Not funny ha ha but funny sad:

So let me get this straight: Lawmakers continue to insist on a Byzantine, gordian mess of a tax code that requires us to spend billions annually on tax advice and preparation.

Yet if you call the IRS and ask for advice, not only are you unlikely to get a reply, if you do, there’s a good chance the advice you get will be wrong, and following it could still get you prosecuted?

Happy fun tax fact:

People scurrying to meet Friday’s tax deadline might consider this: It’s taking you and your fellow Americans 6.6 billion hours to do all that paperwork.

The basic tax return — the Form 1040 filed by most people every year — accounts for 1.6 billion hours.

And, here’s a round up of happy fun tax facts past:

Bribes and kickbacks to governmental officials are deductible unless the individual has been convicted of making the bribe or has entered a plea of not guilty or nolo contendre.

In 1999, taxpayers contacted the IRS for assistance approximately 117 million times.

The Internal Revenue Code consists of approximately 1,395,000 words.

There are 693 sections of the Internal Revenue Code that are applicable to individual taxpayers, 1,501 sections applicable to businesses, and 445 sections applicable to tax-exempt organizations, employee plans, and governments.

As of June 2000, the Treasury Department had issued almost 20,000 pages of regulations containing over 8 million words.

In 2000, there were 129,373,500 returns filed. Of which, 96,817,603 were taxable and 32,555,897 were not.

In 2002 individuals, businesses and non-profits will spend an estimated 5.8 billion hours complying with the federal income tax code (henceforth called “compliance costs”), with an estimated compliance cost of over $194 billion

As of 1998, 32% of individual federal income taxes are needed in order to pay the interest on the national debt.

It is estimated that total income tax receipts in 2003 will be $1,211,843,000,000.

The instructions for filing the Easy Tax Form are 32 pages

At least it’s also buy a gun day. Nothing bought yet, still haven’t decided what I want.

Update: Ravenwood reflects on what he pays for.

More: Foxtrot weighs in.

The Entrepreneurial Mind has more too. Via Bill.

Another case of the powers that be using eminent domain to handle zoning and code issues:

Boca Raton city government is taking steps to permanently eliminate problems with a trash-strewn home on Palmetto Park Road.

The City Council this week initiated eminent domain proceedings against Albert Schulz, 57, the owner of a house at 600 W. Palmetto Park Road that city officials say has been a filth problem for about nine years.

Boca cannot foreclose on the house because it has a homestead exemption. So it chose the more aggressive step of taking the dwelling by eminent domain.

I’m not sure what a homestead exemption is but it seems that enforcing zoning ordinances is more appropriate.

Looks like breed specific legislation doesn’t work:

It was our impression that Muskegon Heights’ tough city ordinance limiting pit bulls and dangerous dogs would have been more effective. Yet clearly, more needs to be done and is being done in the wake of several pit bull attacks on children in that city.

The solution propose, of course, is doing more of the same. The particular incident prompting the new crackdown:

Tre’s injuries came from a dog chained up next to his grandmother’s house.

Dogs on chains (of any breed) tend to become aggressive. They’re not fond of being restrained. On some media hysteria:

Pit bulls are not the only dog bred specifically for its ferocity, but it is the chief breed raised for bloody “sporting” matches in which two dogs are pitted against each other in a contest to the death. Some people also keep them around because they “guard” the house.

Pit bulls were not bred for ferocity. They were bred for gameness and dog aggression. They actually make pretty lousy guard dogs.

Xrlqy Wrlqy, comments in this post that the Illinois FOID does not register firearms. It does, however, register firearms owners.

Ethics reform has the support of a local rep. He has a blog and opines on the issue:

A $50.00 fine is a joke for the money some are taking in.

As the late Senator Koella used to say, if we’re going to pass a law, let’s put some teeth into it. Let’s forget about a $50 fine, and instead press real charges.

These criminals should be dealt with as harshly as those they took advantage of. In some cases, a felony charge is not out of the question.

The final piece of reform should be an elected state-wide Attorney General who does not have to tow the line for anyone but the taxpayers. That means not owing his/her job to the Tennessee Supreme Court. If the voters aren’t satisfied, he/she can be voted out and someone who will do the job can be put in. That is accountability–and accountability is sorely lacking.

To combat puppy mills, the Tennessee legislature is proposing (gasp!) taxes:

Pet food would be subject to a new tax and persons selling more than 25 dogs or cats would have to be licensed under legislation debated to a standstill in a Senate committee on Tuesday.

The bill would also mandate inspections and investigations of animal abuse. The tax would pay for that. Bubba opines that it is good legislation. The bill would tax pet food and require a tax license of $75.

Puppy mills are atrocious, horrible things. I think this is a start but I doubt it will be very effective. I tend to think that people operating puppy mills are not inclined to obey the law. However, it does set up another means of prosecuting unethical breeders.

