As though this wasn’t bad enough, this is an all time low:

Charles Atherton, a former secretary of the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts that advises the government on architecture and design in official Washington, was hit Thursday while crossing busy Connecticut Avenue. He died Saturday night at George Washington University Hospital.

Although witnesses said he was badly injured and unresponsive at the scene, police issued him the ticket. His family found it with his belongings when they went to the hospital.

CounterTop has the latest!

Sitting in the bathroom giving Junior her bath when I hear the Mrs. yell from the office: You’re running porn ads on your site?

She’s referring to second one from the top over there on your right. Then I had to explain the whole MSNBC massive blogads purchase thing. And Ace already explained it so I don’t have to explain it to you.

One other thing, if you ever run a blogad, put a picture of a hot chick in it. According to my blogads stats, those get significantly more clicks than the non-hot chick ads. Of course, the MSNBC porn ad is doing very well too.

No one likes to be fooled. When Michael Moore’s first film “Roger and Me” came out I was fooled like many people were. I fell for the Michael Moore shtick. Back in 1989 when “Roger and Me” came out it was difficult to do any fact checking. Never having seen Michael Moore I did what most people do and took him at his word. Big mistake. Like the song goes “I won’t be fooled again”.

Michael Moore is not sincere and he is not your friend. So when did I first perceive that Michael Moore was not what he seemed to be? I began to have my doubts when “TV Nation” appeared in the mid nineties on television. There was something formulistic that caught my eye. The way it was edited made me wonder if it was a sham. But the moment of clarity came with “Bowling for Columbine” in 2002. After seeing this film I understood I could not trust Michael Moore. With the advent of the Internet it took little time to verify that Moore will do anything to make money, achieve fame, and seize power. That is job one for Michael Moore. When a filmmaker has teachers guides for his movies you have to wonder how much power will be enough?

It was clear to me in 2002 that Michael Moore was not a leftist, a social democrat, a socialist, or even your regular run of the mill Democrat. He is a sham. Like the CCR song “when the taxman comes, the house looks like a rummage sale”, Moore is 180 degrees not what he appears to be. Don’t let the baseball cap and sneakers fool you, he is a thoroughly dangerous man. I have no doubt he votes straight Democrat but it is just for show. Very little about the urban myth of Michael Moore is true. He is not a “working class boy from Flint, Michigan” as he so often alleges. In reality Moore is from Davison, Michigan an upper middle class suburb 10 miles east of Flint. His father worked at GM in the AC spark pug division and retired at age 53 with a full pension. His mother was a clerk and secretary for GM.

Moore’s early infatuation with himself reached national prominence when he was 16 years old and CBS called to ask him about his views after he had won a local contest for public speaking. In his speech he condemned the Elks Club for barring blacks. Moore claimed it even prompted the Elks to change their policy. At age 18 Moore became the youngest elected city official in America when he won a seat on the City School Board by promoting a platform of “Fire the Principal”. The same principal who had been kind to Moore as a child resigned and died soon thereafter of a heart attack.

The myth that Moore cares about the people of Flint, Michigan has been dispelled many times. With the exception of a $2,000 scholarship to a local Flint school that expired years ago Moore has contributed nothing to the people of Flint, Michigan. Moore made 3 million dollars from “Roger and Me”. “Mike is always out for Mike, Mike is always out for money,” said former high school classmate Kevin Leffler. Leffler is making his own documentary aimed at exposing the truth, called “Shooting Michael Moore”. While Moore could not get elected dog catcher in Flint over 6,000 people have signed a petition for Moore to run for President of the United States. Some people can be so easily fooled. Some of them live in Tennessee.

Moore has not only been shown to be a difficult employer but also an adversary of the Writers Guild, the union for movie and TV writers. Pot, kettle, you know the story. Lowell Ponte writes, “When two of the show’s young writers, who had been given the title Associate Producer, took steps to join the Writers Guild (the powerful union for movie and TV writers), Moore took them aside. “I’m getting a lot of heat from the union to call you guys writers and pay you under the union rules,” Eric Zicklin recounted Moore’s words for MacFarquhar. “I don’t have the budget for that,” Moore threatened them, “But if they keep coming down on me that’ll mean I’ll only be able to afford one of you and the other one’s gotta go.” “We were scared out of our minds,” recalled Zicklin. “It was like a theme from Roger & Me” with Moore as the unfeeling, anti-union boss.”

