So, there was some sort of suicide bombing in Oklahoma last week. I’m not sure about all the details because the press has largely ignored it. Could be something, could be nothing. Michelle Malkin rounds up the issue. This story has received minimal coverage. Michael Silence did some checking and notes:

So I decided to do a LexisNexis search using the bombers last name, “hinrich,” and “oklahoma.”

I found 45 entries, including the Associated Press, CNN, the NYT, the Chicago Tribune, the Rocky Mountain News, the Denver Post, the St. Louis Dispatch, USA Today and some smaller papers. Likely there are other stories because if memory serves initial reports did not include the person’s name.

Still, that seems like a small number so I did a comparison using “miers” and “court.” The bombing was Saturday, Miers’ nomination was Monday. LN would not return the listings on my Miers search because they totaled more than 1,000.

Meanwhile, no bomb has gone off in New York yet but the threat of such is news all over. Now, I understand warning people and appreciate that. But (and it’s a big but) people also kind of want to know about the bomb that did go off. And if you don’t read blogs, you wouldn’t know about it.

Do they hate Oklahoma?

After Campfield poked the black caucus with a stick, look what comes running out:

The state’s caucus of African-American lawmakers receives thousands of dollars in contributions without any requirement to disclose the transactions, the group’s leaders acknowledged yesterday.

[snip]

The dispute comes at a time when many Tennesseans are calling for stronger ethics laws for legislators, including better reporting of the flow of money to Capitol Hill.

The News Sentinel:

The Legislature’s Black Caucus has not existed as a nonprofit corporation for 20 years, raising an array of questions that the organization’s chairman declined to answer Wednesday.

Records at the secretary of state’s office show the Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators had its corporate charter revoked in 1985 for failure to file required reports.

A document to re-establish the caucus as a legal entity was filed Tuesday, listing Allyson Sneed, executive secretary to caucus Chairman Johnny Shaw, D-Bolivar, as the incorporator.

So, let’s review: The Black Caucus has been illegally operating as a non-profit since 1985. And they would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for that meddling Campfield. Now, they are scrambling to comply with the law.

Bill Hobbs has more.

Shortly after I added Robert Prather to the blogroll, he stopped blogging. Now, he’s back in the saddle. Welcome back.

Via Michael Silence, comes this:

In a decision hailed by free-speech advocates, the Delaware Supreme Court on Wednesday reversed a lower court decision requiring an Internet service provider to disclose the identity of an anonymous blogger [no relation – ed.] who targeted a local elected official.

In a 34-page opinion, the justices said a Superior Court judge should have required Smyrna town councilman Patrick Cahill to make a stronger case that he and his wife, Julia, had been defamed before ordering Comcast Cable Communications to disclose the identities of four anonymous posters to a blog site operated by Independent Newspapers Inc., publisher of the Delaware State News.

Excellent!

David Codrea says so. Could be a sign.

Wow. It’s like local governments have no fear of taking property:

The District of Columbia plans to use eminent domain to acquire land for the Washington Nationals ballpark.

The Washington Times reports 10 of the 23 landowners affected have not responded to purchase offers.

The city notified landowners in April they must be off the 21-acre site by Dec. 31. Construction of a new stadium is scheduled to begin in March with completion expected by the beginning of the 2008 baseball season.

A while back, I covered this story about these two cops (Ernest Cecil and Ulysses Hernandez ) who were off duty, at a bar, and drinking. And they were carrying guns, which makes it illegal. They were decommissioned. Now, via Blake, they’re off the hook:

A judge had just ruled they were not guilty of illegally taking guns into a downtown nightclub last year.

They claim they were working (casing the joint and blending in) though there is no record their supervisors were aware of it. Seems to me if you were a cop casing the joint and blending in, you wouldn’t identify yourself as a cop when a bouncer asks you to leave. The fact is, they were breaking the law. You or I would be in jail now.

Apparently, even business groups (you know, those evil people that Republicans kowtow to?) are splitting with the administration over the PATRIOT Act:

The business groups complained to Congress on Wednesday that the Patriot Act makes it too easy for the government to get confidential business records. That put them at odds with one of President Bush’s top priorities – the unfettered extension of the law passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

In the first organized criticism of the act from the business sector, these groups endorsed amendments that would require investigators to say how the information they seek is linked to individual suspected terrorists or spies, and would allow businesses to challenge the requests in courts and to speak publicly about those requests.

The difference between this and other non-business complaints is, of course, the fact they might listen.

A while back, Cowboy Blob said the Mech-Tech sucked. The Gun Guy likes it. The Cowboy used the Glock model and The Gun Guy used the 1911 model. Is there a tie-breaker out there?

