That provision [the assault weapons ban] had the support of most police departments, the people who have to confront anyone who abuses the use of these automatic, rapid-fire weaons. The amendment was attached to the Republican bill and it looked as if Democrats had the votes to pass the amended version. [sic]
The ban has nothing to do with automatic weapons. Via AWBanSunset.
Martha Stewart has been found guilty of covering up a crime the government couldn’t prove she committed:
Martha Stewart was convicted Friday of obstructing justice and lying to the government about a superbly timed stock sale, a devastating verdict that probably means prison for the woman who epitomizes meticulous homemaking and gracious living.
Update: Doh! So close to Instalanche. I am now a reader.
That’s the goal of a website I found (via Number 2 Pencil) http://endzerotolerance.com/.
The mission of endzerotolerance.com is to be a comprehensive and up-to-date national resource for those interested in learning more about the negative impact of Zero Tolerance upon students, families and society.
I don’t have any school-age kids yet, but by the time I do, I’m wondering what the government-run schools will be like. Of course, it’s easy to get the impression that Things Are Just Awful, because the good stuff isn’t newsworthy.
However, based on my own government school experience, I’d have to say that at least 75% of my time, if not more, was just wasted. Of course, this was in rural Louisiana, so I’ll admit my experience probably wasn’t typical. On the other hand, nobody freaked out over scissors. Heck, most of the boys had pocket knives, and during hunting season I’d bet there were always a couple of pickup trucks with—*gasp*—GUNS in them!
Ah well. The answer, as always, is to be vigilant. In the meantime, have any of you readers run into any “zero-tolerance” problems?
UPDATE: Say Uncle pointed me to Zero Intelligence, a blog ” dedicated to keeping an eye on, and pointing out the excesses of, bad school policies and actions.” Unfortunately, there’s plenty of stuff out there to keep them busy.
Via Bubba, We must combat politicizing of 9/11 by, uhm, politicizing 9/11:
“The fact is Bush’s actions have resulted in fire stations closing in communities around the country. Two-thirds of America’s fire departments remain under-staffed because Bush is failing to enforce a new law that was passed with bipartisan support in Congress that would put more fire fighters in our communities. President Bush’s budget proposes to cut Homeland Security Department funding for first responders by $700 million for next year and cuts funding for the FIRE Act, a grant program that helps fire departments fund equipment needs, 33% by $250 million. In addition, state and local programs for homeland security purposes were reduced $200 million.”
So says a union guy. I could buy the criticism if the ads were particularly exploitive. They’re not.
Politics as usual.
Update: Per this:
The budget, however, reduces funding for other grant programs, such as Citizen Corps, Fire Act Grants, state and local training initiatives, training exercises and technical assistance. Overall, the amount of grant funding available to state and local governments decreases by $805 million from fiscal year 2004.
Ridge said the reduction in funding for first responders is justified because the government has provided $8 billion in grants since March 1, 2003. He said the amount of funding that has gone to first responders during the last two fiscal years is 900 percent greater than funding in fiscal 1999, 2000 and 2001.
So, we up the funding by a lot after 9/11 then cut it after two years. That seems about right since I can assume that the initial funding increases likely paid for some needed equipment that you don’t need to purchase every year.
Via Jay.
I am curious why no one has arrested the various mayors and city officials who are authorizing gay marriage licenses? It is illegal. Someone should be arrested. After all, if I or any other regular Joe practiced civil disobedience, we’d likely get arrested. Just a thought.
David Skow writes the TwinCities.com:
Well, it’s been almost a year since the passage of the concealed-carry law, and the sky hasn’t fallen. There haven’t been any road-rage shootings or Wild West shootouts like the doom-and-gloom crowd predicted.
In fact, it appears that people can actually be trusted to be responsible in exercising their Second Amendment rights. What a huge disappointment this has to be for the gun control crowd, but not to worry. In their typical fashion, they’ll just continue to ignore the facts and conjure up more horror stories to make us believe that we can’t be trusted to do the right thing. You can bet that they’ll use the “save the children” argument.
Nice!