Mark Twain used to say there were three kind of lies. Lies, damned lies, and statistics. When it comes to Michael Moore there are five kind of lies. Kay S. Hymowitz wrote an excellent article, “Michael Moore, Humbug” that digs deep down into the muck and deceit that is Michael Moore. Hymowitz wrote, “the five Michael Moore lies are, bold-faced lies, lies of omission, artistic lies, slanted insinuating lies, and lies of exaggeration.”

You might ask why should we care?

We should care because Michael Moore’s next project may involve each and every one of us in Tennessee. The film “Sicko” is Michael Moore’s next project and sadly TennCare may be a focal part of this film. At this point it is not clear how much focus will be on TennCare. A thirty-minute documentary on TennCare has recently caused concern by a few observant people. At the end of this documentary when the credits run there is a credit for Michael Moore. What is the credit for? Was Michael Moore a consultant on this documentary?

Will “Sicko” be just another Michael Moore attack on the drugs companies or will it be a push for socialized medicine? What role will TennCare have in this new film? Most importantly, will the people of Tennessee be fairly portrayed in this film?

Where do these people come from? And these? One more for good measure.

Or I have a pipe dream.

Blount Today is reporting that the latest in the epic battle for the Civic Arts center is an idea to have it paid for by hotel/motel taxes:

In a phone conversation on Friday, Keeble explained how the facility could be funded. Keeble and McCall had not yet spoken with other commissioners to get thoughts on their plan, Keeble said.

According to Keeble, 37 percent of the hotel/motel tax collected in Blount County goes into the county general fund. Hotel/motel tax dollars are supposed to be used for tourism, he said.

Instead of property tax dollars, hotel/motel tax funds would pay for the county’s portion of the facility.

“I feel this is a good use of that money. Tourism is people coming into our area, spending money and going home. That would be an excellent opportunity for the arts center,” Keeble said. “The entire portion payoff on the art center would be done with hotel/motel money, so no property tax money is involved.”

So, the hotels in our county (both of them) may draw enough in taxes to cover it. Also, there is this:

According to the original plan, funding for the facility would come from the county, the cities of Alcoa and Maryville, the college and the federal government. More than $20 million in funds raised by the college and $8 million in federal dollars would pay the bill until 2014 when the county and cities would start paying their shares. The facility would be owned by the Industrial Development Board and leased to the college.

Ah, first mention of federal pork for the project that I can recall. Guess that explains Jimmy Duncan’s interest. Boondoggle, ho! Looks like the powers that be really want this thing.

Or, as he might say: I’m dead now, motherfucker.

The year end edition of The Carnival of Cordite is up with all your gun blogging needs.

I have been having some inter-dog aggression issues among my politically incorrect dog and my politically correct dog. As a result, we decided to take PCD to the doggie psychologist. I made my predictions about what I thought they would say here. I was largely correct but it was good for my recommendations to be affirmed by a professional.

What surprised me about the visit was that the neurologist didn’t seem to know a lot about my particular breed of dog, the American Bulldog. She stated that she was concerned because he’s genetically programmed to fight other dogs to the death. I then stated that she has him mistaken with the Pit Bull Terrier, which was bred for that purpose by (according to some) crossing American Bulldogs with Bull Terriers. Bull Terriers are also noted for fighting. Further, she recommended that a good family dog based on research was the Golden Retriever. I kept my mouth shut even though I knew that Pit Bull Terriers score better on temperament tests than Golden Retrievers.

The behaviorist person basically affirmed what I had said. She recommended that we keep dogs and the baby separate when we’re not capable of close supervision (duh, like we didn’t know that). She also said that the other changes we had made (restricting treats, food, etc.) were good (again, duh). But, and here’s where it paid off, she stated we should implement a policy of Nothing In Life Is Free. In other words, for the dogs to eat, go through a door, get attention or nearly anything, they must perform a command (most notably sit). Excellent idea. And, of course, regular obedience training, which we’ve been slacking on lately with the new baby.

