Remember Brendon Fearon? He's the career criminal (35 convictions in 19 years) that was shot by Tony Martin during a burglary. Since defending yourself from physical harm is a crime in the U.K., Martin served time for shooting Fearon, and still faces a civil lawsuit for damages. Fearon, who was receiving government funding for his lawsuit, is seeking $100,000 in damages for being left "100% incapacitated", and unable to "work". He claims he walks with a limp and cannot enjoy time playing with his children.

Well, Sky News notes that undercover reporters from the Sun have filmed Fearon riding a bike, and walking around without his limp.

The Sun says its team also saw Fearon striding out, running up steps and walking his dog without the slightest hint of a limp.

Reporters say they saw him pedalling at high speed with just one hand on the handlebars outside his home in Newark, Nottinghamshire.

Newspaper bosses have handed their evidence to lawyers acting for Martin.

Lets hope that not only does Martin win his lawsuit, but that the U.K. wises up. Not only should criminals not receive state assistance for their frivolous lawsuits, but if this claim is truly fraudulent, then Fearon should face the consequences.

Related articles:
UK continues to champion criminal's rights III - 07/28/2003
UK continues to champion criminal's rights II - 07/21/2003
UK continues to champion criminal's rights - 06/16/2003
UK Parole Board concerned about "burglar's rights" - 05/12/2003

"The folks at the top have to pay their fair share. The folks at the bottom have to pay something and the people being squeezed in the middle need some relief from the car tax and college fees." -- California Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante discussing his tax plan.

It sounds to me like Bustamante wants to raise taxes on the "rich", and the "poor" while giving the middle class some tax relief. I don't think he's going to cover much of the $38 Billion deficit by raising taxes on the poor. He can raise taxes on the "rich" but that's only going to drive them deeper into a recession as more people flee the state.

Come to think of it, I cannot come up with a single good reason to move to California. Unless I were offered the job of a lifetime, there is no way in hell I'd ever move out there. Between the smog, the traffic, the stifling taxes, and the insane gun laws I just don't see the appeal. Not to mention natural disasters such as fires, floods, mudslides, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and drought. My guess is that the reason many people live there is because either they were born there or they have family they don't want to leave behind.

Kim du Toit has been battling the elites over CCW policies. Apparently some former LEOs and federal police types think that anti-gun laws shouldn't apply to them. They don't seem to mind it when GFWs take away our gun rights, as long as their priviledged ex-cop status gets them a free pass.

Kim is fighting the good fight. Here is a brief exerpt.

"Any ex-cop who supports CCW for themselves but not for everyone, is no different to Dianne Bitch Feinstein who wants to ban guns for everyone except her own fucking bodyguards."

I couldn't agree more. A cop who turns in his badge is no longer a cop, and should be subject to the same laws and regulations that regular folk have to abide by.

I wonder just who was sick, Roseanne or the audience. [rimshot]

A Norwegian man shoots 6 people at a birthday party, and Reuters calls it an "accident".

The man found out about the party in a forest cabin in south Norway beforehand and hid behind trees nearby with a shotgun as about 30 guests turned up on Saturday night, hoping to turn the surprise on his friends,

He blasted off one round in the air, meaning it as a joke to shock the partygoers. But when he came out from his hiding place, he tripped and the gun went off again, badly hurting one woman in the legs and slightly injuring five others.

This is an example of gross negligence. The gun "went off again" almost certainly because he had his finger on the trigger. Rather than dig up the real facts about what happened, the media accepts the perpetrator's blaming the gun, an inanimate object.

Related articles:
Gun "accidents" are no accidents - 8/15/2003

The story that never ends.

GFWs will never admit that banning guns is a fruitless exercise. No matter how many illegal guns make it into the hands of criminals, GFWs are never satisfied with the strictness of gun laws. It has even been shown in the past that when outside sources of guns are cut off, criminals resort to making their own. The UK is finding that out.

