Rep. Campfield has a piece in the local newspaper regarding protections from eminent domain abuse.

Manish emails this link which notes a proposal to exempt the following from airport security screening:

federal judges, members of Congress, Cabinet members, state governors, high-ranking military officers and those with high-level security clearances.

I actually concur with someone from TalkLeft who writes:

These are exactly the people who should know what it feels like to experience an invasion of privacy (however slight) at the hands of a government employee. Exempting public officials from the same travel hassles that the rest of us endure insulates them from the real world in an unhealthy way.

Like you and me, only better.

Meanwhile, the Gun Toting Liberal (who’s stuff is getting stolen from err getting love letters from Janeane Garofalo) tells us the latest TSA proposal would allow ice picks, throwing stars and bows and arrows on flights.

Like you and me, only stupider.

For some good news on the TSA, it’s good to see the Air Marshals abandoning the kill-me-first dress code.

The latest RINO Sightings is up. Never thought I’d see one in a thong.

Gunner has a round up of contests giving away guns and other stuff.

Carnival of Cordite 26 is up for all your gun blogging needs.

A serious design flaw of the Kalashnikov rifle is that one must move their hand off the grip to engage the safety lever. Well, not any more. Blackjack now offers the S.W.I.F.T. lever to remedy that problem.

Linx310 has a review.

Heh.

Apparently, the new template is a hit. Cool. Some folks want links to pop-up in new windows. I recommend you hold the shift key down and the link will pop up as you wish. It’s about 50/50 as some folks think the new window thing is browser-jacking.

Also, the comment problem is solved. I (and other authors) can now post comments without logging out.

Apparently, intelligence identifying the 9/11 hijackers a year prior to 9/11 was ignored. This intelligence came a unit called Able Danger. And, to my knowledge, no one has been fired over 9/11. Additionally, the dog and pony show err 9/11 Commission chose to ignore this fact:

“The commission’s refusal to investigate Able Danger after being notified of its existence, and its recent efforts to feign ignorance of the project while blaming others for supposedly withholding information on it, brings shame on the commissioners, and is evocative of the worst tendencies in the federal government that the commission worked to expose,”

Guess each member was too busy trying to use it for political gain rather than, you know, doing something useful. Why this news isn’t burning up the airwaves, is beyond me.

On the drive home yesterday, I caught the Phil Williams show on local talk radio. Phil was interviewing KnoxNews columnist Greg Johnson, who was advocating ethics reform. Phil and Greg were annoyed that the Citizens Advisory Group on Ethics In Government meeting was scheduled at 1:30 on a Friday with short notice (24 hours, I believe). Pretty abysmal if you ask me. The short notice, inconvenient time and place will ensure low turnout, which I honestly think is the desired result.

Mr. Johnson’s latest column says:

Lawmakers can show us the money by posting Statements of Interests on the registry’s Web site alongside campaign contributions and expenditures. If elected officials don’t want to show us their money, the play call is simple – resign.

Tennesseans have the right to know that officials put the job we pay them to do ahead of their own interests.

Besides disclosing outside interests, lawmakers should show citizens their expense money. In addition to their salaries, taxpayers pay lawmakers $141 per diem and reimburse them 33 cents per mile for official travel. Currently, expense records are in the offices of Connie Frederick, director of legislative administration. Those records by law are accessible to the public during regular business hours.

It’s also worth noting that our legislators are salaried $16,500. On the radio, Mr. Johnson seemed annoyed that our legislators may make (with salary, mileage, and per diem) a whopping $48,000 per year. Sorry, Mr. Johnson, but methinks your priorities are a bit off. That’s not a ton of money. I couldn’t take the pay cut to be a rep. IIRC, there are 132 legislators in the state. If each makes the maximum (which they don’t), that’s $6.3M. That’s small potatoes when you consider that the Tennessee .gov had exceeded its spending cap by $275,000,000 in FY04 (which is likely illegal as not everything is an emergency). Or that Jamie Hagood’s proposed $2,500,000 pet project could have paid for 52 legislators’ salaries.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t be concerned about ethics and payroll issues but attacking their modest salary level isn’t the way to go. However, tackling the consulting fees and corruption (like we got from the Tennessee Waltz) may lead to less spending. Face it folks, these fees and frauds were to buy votes for pork projects or legislation.

