Or at least humorous. First and foremost, I love The Daily Show. It’s hysterical. I TiVo it every night. Stewart is funny and he picks on both sides (though he picks on Republicans more).

Last night during the 4 in the morning feeding of the baby, I watched The Daily Show on TiVo. Now, my frame of mind at 4 in the morning is perhaps questionable, but here’s how the opening segment went down: Stewart shows a clip from the Swift Boat Vet ad. Then proceeds to go into all the talking points over at Media Matters regarding the SBVs (which coincidentally are misleading – I don’t believe the SBVs but such blatant fabrications to discredit them may lead one to believe the Dems do have something to hide) to counter the ad. And I waited for the punchline. It never came. There was a lame reading of the doctor who claimed to treat Kerry’s journal (not funny) and a mention of the Alabama Mail Room Clerks and Bush, which Bubba already did.

That was it. No jokes (OK, no good jokes) just talking points. Now, I don’t mind if my humor is slanted. I do take issue when it isn’t humorous. If you’re going to do the fake news, make sure it’s funny fake news and not a commercial.

Then Colbert did a hysterical piece on a representative sample from DemCon.

Hell, yeah:

FMG Publications is encouraging American sportsmen to vote to with their wallets this fall by supporting their Second Amendment right. The message from the publisher of American Handgunner, GUNS and Shooting Industry magazine: “Buy a Gun for America.”

Sign me up. Of course, it was Aaron’s idea first.

Triggerfinger alerts us about new developments in the door-to-door confiscation of guns that occurred in Oshkosh. Alarming to me was:

… police pursued a search warrant for a homeowner who — well within his rights — rescinded his consent to the police search after he realized police were stealing his guns.

Good for the homeowner. And I thought that refusal to submit to a search wasn’t grounds for a warrant.

It opens with the ludicrous statement of the day:

Assault weapons are only for people-hunters

Actually, I have an AR15 and all I hunt is paper targets. And those people with their M1s, Garands, and AR15s who lay waste to paper targets at Camp Perry would also disagree. Additionally, these weapons are functionally identical to most semi-automatic hunting rifles, they just look mean. More:

PRESIDENT BUSH says he favors legislation to extend the 1994 assault-weapons ban, which will expire Sept. 13 unless Congress acts. He isn’t, however, planning to encourage congressional action because gun issues pose an election-year minefield for some of his friends in the House and Senate.

Agreed, Bush is fence-sitting.

That is surely a fence-sitting position if there ever was one. The assault weapons that fall under the ban are not for hunting or personal protection. They are for the efficient, aggressive killing of human beings. They are military weapons. Sportsmen and those who own firearms for self-defense need them about like they need bazookas.

Comparing a semi-automatic rifle to a bazooka is almost as asinine as comparing a rifle to a baseball bat in terms of killing power. Make no mistake, this rhetoric is not intended in any way to allow a person to make an informed decision. This rhetoric is designed to mislead people into believing that the ban affects military weapons, which it does not. At least they didn’t pull an LA Times and call them weapons of mass destruction or play the nuke card.

A survey conducted in April by the Annenberg Public Policy Center, a research arm of the University of Pennsylvania, found that 71 percent of Americans support the ban’s extension, while 23 percent would rather it expired. Even among gun-owning households, 64 percent back the extension, the survey found.

And there is a survey that indicates the opposite is true. Both surveys are misleading.

Gun ownership, however, is one of those issues regarding which the tail wags the dog. The vehemence with which a minority of gun owners fight to protect their Second Amendment rights, which they view as unlimited, helps fuel the efforts of gun-control advocates, who have their own rabid subset. For example, the gun zealots who participated in a recent series of gun-brandishing incidents in Northern Virginia only threaten the rights of those who use and keep their arms responsibly.

So, you acknowledge the right and it’s restrictions? So do I. There are reasonable restrictions on the right to arms that I don’t oppose (a ban on bazookas, for example). These same restrictions apply to other rights (can’t yell fire in a theater, for example). I just don’t think that restricting the aesthetic features of a rifle (which is all the ban does) qualifies as reasonable. The ban does not affect military weapons, those have been regulated since 1934.

And it occurs to me that this is the same paper that Michael Zitz works for. I wonder if he wrote it?

Via Mike, the Other Biased Washington Paper reports:

A reporter is being held in contempt of court and faces possible jail time, and another was earlier threatened by a federal judge with the same fate, after they refused to answer questions from a special prosecutor investigating whether administration officials illegally disclosed the name of a covert CIA officer last year.