This is pathetic. Not only is it blatantly biased, it is severely factually incorrect. Paul Vitello is either an idiot or incapable of doing any research. Nevermind that assault weapons were only ever used in at most 1.4% of crime. And nevermind that the DOJ and CDC have concluded the ban has had zero effect on crime. Where to start:
Ask what you’ll need to purchase a semi-automatic military-style sniper rifle like the one used by John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo to kill 10 people during their 2002 Washington, D.C.-area murder spree.
They’re sniper rifles this week. Last week, they were assault weapons.
In the midst of a series of mass murders in workplaces, Congress in 1994 imposed a 10-year ban on the sale of military style weapons under production at that time.
No, there was a ban on which non-lethal, aesthetic features semiautomatics could have.
The Bushmaster, a version of the military’s standard AK-47 rifle, was the kind of gun they had in mind: highly accurate, extremely deadly from almost a half-mile away.
Idiot. It’s a civilian version of the AR15. By civilian, I mean that it is semi-automatic and lacks the non-lethal features mentioned above. Half a mile? That’s 880 yards. Yes, it will travel that far. But this weapon shoots the 5.56MM NATO round. The bullet is 0.001 inch larger in diameter than a 22 long rifle. Most states don’t allow people to hunt with 5.56 because they aren’t powerful enough to down game.
But with a few modifications – a change of barrel size, a different bolt – the maker was able to legalize its product and keep selling it, despite the ban.
Uhm, you’re an idiot. Barrel size and bolt have nothing to do with the weapons legality. Bushmaster removed threads on the barrel, the flash suppressor, and the bayonet lug to make it legal. None of these features affect the weapons lethality.
(Knowing this much helps to understand why, when Malvo and Muhammad were killing people from 500 yards during that summer and fall, then-White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush saw the shootings not as a gun problem so much as a problem of “values.”)
I don’t think they shot anyone from a distance greater than across the street. I could be mistaken though. And the fact is they only took one shot per victim. The damage they did could have been done with a bolt action rifle.
Mr. Paul Vitello spews forth more tripe but I can’t read any more.
In the comments below regarding the 9/11 ads, Barry says:
I meant it was a little insulting to me as an American that the relatives think that 9/11 was only their tragedy. Obviously they’re all going through a very painful struggle, but 9/11 wasn’t a car wreck, a forest fire, a hurricane or a regular plane crash. It was a world-changing event that has changed the lives of every American. Forever. We all grieved for the victims, we grieved for our way of life, we grieved for our sense of security and we grieved for the deaths yet to come. To tell me that the relevance of 9/11 was only theirs to own, and not all Americans is practically a slap in the face.
I think that sums it up fairly well. My thought process that day was threefold. First thought was Holy Shit. My second thought was sympathy for the people who died and their families. My third thought was Holy shit, we’re gonna nuke somebody tomorrow and it’s the end of the world as we know it. I am glad that my third thought was incorrect. To minimize the impact of this event on those of us not directly affected is absurd.
On NPR, that bastion of media fairness despite what some folks think, was an in depth look at George Bush taking shots at John Kerry. Oh my! Funny how when John Kerry was taking shots at George Bush they were called criticisms. Odd. Nope, no bias, keep moving.
That was as far as I got because I realized that being in the convertible with the top down, it is not cool to listen to All Things Considered unless those things are conservative. Had to go with some Mudvayne instead.
The Volunteer Tailgate Party, a round up of Tennessee bloggers, is up at Teresa’s.
Today was beautiful. 75 degrees and sunny. I drove home from the office with the top down on the car. Then it occurs to me. Those days will soon be over. I have child coming. I can’t very well strap her car seat into the back seat of a two door car and the fact that if my car flipped no one inside would live. I guess I need some sort of SUV.
I’ll need a daddy mobile. I can’t bring myself to drive a van. I thought this was why the Mrs. got an SUV. I’m thinking one of those four door 2004 F150s. Being a guy, if I don’t have a convertible, a hot rod or a motorcycle, then I have to have a truck. It’s a rule. Look it up.
After all, SUVs aren’t trucks. A man knows a station wagon when he sees one.
Bush has some ads featuring the images of 9/11. This has upset some folks. I watched the ads. I didn’t find them offensive. However some folks did:
“It’s a slap in the face of the murders of 3,000 people,” said Monica Gabrielle, whose husband died in the twin tower attacks. “It is unconscionable.”