I caught a little bit of Citizen Journalist on Right Talk Radio. It’s internet radio hosted by Bill and Jeff. When speaking, they suffer from the same afflictions I do:

My speech is rather monotonous. I have a deep voice and my voice naturally doesn’t fluctuate in pitch or volume very much. I appear, I’ve been told, rather stoic and sort of unaffected by my environment. This causes me some problems: 1) I am a terrible public speaker because I’m monotonous; 2) I can’t tell jokes (seriously, I am quite deficient in my ability to deliver a punchline)

I appreciate their effort but, like me, they need some sort of voice training. They, like me, have voices made for blogging, which trumps faces made for radio.

The Houston Chronicle:

The NRA’s Eddie Eagle GunSafe program, which has reached an estimated 18 million children nationwide and 1.4 million Texas kids since inception in the early 1990s, visits four Houston-area schools this week.

The program, created in consultation with child psychologists, teachers and law enforcement personnel, is designed for kids in pre-K through third grade and teaches four simple reactions to a gun: Stop. Don’t touch. Leave the area. Tell an adult.

According to a release from the NRA, “fatal firearm accidents in the Eddie Eagle age group have been reduced more than two-thirds nationwide since the program’s inception.”

That same release notes that in Texas, from 1990-2002, the National Center for Health Statistics reports a 79 percent reduction in fatal gun accidents among children.

One note about the article is that I’ve never noticed talking points from anti-gun groups with the qualifier: According to a release from the [insert anti-gun group]. Maybe I’m just being obtuse.

Time it took from me reinstituting trackbacks to the first piece of trackback spam: 30 minutes.

Trackback is turned off, again.

His not so weekly gun links are up.

The BBC:

Cyber criminals are starting to use fake blogs to snare new victims.

The bogus web journals are being used as traps that infect visitor’s machines with keylogging software or viruses.

Filtering firm Websense said it had found hundreds of bogus blogs baited with all kinds of malicious software to snare the unwary.

Websense warned that the baited blogs could get past traditional security measures that try to protect people from malicious programs

As much fun as messing with people was, I had to disable my bandwidth stealing measures. People who read via feeds were needlessly subjected to the Flashelhoff. And that’s no good for anyone.

Countertop has some testimony on the Lawful Commerce In Arms Act. Just go there and scroll away.

At least it means some liberals in NYC are pro-gun:

Bush Shooting Targets Appear in NYC

More gun lies from the Christian Science Monitor:

Florida’s lawmakers have passed a bill to remove criminal penalties for anyone who shoots an attacker even if the shooter didn’t first make an effort to escape.

That leaves out the rather important requirement that the person who uses deadly force presumes that there exists threat of serious bodily harm. Of course, attacking you kind of denotes that.

The “Stand Your Ground” bill, which is expected to be signed by Gov. Jeb Bush, removes the “retreat if it is prudent” clause from state law, thus giving citizens the right to use deadly force – even when it may not be needed.

Another lie. If deadly force is not needed, then the police can still prosecute under the law.

The Florida measure would push citizens toward a mentality of “shoot first and ask questions later.”

Yes. And back in 1987 when Florida passed concealed carry laws, people cried there would be blood in the streets. That never came to fruition.

And it could even encourage more citizens to carry weapons, thus increasing the possibility for using deadly force. Accidental shootings could also rise, especially among those with no gun training.

Packing.org tells us that a Florida concealed carry permit does require passing a training course.

The CSM yammers about states and courts debating self defense and duty to retreat. They fail to mention that most states do not have a duty to retreat. This legislation actually brings Florida in line with most other states.

The state’s move reveals the sheer force of the nation’s gun lobby, not the force of common sense. In fact, getting the law passed was the No. 1 priority in the state for the powerful National Rifle Association. Let’s hope other states don’t follow suit.

Actually, it is common sense. Retreating is a good way to get killed. And, as I said earlier, it’s actually Florida that is following suit. And, in the event there is no reasonable notion that the person was in danger, then the self-defense is not justifiable.

Looks like residents of Hell err New Jersey are becoming resistant to Eminent Domain:

This week, it was announced that a group is forming for owners of commercial properties who are concerned about their properties in the city’s redevelopment zones.

Against this backdrop of growing advocacy, the city is pushing ahead with redevelopment plans and last week met with developers who presented plans for the Broadway triangle, or gateway, zone.

Last Sunday, the Beachfront South Coalition, formed just last month, met for the second time to discuss the next steps in fighting what they say is an abuse of eminent domain, according to coalition founder Harold Bobrow.

In Groton:

With little discussion, members of the Groton Dunstable Regional School Committee voted last Wednesday night to seize by temporary eminent domain property located in East Groton for possible use as the site of a future elementary school.

What is temporary eminent domain? Do they give it back when they’re done? I read the article and still have no idea what is meant by temporary.

Heh!

I criticized the LA Times for being liars in their coverage of gun control. Since then, they’ve issued this correction:

An editorial Monday on a pending federal bill to shield firearms makers incorrectly stated that the bill would bar damage claims for injuries from an exploding or defective gun. The bill permits such gun-defect cases if the gun was “used as intended” but bars claims from accidental shootings that occur if an adult or child pulls the trigger believing the gun to be unloaded.