Newly-released court orders show U.S. District Court Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan two weeks ago ordered Matt Cooper of Time magazine and Tim Russert of NBC to appear before a grand jury and tell whether they knew that White House sources provided the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame to the media.

The Justice Department probe is trying to determine whether this information was provided knowingly, in violation of the law. Hogan’s orders show that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald believes Cooper and Russert know the answer.

Cooper still refused to answer questions after Hogan’s July 20 order, and on Aug. 6 Hogan held him in contempt of court and ordered that he go to jail. Cooper has been released on bond pending his emergency appeal to a federal appeals court. Hogan has ordered that Time pay a $1,000 fine for each day Cooper does not appear before the grand jury.

Sources close to the investigation said they believe Russert was not held in contempt Aug. 6 because he agreed to answer the questions after Hogan’s July 20 ruling.

Both journalists had earlier tried to quash the subpoenas issued by Fitzgerald in May. But, citing a Supreme Court decision, Judge Hogan ruled that journalists have no privilege to protect anonymous sources when the state has a compelling interest to investigate or prosecute a crime.

First off, I echo Mike’s sentiment that reporters have no special rights. They should be treated just like you and me. However, I think those rights include the right to not incriminate themselves and to remain silent. Of course, I’m no Constitutional scholar so maybe there is no right to not testify.

And, for what it’s worth, this kind of testimony is just about the only thing that can convince me that the Plame incident was indeed scandalous.

No, not stem cells but this:

At this small town on a rail track, supporters brought John Kerry’s train to a halt with a homemade sign made of white bedsheets asking for just a few minutes of his time.

{snip}

“Somebody put up a sign, and it said ‘Give us 10 minutes, just 10 minutes.’ And another sign said ‘Give us 8 minutes and we’ll give you 8 years,'” Kerry said. “So just for an insurance policy, I gave them 15 or 20, and that’s why we’re late.”

I don’t like him on the issues but I applaud him for that.

Sad news: Fay Wray died yesterday at the age of 96.

* Bonus for the reference.

It is however here. That’s a link to Michael Silence’s new blog over at the KNS. Welcome to blogging.

Link via Bubba.

And those ties to terrorists.

Fishkite has a good summary of what has been found in Iraq. Hyperlinks in the post would have been nice but if you look on the right side toolbar, there are some links to what has been found.

Via Les.

Hasbro has Lite Brite online. Cool.

The KNS reports that Michael Silence will start blogging today. However, I can’t find the link. Interesting to note from the announcement that:

Silence’s blog will be his voice, not that of the News Sentinel. That voice is on the editorial page. He also will comment very little, if any, on the issues and people he covers.

When an article starts off like this, you have to wonder:

Forget that state agents were chasing the wrong man.

Forget that Rodolfo “Rudy” Cardenas never pointed a gun at the undercover officer who shot him in the back, or that the San Jose man eerily predicted his own death by police shootout.

Despite every questionable action leading to the Feb. 17 tragedy that ended with Cardenas’ death in downtown San Jose, the heart of the criminal case against Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement agent Mike Walker now rests squarely on Walker himself, legal experts say.

The pivotal question a jury must consider is Walker’s state of mind the moment he aimed his Glock .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol at the 43-year-old Cardenas and fired.

State of mind? My ass. What about all the training the police get so that they can overcome stress and fear? The case will boil down to if they should excuse the officer involved because he was spooked. I’m not buying it and hopefully the jury won’t either.

Update: See comments for rescinded catch phrase.

The theft of an XBox resulted in three people killing six people by beating them and stabbing them. What is the world coming to?

And, you don’t need a baseball bat.

This time, it’s from the pro gun side. An error is still an error:

The liberal case for an extension of the assault weapons ban is undermined by one small but significant detail: the term “assault” as used in the law is a something of a misnomer. Technically, assault weapons are machine guns that can be fired either automatically (multiple shots per pull of the trigger) or semi-automatically (a single shot per trigger pull). Federal law already regulates these weapons.

I’m not sure which technically you’re referring to. Technically for a gun hobbyist and the military, assault weapons are machine guns (or automatics). Technically, under the 1994 Assault Weapons ban, assault weapons are semi-automatics that have two or more of a flash hider, threaded barrel capable of accepting a flash hider, bayonet lug, pistol grip, grenade launcher or folding stock.

The article does list some of the media hysteria surrounding the ban.