Actually, Monica, I find it to be a slap in the face to the American people that you are suing everybody over 9/11.
I’m a software engineer, so occasionally us geeks gather around and start swapping our old computer “war stories.” Ah, sweet memories…
I’ve been mostly behind the technology curve, myself. I was an “early adopter” of sorts, as I got a computer for Christmas in, I believe, 1982. It was an Atari 400. It had a membrane keyboard and decent graphics, but no built-in languages. I did get the BASIC cartridge (it was Atari, see?) and eventually a tape drive to store my horrible spaghetti-code BASIC programs, but that was it. No floppy-drive, no printer, no modem. I missed out on all the cool BBS stuff, but I probably wouldn’t have done much with a modem anyway. I was in rural Louisiana; any BBS would have definitely been long-distance, and I don’t think my parents would have put up with that.
As it turns out, that would be the only computer I owned until 1998. You see, I spent the years from 1989 until 2000 in the groves of academe. I figured the Universities had plenty of computers for me to use, and I wouldn’t have to worry about obsolescence.
As an undergraduate at a state Tech university, I was did indeed get to use computers: for CAD programs, circuit modeling, and programming. I took FORTRAN in 1990, and by the time I was finishing up in 1992-93, they were actually offering C++!
About this time, we started fooling around with this wacky network stuff. I knew one guy who nearly flunked out because he spent all his time in something called a “MUD.” I remember watching him: first, you login to the terminal (9600 baud, with a green monochrome monitor), then you type “telnet” followed by a bunch of numbers separated by periods. “That’s just too complicated!” I thought.
I preferred to spend time on the cool new Sun workstations with COLOR MONITORS! Wow! There was this thing called “Usenet” where you could find pictures of, ahem, scenery and stuff. Well, first you had to download about 4 text files, concatenate them, and run a program called “uudecode,” but it was worth it. Gorgeous scenery!
There was even a program called “Mosaic” which would let you…well, it didn’t let you do a whole lot back then, but it sure got a lot better. I spent the next decade in graduate school, and the internet and the World Wide Web became increasingly more important for research and communication, as more and more people setup websites with their e-mail addresses and electronic copies of their papers.
In 1993, I used a program called Archie to search FTP sites. Now we use Google, and it’s unbelievably much less painful. In 1994, the only tool we had to create web pages was a text editor. Now, I’m using the web itself to create web pages. Now that’s progress.
Anybody out there got any stories from the “good old days?”
Via Jeff, I found that a post is pissing people off. Jeff sums up one issue nicely:
… [Rob] drops eight gratuitous n-bombs, recycles every racist stereotype in the book, and then tosses in a few legitimate statistics just to make the rest of us look like racists by association, should we ever quote them in the future.
This has spread through the blogosphere quickly.
Using the N-Word results in delinking and racist allegations. However, calling a demographic Government Tit-sucking Crackerfolk is Ok!
Sadly, the only redeeming portion of Rob’s point (i.e., where are the black leaders? – a question I have asked many times) is overshadowed by his choice of words and his racist rant.
And to be clear, I am not condoning the rant. I thought it was pretty hateful.
At long last, I will become a part of the problem. I’ve been working on it for a while. I have been engaged in various real property investments for a while. Now, it is time for this evil, capitalist, free-trading bastard to commit the orgy of the market. I am going to incorporate myself. Why? Well, for a plethora of reasons:
Tax deductions, tax deductions, tax deductions: Mileage, meals and entertainment, interest expense, and deductions for health insurance.
I can purchase Class 3 NFA firearms without getting approval from local law enforcement.
I can salary myself.
Plus, I get to give myself a cool title like God Emperor of SayUncle, Inc. Impressive on a résumé.
Now, there will no longer be just dinner with the wife at the dining room table. It will be a SayUncle, Inc. meeting of the Board of Directors. Hell, I’ll make Politically Incorrect Dog the Treasurer. Politically Correct Dog gets the title of Vice President In Charge of Making Poo on the Neighbor’s Lawn.
That feeling of being drunk with power.