Detectives today said they had cut off a major supply of weapons to Nottingham's gangs after a man who ran a gun factory was jailed.

Michael Westwood converted imitation guns and blank-firing pistols into lethal weapons.

The 22-year-old used a first-floor bedroom in Cedar Road, Sherwood, as his workshop.

By cutting off the supply of legally manufactured handguns, the UK has taken all government regulation out of the process. The supply of illegally manufactured handguns has risen to meet demand. With criminals acting as the sole means of manufacture and distribution, the government no longer has any control over the quality of manufacturing, or to whom the firearms are sold. In effect, that means more illegal guns, not less.

Is the government tracking you? They may soon be. Sierra Times notes that "smart stamps" that are being planned by the U.S. Postal Service will not only track the mail, but can also track individual senders.

"Smart stamps," so-called because special digital codes and information about individual senders is embedded into the stamp - aren't widespread yet - but may be soon.

Those with privacy concerns, including the Center for Democracy and Technology, have alerted consumers about a recent government report urging the U.S. Postal Service to create the stamps to track the identity of people who send mail.

After the anthrax scare, the government has a genuine interest in identifying the culprits. However, rather than rely on detective work after a crime has been committed, they want to punish everyone for a few bad apples.

I wonder how the post office can afford to take on such a venture. Their cost overruns have resulted in several recent hikes in the price of stamps. How much will it cost to start embedding smart chips in each stamp, and develop the tracking system hardware and software. I also wonder if the chips will be embedded in all stamps, or if cheaper 1-cent stamps will be exempted. If so, a terrorist need only paste a bunch of 1-cent stamps onto an envelope or package to avoid tracking. It may raise the suspicion of postal employees, but chemical and biological attacks are out there to cause panic, and would still be effective even if they don't reach their intended target.

Of course, a government database cannot be far behind. Soon they'll have all sorts of "marketing" data about each and every citizen, where information about each piece of mail, sent or received will be stored ad infinitum.

Mayor Bloomberg has been coming up with some creative ways to fill in his budget holes. There was the smoking tax, followed by the smoking fines. Then there was fining people for sitting on milk crates, having too many words on their awning, and chewing gum without a permit. Now Bloomberg has resorted to jacking up the fines for health violations, as well as increasing enforcement to threat level red or "Gestapo level". The New York Post has the details.

In March, the city quietly jacked up fines for health violations and began allowing inspectors to count each cracked egg or hole in the ceiling as a separate violation. [...]

Restaurant owners say the new fines do little to help the public because officials didn't stiffen penalties on the biggest dining danger: food improperly refrigerated or heated.

Instead, they reclassified a slew of minor violations into a more serious category - meaning the city can charge more money for the offenses.

Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden defended the administration's policies all the way to the bank.

"This is not a revenue-generating situation. This is about protecting human health," [Frieden] told The Post. "We would be delighted if they kept the food so safe the fines went down to zero."

Why do I have trouble believing that Bloomberg and company are just doing this for the children? I just hope that the children, and New Yorkers alike, aren't too disappointed when their favorite restaurants start raising their prices, cutting their specials, or even shutting their doors. The economy has been hard enough on businesses without them having to put up with the smoke-nazis, milk-crate-nazis, and now the white-glove-nazis.

I discovered today that Arlington County, Virginia is quite discriminatory in their hiring practices. For instance, the Sheriff's Office has a strict policy against hiring employees who are currently married to blacks, and prohibits employees from marrying black people after they have been hired. Arlington County doesn't explain the policy, but it is similar to a policy in Fort Myers, Florida, whose Lee County Sheriff's Office also refuses to hire people who have black dependents. In Fort Myers, they claim it has to do with the cost of health care. Black people have higher health care costs, and they claim to be making an objective decision to cut overall health care costs. Although they are strictly prohibited by Federal law from discriminating against an employee who is black, they claim that they can dictate that an employee doesn't make a conscious decision to marry or adopt a black dependent.