Update: It occurs to me that he may be referring to a single rifle that fires automatically or semi-automatically (i.e., one rifle with a selector switch). In which case, he’s not wrong. However, based on the wording, I can’t be certain.

Update 2: I’ve decided my reading comprehension is lacking and he is actually correct. Penalty flag withdrawn, repeat first down.

James Kilpatrick writes of eminent domain:

At the heart of these cases lies the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. In words every schoolboy can understand, the amendment says that government may not take private property for “public use” without payment of just compensation. The key words are “public use.” They are not difficult words. They are simple words. Their definition requires no law degrees.

Notice that the Constitution does not speak gauzily of “public purpose” or “public benefit.” It speaks with perfect clarity of “public use.” Except for the power to declare war, the power of eminent domain is the most essential and most dangerous of all powers vested in government. It is perilous precisely because it is most often employed by good men seeking to do good.

In New London, Connecticut, the city wants to buy the property of Mrs. Kelo and turn it over to private developers:

The New London Development Corp., a public entity, wants to grab 90 acres of absolutely unoffending property. The middle-income owners would be compensated, the land would be cleared and private developers would do what private developers do. They would make money. The city envisions more tax dollars and more construction jobs. Susette Kelo and her neighbors envision eviction. Their homes are their castles. They want to stay put.

When you take private property and turn it over to another private party, that is not public use in my book.

Chris Cox on the assault weapons ban:

The debate is not about so-called assault weapons. It’s about banning guns.

Indeed. The article also has some good information about the political impact of the ban on the 1996 elections. Gun owners do vote. Otherwise, Kerry wouldn’t use every opportunity to pose with a gun and Cheney wouldn’t be trying to smooth things over with the NRA because Bush supports the assault weapons ban. However, neither is fooling me.

Meant to post this a while back when Bubba was asking for sauce recipes. I dig Boston Butts. My usual method of preparation is to throw some charcoal in the smoker, add some hickory or mesquite logs (or chips) that have been soaking in water for a few days, and smoke the butt on about 250 degrees for 7 to 9 hours. However, when in a rush for lunch, you can do one in the oven on about 350 degrees for about 30 minutes per pound.

Regardless, to prepare the butt, I either do a rub or oil marinade. The rub consists of chili powder, cumin, garlic, mustard powder, paprika, kosher salt, brown sugar and pepper. I’ve never really measured amounts and tend to eyeball it. The oil marinade consists of 3/4 cup of olive oil, 8 fresh chopped basil leaves, two table spoons of fresh chopped rosemary and a couple table spoons of garlic. Salt and pepper the butt then spoon the marinade over it. Cook as outlined above.

One of the mop sauces I use (that I used today, in fact) is a vinegar sauce. Make this about and hour before you eat because it’s good fresh and it doesn’t keep for more than a couple of days. Ingredients:

1 cup of water
1.5 cups of cider vinegar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 or 2 freshly chopped jalapeños (chopped thin. You can make the sauce less spicy by removing the seeds. I never do, though)
2 tablespoons red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons fresh ground pepper
1 small onion chopped
2 tablespoons garlic

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and stir. Spoon over the meat that you pull from the Boston butt. I’ll post my more traditional (i.e., tomato based) mop sauce soon. Go ahead, fix some. It’s good, I promise. Enjoy.

Last night, I attended my 15 year high school reunion. I have one thing to say. There should be a law prohibiting DJs from going from a House of Pain song to an AC(lightning bolt)DC song. It gave me the willies.

Benjamin Vanderford faked a beheading video:

“It was part of a stunt, but no one noticed it up until now,” Vanderford told The Associated Press after being awoken at his San Francisco apartment early Saturday and informed that much of the world was suddenly under the impression he had been decapitated.

Heh. Rather blasé for the media. Why?

When his political aspirations waned, he decided to distribute the footage on Kazaa, which is used to trade millions of audio, video and software files daily, “to just make a statement on these type of videos and how easily they can be faked.”

Although the video went for months without drawing attention, it spread quickly after it was posted on a militant Islamic Web site that has previously carried claims of violent acts that eventually were verified.

The clip aired Saturday on the Arab satellite television station Al-Arabiya, as well as the Lebanese Al Hayat-LBC satellite station, before Western news organizations, including The Associated Press and Reuters, published news of the unverified beheading.

Well, that’s odd.

In the last couple weeks, I have seen Glenn, DailyKos, and some blogger I’ve never heard of on TV. And tonight, I flip on the tube and there’s Moxie on Dennis Miller. She only said like two things, one of which was a bad joke, as Ed Begley, Jr. hogged air time yammering about hybrid car incentive. Also, some pop star was on there who I had never heard of. It was kind of a snorer, but then Miller’s show usually is.

