By the way, I feel the need to point out the following:
I don’t think the manner in which New Jersey’s court OK’d gay schmarriage is acceptable. Just like I didn’t think Gavin Newsom was right when he allowed gay couples in San Fran to get hitched. Newsom broke the law. NJ made it up.
However, I’m not dissatisfied with the result of either.
The system is broken. But even a broken system yields a good result occasionally.
Bitter notes that The Shooting Wire is taking on the anti-gun mayors:
Without belaboring a point, their organization is, indeed, one that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Neither, however, does it represent the end of the firearms industry or the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
It represents another obvious sign that the profession once described as the Fourth Estate, journalism, has now decided that it is no longer proper to simply report the news. It is incumbent upon serious journalists to steer the poor sheep of the electorate in the correct direction. As I heard it said earlier this week, the Fourth Estate seems to be looking suspiciously like a Fifth Column movement, naysaying and downplaying anything that might look even remotely like the United States is anything other than the global bully.
Well, the fourth estate here in Knoxville is silent. In their defense, they’re also generally silent on the mayor’s alliance much less that the Knoxville mayor is a member. And all that liberal stuff isn’t applicable has Mr. Haslam is allegedly a conservative.
Uncle often posts on this blog about drug raids gone wrong– cops kicking in the wrong door and horribly abusing a whole bunch of innocent people. Sometimes, though, raids go off without a hitch. They find the right house, the right people are home and there are even drugs present. And looking at the times things go right tells us a lot about why these raids are so bad.
Cops in Texas kicked in the door to a woman’s home, shot her dog, and set her house on fire. All for… two joints. The police are bragging that they followed protocol after finding traces of marijuana and coke in her garbage, but as the Agitator says:
if “protocol” means forced entry, flash grenades, and killing someone’s pet all over traces of marijuana and cocaine in the garbage, I’d say it’s probably time to rethink “protocol.”
Thanks to Drug War Rant for the link.
I noticed this morning a Coming Soon sign for Starbuck’s. In Alcoa, Tennessee. Jebus, the invasion is almost complete.
It’s pretty simple. If you believe marriage is between one man and one woman, then you need to vote “Yes” on Amendment #1. And if you believe the marriage vote isn’t really that important, then just look at this week’s New Jersey Supreme Court ruling. For the second time, black robes have ignored the will of the people and forced a legislative body to act on same sex unions.
I like Terry and we generally agree. But this is one issue in which we do not. My thinking is this:
It’s pretty simple. If you believe the state constitution should not be used for such stupid reasons, Vote “No”. In other words, keep your grubby mits off my constitution.
The reason the constitutional amendment is there is because those that oppose gay marriage know they are losing and will lose eventually unless the constitution is amended. This can be done legislatively but it’s doomed as society is trending toward supporting gay marriage.
As co-blogger Brutal Hugger said here:
Every poll shows that opposition to marriage equality correlates strongly with age. The future is clear, and nobody rationally doubts that America will eventually have marriage equality. The question is can we get there now or do we have to wait a couple decades for the bigots to die of old age. I’m guessing the latter, but as the slim majority becomes an overwhelming minority in state after state after state, momentum on this issue is going to shift pretty fast.
I wonder how those 49 Senators feel about being on the wrong side of history.
The Constitutional amendment is merely a stall.
And, Terry, the very core of marriage is not necessarily children. I know plenty of married people who are quite happy and do not have nor want children. And you are correct that marriage is a religious institution. That is why I think the state just needs to mind it’s own business (church & state and all of that).
It wasn’t me but whoever edited Bill Haslam’s wikipedia entry, I salute you.
Update: Gone now. That was fast. But here’s the old one.
Outrage as cop shoots teen, says it’s accidental
…
In a crowded three-bedroom apartment in central Harlem, partygoers drank, chatted and danced until their jovial moods were interrupted by members of the NYPD claiming to be responding to a report of a dispute with a firearm. According to eyewitnesses who attended the party at 419 E. 93rd Street last weekend, the police arrived at the wrong residence and were overly aggressive with the partying teenagers who they assumed to be in a possession of a handgun.
Cops + wrong house + poor gun safety = bad combination.