Since that dependent would be covered by company medical plan, the Sheriff's Office claims they have a vested interest. The CDC even provides some of the evidence for them.

African American women are more likely to die of breast cancer than are women of any other racial or ethnic group. [...]

In 1998, rates of death from cardiovascular disease were about 30% higher among African American adults than among white adults.

The CDC also notes that Vietnamese women are five times more likely to contract cervical cancer, although there is no specific policy against marrying Vietnamese women, just blacks.

Check out this excerpt from a job posting on the Arlington County web site.

All new uniformed (sworn) Sheriff's Office employees must be non-smokers and will be required to sign an agreement that they will not smoke on or off the job during their tenure of employment.

Oops. I made a mistake again. They are discriminating against people who consciously decide to smoke, not those the consciously decide to marry a black person. Well, who the hell cares about smokers? They are dying out as a minority any way.

Still, you would think there was some sort of mechanism to just charge those people more for insurance. Oh wait, insurance companies already do that.

Fox News reports that for some reason the ACLU thinks minority voters aren't as smart as non-minority voters.

California's high-stakes recall election has another court date Monday, when a federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments by the American Civil Liberties Union that using outdated punch card machines threatens to disenfranchise minorities.

For the life of me I cannot figure out why the ACLU would think that minorities aren't as intelligent as other folks. I don't want to throw the R-word around, but it appears as though the ACLU might be just that.

Personally, I think that minorities are just as smart as the rest of us, and I would hope that the courts would agree. If they do, the election should continue as planned. If the court decides to postpone the election, it would mean that the court agrees with the ACLU's notion that minorities are not as smart as other folk.

"He's going to say in very strong terms that the recall is part of a Republican attempt to achieve through recall what they haven't achieved in a regular election for years. We are hoping that people in this state will begin to wake up and see this as a Republican grab for power." -- an unnamed Democrat strategist.

Is blaming the 80% of California voters who are unhappy with Gov. Gray Davis really the best strategy the Democrats have? So, it is okay when the process is in the hands of the courts, but when it is in the hands of the registered voters, it is called a power grab. No wonder the Dems were so reluctant to approve judicial nominations.

The AP reports on a Darwin candidate that was killed while working on an amusement park ride. The worker was lubricating the ride when his long hair became tangled in one of the cars. He was lifted 25 to 40 feet into the air, before being "scalped" and falling back to mother Earth. If the scalping didn't kill him, the sudden impact with a fence surely did.

While I don't usually poke fun at someone's unfortunate demise (unless they were really asking for it), I always roll my eyes whenever I see lines like this in a news story:

[Sheriff's spokesman Jan] Smith said grief counselors were on hand but that the fair continued after the incident.

Yes, grief counselors. Yet another sissification of America.

"A funny thing happened on the way to some of the biggest corporate frauds in America. Lawyers signed off on the controversial transactions that ended in the recent collapses of giants, such as Enron, and cost shareholders billions. But unlike the other professionals involved, attorneys survived largely unscathed and still self-regulated." -- OpEd in USAToday, August 15, 2003.

"Didn't do it. Lawyer fucked me." -- Inmate 33105, Heywood, Shawshank Redemption, 1994.

Sometimes I cannot help but think in movie quotes.

The Winchester Star notes that Virginia schools may be violating state law by prohibiting students from keeping locked firearms in their cars on school property. Virginia law currently exempts students who keep their firearms locked safely in the trunk, from being prosecuted for violating the hideous "gun free school zones".

Violating state law doesn't seem to bother the superintendent of Frederick County Public Schools, however. He tries to justify his position.

"Our greatest concern is the well-being and safety of those [children] sent to us," Dean said.

In today's society, he said, the school system can't allow weapons on school premises, even in locked vehicle trunks.

So he's doing it for the children. Perhaps I just don't understand how an unloaded firearm, locked securely in a vehicle is somehow a threat to children.