In other words, the bill defends gun makers from the negligent use of their products. The LA Times did not address their other lies, which were stating congress never called the AWB to a vote and stating that the congress and president quietly eviscerated key gun laws and regulations. One of three isn’t good odds.

Some troops were indicted for smuggling AK47s (the real ones, not the fake ones that gun controllers here are trying to get banned) from Iraq into the US:

Guy Brown and Nigel Brown, of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and Beau Uran, of Clarksville were indicted on charges of conspiring to unlawfully import machine guns from Iraq and aiding and abetting the possession of a machine gun.

Nigel Brown and Uran were soldiers deployed to Iraq in 2003. The indictment alleges that while in Iraq, they acquired 17 AK 47’s and a Chinese model assault rifle.

I recently spent some time in Northern Virginia and had a chance to visit the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. It’s located right next to Washington Dulles International Airport, which is way the heck out west of downtown D.C.

The SFUH Center is basically a big hangar with an IMAX theater and an observation tower. The exhibit highlights are the Space Shuttle Enterprise, the B-29 Enola Gay, a SR-71, and a whole host of other aircraft, spacecraft, engines, missiles, and….

a whole display case of MACHINE GUNS!

There’s no admission, but parking is $12. Also, there’s nothing else out here to see, whereas with the Smithsonian’s other buildings downtown (even so, I wasn’t able to spend as much time here as I would have liked; it’s tough when your group includes three hungry, tired, and cranky babies). All in all, I wouldn’t make a special trip, but if you are in the Dulles area, and have an hour or two to spare, it might be worthwhile.

Update – In the comments, Countertop points out:

While at the Udvar Center you were a mere yards (I’d say less than 1000) from Blue Ridge Arsenal and even more importantly you were about 5 miles down the road from the NRA and their award winning National Firearms Museum (talk about gun porn) as well as their stellar range. And to top it all off, you were only about 10 minutes from Bull Run Park Shotgun Center (not to mention Bull Run Park itself (as in Battle of Bull Run) and Manassas National Battlefield.

Thanks for the info! Now on to the Gun Pr0n!
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What with work, family, and reading (catching up on Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle), I haven’t had much time for posting. I thought I would snatch a moment or two to pass along this gem that Brian Tiemann found:

Spamusement.

I laughed so hard it hurt.

In the event the site looks screwy, let me know. Dealing with a bandwidth thief. Meanwhile, some gun porn:

Update: Heh and heh.

And if you see dancing flashelhoffs on this site, let me know.

Update 2: I de-flashelhoffed Bloglines. So, if you use another feed reader and are burdened with such a horrible image, let me know and I’ll add to the list of sites that can safely steal my bandwidth.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ravenwood notes that the pending assault weapons ban in Illinois would force residents to destroy or turn in guns. If their guns fit the bill, turn them in as they are illegal. And, since Illinois has registration, the task of finding those guns won’t be that difficult.

Mr. and Mrs. America, turn them in.

Head, displaying an image of a heavily armed New York City police officer standing guard outside the NYSE, notes that the officer has his Aimpoint red dot sight mounted backward. From the image, it looks like he does.

Update: Nope, not a photoshop.

Vice Squad reports that the Tennessee Attorney General issued an opinion that many of the state’s controls on alcohol advertising violate the US Constitution.

I’m pretty certain that forbidding passengers of airplanes from taking nail clippers, files and such onto airplanes has prevented absolutely zero terror attacks. And neither will this:

A nationwide security change means travelers at McGhee Tyson and airports across the country must soon give up their cigarette lighters at checkpoints.

Starting Thursday, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will no longer allow lighters through security checkpoints.

These little inconveniences are a reminder that terror is an effective tool against us.

I have mentioned Koscielski’s Guns and Ammo and their fight against the powers that be before.

Now, Dave’s Picks has more:

It’s been fifteen years that Minneapolis has been trying to outlaw gun shops within city limits by using zoning regulations to make it impossible to sell guns in the city. Mark’s been fighting this all along, and since 1995 has been the only shop allowed in Minneapolis. In 2002, it became impossible for Mark to locate his shop anywhere in Minneapolis due to revisions in the zoning ordinances. He moved, and reopened anyhow while continuing to fight the city in court.

Why is this a big deal? Well, mostly it’s still legal to own a shop that sells guns, and in various legal battles, it’s been determined that using zoning to force people out of business isn’t kosher. Look into the history of “adult shops” in various cities for more on that. I don’t think it’s right to use zoning to make it impossible for a legal business to operate within the city, and neither does Mark.

Jed has more.

Via David

Blogging for Bryant has a rundown of the 2006 Tennessee senate race. It’s worth reading.

A while back, I wrote about Barrett (makers of a popular 50 caliber rifle) refusing to service LAPD rifles since the LAPD had a policy of actively infringing on the right of the people to keep and bear arms. Now, via reader Airboss, Barrett is refusing to sell to any California government agencies. No doubt, this is due to the recent 50 caliber ban in California.

Kudos to Barrett.