And, the créme de la créme, I get an SUV absolutely free.
I can’t wait! Power to the people. Long live capitalism. Fear me, I am the man. In league with the Forces of Darkness. I’ve already got my application to join the Republican National Committee.
Wow! My trip into darknéss has causéd mé to put moré tildés ovér léttérs than évér béforé. Go mé! Béing évil is fun.
Update: Les points out in comments that, as a corporation, I won’t be personally liable for anything. And for his benefit, this post is meant to be, uhm, sarcastic but yes I do plan on incorporating myself.
This started out as a comment on this post, but then it started getting long-winded, and I remembered: I’m a blogger, too! So here goes.
I think mandatory sunset clauses are a good idea. I also like the idea (Neal Boortz has mentioned this a lot) of requiring every bill to cite the specific part of the Constitution that enumerates the power being exercised by the bill.
For example, let’s say Ted Kennedy introduces a bill to ban “armor-piercing cop-killer bullets.” OK, Senator Kennedy: which paragraph of Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution says that the Congress has the power to ban such bullets? Of course, he would claim it falls under “regulating commerce among the several states.”
This word “regulate” appears a few times in the Constitution, and, as with most English words, has more than one meaning. Which one was intended here (and in the 2nd amendment)? Does “regulate commerce among the several states” mean “make the commerce uniform,” or does it mean “burden the commerce with rules?” Hard to imagine which definition Senator Kennedy would choose.
I shouldn’t pick on Senator Kennedy. I’m hard pressed to think of ANY politician at any level who thinks that maybe he isn’t supposed to pass just any law he wants to. Would making them cite the Constitutional authority for their proposed law solve this problem? Probably not, but at least it might get them to actually READ the thing, at least once.
Licensing enforced by the state:
The owners of for Paws Boutique in Auburn were arrested Monday in connection with instances of practicing veterinary medicine without a license, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
The Alabama State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners investigated the pet store and issued search and arrest warrants for owners Rebekah Perry and Cindy Salter. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office assisted with the arrest and search Monday at about 4:45 p.m.
“I do not know why they investigated (the store),” said Perry. “I am not a veterinarian and I am not practicing veterinary medicine.”
The Alabama State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners would not comment on reasons for the arrest because of an ongoing investigation.
Both Perry and Salter were rescuing stray cats and vaccinating the animals, Perry said. The owners purchased the vaccinations, and buying these vaccinations is not illegal, she added.
The Alabama State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners were searching for rabies vaccinations, and it is against the law to purchase rabies vaccinations, Perry said.
I know a few dog breeders that give shots to their newborn pups because it is cheaper than paying a vet for it. You can buy these shots at farmers co-ops cheaply and legally. The shots are easy to give and provide the valuable service of keeping the animals disease-free. Alabama law may be different.
Closing:
About 23 cats are currently living at the pet boutique. Perry said she is not going to adopt stray cats anymore, and each cat will be sent to the Lee County Humane Society. The cats will more than likely be euthanized, she added. “And it’s a shame.”
A shame indeed.
Phelps is advocating something I’ve proposed before: All laws passed should have inherent sunset provisions. It should be an amendment.
Gun grabbers are spending millions of dollars to seize freedom from Americans, but we’re the ones who are considered a lobby.
CAGW is slamming the nerds over at NASA. Seems to me this money spent on space could be used on other ventures, like high speed rail or (gasp!) tax cuts.
No one is planning on leaving the planet any time soon, are they?
The government has put chips in money. You can disable the chip by microwaving the money. This has the side effect of destroying the money. Here’s pics.
This story comes via Donald Sensing, who opines:
I presume this is an anti-counterfeiting measure, because the government would never be up to something more nefarious and intrusive than that, would they? Nah.
Update: Alert reader Cinomed notes the microwave thing has proven false.
Les has his weekly gun links up. For what it’s worth, I have heard nothing but good things about Mosin-Nagant rifles. However, I have no idea what they cost. $98 may or may not be a good price.
I do, however, recall the late 80s and early 90s when the SKS (before its import was banned by executive order from Dubya’s daddy) was gaining popularity. A friend had a gun shop. He was buying them for $59 in bulk and selling them for $80. Now, they go for about $220. Hindsight being what it is, I would have bought 20 of them in bulk and locked them away some where.
