Owen tells us that Chai Vang, who I blogged about quite a bit, is guilty on six counts of first degree murder. This post of mine has some comments from those in the area after it happened.

Heh.

Via somebody. Already forgot where.

After 2000, it seems a lot of elections are awful darn close. Check this out:

Tennessee Special Election — 60 of 60 precincts reporting (100%)
State Senate Dist 29
Ophelia Ford 4,332 50%
Terry Roland 4,320 49%
Robert Hodges 89 1%

12 votes. Let the recounts begin!

I predicted gun sales would go up after Katrina and early indications supported that. Now, there’s this:

Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. has reported that fiscal first-quarter sales rose and profits were boosted by a reduction in allowances for environmental contamination at a Springfield property.

The company said after the markets closed yesterday that it had profits of $2.7 million, or 7 cents a share, in the fiscal first quarter ended July 31. This compared to a profit of $1.5 million, or 4 cents a share, in the same quarter last year.

Seriously. Insty notes that he found something bad about Roberts. On the commerce clause:

I appreciate it’s a hypothetical, and you will as well, so I don’t mean to be giving bindings opinions. But it would seem to me that Congress can make a determination that this is an activity, if allowed to be pursued, that is going to have effects on interstate commerce. Obviously if you were successful in cloning an animal, that’s not going to be simply a local phenomenon. That’s going to be something people are going to…

This was in response to Chuck Schumer essentially asking if Congress could do whatever the Hell it wanted with regard to cloning (or anything, really). So, dear reader, here’s a question for you all:

Why do we even fucking pretend that there is a commerce clause? Our government acts like it’s not there by simply stating that, at some point, everything is involved in commerce. There is no commerce clause for all intents and purposes.

You remember that time (I think it was in Georgia) where some politico used the word niggardly to describe a budget and some folks were offended that a politico used a racial term (even though the correct term would have been racist)? And then that time where people thought that Bush was delaying the response to Katrina because Bush wanted to kill black people? Remember how fucking stupid that was? I mean, if you’re going to hurl accusations of racism, you should probably know what you’re talking about*.

Well, via Kevin, it has happened again:

The associate vice president of student services at Greenville Technical College referred to New Orleans evacuees in Greenville as “yard apes” in a staff meeting last week, said school President Tom Barton on Tuesday.

The college will decide by noon today what action it can take, Barton said. At least one local minority leader said she should be fired.

[snip]

“We’re going to rectify the situation and make it very much known that we won’t ever tolerate that kind of situation — ever,” Barton said, describing his reaction as “shocked” that someone with years at the school could make such an “asinine” statement.

The problem with this situation is that it assumes that all evacuees are black (the majority probably are). And that a ‘yard ape’ is a derogatory term for black folks. Yard ape is, actually, a derogatory term for children. This person called evacuees children. Yard ape is also a character in a children’s book. Nothing to see here, keep moving.

Update: *Speaking of knowing what you’re talking about, I did some more Googling and found a racist terms glossary (seriously, some one maintains one). So, maybe there’s something to it. I have never heard it used that way and have always heard it in reference to children. So, like the Confederate Flag, I guess it can be racist depending on the usage.

Bubba is back at Facing South. Looks like permanently. Good, he’s been missed.

This is pretty lame:

Despite promises to abide by a moratorium on eminent domain takings, the city agency in charge of development has sent notices to residents in Fort Trumbull ordering them to leave by the beginning of December.

And it gets better:

According to a copy of the eviction notice obtained by the Journal Inquirer, residents are being required not only to leave by Dec. 8 at the latest, but also to pay $600 a month to the NLDC in the interim.

Nothing some tar and feathers wouldn’t stop.

Church wants immigrant’s property via ‘eminent domain’

Surely, that would annoy the staunchest of ED supporters?

Via the folks at KnoxBlab, comes this:

The Rainbow Community Awareness Project of Knoxville, a local group supporting the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community, announced plans Tuesday for its “Come Out Knoxville” celebration.

The celebration, which includes activities stretching over two weeks starting Oct. 6, coincides with a similar national event. Gary Elgin, director of Rainbow Community Awareness Project, said this year’s events mark the largest celebration ever in Knoxville.