I realize that the salary level kind of puts it into perspective since most folks don’t comprehend how much $275M is. But that and pork spending are the real ethics issues that should be brought up today. If you go to this meeting, let me know how it goes. Remember, Tennessee Constitution, article 1, sec. 1:

That all power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority, and instituted for their peace, safety, and happiness; for the advancement of those ends they have at all times, an unalienable and indefeasible right to alter, reform, or abolish the government in such manner as they may think proper.

Word.

As a side note: To put the Tennessee Waltz into perspective, the FBI had to set up a dummy company and investigate for just over two years to catch that corruption. If it takes that much time and effort to catch that incident, how much other stuff do you think isn’t getting caught?

Not because they’re violent and will kill you since they have guns but because they will organize and use the free market to their advantage.

Talk about your politically correct induced stupidity.

If you’re going to send crazy, rude, moonbatty emails to a prominent political blogger and call her the C-Word, you may not want to use your work email address:

I am the Managing Shareholder of the law firm of Ogletree Deakins with offices located across the country. I was very disturbed to learn today that a legal secretary in our Los Angeles office sent you the vile e-mail referenced on your home page. Such remarks are clearly inappropriate in any context and an e-mail such as this certainly should not have been sent during working time using our firm’s equipment. The comments of this employee are not reflective of the views or opinions of the firm and are directly in violation of our e-mail policy. As Managing Shareholder, I wanted to extend to you our apologies and let you know that this serious violation of our firm’s work rules has resulted in the discharge of this employee.

Yahoo, dude, it’s free.

Hey, she bought an ad here. The least you could do is go visit. Go on now.

A while back, Les Jones mentioned that he couldn’t get Google Adwords due to his blogging about guns. Now, TriggerFinger mentions that Google is listing ads on his site for American Hunters and Shooters Association, which TriggerFinger has proven is a sham organization affiliated with gun controllers.

Caught The Daily Show. John Hockenberry mentioned 2Slick during the interview regarding military bloggers. Congrats to 2Slick on the mention. Hats of to Mr. Hockenberry for his integrity.

Using the pages function in WordPress, I now have a Terms of Use and Legalese page.

This site exists entirely for my amusement. If it amuses you too, that’s cool but not necessary.

All posts are © their respective author.

This site is intended to be viewed by intelligent adults (ok, we’ll settle for adults). The content is not intended for children since we’ve been known to curse, talk about porn, and discuss tittie bars. Enter at your own risk.

All original content may be quoted, provided a link to the site appears with the quote.

Yada, yada, yada

In exchange for access to this site, you agree not to sue the owner or authors of this site.

I pay for this site and am under no obligation to give you a platform to rant or refute the authors. If you want to do that, get your own site and leave me the fuck (see, told you we cussed) alone.

For contact information, see the contact page.

Information obtained on or through this site is not intended to be, and in no way should be construed as, legal advice or counsel. For that, seek your own legal counsel.

I love little baby ducks.

Some stuff on this site is satirical in nature. If you can’t tell whether it is satire or not, you should probably seek professional help. In the event you’re not sure, assume it is.

SayUncle assumes no responsibility for the accuracy of information provided by other authors. Likewise, other authors assume no responsibility for the accuracy of information provided by others.

We make no warranty regarding availability or accessibility to this site.

If you’re still reading this, you have a high tolerance for boredom.

SayUncle and its authors are not responsible for the comments, writings and links left by others in the comments section.

All email will be considered for publication, unless you say otherwise. Even if you do say otherwise, I may print it anyway.

And before you ask me a bunch of questions about stuff I may have already discussed, use the convenient search feature located in the right sidebar.

Use of this site indicates acceptance of these terms.

Knoxnews reports that the cabbie who picked up George and Jennifer Hyatte said they were on their way to an Amway meeting.

In 2001 on September 11th there was a horrific attack on our country. It took the legislature a short 43 days to pass the patriot act. A bill that is complex in it’s abilities to remove basic rights.

In 2005 on June 21st the Supreme jerks court decided that our rights to property was less important then a Wal-Mart. Politicians stood in unison and declared that they would pass laws to protect our homes. In the resulting 51 days exactly one state, Alabama, has passed a bill protecting the property rights of their citizens.

Besides Alabama, legislation to ban or restrict the use of eminent domain for private development has been introduced in 16 states: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Texas.