Another interesting thing that she stated (and which really seemed to work in one day) was an attitude of aloofness. Given my dog obedience background, I’m inclined to correct behavior by essentially asserting dominance. A glance and a sharp No is my method, generally, for correcting behavior. But this aloofness thing works. The concept basically is that as long as the dog is engaging in inappropriate behavior, you act completely uninterested. Even to the point of getting up and leaving the area. Apparently, this aloofness thing is what alpha wolves engage in to keep the pack in line. It shows confidence and calm. For example, when the dog wants affection and comes up and nudges, I would have, in the past, said No. And later invited the dog back on my terms. Under the new method, such nudging isn’t even acknowledged. At all. Just ignored while you act interested in something else. And it works very well. A nudge by PCD that I ignored turned into a brief bit of anxiety on his part. However, he soon came up to me and sat patiently, wherein he was rewarded with a head scratch.

The point to all this is that as your life changes, you must expect the way you interact with dogs to change. In our single days, it was OK for the dogs to be a bit rambunctious and playful. Or for them to lounge on the couch with us. Now that they (at 75 pounds each) have toddler they can knock over or hurt, things must change. And as the dogs get older, they change too. PID as a pup was never concerned with dominance. Now, he is and that must be corrected.

Now, PID and PCD are on an 8 week program.

Blount County officials will not disclose the details of their deal with Denso and its pending $185M expansion:

Blount County economic developers have declined to release details of incentives offered to Denso Manufacturing Tennessee for the company’s $185 million expansion in Maryville, even though those incentives are funded by tax dollars.

The refusal comes on the heels of controversy over another incentive package, a nearly $200 million deal that lured Nissan’s headquarters to the Nashville area.

Blount officials say they can’t disclose promises made to Denso until a Blount County Economic Development Board meeting Dec. 21.

So, why the refusal?

Colorado: New Mexico Added To Colorado Reciprocity.

Sometimes I rant on the fact that everything is illegal in one way or the other. Somedays the story tells that without any real commentary from me.

Transit police handcuffed and cited a man who sold a $1.75 subway token to another rider who was having trouble with a token vending machine. Transit authority spokeswoman Jocelyn Baker said Friday that the officer “acted within the law” after he spotted Donald Pirone, 42, selling the token Nov. 30 inside the West End subway station

Instead of giving Pirone a warning, the officer decided to handcuff him and give him the misdemeanor citation under a 1992 state law that bars passengers from selling Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority tokens, she said.

“What you’ve got to keep in mind is that fare abuse is a chronic problem,” Baker said. “It costs MARTA millions of dollars every year.”

Baker acknowledged that Pirone sold the token at face value and did not make a profit. But the law is the law, she said.
……………….
As for the handcuffs, Baker said the officer felt they were necessary.

“Our officers do that for their own safety,” Baker said.

(((Gunner walks away shaking head sadly)))

First, for those who seem to be unaware, there are a few bloggers here at SayUncle. Sure, I blog the most because my name is on it. However, there are other (though lately it only seems like only one other) bloggers.

Second, I don’t have dog in this #9 (a co-blogger here) v. Sharon Cobb thing. Sure, I take issue with Sharon trying to out an anonymous blogger and I take issue that, in the middle of that, she does a teaser post that’s about John Lennon. But that’s the extent of any issues I have with Sharon.

There you have it.

Confederate Yankee notes:

And so Ward’s transcendence to the top of the Gun Blogging world begins. Sure there are folks with “Commie Cannons” and other large guns, but does anybody have a destroyer? I think not.

If I had a battleship, it’d take up too much room in the gun safe.

The Civic Arts Center is rearing its head again:

A civic arts center, presumed dead after a 10-10 vote last month, will get new life at the Blount County Commission meeting next week.

Commissioners John Keeble and Jeff McCall have resurrected the center with a resolution that would designate the county’s share of the hotel/motel tax to the debt service fund. That money then would be used to pay for the county’s portion of the project.

