I’m starting Festivus early this year and will be airing grievances for the rest of the day. So, politics:

To the Republicans: You’re all fucking retarded. I’m not sure what happened or exactly where you guys lost your way, but everything about the last six years (except one tax break) has been a colossal disappointment. You didn’t make the government smaller (in fact, you made it the biggest it has ever been); you didn’t bring accountability to the government; you didn’t do, well, anything you promised.

To the Democrats: Let’s be honest, I don’t like you and you don’t like me. But congrats on your recent win. It took you a while. In 2004, I honestly figured a retarded monkey could have beaten anyone with an R after their name. Yet, you guys couldn’t. You finally figured out that if you kept your mouths shut for a little bit, tried not to do anything stupid, and kept McKinney out from in front of a camera, that the Republicans would lose. Good job, for a retarded monkey.

Rich says: One article with little information vs a dozen or more detailed articles. That’s the blogosphere.

The drug war in the US:

A member of the Durham Police Department Selective Enforcement Team escorts a child to use the bathroom after serving a search warrant at a suspected drug house. Working closely with the police department’s Gang Units, SET is responsible for making high-risk entries into dwellings to serve search warrants. Gang Unit Two made two controlled buys, or drug purchases, from the home with the help of an informant, giving them probable cause for a search warrant.

Yes, a ninjafied officer is watching a little boy go tinkle.

Drugs are winning the war on drugs.

Via Pete.

The AP:

A woman staying at a northeast Georgia motel this week shot herself while trying to light a cigarette with a pistol she mistook for a cigarette lighter, police said.

All this time we thought it was humans that caused Global Warming. It turns out it is mostly humans that eat cattle. I feel so superior now.

Actually I don’t eat much tofu, but it makes a good title. My smugness will probably be diminished after the UN calculates all the fish and chicken farts. And I eat a lot of black beans. That can’t be good.

Thank heaven for the UN.

How did that happen? Handguns are banned in Chicago.

Very annotated transcript by K-Romulus who made it to the appellate argument.

Via David.

I wrote about Orson Scott Card’s new novel “Empire” and commented on how this book has confounded the far left. The premise of the book is a second American Civil War between the Blue States and the Red States.

Is there an issue that could spark a shooting Civil War between Blue State America and Red State America?

I see only one issue that could ignite the country and that would be a mandatory federal government issued disarmament of the American citizen. This has happened in some degree in England and to a lesser degree in Australia.

Astute readers will note that in both England and Australia it is not total disarmament. Rifles, shotguns, and “antique handguns” are allowed to some degree in England and to a greater degree in Australia. The great concern is the “slippery slope” argument.

Should the Supreme Court strike down the Second Amendment as antiquated via the logic that “well regulated militias” are no longer a viable legal construct and that the militia component of the Second Amendment is the primary clause, then local communities could enact legislation to prohibit handguns and certain types of long arms if not all firearms. This could serve as a catalyst to dramatically polarize Blue State and Red State America.

Would Blue State America cheer such a Supreme Court ruling striking down the Second Amendment? A ruling is one thing, the day the law comes to the door of Red State America to confiscate certain if not all firearms is another matter.

Would Red State America turn in their firearms ammo first and create a shooting Civil War? The right to self defense is considered in almost all societies as sacrosanct. How could any court rule in a way that would put citizens at the mercy of criminals that have no regard for the rule of law?

I’ve been emailing with some friends about the 2nd Amendment. I just got done explaining the incorporation doctrine and how there are a couple post civil-war cases that say the doctrine does not apply to the 2nd Amendment. This lead to a question I couldn’t answer off the top of my head. Being lazy and all, I thought I’d ask you folks:

Has the Supreme Court ever applied any 2nd Amendment protection to a state law? I’m aware they never reversed the decision not to incorporate, but have they slid around it at all?

Joe says to be careful what we wish for:

If they prevail and if the Supreme Court agrees, it’s all over. Who would have thought the Supreme Court would trash the 1st Amendment — _seriously_ trash it — by criminalizing “political” speech? But, they did. If they can trivialize the 1st, imagine how unimportant they think the 2nd is.