Legislators have announced plans to introduce eminent-domain bills in seven more states: Alaska, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Ohio, South Dakota, South Carolina and Wisconsin, and lawmakers in Colorado, Georgia and Virginia plan to act on previously introduced bills.

I get the feeling we are being left at the alter here. They promise a lot but have no carry through. Maybe they are trying to wait us out. How hard is it to pass a law that almost all politicians have come out in support of and that most people support?

Have you called your Tennessee representative and asked why a bill has not been passed? Here are the needed links to contact your representative in the state government.
Tennessee House
Tennessee Senate
Do not email. Call them. Let their office hear your voice.

If you do not contact them now, then you have no right to complain when they come for your house later. It’s that simple.

Update: This quote says a lot

Republican Gov. Bob Riley signed a bill that was passed unanimously by a special session of the Alabama Legislature

They called a special session to deal with this. why isn’t our politicians doing the same?

Update 2: Seems that some are calling for a special session of sorts.

It took uncommon courage and compassion for state Sen. Doug Jackson to call for a special legislative session on TennCare.

Stopping the Tenncare cuts will buy more votes then the property rights bill I guess.

If you’re one of those people who knows someone who was killed or wounded by a pit bull or a gun, then feels the need to search the web because the tragedy has made you want to become some sort of an activist or something, and then you find my site in the process of researching; do me a favor: Don’t email me and tell me crap like pit bulls are killers (duh, all dogs are. They have pointy teeth for a reason) and that guns are bad (no gun ever killed anyone, a person had to pull the trigger). It’s a waste of your time and, more importantly, mine. When hysterical and angry about something, you’re not at your best in terms of convincing me of anything and I won’t even try to convince you because it’s pointless. And, to be honest, I don’t want to hear it.

Or as noted at Drug War Rant:

Well, there ya go. Victims are always right, after all. Suffering a tragedy bestows infallibility upon the victim — a kind of karmic reward for having lost something.

Which is why it makes so much sense to base law and policy on the hysterical ravings of angry, freaked-out victims. They and they alone possess the clarity of thought and the kind of wise, sober, carefully crafted ideas that make for good policy.

And anything you email me I will consider for print unless you tell me otherwise. Actually, even if you tell me not to and say something particularly stupid or hysterical, I might print it anyway. I’m just that sort of guy.

Having said all that and you decide you still want to email me, you can email me at:

Update 11/17/11: Once every few months or so, I get an email from some person who did something stupid, I saw it on the internet, linked to it, and used their name in my post. The email then goes on to tell me that they’re having trouble finding work, getting a date, or whatever because people google up their name and see the stupid thing they did. Typically, if someone asks nicely and their act of stupid wasn’t criminal, I’ll go to the post and delete the name. Not a big deal to me. However, when you email me saying that I have some deadline by which I must take it down or you will sue me, I’ll tell you to fuck right off. And I’ll tell you that you have a stupid lawyer. And if you keep it up, I’ll publish the post again.

A few folks (like these guys) are taking issue with the claim that there is no right to privacy. I think it’s a trick question. There is no right to privacy specifically enumerated in the Constitution. Some folks seem to think that the ninth amendment (say, are we using that one . . . I think we’re only using the third at the moment) enumerates that right, which acknowledges unenumerated rights, is applicable. Or that the fourth amendment confers such a right. The ninth says:

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

If we assume that the ninth means what it says (our courts have consistently ruled that most amendments don’t actually mean what they say), how do we identify those rights? Is there really a right that journalists have that allows them to break laws? I tend to think not. There could some danger in recognizing rights not enumerated in the Constitution (ownership of slaves was thought to be a right once).

So, gentle reader, where do unenumerated rights come from? Are they what the people say they are? Are they what the .gov tells us they are?

Beats me. Your turn.

Update: Jon says in comments:

Simply put, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States are documents that define what the government limitations are. Confused People tend to believe those documents are intended to limit the citizens.

The Right to Privacy of the Citizens is property of the Citizens because it has not been explicitly given to the government by these documents.

Sounds like a start. I’ve read where some of the founders actually opposed a Bill of Rights because they figured a list would mean other rights didn’t exist. It is important to clarify that the Constitution typically limits or grants powers to the .gov.

Update 2: Blake has a whole lot more than I expected anyone to write about the subject.