“This is the very first time that we have taken this amount of days to celebrate,” he said. “It’s the first time we have taken it to this level, and we are extremely excited.

“This is also the first time that the mayor has recognized the gay community and one of its events,” he said. “Any time you can bring this information to the public, it will help people better understand who you are and relieve the anxieties and dissipate the fear that seems to guide people’s opinions.”

Among the scheduled events are several concerts and lectures, a cabaret show that highlights advances in the GLBT community and a coming-out workshop that educates and encourages homosexuals to live openly and honestly.

The keystone event, the Come Out Knoxville March and Rally Festival, will be Oct. 15 downtown.

The mayor probably recognized that gay people have money. I wonder a few things: If there will be a political fallout over this for the mayor? If there is a chance of violence at the event?

Michael Silence is trying to put together a list of Knoxville bloggers. So, if you are one or know of one, head on over and leave a comment. I’d add Tam, Alston, and Marko.

Can’t swing a dead cat and not hit a blogger in Knoxville. There’s also this guy, who I’d never heard of before.

There’s some good discussion in my AR vs. AK death match post. Read them. I am disappointed that it didn’t become the flame-war that I thought it would.

Also, the original thread from a while back has excellent comments too.

I may have to do a Glock v. 1911 Death Match soon!

Over at Grits For Breakfast, who testified at the hearings, is discussion on what the new Texas law that lets you carry a gun in your car without a permit means.

Some local blogs are abuzz about the recent 9th circuit case ruling the pledge of allegiance is unconstitutional because it contains the phrase under god. Michael Silence notes the Ninth Circuit Strikes Again and points out they are the most overturned of the circuit courts. Some insane commentator there says:

They better start praying for the almighty to save that state look at what happen to with Katrina.

Yes, God is going to kill people over this. You see, famine, terror, genocide and all sorts of nasty stuff in the world and God is going to stop what he’s doing and smite California for saying that an empty gesture that kids are pressured to recite may respect the establishment of religion. Feh.

B4B tells us this is why we should vote for Bryant.

The original pledge didn’t contain the words and they were added in the 1950s by Congress. I’m still looking in the Constitution for the authority of Congress to make a pledge. I wonder if people would object if we added ‘under Cthulhu or Satan or Allah’?

Non-local blog Xrlq:

Q: What do you call a lawyer with an IQ of 50?
A: Your Honor.

And Pattycakes:

Judge Karlton is just plain wrong.

They both have a lot more.

Google has launched their Blog Search function. You can search your blog’s URL and it seems to pick up more than Technorati or The Ecosystem. Problem is that a lot of what it picks up are spam blogs, a few of which link to me apparently.

Someone needs to stop these spam blogs. Spammers have already made my referral logs useless. And, until I got Spam Karma 2, had made trackbacks useless. I hope they don’t make the various blog tracking tools useless as well. Heck, we’ve got political hacks who are doing a fine job of that.

I mentioned Feingold asking Roberts about the second amendment, TriggerFinger notes that Feinstein asked about the commerce clause and guns (does the prefix Fein mean concerned with guns?). TriggerFinger has some concerns.

Another Knoxvillian who blogs about guns over at Food Court Six. He’s teaching his girlfriend how to shoot and he’s keeping people from making straw purchases. Welcome to blogging, Alston.

And Feingold too. Just quoting for now, check it:

FEINGOLD: Let’s go to something else then. I’d like to hear your views about the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms. This is an amendment where there’s a real shortage of jurisprudence.

You mentioned the Third Amendment where there’s even less jurisprudence, but the Second Amendment’s close. So I think you can maybe help us understand your approach to interpreting the Constitution by saying a bit about it.

The Second Amendment raises interesting questions about a constitutional interpretation. I read the Second Amendment as providing an individual right to keep and bear arms as opposed to only a collective right. Individual Americans have a constitutional right to own and use guns. And there are a number of actions that legislatures should not take in my view to restrict gun ownership.

