Nice:

It almost seemed like a miracle to Haldis Gundersen when she turned on her kitchen faucet this weekend and found the water had turned into beer.

Two flights down, employees and customers at the Big Tower Bar were horrified when water poured out of the beer taps.

By an improbable feat of clumsy plumbing, someone at the bar in Kristiandsund, western Norway, had accidentally hooked the beer hoses to the water pipes for Gundersen’s apartment.

Probably would have sucked if she were trying to shower.

If you’re in Maryland and want shall-issue CCW, PGP says This IS the Week to Get on the Phone!!

Or technology branch play things? Supposedly, these are pics from the ATF’s vault.

I need to get another TiVo box. First time it happened was last night, when we realized three shows we TiVo came on at once. I TiVo The Family Guy and The Sopranos and the Mrs. gets Desperate Housewives. One of us had to watch (gasp!) live TeeVee last night.

Next, The Sopranos premiered yesterday. I love that show. This is supposedly the last season. I figure it can end one of three ways: Tony dies, Tony goes to jail, or Tony goes into witness protection. I hear talk of a movie too, which would kill my three options, so make that four ways. If you’ve read spoilers, don’t tell me.

And the season finale of Battlestar Galactica absolutely rocked. And I didn’t expect any of that. Now, my BSG fix can’t be satisfied until October.

Update: OK, one more TeeVee note. Colbert has lost his mojo. His show isn’t so funny anymore. It’s probably easier to stay in character when you do it twice a week for five minutes on The Daily Show vs. four times a week for thirty minutes on your own show.

The latest is up at Search Light Crusade.

Captain Holly has pics of the Ruger 10/22 he made look evil after the assault weapons ban expired.

Feingold wants congress to censure Bush over the wiretapping thing. Seems to me there’s a good case that said wiretaps are illegal but I’m unsure of any legal challenges as of now. Via Chris, who notes:

I wonder if it wouldn’t be too much to ask to get either of them to actually respond to, oh, I don’t know, the allegations of law-breaking on behalf of the President?

Also, I read in the paper this weekend (when I was busy not blogging) that a lot of Republicans are distancing themselves from Bush while gearing up for the 2006 elections. Seems a lot of folks who consider themselves Republican aren’t too happy with wiretapping, the ports deal, spending, the biggest federal government ever, raising the debt ceiling, and other things. Some of us have been saying that since before 2006 but no one seemed to notice.

Update: Meanwhile, Malkin is toeing the line. Hate to break it to you guys but the problem with disenchanted conservatives isn’t going to just go away. In elections that are often won by only a few points, you’ll need them.

Update 2: Even Boortz is finger wagging and lists some grievances. Oddly for a supposed Libertarian, the wiretap issue isn’t one of them.

Now they want the pink ones. Via Deb (who has some pics), it seems the latest scare tactic from the Brady Bunch is colored guns. They say these guns are designed to look like toys to confuse police. What a load of crap. Someone who is going to spend between $200 and $500 on a custom paint job to make their weapon look cool is probably not the sort of person who would use one in a crime.

BTW, I’d like to be a fly on the wall whenever the Bradies get together and invent their next gun issue. Seriously, I wonder how those meetings go when they’re trying to come up with a way to scare people?

Kim addresses scout rifles. He comes to the same conclusion I’ve had about them ever since I read about them in the first place. For a good, all-around rifle, there are plenty of better options that do everything better. I don’t see how a scout rifle can be a bolt action when a semi-auto or lever action is simply much better. The scout rifle tries do all things fairly well but the fact is that plenty of other rifles can accomplish those same tasks better and for less cash.

Mike wants to be a columnist for the Commercial Appeal. He has a banner and everythng.

The Journal Star reports it’s one step away from passing:

Nebraska lawmakers are one step away from approving a measure to allow Nebraskans to carry concealed weapons.

Sen. Jeanne Combs of Milligan, the sponsor of the bill (LB454) and a member of the National Rifle Association, moved to vote on ending second-round debate on the measure Friday, knowing she needed 33 votes to stop a filibuster of the measure.

She squeaked by. The vote was 33-9.

Lawmakers then voted 31-9 to advance the bill to the last of three rounds of consideration.

Looks to me like two steps, since the governor must sign it. Still, it’s a good thing.

The 51st Carnival of Cordite is up at Countertop’s, for your gun blogging fix.

