First up, the new seat belt law would allow police to pull you over if they see that you’re not buckled up. Under the old law, they’d ticket you for it only if they pulled you over for something else. Gov. Bredesen, who says he’ll sign the bill, said:

”I understand the issue of personal freedom versus safety, but I’ve been supportive of it,”

No, Phil, I don’t think you understand personal freedom if you’re willing to act against it by law. Personal freedom also includes the freedom to be stupid and not buckle up. And:

Those for the law say it will save lives — about 81 each year in Tennessee.

I’d put that number at closer to zero. Anyone inclined to not buckle up isn’t going to start now.

And here’s my favorite, the crack tax:

Put(s) a tax on illegal drugs and alcohol for people caught with the substances. Estimated to bring in $1 million to the state and $2 million to local governments.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that people who deal drugs won’t mind a little tax evasion. I’m no legal scholar, but it seems this might involve double jeopardy. These folks will go to jail and pay fines; then pay a tax. Seems silly to me.

Spoons discusses potential suicide attacks in the US. The question I have really is Why haven’t they occurred yet? Are they regrouping, in need of funds, or waiting on us to become complacent? Beats me.

No amount of confiscating toenail clippers will stop these attacks.

Update: I addressed why not yet a while back:

But Al Qaeda has not engaged in small attacks on US soil. It would not be difficult for a terrorist nut job to waltz into a Wal-Mart with an AK47 and a bomb strapped to his chest. Kill a few people and detonate the bomb when the cops arrive. If that occurred, people wouldn’t shop at Wal-Mart for months. It’d hurt us. I tend to think Al Qaeda will not engage in this type of thing since their MO seems to be doing something bigger than the last one.

That is specific to Al Qaeda. I wonder why the other, smaller terrorist groups haven’t tried small-scale stuff?

I’ve asserted many times, based on an article I read, that there is no scientific way to determine what breed of dog a particular dog is. It turns out that may or may not be the case. This article details a study on dog genes and is pretty interesting.

Apparently, dogs have roughly 99% of their genes that are common and a few distinct differences account for the different breeds. However, some supposedly different breeds have been found to be genetically identical. And some dogs are genetically closer to wolves than other dogs. A scientist stated:

“One of the most interesting questions still to understand … is why did the wolf keep locked in its genome everything that was necessary to make a Pekingese to a Great Dane,”

More interestingly (to me, having read before that it wasn’t possible to scientifically determine a dog’s breed) was this:

According to co-author Leonid Kruglyak of the Howard Hughes Medical Center, the study also found that while dogs have much in common, the 1 percent of their genes that determine different breeds are genetically quite distinct.

“These differences are so distinct that we could just feed a dog’s genetic pattern into the database, and the computer could match it to a breed,” said Kruglyak.

That was surprising because most of the breeds were genetically isolated only in the 19th Century, with the advent of breed clubs and breed standards, she said.

I guess that means I could let them test Politically Correct Dog to determine if I am correct in my assumption he’s some sort of Blue Tick Hound/German Short-Haired Pointer mix.

Yet:

Of 85 breeds tested, only four failed to show consistent sets of genes in common. They were the Perro de Presa Canario, German Shorthaired Pointer, Australian Shepherd and Chihuahua.

So I can still assert that Politically Incorrect Dog is a Chihuahua? Additionally, more dogs were labeled virtually identical.

For future reference, I have pasted the entire article in the extended entry section (hit MORE) since Yahoo! link longevity is measured in days.
Read the rest of this entry »

Right after I got home from work today, a telemarketer called trying to sell me a subscription to the New York Times. Poor guy.

Then, right after I got back from my job, a young lady rang the doorbell. When I opened the door, I noticed she was wearing a PIRG t-shirt.

I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.

I addressed the bad press campaign against Vulcan Arms yesterday. Now, JoinTogether has joined in. It seems that they are upset because Vulcan has the audacity to manufacture, market and sell a perfectly legal product to consumers.

Vulcan makes copycat versions of other popular weapons, such as the MP5 and AR15. Geez, am I going to have to buy a Vulcan now?

Campaigns against specific manufacturers will increase dramatically in the next four months.

Via the mullet (who is considering a dog), comes this article on finding the perfect dog. It’s a good read. But if there is one thing that you take from this article, it should be this:

2. How can I get a well-behaved dog?
You can’t. You can only create one. Dogs don’t come that way. It’s natural canine behavior to chew on all sorts of things, roll in other animals’ droppings, hump and fight other dogs, menace anything that invades the home. All these behaviors can be curbed, but that takes a lot of work. Trainers say it requires nearly 2,000 repetitions of a behavior for a dog to completely absorb it.

So, is Chris Muir getting his strip Day by Day syndicated? Could be. I hope so.

We can say we knew him when. Well, sort of. I don’t really know him but you see where I’m going with this.

A computer is grading English essay exams.

It’s been a good few weeks since East Tennessee has been in the news for something stupid. But, never fear, the local chapter of the KKK to the rescue with enough stupidity to go around:

A member of the Ku Klux Klan in East Tennessee claims the group will stage a protest outside the Dollywood theme park Saturday when gay and lesbian parkgoers gather for a “Gay Day” event.