Apparently, the anti-gunners feel the recent gun bill defeat was a good thing. As such, they are preparing a newer, stronger ban:
The Washington-based Violence Policy Center accuses the gun industry of “willfully circumventing federal law” by modifying a new generation of weapons and renaming them ‘post-ban’ or ‘after-ban’ assault weapons.
Such weapons are perfectly legal under the so-called “assault weapons” ban. But the Violence Policy Center accuses the gun industry of evading the intent of Congress by “making minor cosmetic changes and producing ‘clones’ and ‘knock-off’ versions to continue to sell for profit at the expense of public safety.”
The group singled out six Illinois gunmakers that manufacture “post-ban assault weapons.” It said a new study shows that Illinois has more “post-ban” assault weapon manufacturers than any other state.
Even if the U.S. Senate had passed an extension of the semi-automatic weapons ban, “the extension would do nothing to curtail Illinois unique distinction of being number one in manufacturing these deadly assault weapons,” said Thom Mannard, executive director of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence.
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence says renewing the assault weapons ban will be its highest priority for the coming months.
Pay attention, it’s coming.
Guess what? No gay marriage in Blount County. We’re too busy injecting God into our government.
A Tennessee couple told legislators that the red tape involved in adopting children causes many folks to give up.
I’d say that is a valid concern and one that should be addressed quickly. I would think that we’d want to place children in acceptable homes as quickly and efficiently as possible. Of course, bureaucratic bungling is inherent in any governmental organization.
Or just outright lying:
States United to Prevent Gun Violence (SU), an association of independent state based gun violence prevention advocacy organizations in 29 states across the nation, applauds yesterday’s bipartisan U.S. Senate rejection of S.1805, gun lobby-inspired legislation to protect the gun industry from civil liability.
Gerry Anderson, Executive Director of Arizonans for Gun Safety said: “We are absolutely delighted that Congress voted to protect America’s homes, schools and communities by voting against pet legislation proposed by the gun lobby. The Gun Industry Immunity bill would have granted wholesale immunity from liability to the makers of the most lethal of consumer products, firearms, by denying American citizens access to the courts – a basic right important to the freedom of us all. The gun industry is already the most protected in the country, exempted from oversight by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Enactment of S.1805 would have made it the only industry in American history to enjoy blanket immunity.”
The bill was killed mostly due to the anti-gun bills attached. Most of them supported the initial bill.
I tend to think it won’t be an issue. Democrats know to avoid it like the plague. Republicans are saying they’re for the assault weapons ban. It’s not good for either of them to say that. But this article disagrees:
Liberals say Republicans don’t care if “weapons of war” can once again get in the hands of people willing to kill innocent Americans, while conservatives say Democrats want to limit gun ownership by law-abiding Americans.
“The U.S. Senate had its vote today. Law-abiding gun owners will have their turn to vote in November,” Wayne LaPierre and Chris Cox, the National Rifle Association’s executive vice president and the group’s chief lobbyist, said in a joint statement.
Democrats had hoped to use a GOP bill preventing lawsuits against gun manufacturers and distributors as a vehicle for renewing the 10-year-old ban against the manufacture, importation and sale of military style semiautomatic weapons.
And I will say gun controllers don’t want freedom to choose aesthetic features of rifles once again get in the hands of people.
Some claim that letting the ban on some semiautomatic weapons expire will cause a surge of police killings and a rise in gun crimes. But in fact, letting the law expire will show the uselessness of gun-control regulations. A year from now, it will be obvious to everyone that all the horror stories about banning what have been labeled “assault weapons” were wrong.
I’m not a huge fan of Lott because of some questionable antics in his research but this quote is accurate.
I’m thinking of shopping for a handgun in caliber .22 LR, and I’d love to hear recommendations. This is just going to be a plinker, something fun and cheap to shoot. Here are the loose criteria I have:
1. Auto-loader
2. Not picky about ammo
3. On the inexpensive side, ideally <$200
Of course, there's a little give in those, especially in the price range.
Suggestions?
Remember, I do this to entertain me, not you.
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