Is it sad that I know who Moxie is but not this pop star?

In a follow up to my post about police confiscating between 500 – 1,000 guns from a guy for no reason I could fathom, Ravenwood has more. It seems that the police have no real reason for doing it so they made up a bunch of small ones , such as it may be a fire hazard or weigh the house down. Lame.

A Louisiana sheriff is pulled over for speeding, shows his ass and gets a ticket:

After an exchange with the trooper — Deen says he was just “asking for consideration” from a fellow lawman — the trooper instead issued him a ticket for driving 84 mph — 14 mph over the limit.

The incident was recorded by a camera in the state trooper’s cruiser and was made public Wednesday when KTBS Channel 3 news aired the video of the sheriff becoming angry with the trooper.

“Law enforcement people don’t issue law enforcement people tickets. … You come to Bossier and I’ll issue you one,” Deen says to the trooper on the videotape.

The trooper asks Deen if he wants to speak to his supervisor. Deen says he does not.

Taking Deen’s comments as a threat, the trooper speaks with his supervisor and issues Deen the ticket instead of a warning.

So far, so good. However:

Texas Judge Hugh Taylor charged him the minimum fine of $1 plus court expenses.

$1? How much if it had been me?

Rick James dead at the age of 56. No details. Bummer.

Update: Natural causes.

Cocaine is a helluva drug.

The point of this article is that Bush has distanced himself from the ad by the Swift Boat Vets:

The White House yesterday distanced itself from a political ad that questions John Kerry’s Vietnam service …

So far, so good but:

…and called on the Democratic presidential nominee to join President Bush in demanding an “immediate cessation” of all advertisements by outside groups.

Free speech for me but not for thee.

Meanwhile, the partisan hacks are saying:

This episode just proved that when the going got tough, George W got dirty. Ask John McCain.

Update: Retraction by one of the vets. And then a retraction of the retraction by the same vet.

The Alabama Mail Room Veterans are coming out for Bush! Heh.

A few of bizarre behaviors from Politically Incorrect Dog that I can’t explain:

1) Several months ago, I had the back door to the screened porch open and the garage door open. I opened the door from the house to the garage and left it open to piddle in the garage. A gust of wind slammed the door shut, which was extraordinarily loud. Politically Incorrect Dog, who was sprawled out in the den, then (according to the Mrs.) jumped from the center of the den, over the coffee table, onto the couch (a distance of about 7 feet, I’d guess). Then from the couch, over the end table into the corner where he stood with his ears down and tail tucked for several minutes. He put a sizable dent in our sheet rock upon impact. Ever since then, he has been terrified of loud noises. No matter how much reassurance I give him that everything is OK, he still tucks his tail when there’s a loud sound.

2) He likes to drink from the bathroom sink. I turn on the water to brush my teeth and he comes running. He laps the water from the faucet like there’s no tomorrow.

3) He’s now well over two years old and still squats to pee. Me and the Mrs. found it odd and asked our vet, fearing that we had him fixed too soon. The vet assured us that it wasn’t having him fixed too soon and that fixing too soon is actually a myth. She told us that hiking the leg to pee is actually a learned behavior and not an instinctive one. I’m not sure I fully believe that because Politically Correct Dog hikes his leg and Politically Incorrect Dog has seen that thousands of times. The vet assures us he’ll figure it out some day. In the meantime, friends continue to make fun of my sissy dog.

What is wrong with kids today? Two boys, aged 11 and 14, placed a puppy in a hot grill, which resulted in the puppy’s death. This occurred after one of the teens broke into an animal shelter, stole a dog, and cut it up.

I had recently noticed a drop in traffic for my site per Sitemeter. May was an unusual month for me as I got instalanched, KABAlanched and Firearmnewslanched. I was averaging about 700 or so visits a day per Sitemeter now I’m at about 450 per day. This trend rather depressed me.

Then I started looking at AWStats, the stats program my wonderful hosting service Hosting Matters provides. I noticed that while hits to the actual html pages is dropping, hits to my feeds have nearly tripled, more than accounting for the drop off in traffic.

My point, if you blog, have a feed.

Eventual Scrabble champ spells word Lez, non-lez’s offended.

Other neat quote:

The ultimate absurdity is that you can’t play the word ‘redskins’ on ESPN.

Mike is back and has the lowdown on the whole Iraqi delegation in Memphis thing.