An anti-gun group had a day of remembrance in Utah. They noted that:
According to The Gun Violence Protection Center, in 2005 Utah received a grade of D- for its laws shielding families from gun violence, from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Utah has no child access prevention laws, no gun safety lock or safety design standard laws, no limitation on assault weapons and magazines or “junk” handguns, no requirement for a license to purchase a gun, no requirement to maintain gun sales records or to register the ownership of a gun, no requirement for background checks on “private” gun sales, and no required safety training for handgun buyers.
But here’s the thing about Utah: in that year it had a homicide rate of 2.3, the 42nd lowest in the country (the absolute lowest rate was Vermont, which allows concealed carry without a permit, and the highest rate, 35, was the District of Columbia). In total violence crime it was 47th — only Vermont, New Hampshire and South Dakota had less violence.
A police raid involves Dead Dog, $5K in Damage, Guns, and Grenades. All that for two joints.
Cam Edwards notes that the Tulsa mayor Kathy Taylor is also a part of Mayors Against Guns. He asks:
I’m really surprised the Tulsa media hasn’t gone after Taylor on this.
Well, Knoxville’s press hasn’t covered the fact that Mayor Haslam has joined the group either. Speaking of Knoxville, Les says:
The ultimate goal of the group seems to be to end most private ownership of firearms. If that sounds like an exaggeration, consider that the group is in favor of the California microstamping law. That bill would have outlawed the sale of all semi-automatic hanguns unless they imprinted their make, model, and serial number on spent cartridges. No such gun exists, so the sale of all current semi-automatic handguns would have been outlawed in California had it passed.
If you’re in Tulsa, call your mayor. If you’re in Knoxville, call your mayor and the local press.
A new twist on the If you could only have one gun, what would it be post. My answers:
1. Rimfire Handgun – Walther P22*
2. Rimfire rifle – Ruger 10-22*
3. Centerfire hunting rifle – Savage 110
4. Centerfire carbine (either hunting or defensive) – AR-15*
5. Shotgun – Beretta Xtrema
6. Battle rifle – M1 Scout rifle
7. Milsurp rifle or handgun – Don’t really want one but, err, SKS
8. Pocket gun/Concealed carry handgun – Kel-Tec P3AT*
9. Open carry handgun/service pistol/general duty sidearm – Glock G30*
* – I already got one.
In the comments to this post, Triticale writes:
The dealer in Milwaukee who has had the most guns traced to them, some of which were used in crimes, has been alleging for years that they have had a hard time interesting the police in any suspected straw-buying. Refusing to sell a firearm to an individual who passes a background check because they look like someone who might be buying on behalf of a criminal is potentially a civil rights violation. When the large number of traqces first hit the news some years back, the dealer and we activists started raising questions. After a while the news story was revised and it was acknowledged that “some” had come to police attention without having been used in the commission of a crime, and 40 out of something like 1400 had been used in a murder.
Remember this when those folks that want to ban gun ownership rant about those evil gun dealers.
Evan Wolfson, former director of the Lambda Legal Defense Fund marriage project and current director of Freedom to Marry, wrote a leter to the NYTimes. This is the guy who has been at the forefront of this issue since before you knew it existed. He’s also trained a lot of the lawyers still working on it. When the good guys win, you’ll have him to thank. On the other hand, if you hate freedom, you know who to blame. Evan taught me a lot about this issue and how to think about it constructively.
To the Editor:
Re “New Jersey Court Backs Full Rights for Gay Couples” (front page, Oct. 26):
The unanimous New Jersey Supreme Court ruling opening the door to marriage equality for gay people is a resounding recognition of the equal needs and common humanity of committed same-sex couples and their children.
The court said these American families are entitled to equal rights and responsibilities under the law.
As the Legislature moves now to carry out the Constitution’s command of equality, we are confident that legislators will see that the right way to end discrimination in marriage is indeed to end discrimination in marriage, not repackage it.
The easiest next step is not to cobble together a separate new system with two lines at the clerk’s office, but rather to end the exclusion from marriage itself with two simple words, “I do.”
That the Zogby and Rutgers-Eagleton polls show a majority in New Jersey supporting gay couples’ freedom to marry should make it easier for legislators to do what’s right.
Evan Wolfson
New York, Oct. 26, 2006
The writer is executive director of Freedom to Marry.
This is maybe the only nation on the planet where the guy in the $500,000 house with a new Benz in the driveway and the single mom making $8/hr at the Food Lion and living in a single wide will both sigh and turn up the volume to listen in when the TV announcer says “A new threat to the Middle Class!“, thinking he’s talking to them.