Radley reports the cops’ story doesn’t add up. Anthony was killed in a no-knock raid for drugs in which the cops found 2 measly ounces of marijuana. Witnesses report that the police never announced themselves. Says Radley:

What happened to that loaded handgun isn’t exactly clear. So far, the only gun the cops report confiscating was a BB gun. Neighbors who saw the incident say they never heard the cops announce themselves.

Also, someone left a comment here and noted:

Bits and pieces are still coming out about this big DRUG DEALER the SWAT Team had to kill since he was such a violent criminal. The big bust was just that 2 ounces was all they could find in the entire home lets not forget the BB gun! They knew this man worked nights and had just gotten fully asleep by 6:15am. Neighbors watching them assemble and go in the home never herd them announce POLICE. All they herd and saw was the percussion grenade, guess the party wouldn’t be complete without the poppers! No gun was aimed at or shot at any police officer if he even had the gun in hand at all! He was dazed still asleep and scared shitless that people were breaking into his home in the middle of the night. He went into his closet to get a robe since he slept nude. Guess these guys wanted to keep him nude and panicked when he went in the closet. So like the well trained Swat Team they were they shot him through the wall hitting him(10 times since he was so violent and now resisting) in the leg, arm, chest and five to the head for good measure!
NOW ISN’T THAT JUSTICE AT IT’S BEAST!

I can’t verify the accuracy of that report but if they shot him through a wall, how exactly would they know he had a gun?

Check out Cowboy Blob’s other match gun. Not sure I like the hovering scope mount, seems like it could snag. Still, pretty slick.

A local THiP shot himself in the leg. Les says that this is a good case for putting a New York trigger on a Glock. I think it’s a good case for keeping your booger-hook off the bang-switch.

Kidding aside, I do like the concept of the NY Trigger as it makes you more conscious of pulling the trigger and less likely to accidentally do so.

From Blake’s:

One Regret: “I didn’t kill the one that got away.”

Remember that Fumento guy I yammered on about for a while? No. Well, basically he got into an argument with another blogger and his entire argument consisted of calling that blogger names and making fun of how pathetic bloggers are. He called bloggers typing monkeys, stupid, and other childish insults. He also said:

The penny-ante bloggers are howling . . . and nobody cares.

All this is kinda funny, because now Fumento has his own blog. Given his, uhm, superior debating skills and advanced analytical mind, I would advise him to disable comments now before his new readers discover that he’s kind of a tool.

Update: Heh. Looks like his comments don’t actually let you, you know, comment.

Saw live on TV where the authorities captured George and Jennifer Hyatte (the latter of which shot a Roane County corrections officer to free the former) without incident.

This is a story of how you should treat politicians. With the same disdain and contempt that they treat us.

In Portland the top people, supported by a judge of questionable worth, has regularly taken your trash without a warrant. One local paper decided to play the game by the authorities rules….The authorities were less then happy.

The question of whether your trash is private might seem academic. It’s not. Your garbage can is like a trap door that opens on to your most intimate secrets; what you toss away is, in many ways, just as revealing as what you keep.

And your garbage can is just one of the many places where your privacy is being pilfered. In the wake of 9/11, the U.S. government has granted itself far-reaching new powers to spy on you, from email to bank statements to video cameras (see “Big Brother’s in Your Trash Can,” below).

After much debate, we resolved to turn the tables on three of our esteemed public officials. We embarked on an unauthorized sightseeing tour of their garbage, to make a point about how invasive a “garbage pull” really is–and to highlight the government’s ongoing erosion of people’s privacy.

We chose District Attorney Mike Schrunk because his office is the most vocal defender of the proposition that your garbage is up for grabs. We chose Police Chief Mark Kroeker because he runs the bureau. And we chose Mayor Vera Katz because, as police commissioner, she gives the chief his marching orders.

Is this a sign of the next war for our rights? The supreme court says that the right to private property is null and void, so we go after theirs. All legal of course. Local politicians say your trash is theirs so we go through their trash.

If enough politicians are treated like the rest of us then maybe, just maybe, they will think twice before shafting us.

So go read the entire story. The anger showed by the politicians is more humorous then any punchline of a Robin Williams joke.

The Willamette Week Online has a comment section and I can see almost nobody objecting to politicians being treated just like us.

Basic template. I dig it. Needs some tweaking but not sure what. Thoughts?

Update: Too much white space up top and even more on individual pages. No clue how to fix it.