Douglas M. Duncan, Democrat candidate for Governor of Maryland, on the proposed assault weapons ban:

“I lived through what one of these weapons can do during the sniper shootings,” Mr. Duncan said, referring to the shooting spree in October 2002 that killed 10 persons and terrorized the Washington area for three weeks. “We don’t need these guns on the streets.”

Then, Mr. Duncan, you may want to know that the weapon used by the DC snipers was not affected by the assault weapons ban.

Johnny has redesigned the Rocky Top Brigade’s home page. Check it out for what Tennessee bloggers have to say.

Anti-gun activist arrested on (gasp!) gun charges.

VolPac:

From the earliest days of our republic, freedom of speech and freedom of the press – be they anonymous pamphlets, celebrated essays, or local newspapers – were understood to be fundamental to the practice and defense of liberty.

Without the ability to convey ideas, debate, dispute, and persuade, we may never have fought for and achieved our independence.

Ordinary citizens – farmers, ministers, local shop owners – published and circulated their views, often anonymously, to challenge the conventional order, and call their fellow citizens to action.

Indeed, as Boston University journalism professor Chris Daly points out, “What we think of as reporting – the pursuit, on a full time basis of verifiable facts and verbatim quotations – was not a significant part of journalism in the time of Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine… In historical terms, today’s bloggers are much closer in spirit to the Revolutionary-era pamphleteers.”

And, today, it’s bloggers whom we now have to protect.

There are some who, out of fear or shortsightedness, wish to restrict the ability of our modern day-Thomas Paines to express political views on the World Wide Web.

They seek to monitor and regulate political speech under the guise of “campaign finance reform.” They argue that unfettered political expression on the Internet is dangerous, especially during the highly charged, election season.

Needless to say, I stand firmly against these efforts to hamstring the Internet and squarely with the champions of free speech – whether that expression takes place in the actual, or virtual, town square.

I’ve never been a huge fan of Frist. Sure, he was right on guns during the AWB hearings but he’s done some pretty embarassing things. But, since he gets blogging, I like him a bit more.

Inside blogging baseball, skip if this crap bores you.

Bill Hobbs notes that Business Tennessee did a bit on bloggers. I’ve not read it because I’m not giving them any of my info and bugmenot doesn’t have log in. If someone has a copy, post it comments. It does show that they don’t get blogging if they don’t make their stuff available to all. Bill says:

You’re probably a tad confused as you just read that this is the most-read political blog in Tennessee, except for Glenn Reynolds’ Instapundit, and yet you find it hasn’t been updated since Jan. 10. The truth is, Business Tennessee started working on that cover story back when this blog was active, and when I shut it down I didn’t know how long the hiatus would be. I still don’t.

Here’s wishing Bill returns to blogging. However, Bill’s blog has never been the most-read political blog in Tennessee, except for Glenn Reynolds’ Instapundit. Last I recall checking when Bill was blogging and he’d received a big ol’ spike from announcing he quit blogging, it was Donald Sensing, then Les Jones, then (ahem) me, then Lean Left and then Bill Hobbs. And that was with a big ol’ spike for quitting. Prior to that, it was probably South Knox Bubba neck in neck with Sensing. This isn’t to get in a dick-measuring contest but we bloggers loves us some fact-checking. And you’d have thought Bill would have fact checked their asses.

Of course, stuff has changed since then. Sensing has quit. Bubba’s gone and is now R. Neal. Google decided to scrub my site, which is not an issue for me in terms of actual readership but an issue in terms of ad revenue and sitemeter hits. Strangely, my Google rank stayed at 6 and I am in their database. Just not showing up for any searches. That cost me about 800 visits per day and roughly halved sitemeter counts. It only really annoys me due to lost ad revenues.

Update: In comments, Bill says:

What the magazine actually said was, “Hobbs has the biggest blog readership in the state political sphere.”

Now that, I believe to be true. He also links to the story.

Holy crap:

North Carolina health officials are investigating the death of a woman who died last week of a flesh-eating bacteria three days after accidentally jamming her hand in a wheelchair while working at a nursing home.

Nursing assistant Sharron Bishop, 44, died Feb. 27. A doctor said a rare flesh-eating bacteria may have entered her body through a thumb injury and she turned from healthy to fatally ill.

The culprit was a rare invasive form of group A streptococcal bacteria, said Debbie Crane, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Human Services. The noninvasive form is widespread and is commonly known for causing strep throat, she said.

Ok, nature, you’re weirding me out.