About 20 protesters carrying banners will demonstrate against homosexuality outside the park, said Randy Gray, a Klansman who has organized rallies and protested at city council meetings in Newport. He said Klansmen will not wear hoods or robes during the protest.

No hoods and robes? Is this the kinder, gentler Klan? I guess they won’t be doing any lynching either.

Pathetic.

New budget: $2,400,000,000,000

Projected deficit: $367,000,000,000

Defense: $421,000,000,000

Increase in federal debt: $690,000,000,000

Abandoning the principles your party ran on: Priceless

Mike addresses how spring in Tennessee is short-lived. I agree. It’s the end of convertible season. I have two windows of time to enjoy my convertible, one in spring and one in fall. In the summer, it gets too hot, unless you drive in the evenings. Winter is just too cold. I probably only got to enjoy the top down this spring for about three weeks before the heat made it unpleasant.

And for the record, this is also the reason I haven’t been looking for bias on NPR. After all, it’s just not cool to drive down the road with the top down listening to All Things Considered but Israelis.

Council Bluffs is apparently considering a ban:

If the dogs were banned, pit bull owners could keep their animals, but could not raise another after the dog dies. Owners also would have to spay and neuter the dogs, and no new pit bulls would be allowed into the city.

The counter proposal is almost as bad:

Instead of a ban, Dierks said, the city could declare the breed dangerous. With that designation, the dog owners would have to carry $100,000 liability insurance policies and keep the animals in kennels while they are outdoors.

Only adults 18 and older could walk pit bulls, and the dog would have to wear a muzzle and be kept on a four-foot leash.

Banning breeds is pointless. Irresponsible owners will ignore the ban or move to another breed. Insuring pit bulls is almost as bad because it just increases the costs for owners and doesn’t do anything to prevent attacks. How about prosecuting owners whose dogs attack people?

Note to self: You should warn your friends that the new dog toy is made of hard plastic so they don’t kick it. Man, that looked painful.

Not quite as memorable as that episode of Diff’rent Strokes where Dudley got molested, but remember that episode of The Facts of Life (you’re welcome, that song will be stuck in your head for the rest of the day) where Natalie bought the candy dishes that turned out to be bongs?

Boy, Natalie and Mrs. Garrett would have sure been surprised had DEA agents burst through the door and thrown them in jail for paraphernalia err user specific products.

Dean has a rundown on this frightening trend.

Update: Suddenly, all those campy sitcoms in the 80s addressing complex social issues are coming back to me. Remember that episode of Too Close for Comfort where the guy contemplates buying a gun and then doesn’t because he almost beats his daughter with a golf club? Good times.

Oh, and speaking of Good Times, remember black Jesus?

What was your favorite complex social issue tackled by a sitcom?

Knoxpatch reports that Knoxville, Tennessee is the third best Knoxville. Heh!

Today, South(of)KnoxBubba’s blog turned two (which is like way old in blog years). Congrats to him.

Bubba is the reason I started blogging. We had a few discussions over at a local message board. I read his site and thought Heck, I can do that. So, I did.

A dog ban in Ohio:

Because the city law doesn’t allow SPCA wardens to ticket dog owners, the wardens must call a police officer each time. And officers can’t handle the calls themselves, because a SPCA warden must officially identify the dog as a pit bull.

There is no scientific way to determine what breed of dog a particular dog is. The criteria is appearance. In fact, take this little quiz.

They are also proposing more laws to give either the police or SPCA more power to regulate this asinine ban. More:

The ordinance says that only pit bulls registered before Nov. 1, 2003, can remain in the city. Anyone violating the law faces up to 90 days in jail and a $750 fine.

Twenty violations have been filed since November: 14 are pending, five other dogs were euthanized and one was returned to its owner.

The SPCA has billed the police more than $20,000 since December for boarding, care and euthanasia of pit bulls confiscated as part of city cases.

Of this meeting (yes, I can travel time. Why do you ask?):

Kerry: Please, please drop out.
Nader: No!
Kerry: Please, please drop out.
Nader: No!
Kerry: Please, please drop out.
Nader: No!

Ad infinitum.

I use Google news alerts to keep me up to date on the assault weapons ban and other things. Google news alerts allows you to enter words and phrases (like Assault Weapons and Pit Bull) and any story that contains those words will be emailed to you. Good concept. I’ve discussed the fact that Google treats anti-gun press releases (term used very loosely) from groups like the Violence Policy Center, Brady Campaign, MMM, and JoinTogether as news.

It does also email neutral articles and pro-gun articles (as long as the pro-gun article is from a major news source). However, it didn’t send me an alert about this:

Gun Ban Lobby Aims for Wrong Target; Brady Moms Should Push for Controlling Criminals, Not Law-Abiding Gun Owners

This is obviously a press release but it is a double standard.