Most people may not even understand the reason for such a debate, but kids who go hunting after school, have a genuine need to keep their gun in their car. I mean, it obviously won't fit in their locker.

Bridget Green received straight A's (including an A in Algebra II) and was slated to be valedictorian. That is, until she failed the math portion of the graduation exam five times, and wasn't even able to attend the graduation ceremony.

Fox News notes that Principal Harvey Cyrus, claimed that Green's experience does not suggest the school is doing anything wrong. "I feel my teachers did everything they could do. Sometimes students just don't ask for help."

Incidentally, the exam measures math skills at the 10th grade level.

So Congress is going to investigate the massive blackout in the North East. I wonder what big government spending programs will be borne out of this.

Speaking of the blackout, we're already hearing how much it cost businesses. One news report said the city of New York claims to have lost as much as $800 Million. Next Gray Davis will claim that it cost California $38 Billion, and demand federal assistance.

Speaking of Davis, it looks like him and his cronies may get their wish. A federal judge is threatening to put the kibosh on the whole recall thing.

I don't know about you, but I'm dying for some juicy news and current events. The California recall, the power outages, and Kobe Bryant just aren't cutting it for me.

I don't know about you, but I like to spend some weekends drinking tall frosty beverages. I've never had Sam Adams Triple Bock, and after seeing this, I probably never will. The libation contains 17.5% alcohol, and a massive 340 calories. (Most beers have 4-6% alcohol and 100-150 calories.)

I was really dissappointed to see that Michael Vick was injured in a measly preseason game. I hope the broken leg doesn't have any long term effects on his mobility. With bigger, stronger, faster backs, it seems like more players are suffering game-ending or career ending injuries. It seems like it's no longer enough just to tackle a guy, now players think they have to hurt him or put him out of the game.

If you thought Reuters was anti-American before, this isn't going to make things any better.

Kevin at The Smallest Minority notes that the police investigating the West Virginia "sniper" have three bullets from three different crimes, yet cannot conclude if they were fired from the same rifle. He grabs a money quote from the Daily Press:

"All three balls had the same characteristics," Kanawha County Sheriff Dave Tucker said after getting ballistics results from a State Police crime lab. "But we can't say for sure it's the same gun."

What does this say about ballistic fingerprinting? I thought the miracle science was supposed to be able to identify guns by the markings on bullets left behind at the crime scene. Here we have three bullets, and all the ballistics experts can say is that the "characteristics" are similar.

Of course, the news media tries to say a lot more. The reporting from the media, as expected, is down right shitty. Check out the first line of the article.

Bullets that killed three victims this week outside Kanawha County convenience stores were fired from the same caliber and class of weapon...

They offer that up as a statement of fact, yet present nothing in the article to back it up. Actually, their article leads me to believe that police have no clue what caliber of rifle is being used. First there was the use of the term "characteristics" which the media probably read to mean 'caliber'. Then there was a mention that the bullets were all from a "small caliber" firearm. But then, there was this lovely passage from the 18th paragraph, with directly contradicts what they said in the first sentence.

[Kanawha County Chief Deputy Phil Morris] said police have not determined what caliber or type of rifle was used.

Well if the Chief Deputy doesn't know what caliber or type of rifle was used, just how does the news media draw the conclusion that the calibers were the same? Perhaps Chief Morris ought to check with the Daily Press, and find out who their unnamed sources are.

What do you do when you think people are drinking too much? Simple, you just pass a law to control people's behavior. Problem solved, right?

What is really shocking, is that the anti-drinking law, which will use the police power of the government to force people to drink less, was passed in Ireland, of all places.

Politicians are hoping the Intoxicating Liquor Act of 2003 will reduce heavy drinking, public drunkenness and underage drinking by limiting the number of pints that patrons may drink.

The law also forces bars to close earlier, and makes happy hours (discounting drinks) illegal. Check out the socialist reasoning for negating people's freedoms.

