I’m not a cat person. Never have been. Here’s why:

I don’t like to keep a box of turds in my house.

Also, if you point at something, a dog will look. The cat will sniff your finger.

Dogs will bark at intruders, cats will show them where your bedroom is.

Dogs come when you call them. Cats look at you like you’re an idiot.

Dogs can be house broken. Cats will always go in your house, though it’s usually (but not always) in a box.

And cat piss ruins anything it touches.

Tom and I don’t agree on much but we do agree that cats suck.

Update: And A University of Missouri-Columbia study says that having a dog can help people get more exercise and lose weight.

Oliver Willis 10/15/2005:

I think it’s past time for there to be a changing of the guard in black leadership in America. People like Farrakhan, Sharpton and Jackson are no better than hustlers, bigots, and crooks. There are hundreds of black leaders who believe in improving the lives of black Americans, and America in general, but the media keeps giving time to the Axis of Irrelevancy.

Oliver Willis today:

Republicans think that because their candidate is black, he can wave magic pixie dust over Marylanders (Republicans think that black people are incapable of making up their minds for themselves and are compelled to vote based on skin color, how insulting) and hide the fact that Steele is just another right-wing Republican far out of touch with the values of Maryland and the future of our state.

So, if that leadership is Republican it’s not cool? Or do you not think that Steele believes in improving the lives of black Americans, and America in general? After all, that’s only something a Democrat can do, right?

And stating that an entire political party thinks that black people are incapable of making up their minds for themselves and are compelled to vote based on skin color is baseless rhetoric.

David Codrea:

But funny thing about liberty–it doesn’t just apply to people I approve of

Word.

Cathy:

Help me, I’m floundering. I don’t want a gun in my house but I’m not so certain how I feel about other people owning them any more. I don’t believe it is my father’s strong republican beliefs coming out as I get older. I once felt strongly opposed to guns because their only purpose is to kill. I’ve been along on enough hunting trips to see the damage that guns do but my peace-loving self has been overtaken by my maternal instincts. Yet, I suspect it is fear that makes me not quite mind if the world knows that most Americans are armed. I don’t like this maybe feeling. Am I for or against private gun ownership? How do I decide? What questions must I ask myself?

Head on over and offer constructive advice (emphasis on constructive). I did.

The NYT:

The Supreme Court nomination of Harriet E. Miers suffered another setback on Wednesday when the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee asked her to resubmit parts of her judicial questionnaire, saying various members had found her responses “inadequate,” “insufficient” and “insulting.”

Senators Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the committee chairman, and Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the senior Democrat, sent Ms. Miers a letter faulting what they called incomplete responses about her legal career, her work in the White House, her potential conflicts on cases involving the administration and the suspension of her license by the District of Columbia Bar.

It’s looking more and more like Verb every day.

Yes, it’s true. Those evil fast food corporations may be protected even though they make a dangerous product:

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday that would block lawsuits by people who blame fast-food chains for their obesity.

The “cheeseburger bill,” as it has been dubbed in Congress, stems from class-action litigation that accused McDonald’s of causing obesity in children.

The legislation’s backers say matters of personal responsibility don’t belong in the courts.

Oh and the gun immunity bill passed the house too:

Congress gave the gun lobby its top legislative priority Thursday, passing a bill that would protect the firearms industry from massive lawsuits brought by crime victims. The White House says President Bush will sign it into law.

The House voted 283-144 to send the bill to the president after supporters, led by the National Rifle Association, proclaimed it vital to protect the industry from being bankrupted by huge jury awards. Opponents, waging a tough battle against growing public support for the legislation, called it proof of the gun lobby’s power over the Republican-controlled Congress.

As I’ve said before, I’m lukewarm on the bill. It is gun friendly but special protection is special protection. At least it will curb efforts to put gun makers out of business for selling lawful products.

Seriously. I matched the powerball number and won a whopping $3! Guess I’ll be needing that tax lawyer.

Never heard of the Korobov but it has a neat history. Supposedly, it was more accurate and controllable than the AK-47.

We’re winning. More importantly, they’re losing:

Congress may decide in conference to ease District of Columbia gun restrictions (H.R. 3058). The House will vote Wednesday on shielding gunmakers from liability suits (S. 397). And last year, Congress let the assault weapons ban (P.L. 103-322) expire.

It’s enough to make a gun-control advocate quit.

“It’s not an easy job to get up every day and duke it out with the gun lobby,” Michael Barnes, president and CEO of the Brady Campaign and Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said Tuesday, “but it’s very important.”

Barnes resigned this week.