Read it all and come back. I think Joe is right. Being the establishment, they are not inclined to change decades old laws no matter how unconstitutional they are. And that is bad. I would love to see the case go our way and pull a win for civil rights. But that’s unlikely. Also unlikely is that they take the case and find that the second amendment doesn’t mean what it says. If they did, there’d probably be a lot of angry gun nuts out there who will, honestly, start shooting politicians. The court will simply not hear the case and bypass all of that. And for that, they are cowards.

I hope Joe and I are wrong but I don’t expect that we are. So, assuming we’re right, what next?

Update: Related is, Stephen Halbrook on the second amendment and the Supreme Court. Via GLN.

Update 2: Insty weighs in.

Our house has been invaded by monsters. And bumblebees. At about 2 to 3 in the morning, Junior starts screaming because either monsters or bumblebees are in her room. Me or the wife then has to go and tell her there are no monsters or bumblebees. And that monsters aren’t real but bumblebees are, only there still aren’t bumblebees in your room. Because it’s cold outside. This is confusing to a two-year-old. And it’s a difficult conversation to have in the middle of the night when you’re not at your best. I’m personally of the opinion it’s a trap by Junior to get in our bed and the Mrs. falls for it every time.

I’m not sure where she picked up monsters. And I sure don’t know where the bumblebee thing is coming from. So, last night I asked. I asked Junior if it was one of the kids at school and she said No. Instead, she blames her teacher. I’m sure the teacher isn’t trying to scare her with monsters or bumblebees but there’s probably been a story or two told about them in class.

She doesn’t believe me when I say there’s no such thing as a monster. So, now we tell her that some combination of the dog, her teddy bears, and the pastel-colored butterflies painted on her walls repels the monsters. Somehow, the fact there are no monsters isn’t believable but that they are repelled by paint, fabric and an uninterested dog is. Well, when you’re two.

Braisted reports that a bunch of governors are not running for president, including Tennessee’s. I think it’s unfortunate. I like Bredesen and would likely vote for him, particularly if the Republicans are looking to run a McCain, Bloomberg, or Giuliani. Those three come with all the bad of the Republican party and absolutely none of the good.

Joe makes an appearance in the press as a bomb-making expert.

And this is why I said before that I generally do not entertain inquiries from the press.

Aunt B. wants to start one. I don’t think any dog should be treated any differently just because it’s a pit bull. All dogs should be treated like, well, dogs.

Seen at Radley’s:

It was Fabian Sheats’ third felony drug arrest in four months. But on the afternoon of Nov. 21, according to a police report, he was looking to curry favor, so he told officers they could find a kilogram of cocaine in a house at 933 Neal Street N.W.

That encounter led police to the home of Kathryn Johnston, an elderly woman who lived alone behind burglar bars and kept a rusty revolver. When officers burst into the house just three hours after talking to Sheats, a shootout ensued that left the woman dead and three officers wounded. No cocaine was found.

Sheats’ arrest report, made public Thursday, sheds new light on why officers targeted Johnston’s home.

Police say they used Sheats’ tip to direct a confidential informant to the Neal Street house, where he made a drug buy, leading them to conduct the raid. A man named Alexis White later came forward to say he is a longtime informant and police asked him to lie after the shootings and say he bought drugs at the address. Police will not say who the informant was.

The fecal matter has hit the oscillating cooling device.

Went to the dentist this morning. Told you before how I get the gas ’cause my girly teeth are all sensitive. Anyhoo, had the MP3 player and it was kind of cool to listen to Five Minutes Alone and The Color of Money with a huge gas buzz.

Oh, and the title of this post is a combination of the title of Pantera’s album and the brand of light I stared at for 30 minutes.

The point: I dig the MP3 player.