Something like this:

My fellow conservatives,

Yeah, we’ve had our issues with the party you nominated (that I happen to be running) spending like drunken sailors, missing the boat on immigration, inflating the federal bureaucracy to the largest it has ever been, and this very questionable nomination for the supreme court that I’ve given you. I understand you guys are concerned. But, dammit, there’s a war on. Can’t we just get back to agreeing on that one issue and that liberals suck.

Love,

George

I will say, however, that it was a decent speech. And we thwarted how many terror attacks? I’d like some proof that all those toenail clippers I’ve had confiscated weren’t in vain.

In this post, I linked to a cool looking truck gun. Jay G. says in comments:

I dunno. If I’m gonna get the $200 stamp, I want something in the 12 gauge variety…

In that case, check this bad boy 12 gauge out (scroll down):

Based on the Saiga AK47 platform, it has a 12″ barrel, folding stock, SAW pistol grip, tactical light, picatinney(sic) rail, vertical foregrip, cold weather trigger guard, flash hider and HK sights. The base model will run $695 with the options as add-ons. The above picture shows it fully loaded with options.

Now that’s a truck gun! If you like shotguns, of course. I prefer a rifle as a truck gun.

David Hardy seems convinced that Miers and Roberts are pro-gun, and notes Scalia and Thomas are as well. He’s looking for the fifth vote and thinks it may be (gasp!) Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

I remain unconvinced but it would be about the only thing that would lead me to have any respect for the woman, who seems to put ideology above the law.

States’ rights? What states’ rights?

Via Tom.

Ravenwood notes a particularly fishy case in New Jersey:

Segal said he met with Cryan, who is head of the township’s Democratic Party, and other local officials “scores of times” over the past five years to discuss the project. He claims the talks turned adversarial after he rejected proposals to work with various developers they proposed.

On May 24, the five-member township committee voted unanimously to authorize the municipality to seize Segal’s land through eminent domain and name its own developer.

“They want to steal my land,” Segal said. “What right do they have when I intend to do the exact same thing they want to do with my property?”

So, eminent domain is now being abused to developer shop.

John Cole rounds up other post-Kelo cases, including confiscation to build a Dallas Cowboy Stadium. How is that public use? He also has some good news from other states, similar to my list here.

Preston Taylor Holmes points to this site, which aims to get left leaning folks to visit right leaning sights to change minds. They advise Be Civil. Have Discourse. And I’m not listed.

I’m all for having discourse and welcome any commentators to have at it. In fact, SayUncle has quite a few lefty commentators and that’s great. However, when the moonbat variety show up with their Chimpy McHitlerburton, Blood for Oil, Who Would Jesus Bomb, nonsense they don’t do anyone any good. Save that shit for Democratic Underground or Oliver Willis.

Odd.

SayUncle’s friend (asking rhetorically): You know what’s disgusting?

SayUncle: Hair in mayonnaise?

As you were.

I like Marc’s idea and it won’t increase the number of accidents.

Vaughn Aiken:

Only a couple of years ago, our president justified the invasion of Iraq because he claimed that weapons of mass destruction were an imminent threat to America’s safety and well-being. Well, guns have become weapons of mass destruction here at home, in our own communities. It didn’t help people of color that Congress let the assault weapons ban expire a year ago last month, thus releasing more AK-47s, Uzis and Tec-9s onto our city streets.

First, the ban did not affect AK-47s or Uzis, as those are machine guns and heavily regulated. Intra-Tec, make of the Tec-9, went out of business and those are no longer made. Most crime guns are handguns and crime continues its 30 year spiral down and remains the lowest it has been, even though the ban expired. There are obviously other factors that lead to crime.

At least try to look into the facts.

I really dig the new Kel-Tec SU-16D D9. Takes AR-15 magazines and the stock folds up completely under the rifle. With a nine inch barrel, a weight of less than four pounds, a closed length of less than 20 inches, it’s pretty damn compact. Pricey though at $840 and you’ve got to add the $200 NFA tax since it’s a short barreled rifle.

Plus, it sounds like it’s named after me. SU?

This meme made the rounds (see Barry and Tommy). Here it is:

1. Go into your archive
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five other people to do the same. (I’m not tagging anyone)

Ok, here you go:

This mentality of trying to ban everything that could be dangerous is seriously flawed.

In an update to this post on the odd combinations of lunches The Mrs. makes for me when cleaning out the fridge, today’s lunch includes:

Unless she’s having pregnancy induced cravings and I got hers by mistake, it’s quite an odd combo.