He conceded that his side of the gun debate is faring poorly on Capitol Hill, but said that’s not the whole lobbying picture. “In many states throughout the country, things are moving in our direction,” he said.

Go have a celebratory drink or two. I will.

Dog bites man…..Old news.

Man bites dog…..News.

Dog bites anti-dog man with felony charges possible…..News with karma.

The author of a new state law that allows felony charges against owners of dangerous dogs was hospitalized over the weekend after his own dog attacked him.

Will he arrest himself?

While all candidates for Senate in Tennessee have a blog advocating them, only two are written by the candidates. Jeff Moder blogs here. And Bo Heyward, a particularly interesting fellow, blogs here.

I think Blogging for Bryant was the first.

The Kelo story gets a bit more interesting:

The city council has voted to sever ties with the quasi-public development authority at the center of a national debate over eminent domain powers.

The council voted 6-0 Monday night to revoke the designation of the New London Development Corp. as the city’s “implementing agency” for its Fort Trumbull development. The agency has guided the $73 million state-funded project since its inception in 1998.

As for why, it seems the development corporation acted to evict some residents after the state asked them to hold off while they contemplate changes to the law. That last bit is some good news.

Via Bob, a judge has ruled:

Requiring voters “to purchase a photo ID card effectively places a cost on the right to vote,” he said, adding that is the equivalent of a poll tax and is unconstitutional.

I concur with Bob. The solution is to eliminate the fee for the ID cards.

Tam made it further in the Brady anti-gun game than I did. She notes:

The absolute best part? The Brady Center has wasted all this time and effort on this corny game to teach kids Three Things to Do when they see a gun. Can you guess what those three things are? That’s right: Stop, don’t touch. Leave the area. Tell an adult. [isn’t that four things? – ed] Where have we heard that before?

Heh.

John Stossel on gun myths:

Guns are dangerous. But myths are dangerous, too. Myths about guns are very dangerous, because they lead to bad laws. And bad laws kill people.

“Don’t tell me this bill will not make a difference,” said President Clinton, who signed the Brady Bill into law.

Sorry. Even the federal government can’t say it has made a difference. The Centers for Disease Control did an extensive review of various types of gun control: waiting periods, registration and licensing, and bans on certain firearms. It found that the idea that gun control laws have reduced violent crime is simply a myth.

I wanted to know why the laws weren’t working, so I asked the experts. “I’m not going in the store to buy no gun,” said one maximum-security inmate in New Jersey. “So, I could care less if they had a background check or not.”

“There’s guns everywhere,” said another inmate. “If you got money, you can get a gun.”

Talking to prisoners about guns emphasizes a few key lessons. First, criminals don’t obey the law. (That’s why we call them “criminals.”) Second, no law can repeal the law of supply and demand. If there’s money to be made selling something, someone will sell it.

A study funded by the Department of Justice confirmed what the prisoners said. Criminals buy their guns illegally and easily. The study found that what felons fear most is not the police or the prison system, but their fellow citizens, who might be armed. One inmate told me, “When you gonna rob somebody you don’t know, it makes it harder because you don’t know what to expect out of them.”

What if it were legal in America for adults to carry concealed weapons? I put that question to gun-control advocate Rev. Al Sharpton. His eyes opened wide, and he said, “We’d be living in a state of terror!”

In fact, it was a trick question. Most states now have “right to carry” laws. And their people are not living in a state of terror. Not one of those states reported an upsurge in crime.

An interesting fact I also learned from the piece is that Alex Kozinski is an Eastern European immigrant.

WBIR:

Authorities have eradicated an estimated $1.2 billion in marijuana in the state this year.

More than 440,000 plants were seized in 2005 — 20,000 more than last year. Advertisement

Each plant is believed to be worth about $2500. The figures are estimated to rank the state second in the country, behind only California.

The DEA, TBI and THP are just some of the state agencies working together in the marijuana crackdown. Five helicopters from the Army National Guard were used.

In years past, officials would find huge patches of pot plants, but now say one or two plants are found here and there. They say this is a direct result of their crackdown.

That’s a lot of money.

Yes, I bought tickets. From Countertop, comes the Powerball meme:

1) $17 million a year for 20 years or $164.4 Million Cash Value

Cash, upfront. Remember, for tax purposes you can give up to 50% of AGI to charity. Seriously. More importantly, this keeps you from giving this cash back to the .gov.

2) First purchase

A good tax lawyer to help me figure out how to maximize my charitable contributions. And stay rich. Again, seriously. If you win, your first call should be to your spouse (to tell them or to tell them to leave) then your second call should be to a tax lawyer.