NYC.gov:

MAYOR BLOOMBERG ANNOUNCES THE FILING OF SECOND FEDERAL LAWSUIT AGAINST IRRESPONSIBLE GUN DEALERS

12 Gun Dealers in Five States Are Named in Second Federal Lawsuit Following Sting Operation

Six of the 15 Gun Dealers Named in the First Lawsuit Have Reached Settlements with the City; Court Appointed Special Master is Named for Three of the Six Gun Dealers

City Launches Subway Ads Warning of New Mandatory Minimum Sentencing for Illegal Possession of a Loaded Handgun Passed Earlier This Year

I wonder if Bloomberg’s investigators broke the law again this time by lying on federal paperwork? More:

Earlier this year, investigators from the James Mintz Group, a private investigative firm employed by the City, traveled to five states to establish whether these gun dealers were violating federal laws governing firearms sales. The investigators, in teams of two, entered gun stores and followed a scenario commonly known as “straw purchasing” – where one individual makes all of the inquiries into purchasing the gun, and then the other individual, completely uninvolved in the sale process, fills out the required federal forms to pass the background check. Federal law prohibits licensed dealers from selling firearms to individuals when they have a reasonable belief that the firearm being sold is not for the person who purports to be the purchaser.

All 12 dealers named in the suit sold a gun to a team of undercover investigators, who wore hidden cameras during their sting operations. Even in the face of obvious “red lights” that should have immediately ended the discussion between dealer and customer, including that the straw purchaser did not participate in the transaction until the time came to fill out the federal forms and did not pay for the gun.

Actually, the form 4473 that you fill out when purchasing a firearm asks if you’re the purchaser. The law-breaking done here was by the investigators.

Update: Jeff asks:

When is the Mayor and his undercover team going to be arrested and thrown in jail by the BATF?

Uh, never. It’s OK to break the law if you’re rich and in politics. Will not happen.

Interesting read on a reporter going through a Tennessee handgun carry permit course.

This time, in Seattle:

Seattle Police Department Chief Gil Kerlikowske has made closing the state’s gun-show loophole and passing an assault-weapons ban (as many states have already done since the federal ban expired in 2004) two of Seattle’s top legislative items for the upcoming session in Olympia. Unfortunately, Democratic house leadership, which is nervous about alienating moderates and Republicans, told the city that pushing gun control isn’t going to fly.

Police chiefs pass laws? And by many states, name one. Illinois tried and failed. Maryland tried and failed. All other state bans that I know of were in effect either before or during the federal ban. Could be wrong, of course.

In Ohio, the house has overridden Taft’s veto of the preemption law. On to the senate.

Regarding the recent trigger-happiness of the NYPD, the Village Voice ran this cover:

What media bias? Discuss.

The WaPo:

In a case that could shape firearms laws nationwide, attorneys for the District of Columbia argued Thursday that the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms applies only to militias, not individuals.

The city defended as constitutional its long-standing ban on handguns, a law that some gun opponents have advocated elsewhere. Civil liberties groups and pro-gun organizations say the ban in unconstitutional.

Kudos to the WaPo for not referring to the good guys as the powerful gun lobby. More:

At issue in the case before a federal appeals court is whether the 2nd Amendment right to “keep and bear arms” applies to all people or only to “a well regulated militia.” The Bush administration has endorsed individual gun-ownership rights but the Supreme Court has never settled the issue.

If the dispute makes it to the high court, it would be the first case in nearly 70 years to address the amendment’s scope. The court disappointed gun owner groups in 2003 when it refused to take up a challenge to California’s ban on high-powered weapons.

In the Washington, D.C. case, a lower-court judge told six city residents in 2004 that they did not have a constitutional right to own handguns. The plaintiffs include residents of high-crime neighborhoods who want guns for protection.

There’s more. I have to day, and I don’t do this often, it’s a fairly balanced piece from the other liberal Washington paper. Balanced or not, this should scare you:

Silberman and Judge Thomas B. Griffith seemed to wrestle, however, with the meaning of the amendment’s language about militias. If a well-regulated militia is no longer needed, they asked, is the right to bear arms still necessary?