Via thegirl.

Check it out. They forgot to erase number 2, though.

Heh. Make sure you mousover the cow. Via kit.

The AP:

The state Senate on Thursday passed a proposal to amend the Tennessee Constitution so that it doesn’t guarantee a woman’s right to an abortion.

The 24-9 vote was the first step of many toward officially amending the state constitution. The measure would go before voters if the General Assembly approves it twice over the next two years.

Why would they use this backward way of doing it? In anticipation of passing a law banning abortion because

The state Supreme Court has ruled that the Tennessee Constitution grants women a greater right to abortion than the U.S. Constitution.

This is a bad idea. I think abortion is terrible but would only be made worse by criminalizing it. And amending the constitution specifically to say it doesn’t guarantee something seems odd.

CBS Dallas:

Texans voting in the republican primary this week sent a clear message to state lawmakers. 94% supported a constitutional amendment preventing the government from taking private property through eminent domain for economic purposes.

Several projects in North Texas have infuriated private property owners who feel that the government wants their land and doesn’t have to be nice about it.

The upcoming Dallas Cowboys’ stadium is one of those projects. It has claimed many houses that stood in its way.

94%. I never thought you’d get 94% of people (even Republicans) to agree on anything. But the message is clear.

Finally got the lower half of the 9mm complete:

Superior Arms lower receiver
DPMS parts kit
Uncle Brand^TM single point tac sling
Pro Mag 9MM magazines
Vltor collapsible modular stock
Rock River Arms 9mm magazine block
RRA 9mm hammer
RRA 9mm buffer
ETA: and a GG&G single point sling mount.

Update: BTW, is it possible to be in love with a rifle stock? I really like cheek weld on that thing, it’s so comfy. Seriously, I could sleep on it.

SilencerTests is having their 2006 suppressor only shoot in Georgia. As a bonus:

There will be one or more silencers raffled off

Sweet.

Apparently, the new threat to everyone is machetes:

That was the case as well in the Boston area, where a rise in gang violence involving machetes occurred in the past several years. The surrounding towns of Revere, Everett, Lynn and Chelsea have banned machetes, and there is now a bill before the Massachusetts Senate that would prohibit the carrying, sale and manufacture of the tool-turned-weapon.

Via Israpundit, the Presbyterian Church USA is yammering on and on about gun control again:

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has a thirty year history of support for gun control legislation. Beginning in the late 1960’s, in response to the assassinations of public leaders, the General Assembly called for “. . . control [of] the sale and possession of fire arms of all kinds.”1 In 1976, this statement was re-affirmed, but also specifically worded to “. . .not cover shotguns and rifles used legitimately by sportsmen. . .”.2 In 1988, these and other statements supporting gun control were again reaffirmed.

Specifically:

Support[ing] gun control at federal, state, and local levels as the most effective response to the present crisis of gun violence. . .

Call[ing] upon the United States government to establish meaningful and effective federal legislation to regulate the importation, manufacture, sale, and possession of guns and ammunition by the general public. Such legislation should include provisions for the registration and licensing of gun purchasers and owners, appropriate background investigations and waiting periods prior to gun purchase, and regulation of subsequent sale.

Urg[ing] the enactment of similar state and local laws, should such federal legislation be delayed.

Call[ing] upon government agencies at all levels to provide significant assistance to victims of gun violence and their families.

intentionally work toward removing handguns and assault weapons from our homes and our communities

I have mentioned this before but then realized it was just the Washington DC PCUSA. That doesn’t appear to be the case now as this piece is from the Presbyterian Church USA’s main site. Some Presbyterians are jumping ship. Me and the Mrs. are members. Well, actually, she’s a member and I just get dragged there once a month to feign interest and listen to crappy gospel music done by white people. Guess I’ll be asking them about their involvement with PCUSA.

I generally think it’s ill-advised for any church group to be involved in political issues. I want the .gov out of my church and my church out of the .gov.

A shall issue bill there has cleared a house committee. The senate has already approved the bill.

Apparently, folks in Maryland are considering adding an amendment to the state constitution guaranteeing the right to arms. Guess the federal one isn’t enough. There are also other gun bill in the works there. Iron would be, of course, if both the amendment and the assault weapons ban were attached to the same bill. And Pro Gun Progressive, who attended some hearings, has a detailed post on some gun bills there.

Mr. Completely has number five.

Jay reminds us that Buy a Gun Day is approaching and mulls his choices.