Jeff Goldstein is asking for a show of hands of those who self-identify as Republican or conservative and would support legislation like this. In Indiana:

Republican lawmakers are drafting new legislation that will make marriage a requirement for motherhood in the state of Indiana, including specific criminal penalties for unmarried women who do become pregnant “by means other than sexual intercourse.”

It should come as no surprise that I would oppose this asinine piece of legislation. And for a variety of reasons. The supposed concern for such children feigned by these legislators is disgusting. A woman who wishes to have a child out of wedlock and through artificial means should have every right to do so. As Goldstein says:

I don’t for one second believe the state should presume the right to stop non-criminals from using their bodies to reproduce out of some hypothetical future concern for the children—even if they can show that a large percentage of single-parent children grow up at a disadvantage.

Additionally, I can see the enforcement of this law now and back-alley fertility clinics popping up. The police come in with their ninja gear on and announce: Put the turkey baster down and step away. Far fetched? Not at all. Look at the war on drugs if you think that won’t happen.

Truly abysmal.

Yes, I know that the TTLB’s gunblogger community is broken. No, I can’t fix it. For the record, all I can do is add and remove members. And I’m also aware TTLB hasn’t been responsive to emails because he hasn’t been responsive to mine either. When I know more, you’ll know more.

In other news, I’m exploring other options to unite gun bloggers but most of them cost money and, more importantly, time to manage. So, we’ll see how that goes.

Blake seems to think that the pending Knoxville traffic cameras are to prevent accidents because he’s disappointed to learn that:

I’d like to link to a timely story in yesterday’s Washington Post which shows that the number of traffic accidents have gone up at intersections with traffic cameras. In fact, the cameras don’t seem to be making any difference in the number of accidents at all.

The cameras are about revenue and have nothing to do with anyone’s safety or anything silly like that.

Update: Heard on the news this morning the city council voted to put off the decision for 35 days.

It’s easy to make everyone a criminal, just pass stupid laws. This is the dumbest thing I’ve read in a while:

It’s an only in New York story. A woman was given a ticket for sitting on a park bench because she doesn’t have children.

It could lead to a one thousand dollar fine and 90 days in jail. That punishment, it seems so cruel and unusual. Or maybe the actual crime is just unusual. Feh.

A few interesting eminent domain issues since the Kelo decision:

First, heh.

Bubba (sorry, but R. Neal doesn’t quite roll off the keyboard yet) details some of TVA’s eminent domain dealings past and present:

As part of the great Rural Electrification of the 1930s under FDR, the Tennessee Valley Authority was founded to control flooding, generate power, and improve the lives and welfare of the people in the valley.

Now a bureaucratic behemoth and a government within a government with its own police force and no elected officials, TVA stomps around the valley doing pretty much whatever it wants for the benefit of TVA and a few rich people.

In 1964, TVA acquired – by eminent domain – 179 miles of shoreline to create the 10,370 acre Nickajack Lake near Chattanooga in the scenic Tennessee River Gorge, the “Grand Canyon of Tennessee.” As with all TVA reservoir projects, people were removed from their homes and farms, by force if necessary, and paid a token sum for their land and their troubles.

In the latest example of TVA hubris, land taken from 82 families by eminent domain for Nickajack Lake was “auctioned” to a real estate developer for a $450 million upscale lakefront gated community development:

One problem is only one bidder was at the auction.

And in Florida:

Officials of a poor, predominantly black Florida town plan to relocate about 6,000 residents to make room for a billion-dollar yachting and housing complex.

The coastal community of Rivera Beach in Palm Beach County may use eminent domain, if necessary, to claim 400 acres of land for the project, The Washington Times reported Monday.

“This is a community that’s in dire need of jobs, which has a median income of less than $19,000 a year,” Mayor Michael Brown said. “If we don’t use this power, cities will die.”

The U.S. Supreme Court in June upheld the use of eminent domain for economic purposes, ruling against a group of New London, Conn., homeowners fighting a proposed corporate development.

The City Council last week chose a New Jersey-based developer, Viking Inlet Harbor Properties LLC, to oversee the project, which is expected to displace 2,000 houses.

So, they are displacing (a nice term for bought or booted out) 2000 folks for a yacht club.

Pun of the day goes to Goldstein with: Kelo-ing me softly.

Tar and feathers come to mind.

Packing.org reports that Arizona will discontinue reciprocity with Utah because Utah CCW permit training is no longer considered “substantially similar” as required by statute.

Local gun shop Coal Creek Armory has a blog that lists some of the sales they’re having. One such deal, a SWD M-11 in 9mm w/3 mags for $3,200. Oh, and it’s a machine gun!

The latest Carnival of Liberty is up!