3) Statement to the Today Show?

I wouldn’t go on their show, unless they let me do it naked.

Jay G:

Look, I’ve got nothing against hybrid cars, except that their owners are smug, self-important imbeciles who save $100 a year on gas by spending an extra $5,000 on their car.

Yeah, here locally, there is some Hybrid car (maybe the Prius) that has a license plate that says 72 MPG or some such. I’m familiar with it because I occasionally have the misfortune of getting behind this imbecile on Alcoa highway while he or she is doing 40 MPH in the passing lane.

Saddam pleaded innocent. He then got into a scuffle with the guards.

A blog advocating Rosalind Kurita for Senate means every Tennessee Senatorial candidate now has a blog.

Miers pledged her support for an amendment banning abortion during a run for city council. I heard this covered on the radio yesterday and a White House spokesperson said something to the effect of: Running for office is different than a court nomination and, basically, we can’t hold her to that.

First, why can’t we? Has she since changed her mind? That’s the implication. Or has she not changed her mind but they know that having that position would jeopardize her nomination or be bad for the Republicans and the administration? If that’s her view, why try to hide that?

Also, this statement basically confirmed that politicians admit that they lie and it’s OK since it’s for elected office.

Seems that blogs were all aflutter with rumors that Cheney may resign. I personally don’t see it happening but, if it did, the celebration in the streets from the left would be quite a sight to behold. Also, if it happens, who would replace him? I’ve seen Rice kicked around.

But, dear lefties, I wouldn’t be getting my hopes up.

David Hardy reports:

HR 2088 is a bill which would allow WWII vets and their heirs to possess certain war trophies and DEWATs (deactivated war trophies).

What prompts the legislation is that during WWII, commanders were authorizing soldiers to own and take home war trophy guns, including machineguns. Many of the vets didn’t realize that such a written authorization doesn’t get them around the National Firearms Act; they weren’t lawyers, were in war, and had a letter from their commander authorizing them to take the gun home, and figured that covered it. As a result, there are a considerable but unknown number of MGs out there where the owner thinks everything is legal, and it isn’t.

If this bill has legs, I’ll predict a sudden increase in sales of parts kits for older military rifles.

I was going to comment on this misleading and hysterical piece on the bill in the paper of only occasionally making up the record but Denise beat me to it:

Here’s what’s wrong (and I will pick a couple of nits). The Bushmaster is not gleaming. It has a matte-black finish. It’s not a telescopic rifle. They mean it’s a rifle fitted with a telescope. More seriously, it is not an M-16 assault rifle. At no point does the article point out that the Bushmaster is semi-automatic like many classic hunting rifles and not capable of full auto burst-fire like an M-16.

Check out Coal Creek Armory’s blog for gun porn, pricing and specials.

Publicola was on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show to discuss Miers and the second amendment. He posted a transcript.

Kevin and I don’t agree on much. But when we do, I like to point it out:

First, it turns the justices into just partisan hacks. Regular vacancies would increase the pressure on judges to rule the “right way”. If a person’s future employment depends upon making political patrons happy, then they have almost no chance to develop any independent thought.

Adam Groves reports there may be some link between the Black Caucus and The Tennessee Waltz:

The Legislative Black Caucus, which has recently come under fire for gaps in disclosure of funds for its annual Legislative Retreat, now appears to be linked to Tennessee Waltz, the undercover FBI operation that exposed several corrupt law makers. The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports that undercover FBI agents posing as E-Cycle reps hosted a dinner during the legislative retreat and along with Charles Love, an indicted “bagman,” tried to convince several black legislative leaders to take an E-Cycle junket to Miami.

So, our reps are ready to apologize and make it right, you would think. Guess again:

Some black leaders say they are concerned that most of those indicted in Operation Tennessee Waltz are black, but investigators in the federal bribery sting say they don’t, and can’t, consider race.

State Rep. Ulysses Jones, D-Memphis, said the racial breakdown “raises eyebrows” and that blacks and whites are discussing it.

“Within the political community, a lot of people are starting to see there are a lot of African-Americans targeted,” said Rep. Jones, who has said he was offered bribes in the case and suspects he was videotaped by the FBI.

How about being concerned that most of those indicted in Operation Tennessee Waltz are crooks?

Update: Joe Public:

I really can’t say for sure that there was no racial bias involved in the FBI sting. I can’t read the investigators’ minds.

Check out the Tavor Assault Rifle-21.

Jeff has the latest on anti-gun bias in the media.