FEINGOLD: The modern Supreme Court has only heard one case interpreting the Second Amendment. That case is U.S. v. Miller. It was heard back in 1939. And the court indicated that it saw the right to bear arms as a collective right.

In a second case, in U.S. v. Emerson, the court denied cert and let stand the lower court opinion that upheld the statute banning gun possession by individuals subject to a restraining order against a second amendment challenge.

The appeals court viewed the right to bear arms as an individual right. The Supreme Court declined to review the Appeals Court decision.

So what is your view of the Second Amendment? Do you support one of the other views of the views of what was intended by that amendment?
Read the rest of this entry »

WBIR:

A 12-year-old Knoxville middle school student saw the remains of her father in a gruesome photograph of a drunk-driving crash during a presentation by police.

The presentation was meant to educate teenagers about the dangers of driving under the influence.

Uhm, can’t you guys use some non-local footage or something?

A while back, Publicola and Xrlq had a little debate where Publicola suggested that Xrlq probably broke the law all the time. How could Xrlq not, Publicola argued, since there are so many laws? I decided to look back over the last few months to identify laws I’ve broken while not intending to or through just being a normal guy. I’m excluding simple traffic violations. Here they are:

That’s just the ones I’m aware of.

Update: Apparently, I’ve committed one more felony while completely unaware.

Bob Krumm notes the sales tax increase in Davidson County was not approved by voters. I loved this quote from Metro Councilman Michael Craddock:

We don’t spend what we’ve got now wisely, so the people have chosen not to give us anymore

Local talk radio guy Hallerin Hilton Hill on John Roberts’ Senate confirmation hearings (paraphrased):

It was pretty clear he was the smartest guy in the room.

Update: The original thread I brought this up on is here. Make sure you read the comments for a good discussion.

Les’ post on asking gun questions of Sean Penn reminded me that I planned on doing an AK vs. AR analysis. Here it is:

By a score of 5-2-2, I call it for the AR-15. Let the flaming begin!

John Longenecker at MND writes:

My fear us that the gun confiscation in New Orleans was merely a trial balloon to see how the public would handle a major move in gun control. Gun control isn’t moving fast enough, so with the very next emergency it’ll be tried in order to see the reaction. That emergency came in Katrina. A lot of people believed that an emergency would be cover to confiscate guns. Then it happened. It was a cover to confiscate guns.

On the grounds that were enunciated, there was no emergency. At least not one that would make confiscating guns the answer connected in any way to safety when personal weapons were the same mainstay they have always been in time of local thugs / no cops combination.

I’m not sure if it was a test run but, by most indicators, it ended quicker than it began. No doubt that’s partially because gun rights folks threw a fit.

The latest is up at Target Center Mass.

Jeff has the latest. It’s the New Orleans edition.

Well, if there’s anything I get tired of in baseball, it’s the baseball.

Apparently, there’s a UN Summit tomorrow to tackle major global issues. Here’s some news coverage.

And, no, I’m not sure why they’re advertising here.

The Geek reports that the gun confiscations have ceased, according to someone in the know:

More on confiscations. Looks like it is over.

Some new information. Once again, can’t really say where from. Take me at my word, or don’t. Your call.

The confiscations are over about as soon as they started.

Contrary to much of the ranting posted on THR over the last 24 hours, not all cops and NG are out to kick in your door. The confiscation order from the NOPD didn’t go over real well with many of the people who would be the confiscators.

As soon as word got out, the politcal (sic) freak out was quick. Yes, the order was given. In order to disarm the independant (sic), to make them defenseless, to force them to leave. But as soon as word started to leak out, that plan was killed.

So, it’s been one year since the assault weapons ban expired. What’s changed? Not much, really. There’s no blood in the streets. I’ve not heard of any dramatic increase in crime. Pretty much the same. Good.

In terms of my collection, for the first time in a while I have new regular capacity magazines. I even have magazines that are labeled For Law Enforcement Only, for novelty purposes. My AR has a telescopic stock, a flash hider and a bayonet lug. My AK has a folding stock. And I added Pearce Grip +2 extensions to my Glock 30 magazines (it helps those of us with wide hands).