scent with something pleasant. When baby finally comes home, the dogs will be introduced to her in the front yard, which they view as neutral territory. Since in our front yard, there aren’t territory issues for them to deal with they should welcome the new addition into our pack.

We are also acclimating our daughter to the dogs. See, we don’t want our daughter to be awakened by the sound of dogs barking. So, we give the dogs the speak command a few times a day. Little Mrs. Uncle already has ears and can hear certain loud sounds that occur outside the womb. If we get her accustomed to the dogs’ barks and our voices, these hopefully won’t scare her after she’s born.

All you rich folks who have been putting off getting your SUV absolutely free due to an evil loophole in the tax code should act quickly. They’re on to you.

Mays takes issue with this post, more particularly comments to the post, about a cop’s weapon accidentally discharging. The issue is not about cops carrying guns (in fact, I think they should carry bigger guns myself just because of the likelihood have a particularly nasty encounter). But I also think that citizens should carry guns and cops should not be granted special privileges for being cops.

The issue that I had is that the article stated that the gun went off, as if of its own free will. The gun did not go off by itself. Period. Officer friendly likely had it improperly holstered in a manner in which the trigger wasn’t covered.

Also, some commenters made remarks critical of gun-control zealots claims that only cops should have guns and how this incident proves that cops are human too and subject to accidents. Mays interpreted this as being anti-cop, which I am not. My dad is a prominent local law enforcement officer. I have lots of cop friends (who agree with my assessment of gun control and concealed carry, by the way).

I am not anti-police.

Some rag in Indiana wants to publish concealed carry permit holders names. Why not just go to their homes and put Steal Guns sign on the door? Go to Publicola’s to see what you can do.

In other news, a man was detained for having a virtual arsenal. By virtual arsenal, they mean he had a bunch of toy guns.

Update: Not just detained but charged for having toy guns.

Drudge says the reporter who got the story about Kerry’s foreign leaders’ endorsement is now stating that he said more leaders not foreign leaders. If Kerry had 1) denied saying it from the start or 2) not had such hissy-fit about disclosure and telling people it’s none of their business, it might be believable.

Update: Kerry is not denying that he said he has support from world leaders.