Read it all. Chick needs to write a book or something. I’d buy one.
According to Melhman, some states keep records on who purches (sic) guns, and the RNC then purhcases (sic) the data to target potential voters. Why is this hypocritical? Because the Republicans, via John Ashcroft, refused to allow the FBI to cross check potential terrorists against the list of names given for criminal background checks used to purchase guns. Ashcroft even wanted to destroy records of background checks, rather than have them be used to fight terrorism
Federal law prohibits ATF from establishing “any system of registration of firearms, firearms owners, or firearms transactions and dispositions.” Instead, ATF relies upon federal firearms licensee (FFL) records to trace firearms recovered in crimes through its National Tracing Center. Inaccurate or incomplete record keeping makes the tracing of firearms involved in violent crimes virtually impossible.
Sean is comparing apples to oranges (feds v. state). I guess the state can do it but I know the Feds cannot (even though they do any way just in a roundabout way).
Still: States are selling info on your gun purchases to political parties. Be afraid.
Before I stated I’d bet one beer that Corker will win. I still think so.
Ford supporters know they’re in trouble because the Democrats are now breaking out the Corker is a racist stuff. Heck, now he’s KKKorker and there are photoshops of Klansmen with Corker signs (Godwin, call your office). And some of the accusations seem silly (I’ve not heard the ad but on the surface, that sounds like quite a stretch).
And Ford hates the gay cooties too. But not enough for some people.
Glad I bought that extra fridge for all the cold beer I’ll be getting.
Update: Good for Late for Dinner for asking people to tone down the KKK stuff. It doesn’t help.
Update 2: I’ve now listened to the drum ad but, on the laptop, can’t even hear the drums.
A while back, I found it amusing that The Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Ownership was showing up in my Google ads. I noticed their ad text said Sensible Gun Laws. So, I Googled up sensible gun laws and the first hit was for the pro-gun Doctors For Sensible Gun Laws. Number 2 is The Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Ownership. Seems The Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Ownership maybe trying to get their misleading Google on.
I generally don’t like Google Bombs but ask that my fellow gunbloggers post the following links on their page:
And, while we’re at it, let’s add:
After all, that is their goal. Don’t be fooled.
Youngsters in a suburban Fort Worth school district are being taught not to sit there like good boys and girls with their hands folded if a gunman invades the classroom, but to rush him and hit him with everything they got – books, pencils, legs and arms.
“Getting under desks and praying for rescue from professionals is not a recipe for success,” said Robin Browne, a major in the British Army reserve and an instructor for Response Options, the company providing the training to the Burleson schools.
Not anymore:
The Burleson school district has “reassigned” Greg Crane, the teacher who was behind the training that taught students to fight back against an armed attacker. Mr. Crane was formerly a police officer and developed the idea when he asked his wife, a teacher, what she would do if her classroom were to be attacked and she didn’t have an answer.
Via Bitter
As the first bell rang, students bounded into hallways wearing twig- and branch-imprinted jackets or sporting fatigues stamped U.S. Army.
Principal Christine Moschetti said the school asked the students to don the martial clothing to show support for “the fight against drugs.” She wore a leafy, oversized camouflage T-shirt that she had bought at Wal-Mart for $5.
Camouflage Day at Marshall was tied to a national anti-drug campaign called Red Ribbon Week that began Monday. The week commemorates a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who was slain on duty in Mexico in 1985. Organizers with National Family Partnership, a Florida-based group, said thousands of schools nationwide are participating through such activities as encouraging students to sign drug-free pledges or sponsoring spirit weeks. Events at some schools are similar to those found in a high school homecoming week, with students asked to wear different outfits each day to promote different themes.
Well, we gotta get our kids acclimated to the ninjafication of police.
You may recall that it was alleged Shaquille O’Neal may have been involved when the police raided the wrong house. It’s confirmed.
Mayors against guns will have a meeting:
A coalition of mayors meets Thursday in Chicago to exchange strategies for fighting illegal guns and for winning tougher state and federal gun laws.
But, remember, Mr. Haslam just wants to deal with illegal guns. Apparently, the wants to do that by making more guns illegal:
Mayors say they struggle to stem the flow of guns from states with lax gun laws.