It did, however, send a link to this today:

Re “NRA’s Eye Is Fixed on Bush,” editorial, May 16: Equating the expiration of the (entirely useless) assault weapons ban of 1994 with the easy availability of automatic weapons such as an AK-47 or Uzi is intellectually dishonest and sheds more heat than light on the subject of gun control. Fully automatic assault weapons have been tightly regulated and largely unavailable to the public since the enactment of the National Firearms Act of 1934. No matter what happens with the 1994 act, the status of these weapons will not change

So, I’ve decided it’s not anything intentional by Google. I’m not sure if these things require submission by those releasing the news or if it’s something Google tracks. So, I’d have to conclude an anti-gun bias in the media in general. Go figure.

And here’s some more guns in the media stuff:

Wichita Eagle:

Gun ban — In just four months, Americans will be able to walk out of a gun store with an AK-47 rifle, an Uzi or other weapon of mass murder under their arm.

That statement is absolutely false. First, if they are referring to machine gun versions of Uzis and AKs, those (machine guns) have been regulated since 1934 under the National Firearms Act. If they are referring to semi-automatic versions, those have been banned from import by an executive order since the 1980s (thank Bush 1). Again, the current ban is really quite useless.

Two newspapers in Ohio have published the names of citizens who obtained concealed weapons permits. Objective reporting, my ass.

I guess the words Uzi and AK47 conjure up the right amount of irrational fear. Here those words are used dishonestly again.

A growing trend: Anti-gunners targeting smaller gun manufacturers with bad press. You’ll see more of this soon.

Blake has the latest.

Caught parts of Lewis Black: Black on Broadway on HBO. One line stuck out and rang true (paraphrased):

The only thing worse than a Republican or a Democrat is what’s created when they work together.

The Comedian emails this story:

A mountain lion that had prowled the streets of residential Palo Alto for hours was shot and killed Monday after a dog chased it up a tree.

An 11-year-old black Labrador named Kelsy caught scent of the big cat and bolted for it, chasing it up a tree until police arrived, according to the dog’s owner, John Furrier.

“She had a ferocious growl that we’ve never heard before,” Furrier said of Kelsy. “I think she’s a hero. I think she could have saved some lives.”

Given that guns aren’t to be carried in California to defend yourself from nature, a good dog could be the way to go.

Politically Incorrect Dog saved me from a ferocious beast once. He became a ball of snarls, teeth and fur as he leapt at the horrendous monstrosity that was about to lay waste to me. I had him on a leash and pulled him back before he could sink his teeth into the vile creature. What was it? A seven pound catfish that a friend caught while we were camping. PID was none to pleased to see this thing on land.

Hats off to Kelsy!

Pat Gang has his new Strategy Page article up. A teaser:

The commanders and their clerical accomplices made some concessions to humanity. The teenagers were plied with promises of eternal reward for themselves and honor for their families. Dark suggestions were made as well, that if they did not submit to the will of the deity, quite opposite would occur. The people were under attack and these young people were told they were to be “spirit-warriors” in a holy cause, sacrificing themselves to stop the hated foe. All this was done to re-enforce years of schooling and training that made submission to such lunacy as natural as breathing.

[…]

The year was 1945.

XRLQ links to this post about the phenomenon of bloggers saying they like one thing and then linking to another.

There’s a lot of truth to that. From now on, I will try to link to other bloggers more. In fact, I may make it a weekly feature. There are a ton of bloggers that I read regularly yet don’t link to enough:

AlphaPatriot
Buddy Don
Bjorn Again
Elephant Rants
Barry
Knock/Snooze
Layline
Resonance
The Comedian
Drug War Rant
Mike Spenis
Indigo
The Geek

Egad, this could go on forever. But there are tons of folks I just seem to neglect to link to.

<sarcasm>It seems those rightwing shills over at FoxNews keep shoving this Sarin story down our throats. Those biased, Dubya-loving fundamentalist wingnuts will stop at nothing to advance the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy™.

Don’t they know there are important things like hurricanes that aren’t here yet, the Ghandi not being PM, and NYC was named a finalist to host the 2012 olympics!</sarcasm>

Ravenwood has some facts about 50 caliber weapons.

Via Spoons, we learn that Roderick Pritchett was acquitted. Spoons sums it up nice:

Pritchett said the gun was unloaded. Two cops said it was. An acquittal by a judge under those circumstances is unheard of. Bottom line, the judge thought the cops were lying.

If they had to choose one handgun, one rifle and one vehicle, then the average reader of Kim’s website would have:

I am remiss in mentioning that Rachel Lucas has returned. She kept it tame for a while then Michael Moore got some press time.

Welcome back, Rachel.

TN Gov. Bredesen signed into law a bill that prevents obese people from suing the fast food industry. This is ironic because of our tobacco suits. See, our legislature in its infinite wisdom began banking on the tobacco money. They funded programs and this and that, apparently unaware the cash inflow from the settlement was only temporary.

Suddenly, they had all these programs that they couldn’t pay for. So, they start yammering on about at income tax. And most folks said No to that. Instead, they raised the sales tax to 9.25%. Heaven forbid that they, say, not spend $600K on renovating a golf course or something like that. Losers.