“That’s quite a task for any court to decide that a right is no longer necessary,” Alan Gura, an attorney for the plaintiffs, replied. “If we decide that it’s no longer necessary, can we erase any part of the Constitution?”

This will be an interesting case to watch.

MacGyver has nothing on the inventiveness of American troops dealing with the problem of invisible trip wires on hidden bombs. As inventive is one Mom in New Jersey who is sending “Silly String” to troops in Iraq.

Now, 1,000 cans of the neon-colored plastic goop are packed into Shriver’s one-car garage in this town outside Philadelphia, ready to be shipped to the Middle East thanks to two churches and a pilot who heard about the drive.

“If I turn on the TV and see a soldier with a can of this on his vest, that would make this all worth it,” said Shriver, 57, an office manager.

The maker of the Silly String brand, Just for Kicks Inc. of Watertown, N.Y., has contacted the Shrivers about donating some. Other manufacturers make the stuff, too, and call their products “party string” or “crazy string.”

Via David, comes US v. Some Guns (I’m not making that up). Looks to me like the issues are that:

Per Celata (the owner of KTO), his firearm frames are legal because they are not substantially complete. The ATF contends that they are substantially complete and, therefore, firearms.

The ATF alleges that Celata told customers that he had a letter stating the frames were not firearms and therefore did not require serial numbers or paperwork. The ATF said they never issued him a letter.

To my knowledge, no charges have yet been filed against Mr. Celata, which is odd.

Overall points: Looks like there’s evidence that Celata was misleading his customers. The determination of what is a firearm v. what is a firearm frame is random and arbitrary any way (I mean, really, what is 80% complete?). So, it may be a court fight to determine what is and is not a firearm and that may make the guns of a bunch of folks who build their own guns illegal, if they purchased the receiver.

It’s the opening salvo in the crackdown on do it yourself gunsmiths.

The whole survival/emergency kick hits the blogosphere (usually the gun blogs) about once every few months. This time, there’s a new twist in that it’s from Knoxviews and it’s about a vehicle emergency kit. Well, I’m prepared for stuff generally so here’s what I keep in the ride:

2 flashlights (I could just carry extra batteries but if it’s an emergency, I don’t want to bother changing them)
jumper cables
gloves
toboggan
Firearm
3 to 4 magazines for the firearm, depending on which one it is
Thermal blanket (the kind that wraps up in a small pack)
A Gerber multi-tool
Jacket/coat
An easily accessible knife that has serrated edges (it’s only purpose is to cut seat-belts in the event I am stuck)
Bungee chords
Flares
First aid kit
A towel
Tire gauge
Tape
Scraper
Pen and paper

I don’t keep any food in there but it’s probably not a bad idea. Well, other than the no less than 400 Cheerios, Goldfish, and other assorted snacks Junior has dropped on the seats. Could probably live off that for a day or two.

Also, read this at Edmund’s. It gave me some ideas, such as Fix-a-flat, a bag to put this stuff in since it’s all in my console/glove box, water, food, help sign, and I need to update my first aid kit.

Update: And my new phone has a GPS in it.

Update 2: And make sure you read the comments over at Knoxviews.

The cops found drugs in Kathryn Johnston’s home. You remember her? The 92 (or 88 depending on the source) year-old lady who the cops shot in self-defense as they were minding their own business and raiding her home for drugs based on on the (likely paid for) testimony of a drug-dealing informant who later said the cops asked him to lie. Yeah, her. She had 1.93 grams of weed. In case you can’t wrap your head around how little that is, Pete has a pic.

Looks like the state of Tennessee used its ill-gotten gains in an ill-conceived manner:

The report says that since 2002 Tennessee, as have Michigan and Missouri, has never spent any of its $1.3 billion tobacco-settlement payout on stop-smoking programs.

Poof.

Looks like gun rights blogger Triggerfinger is back with some WordPress digs. I wondered where he went.

The UN has non-agreed to non-ban assault rifles, machine guns and other small arms. Jeff calls it a first step towards universal gun control.

Ben received one to review and has pics. It’s made by Ko-tonics. It will be mine soon! Well, for a little while.