Alcohol-related problems cost Ireland about $2.7 billion in costs for health care, crime, road accidents and lost productivity.

Don't you just love that "Your drinking is costing me money" attitude? Here's a truly American Revolutionary idea. You let me pay for my own health care. In return, I get to eat all day and drink all night if I want to. If I start missing work, fire me. If I commit a crime, imprison me. If I die, bury me. Until then, leave me the hell alone.

Frank J of IMAO has apparently declared war on some guy named Glenn Reynolds.

Never heard of him.

Here is today's Friday five.

1. How much time do you spend online each day?
- Including work, 12 hours a day.

2. What is your browser homepage set to?
- Blank.

3. Do you use any instant messaging programs? If so, which one(s)?
- AIM and ICQ.

4. Where was your first webpage located?
- Um... right here in cyberspace. Duh!

5. How long have you had your current website?
- I've ran a web site since about 1995. Before that, I ran a BBS. This is all explained in detail, right here.

is all I ever want to do...

Here is the latest on this tragedy from Scrappleface.

(2003-08-15) -- In one of the more poignant episodes resulting from the multi-state power outage, this morning neighbors of a suburban Detroit man attempted to rescue the owner of an electric car.

"He was just sitting there in the driveway, staring," said one concerned neighbor. "We tried to help. We offered him rides in our SUVs but he just screamed something about global warming and George Bush and Iraq."

For more, check out Scrappleface.com

The LA Times, who has made it no secret that they are firmly against the California recall election, is trying to make much ado about Arianna Huffington's lack of income. Check out the first passage from this well aimed "news" report.

TV commentator and author Arianna Huffington, who launched her campaign for governor with criticism of "fat cats" who fail to shoulder a fair share of taxes, paid no individual state income tax and just $771 in federal taxes during the last two years, her tax returns show.

There's that term fair share. Soak those of us that have won life's lottery, and then criticize us for not paying enough. Lovely.

Although with Huffington, that isn't the case, because she has so many expenses to chip away at her income. The Times sounds almost like they are accusing her of tax evasion. Then they follow it up with this non sequitur.

Huffington, who released her tax returns for the last two years to The Times, lives in an 8,000-square-foot home in Brentwood above Sunset Boulevard that is valued at about $7 million.

What does the size and value of her house have to do with her federal income tax return? Nothing. If anything, the fact that she lives on a large estate shows that she probably pays a small fortune in property tax, which she would naturally deduct from her revenues.

Since Arianna runs her own business, and it has been operating at a loss, she's able to take recoup some of those losses by reducing her income tax liability. (More power to her.) What a shock that a California business would operate at a loss, these days. Of course, when she claims her expenses and losses against her revenue, she comes up with very little income, and very little income tax, which is the way the tax laws work. They teach that in Accounting 101, and it is something that every American business owner does.

Of course, the core of the entire issue is the LA Times belief that it is your American patriotic duty to pay as much income tax as you possibly can, to ensure that you are paying your fair share. Note how they try to make her sound guilty by emphasizing that she "denies taking advantage of loopholes and unfair deductions." What the hell is an "unfair deduction"? Tax law is written in black and white, and your deductions are either legal or illegal. The Times tries to make it out to be a question of morality by calling it "unfair", rather than legality. If her deductions are legal and the Times considers them "unfair", than it must be the law that is inherently "unfair", and not Huffington. By talking about "loopholes" they try to make her sound like she's violating the spirit of the law, by not paying as much tax as possible.

Note also how they also play on people's greed and envy, by noting how nice of a home she lives in, and eluding to her net worth, none of which has to do with income tax. The reason of course, is that we don't have a wealth tax; we have an income tax. We will likely never have a wealth tax, mainly because most congressmen have an abundance of wealth, yet earn relatively little income. (Hell, even businessmen like Bill Gates typically only pay themselves about $100,000 a year.) Senator's like John Felafel Kerry, who is worth hundreds of millions of dollars and our nation's wealthiest Senator, aren't about to propose a 'wealth tax'. (Although you may hear him talk about how bad income tax cuts are.)