A separate resolution, rejected Nov. 17 because it did not get the 11 votes needed to pass, would authorize the Industrial Development Board to issue a $45 million, 25-year bond to pay for the $55 million facility. The county would be responsible for $11.9 million, while the other funding would come from Maryville College ($20 million), Maryville ($9.4 million), the federal government ($8 million), Alcoa ($3.8 million) and the state ($2 million).

Those are just principal payments, however. With interest, the civic arts center would cost the county some $25 million, Finance Director David Bennett said in a telephone interview Thursday.

Still, the county is the only entity that has not approved its funding. The agreement hinges on all partners giving the plan the go-ahead.

The powers that be are damned determined to get this boondoggle going.

Heh.

Team Swap looks at Christmas in and from Knoxville.

I posted the follow up to my Dog Psychologist predictions over at No Silence Here.

Ling-Ling find the best shampoo, as well as worst lingual enemy

Racist humor seems to be making quite a comeback. I have to confess that I enjoyed Chapelle’s show. And currently, I really do enjoy The Boondocks (animated series), Drawn Together, and Mind of Mencia. The shows are really funny but they definitely have a racist element to them. I wonder when this became hip again? Or even acceptable, with the PC police that own the networks.

The Boondocks, Chapelle and Mencia are done by minorities, which may explain letting some of that stuff slide. Not sure who does Drawn Together. Wednesday’s episode of Drawn Together was particularly racist with all the Asians getting their eyes widened. But it was hysterical. The Boondocks racist humor seems to be particularly offensive, as illustrated by the bit on A Nigga Moment.

Maybe, as a culture, we’re getting over some of this PC business. Or at least the 18-24 year old demographic targeted by Comedy Central and Adult Swim is. There is hope for the future of humor.

Update: *And if you don’t get the joke, you should watch Drawn Together.

Update 2: Maybe, like South Park, it’s OK because two of these shows are cartoons?

Head, who is finally back to blogging, thinks that the letter I mentioned before isn’t all that great:

In light of this, I have stocked up on Romanian G kits and Yugo M70 kits. The Romies, well they are beautiful. The Yugos? Ugly now, but when AK barrels are $150 for a stripped sewer pipe, these will look pretty nice. I hope its not necessary, and I hope the ATF signs those form 6 import docs for our wonderful importers, but I’m not holding my breath.

Speaking of AKs, I think this poster is one of Oleg’s best.

Only this one is taking a while. One Cory Maye is on death row for shooting and killing a police official’s son during a no-knock raid that happened to be on the wrong house. Radley Balko, Glenn Reynolds and Publicola have more background. Radley has been doing some follow up as well.

Xrlq’s blog turned three.

The House and Senate have reached an compromise on the controversial provisions of the PATRIOT Act. And, in true congressional form, compromise is a synonym for screwing everyone a little:

Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., announced that the negotiating committee had reached an agreement that would extend for four years two of the Patriot Act’s most controversial provisions — authorizing roving wiretaps and permitting secret warrants for books, records and other items from businesses, hospitals and organizations such as libraries. Those provisions would expire in four years unless Congress acted on them again.

[snip]

The Republican-controlled House had been pushing for those provisions to stay in effect as long as a decade, but negotiators decided to go with the GOP-controlled Senate’s suggestion.

Most of the Patriot Act would become permanent under the reauthorization.

If you don’t think it’s a good idea to make these provisions permanent, how the Hell can you think it’s a good idea to have them at all? Feingold says he’ll stop it:

“I will do everything I can, including a filibuster, to stop this Patriot Act conference report, which does not include adequate safeguards to protect our constitutional freedoms,” said Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., who was the only senator to vote against the original version of the Patriot Act.

If it weren’t for that horrendous campaign finance reform bill, I’d actually like Feingold. He’s also pro-gun.

Apparently, some political talking heads (most notably Bill O’Reilly) are yammering on and on about how Christians, being the minorities we are, are being oppressed because of the treatment of Christmas. And they’re hopping mad that people say things like Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. They’re also apparently upset that some retail outlets, who make a ton of bling at Christmas time, are not acknowledging the holiday and thanking the baby Jesus for all the scratch they’re raking in.

