CounterTop:

Jeff Jarvis is rightfully pissed off at the continuing erosion of the 1st Amendment and media freedom.

What I’d like to know though, is when the American media has been front and center in the plot to disarm America and sell the 2nd Amendment down the river through lies, distortions, and manipulated reporting where do they (as in Jeff Jarvis and the Journalism generally as an industry) come off complaining that the 1st Amendment is now going down that same path.

I don’t know about front and center as I’m more inclined to believe that the explanation isn’t some sort of conspiracy but rather ignorance and stupidity. Gun groups do usually rally around the first amendment in addition to the second. The press, however, is loathe to give a squirt of piss about the second (and ninth and tenth for that matter). What gives?

R. Neal looks at Gov. Phil Bredesen’s woes. It’s a good read detailing his reaction to things. R. thinks he may overreact but I guess that beats the alternative of not doing anything.

This time, it’s the psychotic-looking Goth chick version.

Again?

The Blount County Commission delayed the vote.

Via Gun Law News, meet Aubrey Ellen Shomo who went out and took a class to get her handgun carry permit (good for her). However, she decided that attempting to get said permit would be for the benefit of posting an article at Democratic Underground to make fun of gun nuts and the CCW process. It concludes with:

A few days later, I got my certificate in the mail. I am now qualified for a concealed weapons permit.

You’ll note the weasel words that imply she has a permit but she actually states she’s merely qualified for one. To me, that intimates she doesn’t actually have one and that’s a good thing because on another page she maintains, she writes:

I am a twenty-one-year-old psychiatric survivor. I found my way into the system at eight, by way of a child psychiatric hospital unit. Deemed to have a chronic psychotic disorder, I would remain a mental patient for eight years.

During that time, I was hospitalized seven times, all but the first two against my will, treated with numerous medications, and diagnosed with everything from Schizoaffective Disorder or Psychotic Bipolar Disorder through emerging cluster B personality pathology. My most painful memories are of being held down by five men in a seclusion room.

I left the system at 16, when I was old enough to fire my psychiatrist.

Unfortunately for her, according to the Colorado State Shooting Association, anyone precluded by state or federal law from owning a firearm may not obtain a permit (see question F on ATF form 4473). So, Ms. Shomo, you are not qualified for a concealed weapons permit because you were locked up in a mental institution. I hope you’ve not applied to get said permit because to do so would involve lying on the application and that is illegal. In the event that you actually did get a permit, you have violated state law.

The city of Nashville, like most places in Tennessee, is trying to make life hard on strippers:

For the first time, Nashville’s exotic dancers have been forced to get permits identified by their number, not their name. The Sexually Oriented Business Licensing Board approved the permits on Wednesday night. Now dancers will be known, to Metro at least, by a number.

Wednesday night’s agenda for the board listed nearly 200 entertainment permits. All those dancers were approved in the first wave of permits considered by the board. The permits issued represent the majority of adult performers in Metro. A lobbyist for the industry says many performers find the new system dehumanizing.

Also, there’s a move on to legally challenge the recently enacted three foot rule. And I found this odd:

“The whole process is criminalizing from the begininng…inappropriate and unnecessary,” said Tenn. Caberet (sic) Association lobbyist Tracy O’Neill.

Strip clubs have their own lobbying group.

Coal Creek Armory has a lot of new gun porn up. And the stuff is for sale.

Michael Silence writes today about the end of Internet privacy, as we know it. The Internet is not private today but a new chip being designed will remove what remaining privacy exists. Your ISP knows who you are and if you violate the Patriot Act the Government will knock on your door.

But when you are blogging only the blog owner knows your IP address. If you are behind an AOL Proxy Server or use Anonymizer no one will know who you are from day to day.

So these new chips will mean the end of Internet blogger sock puppets. People will see your unique identifier. Buying a new network card or cable modem can change Mac addresses but the ID in these new chips will be difficult to defeat. While there may be a few benefits like the end of sock puppets in blogging the end result is a very bad idea for privacy and liberty.