Of course, the effect of an income tax is that it serves to keep people from becoming wealthy, and stifles hard work and economic reward. For people that are already extremely wealthy, like Vietnam Veteran Kerry, it's irrelevant, because comparatively, they pay very little income tax.

This guy needs a gun. For $3 worth of shot shells, he could have solved his buzzard infestation.

It's no secret that GFW groups twist and distort statistics to make them fit their argument. Gun banners routinely count 24 year old gang members as "children" who "accidentally" shoot each other. Speaking of "accidents", check out these reports. (emphasis mine)

An ABS-CBN news report (Philippines) contains this passage:

investigators learned from witnesses that Amor accidentally shot himself when he pulled the trigger of his Protector .38-caliber revolver, which was pointed at his right jaw.

That's right, the guy was playing "Russian Roulette" and "accidentally" shot himself. Duh!

Meanwhile, back in the States, the Salt Lake Tribune has this tragic story.

A Salt Lake City boy, 14, accidentally shot himself with a handgun Monday while attempting to holster the gun in his pants with his finger on the trigger.

This kid was shoving a loaded gun down his pants with his finger firmly on the trigger, but they still call it an "accident". Both "victims" are listed as hospitalized.

Here is an "accident" of a different flavor. A Colorado Springs police report tries to cover up an officer's incompetence in the loss of a loaded AR-15 rifle.

It appears the trunk lid came open and the rifle slipped out of the trunk while the vehicle was moving.

So now the car is getting in on the act too. Not only did the rifle just jump out of the trunk, but now they are blaming the car for opening the trunk by itself. That is far more plausible than the officer having been negligent in securing his vehicle, isn't it?

In reality, most gun "accidents" aren't accidents at all. Modern firearms don't just go off, and cars don't just open their trunks. Most firearms produced today will not discharge, even if cocked and then thrown down on the floor hammer first. (Even so, I wouldn't try that at home, or anywhere else.)

Each of these incidents represents an underlying willingness of people to personify inanimate objects, just to keep from placing the blame on where it belongs; on a person's negligence.

The AJC offers up an article about this candidate for mother of the year. Thirty-six year old, Sherrie Leigh Thayer was with her 10 year old daughter when she was busted for allegedly shoplifting $60 worth of groceries from a local Publix.

"She jumped in her car and the little girl tried getting in but before she got in she skidded off and she ran over her little daughter," witness Derrick Sheifer told WSB-TV. [...]

According to the arrest warrant, Thayer tried to flee on foot without checking on her injured daughter.

The article had noted that the fifth grader was in good condition at a local hospital, but now they simply say she's being treated for injury to her liver and "other internal injuries".

Mom was apparently also under the influence, because DUI was one of the many charges filed against her. She was caught when witnesses blocked her van from escaping, and held her until police arrived.

(Incidentally, this happened at the Publix on the corner of Shallowford and Sandy Plains in Cobb County. It is about one mile from where I used to live, and I used to shop in that Publix weekly.)

This is not a new idea. The Atlanta joUrinal Constipation notes that area South Trust banks are asking robbers (and customers alike) to please remove their sunglasses and hats, so that the camera can get a good photo of them. We first reported this type of outrageous request back in July of 2002, when the Ames (Iowa) Police Department made a similar request for all banks in Ames.

At the time, I noted that banks should also require robbers to check their sawed off shotguns at the door while they're at it. In fact, why not just post a sign saying "No Armed Robbery Allowed." It would be just as effective.

Well, apparently I was wrong. Similar rules have actually been cutting down on robberies in Massachusetts. But if crooks read the AJC, they may just figure out the loophole needed to bypass the new regulations.

SouthTrust branch managers do have some leeway in enforcement.

Customers wearing certain types of cultural or religious dress -- a Catholic nun, an Orthodox Jew, a Sikh in a turban or a burqa-clad Muslim woman, for example -- won't necessarily be asked to remove their head coverings.