First, Happy Holidays is viewed (by me, anyway) as addressing both the holidays of Christmas and its eve and New Year’s and it’s eve. Also, if I were to wish a Merry Christmas to the two Jewish people I know, that would pretty much make me a dick.

Have these talking heads actually been to a Wal-Mart or Target? It’s been a Christmas shopping orgy there since about, oh I don’t know, Labor Day.

That said, the other extremist side who actually is trying to get Christmas removed from the public vernacular is being ridiculous too. But it’s not Wal-Mart or the greeter at Kroger who wishes you a Happy Holiday. The folks (very, very few) who advocate removing the term and hate that it’s a holiday is who I mean. Guys, if you cost me that day off from work to spend with family, I’ll personally kick you in the balls.

As is the case, both extremist sides are sort of being dicks. Both of you, knock it off. No one really cares except you five percenters.

So, to all of you, Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday, Have a Coke and a Smile, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Kwanzaa, Happy Labor Day or whatever inoffensive greeting you like, you dick.

It’s all about me.

You should have seen me you should have been there.

The six degrees of me.

There is no us in me.

“I’ve had people who don’t know me say the worst things about me simply because I am trying to do something I believe is the right thing to do with a certain story.”

Let’s all sing the Narcissist song.

So know this about me:
1. I am (almost) fearless
2. I am not always right, but I always try to do what’s right
3. Above all else, the lyrics to this Tom Petty song applies very much to me:

Well I won’t back down, no I won’t back down
You can stand me up at the gates of hell
But I won’t back down

Gonna stand my ground, won’t be turned around
And I’ll keep this world from draggin’ me down
Gonna stand my ground and I won’t back down

Hey baby, there ain’t no easy way out
Hey I will stand my ground
And I won’t back down.

Well I know what’s right, I got just one life
In a world that keeps on pushin’ me around
But I’ll stand my ground and I won’t back down

Hey baby there ain’t no easy way out
Hey I will stand my ground
And I won’t back down
No, I won’t back down

A mouse gun, that is. I do like Kel-Tec P3AT as does Chris. Anyone else familiar with them enough to recommend one?

Oh, Canada:

Paul Martin will today propose a ban on most handguns in Canada, CanWest News Service has learned.

Sources say the Prime Minister will make the election campaign announcement this morning in Toronto, where deaths due to gun violence have jumped significantly this year.

There will be some exemptions, including maintaining the right for police to carry handguns. The Prime Minister is also expected to announce a significant increase in resources for police to deal with the ban.

The Liberals say the thinking behind this crime strategy is that if no one is allowed to have a handgun in Canada, policing authorities will be in a better position to act on anyone who has a handgun or attempts to transport or sell a handgun.

The announcement will include the banning of all registered handguns in Canada. However, sources say special arrangements will be made for gun collectors.

[snip]

The handgun ban would seem to have similarities with the national firearms registry, a Liberal initiative under former Prime Minister Jean Chretien. The firearms registry is supported by residents and police forces in urban centres, where illegal weapons are a serious concern, but it has been harshly criticized in rural areas and other places where recreational gun use is common. Critics charge that forcing law-abiding citizens to register their hunting rifles does little to remove illegal handguns from urban streets.

And while sources say the Liberals will present the handgun ban as an attempt to stifle the supply of handguns in Canada — particularly guns brought into the country illegally and those sold on the black market — critics will say the guns used in most violent crimes are already illegal, so a ban would do little.

And they have a registry to find them.

Update: David Kopel has more, noting:

On August 26, 2004, Canada’s Commissioner of Firearms spoke at the annual meeting of the Canadian Professional Police Association. He declared: “For years, firearm owners have expressed fears regarding the confiscation of firearms. This is a concern I heard loud and clear when we held consultations with firearms organizations last fall. But, in fact, those fears have not materialized.”

Not only did the VPC allegedly steal form Ponderosa, they allegedly stole from Oleg Volk. Funny that the ban assault weapons domain now links to poker sites, though. Via Keep and Bear Arms.

Heh. Via Oleg.

Defense Review, err, reviews the new Crimson Trace Laser Grips for Glocks. Looks rather wide to me.

Speaking of Glocks, via JR, we have this cool graphic of How a Glock Works.