So what can you do if you don’t like this idea? Just keep your old computer for Internet use. The value of used computers just went up.

SayUncle wrote a post about how the movie business isn’t doing very well. Today we see another reason for the sharp decline in movie theater attendance. Movie critics. There is only one movie I want to see. King Kong. But now I learn that “movie critics” have discovered troubling metaphors in the movie. Damn movie critics.

For once can’t a movie about a giant ape and his girl friend just be about a giant ape and his girl friend?

I concur:

“More power and more money. That’s what this is about. I think they have got enough already.”

U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., R-Knoxville, on the Patriot Act.

In the summer 1986, I was fourteen years old and dad decided that I needed to learn a lesson about, err, something. So, he sent me to work. I worked for a couple of months on a farm in Dandridge, Tennessee for a man named Earl. He was about a hundred years old then and I’m fairly certain he’s no longer with us. Working in hay in July in East Tennessee is excruciating. It’s hot, sticky and, well, those bales are awful heavy for a 120 pound skinny white boy to haul around.

I’d come home at night with cuts and gashes on my forearms from working in hay, my leg muscles cramping, signs of heat stroke, and my hands stained brown from working in tobacco. We’d spend our days walking a field behind a truck in the middle of summer throwing hay bales on a trailer then haul the trailer to a barn where we’d toss the bales up on a top shelf in the barn (about 15 feet – that was the hard part). Or we’d top tobacco. Or chop it. Or hang it in a barn. Or other tasks that were equally tedious and strenuous.

I worked eleven hours a day (six to six with an hour for lunch) for six days a week. It was probably illegal since we got paid in cash and I wasn’t old enough to legally have a job. For my trouble, I made (and I am not making this up) $2 per hour. So, a week’s wages (which we received on Friday) was a whopping $132.

Working there was me and three other boys about the same age and a guy we’ll call the foreman. The foreman was probably about 40 years old and looked like he was in his late 60s. Farm life is hard on a body. I can’t imagine the foreman made much more money than the rest of us and he had a house, a wife and two kids. For him, the work was obviously painful but he’d done it for years. He had a habit of bringing up topics that were probably inappropriate to talk about with 14 year old boys, such as what a clitoris was. I’m not making that up either. Some stuff I learned from that experience:

What a clitoris is.

How a farm works.

How tobacco is processed.

That if you work in hay, it’s going to suck. You’ll either wear long sleeves to avoid the cuts on your forearms and collapse from heatstroke or you’ll wear short sleeves to avoid the heatstroke and reside yourself to cut up forearms.

That tobacco stained hands can’t be washed clean. Just have to wait until it fades.

And, most importantly, I learned that manual labor is a shitty way to earn a living. Something I’ve said before:

If your only marketable skill is that you can lift heavy things, you’re career is time-limited and low-paying.

I’m not an accountant because I wanted to be one as a child. And most of you aren’t what you wanted to be as children either. I, for example, wanted to be a ninja. Sadly, this job is hard to get. I’m not Japanese enough, the agency told me. It’s a pity. They have really good dental and the uniform allowance is fantastic. I spent a lot of time perfecting my ability to disappear in a cloud of smoke for nothing. I’m an accountant because it’s marketable, opens up to other industries through wide exposure, and I’m good at it.

Kids today need marketable skills. There are plenty of fields that are quite marketable. The problem is these fields aren’t particularly fun or are particularly difficult. I’m thinking of law, accounting, engineering, software development, medicine, etc. There are also fields that provide great satisfaction to people but are low paying (teachers, nurses, policeman come to mind). These are all noble endeavors but may not pay the bills.

There is also the danger of overdoing it in one particularly unpopular field. I know a guy with a PhD in physics who manages a Subway restaurant. I know a person with a Masters in biochemistry who is in sales. Also, the Simpson’s had a joke about PhD’s at the bookstore. Bart walked up to the service counter and said a professorship opened up at the local college their faces lit up. Then he instructed them he was joking. If the people I mentioned above could get jobs in their field, they would likely be paid fairly well. Problem is that it’s just tough to get jobs in those fields.