Mr. Haslam, that’d be Tennessee they’re talking about there. More:
The city officials meeting today will discuss strategies to get guns off the street:
•In Milwaukee, Barrett met in May with a local gun dealer whose shop sold more guns used in crimes than any other dealer in the USA, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The dealer, Badger Outdoors in West Milwaukee, agreed to install security cameras and ban the use of cellphones (so that “straw buyers,” purchasing guns for people who can’t pass background checks, can’t communicate with those they are buying for.)
•In Trenton, police set up checkpoints to search cars for illegal guns. Of 375 guns confiscated last year, Palmer says, half came from Pennsylvania, where laws are less restrictive than in New Jersey.
•New York City sued 15 gun dealers in Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia in May for allowing straw purchases. Private investigators hired by the city posed as gun buyers and wore hidden cameras.
And recall that Bloomberg’s sting:
•His agents likely broke the law by lying on ATF Form 4473
•Jeopardized existing investigations
•And the ATF is investigating the sting
Are these the kinds of things you want in Knoxville, Mr. Mayor? Random roadblocks looking for illegal guns and suing dealers?
The NRA: “You can have press conferences all day,” says Wayne LaPierre, NRA executive vice president. “Until you provide 100% enforcement of the existing laws, (criminals are) going to laugh at you, and … go about their business.”
Update: More from the NYT:
What Mayor Bloomberg consistently wants to do is impose New York City-style gun laws on the rest of America.
Closed on the old house today. By my calculation, me wife and I had to sign our names to roughly 157 forms. Each form needed a copy with original signature for sellers, buyers, buyer’s agent, seller’s agent, title agency and some random dude just outside the window. So, I figured we signed our names roughly 8,763 times. My math may be off.
Why can’t some real estate person get a clue and create one good form with everything on it that everyone signs once?
Today’s Metro Pulse has an editorial titled “Sleuth Not,
County Commission should stick to its legislative role, leave law enforcement to the ‘laws’”.
Really? So when the Knox County District Attorney Randy Nichols refuses to enforce the law Knox County Commission should look the other way? I find that incomprehensible. The Metro Pulse editorial closes with, “The commissioners should get back to their duties as legislators and stop wasting their and the public’s time. They were elected to serve on a legislative body, not as a board of gumshoes.”
If you listen to this radio interview with Chad Tindell, what do you think should be done? Tindell says that Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale’s Chief of Staff Mike Arms pressured Tindell to not press charges against Tyler Harber or Arms would give the emails stolen from Tindell to the Knoxville News Sentinel. There is a legal term for what Arms did. It is an actionable crime with harsh penalty.
In Frank Cagle’s column in this weeks Metro Pulse Cagle writes that Mike Arms has called Tindell’s statement Monday the 23rd on AM 1180 a “complete fabrication.” Cagle writes, “OK. But Arms is known for his temper. I also have a list of about a dozen people who have had their jobs, careers, businesses or reputations threatened by Team Ragsdale. You have seen the memo forbidding county functions at a Mike Chase restaurant because he had the temerity to oppose Ragsdale in the recent election.”
How clear does it have to be? We have a problem in Knox County that the two Mikes that occupy the sixth floor are above the law. What makes them so special?
New Jersey has just become the latest state to move toward civil unions. The NJ Supreme Court just handed down an opinion saying
the Legislature must either amend the marriage statutes to include same-sex couples or create a parallel statutory structure, which will provide for, on equal terms, the rights and benefits enjoyed and burdens and obligations borne by married couples. We will not presume that a separate statutory scheme, which uses a title other than marriage, contravenes equal protection principles…. The name to be given to the statutory scheme… is a matter left to the democratic process.
All the rights and none of the dignity is not an acceptable result. I would like to see the legislature do the right thing and end civil marriage discrimination. I doubt they’ll do it, but that is the hope.
The latest Republican National Committee ad (scheduled to air tonight during The World Series on Fox) will assert that:
Harold Ford, Jr. can’t say the word Ask
He has a big schlong
He doesn’t, err, eat at the Y (if you know what I mean)
He may have once talked loudly during a movie
As for Bob Corker, well, he can’t dance.
Trollphylactic: I preemptively call myself a racist.
Update: Ford also doesn’t tip very well.
And can get uppity.
Remember, I do this to entertain me, not you.
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