There is a balance. Finding something you enjoy, are good at, and that pays decently isn’t that tough. I enjoy what I do but if you’d asked back when I was going to be a ninja if I ever thought I’d be an accountant, I’d have responded with a resounding No way, Jose*. However, marketability is something to consider in this day and age.

*By the way, if Earl is still in business, I’m sure Jose is working for him.

Bryan Miller, the executive director of Ceasefire New Jersey, writes a response to Lawrence Braico of the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs that says in part:

Gun-lobby rhetoric is awash in false patriotism and incorrect reading of constitutional principle, and Braico didn’t spare us either. But in his rambling and parental letter taking Gov. Rendell to task for signing legislation enabling law enforcement to remove guns from domestic abusers, Braico defined what really motivates pro-gunners to fight against every limit on gun possession or use: emotion.

Really? Now, for the question. Given that the anti-gun lobby has misrepresented (and often lied about) assault weapons, 50 caliber rifles, concealed carry permits and a host of other gun related issues by using scare tactics, who really plays on emotion? You can email him at cfnj@aol.com and ask him.

Ravenwood reports:

Fifty-eight year old Patricia Konie from New Orleans filed a federal lawsuit over excessive force used by police during Hurricane Katrina. She’s suing for injuries she sustained at the hands of police officers, for violation of her civil rights in forcing her to evacuate against her will, and for the unlawful confiscation of a firearm.

Good. Is there a legal fund set up?

Speaking of how I only know that a movie is out because it makes the news due to controversy, gay cowboys doesn’t seem like a movie I’d want to go see. Gay cowgirls, on the other hand, would get two err one thumb up.

Sorry ladies but when men see a tattoo in that location, all we see is a target.

The difference between the South Park and Farrelly’s versions is that the South Park version would actually be, you know, funny.

Heh:

I knew Glock made a .380 and that it wasn’t available in the US. I never really knew why. Now, I do. It seems the ATF has a point system that determines if a pistol can be imported. A pistol must score 75 points. Here’s the point system:

That seems rather, uhm, totally random. The site also notes:

Changes and features made to Glocks to comply with the BATF rules:
– all models are imported with a cheap click-adjustable rear sight that is replaced at the factory with the stock sight
– target (grooved) trigger added to compacts & subcompacts
– target grips added to all models (required for the subcompacts)
– due to their caliber, .380 autos (G25 & G28) do not score enough points to be imported

Via Brutal Hugs, comes this Slate comparison of Dogs and guns:

In a span of decades, we bred ferocity into Dobermans and then, with equal deliberateness, bred it out. We treated dogs like guns. We designed and bought them for protection, then complained when they hurt us. When cities banned pit bulls, we bought Rottweilers. It was as easy as replacing an illegal assault weapon with a legal one.

I’ve been saying that for years. Read the whole thing entitled FrankenFido Our creepiest genetic invention, the dog for a good history on how dogs are basically our first genetic experiment and how humans have sort of screwed dogs up.

The House passed the PATRIOT Act. Some in the Senate plan a filibuster. And more drug war legislation has been added to it. At first, I was against it. Then realized some opposition to it was nonsense because its provisions were blown out of proportion. Now, the act is just becoming a big, fat police and law enforcement wish list. So, kill it. If the Democrats want to show the country they actually have a set and can take an identifiable stand on something, this is that opportunity.

Everything is Rosie

Bruce points out that Boston City Councilor Maureen Feeney wants all Boston gun owners locked up.

Head is building the shortest AK pistol of all time.

He also created a handy little diagram of AK front end parts.

No, a gun is not a pacifier.

Update: CounterTop beat me to it.

Mr. Completely looks at the Grendel P-10. I also recall that they made a pistol that held 20 rounds of .380 and one version of it didn’t have a detachable magazine. Grendel, if I recall correctly, went out of business but the owner started over and it’s now Kel-Tec.

The Hitman, on recent allegations he’s a goverment or other plant to discredit folks, says:

I state plainly and unambiguously that the opinions expressed on Bring the Noise are mine and mine alone. I started this blog of my own volition, and I continue to post of my own volition. NO ONE – period – asked me to start this blog, nor has ANYONE – period – ever asked me to post anything on this blog.

There you go.

We bloggers like to track our site data, including visits, page views, and where they come from. In fact, we’re real concerned with where they come from. One thing that is often overlooked, however, is where we send people. One of the neatest ways to measure this is to find a smaller, newer blog that gets only a few hits and then send a link that way. Then check their stats.

For example, I linked yesterday to TN Political. I checked his stats and see, basically, the effect of an UncleLanche (more like a trickle, really). He averages about 30 to 50 page views a day and yesterday he got about 145. So, I’ll call the effect 100. Of course, there were other referrals as well. That post was a congratulatory post.

Now, if I link to a smaller blog and mention there’s gun stuff there, the effect on traffic is greater. Alston averages about 30 to 50 page views a day as well, yet it looks to me like the effect of an UncleLanche involving guns is about 200 page views. And, of course, there were other referrals as well.

So, uh, more gun stuff?

And, yes, my example is oversimplified. And no I’m not a statistician. And if you feel the need to tell me the many errors in my assumptions, feel free.

Update: For context, I figure my recent Instalanche sent about 8,000 people my way but the resulting links from other blogs added several thousand more. The KABA link about 500. Totalfark sent a few hundred. So, I’m still small taters.

Gunner, of No Quarters and occasionally here, has published a children’s book.

President George W. Bush:

It is true that much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong. As president I am responsible for the decision to go into Iraq. And I’m also responsible for fixing what went wrong by reforming our intelligence capabilities. And we’re doing just that.

Holy crap.

I’ll let you decide if I mean the girl or the gun.

This is pretty lame:

Susan Gaylord Buxton wants her gun back.

She could have a long wait, given how slowly the wheels of justice can grind.

Buxton, known from hither to yon as the gun-toting granny, is confused about why Arlington police seized her handgun after she shot an intruder Nov. 9. It’s not as if the circumstances under which Buxton used the Smith & Wesson .38-caliber featherweight are in question. The 66-year-old Buxton shot Christopher Lessner, 22, as he lunged at her from inside her hall closet. He’d broken into the house after fleeing from Arlington police at a traffic stop.

[snip]

Buxton, who has not been criminally charged, understands that the officers who responded to her 28-year-old granddaughter’s 911 call needed to secure the premises. She willingly handed over her gun — actually, she dropped it to the ground when directed to do so by an officer who was pointing his sidearm at her. Why police confiscated the gun is what has her baffled.

“What does it have to do with the case against Lessner?” Buxton asked. “It’s not like he’s charged with getting himself shot.”

Her gun should never have been taken other than a cursory attempt to secure the area when the police arrived.

In an update to the Wisconsin Senate passing the CCW bill, the Assembly has passed it as well and they’re prepared to override the expected veto from Governor Doyle:

Republican leaders in the state Assembly worked into early this morning to amend a measure that would allow Wisconsin residents to carry concealed weapons and rounded up enough Democratic support to fuel an override of the expected veto from Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle.

The bill, SB 403, passed the Assembly at 3:10 a.m. on a 64 to 32 vote.

A couple other points in the law:

Require a refresher training course for permit holders every five years.

Make the filing of a false application a felony, not a misdemeanor as it was written.

The Dumb Network features Dumb Criminals and Dumb Laws. You should check them out. They also feature other dumb stuff:

Oh, those crazy Brits, what won’t they try? Their newest strategy in the fight against crime seems to be using cardboard cutouts of police officers placed strategically in order to stop crime.

It’s apparently working, too.