Now that the cat's out of the bag, how long before crooks figure this out? Once one or two of these banks is knocked off by a clever thief in disguise, I'm sure the "No Jews, Catholics, or Muslims allowed" signs will start cropping up.

Related articles:
Banks ask robbers to smile for camera - 09/30/2002
Great Moments in Law Enforcement - 07/23/2002

Wouldn't you love to have one of these to discourage road rage during your morning commute. The Cobra - Viper has a non-threatening appearance, but with the touch of a button, you can deploy a large caliber attitude adjuster.

(Photo courtesy of Ibis Tek)

The roof rolls back, and this puppy is ready for action in about 10 seconds. It's also heavily armored. They start at around $500,000, but night vision and the 40mm grenade launcher are extra.

I've seen several writers provide a glossary for their commonly used terminology. Rather than rely on footnotes, like I have been doing, I've decided to steal their idea and create a glossary of my own.

I'll be adding more to it as I go, but these are some of the basic terms I use in my writing, with which you may not be entirely familiar.

Waldo (Florida) police are up in arms over a few billboards. The New York Post notes that police in the Florida town, which uses speed traps as a major source of income, are upset about billboards put up by AAA, warning motorists.

The American Automobile Association, has kept an eye on small Florida towns for years. Many of them were notorious for generating greater than 95% of their annual income from traffic tickets issued to out of state drivers. Now AAA is fighting back. (emphasis mine)

A Florida town known as a speed trap has met its match - the AAA has put two billboards at the borders to warn motorists to slow down.

And that's got Waldo cops - who wrote 8,347 tickets over four months - up in arms, since fines are a major source of income for the community.

A seething Police Chief A.W. Smith said, "AAA needs to stay with towing and trips."

You would think that police would welcome a sign advising motorists to obey the law while passing through their town. Instead, they view it as an inconvenience, which only serves to bolster the Association's point.

Apparently the police are more concerned with generating revenue than they are with reducing crime and enhancing public safety.

Some people think that the VRWC is lying about the liberal slant at our nation's universities. Well, check out the degree that one California college is offering.

San Francisco's New College of California is offering something for the socially conscious this fall that they'd never get marching in the streets:

a college degree in activism.

I wonder just how far someone might go with a college degree in activism. How much would a job in activism pay? I wonder if activists like Jesse Jackson will start looking for it on prospective candidate's resumes.

Here are some more musings I've had that don't quite merit full blog entries.

• I've heard several media sources report that the California recall is all the work of the VRWC, and that only one Democrat candidate is running, simply to offer California voters a fair choice. USAToday seemed to break ranks with the VLMC, when they reported that actually more democrats are running than republicans.
• Speaking of the recall, Davis' backtracking on the 300% car tax hike is a sign of desperation, and a lose-lose scenario. Either he was raising taxes without good cause and will cut spending, or he's playing a shell game and trying to minimize the political fall out by taxing a minority (ie: "the rich") of voters. Since he's already admitted he'll look for the "income" elsewhere, the latter is obviously true.
• Has it been said just who is picking up the tab for the Texas lawmakers who fled to Oklahoma? Why do I have the feeling they are using their taxpayer paid expense accounts, and the media is giving them a pass. A google search turned up very little information.
• Today is the day that North Carolina officially recognizes Virginia's Concealed Handgun Permit. They have changed their reciprocity web site to reflect the welcome change in their law.
• Note to GFWs: It says a lot when even the highly biased BATFags think you're propaganda is misleading.

Is your dog telling you that Arnold will win the California election? Are baloonists trying to kill your ostriches? Are your razors secretly taking pictures of you?

Well, if you just picked up a package of disposable razors, and would swear that someone is watching you, perhaps you aren't too far off. Apparently the Gillette corporation has been using those RFID chips in their products to snap photos of their customers.

Whenever a shopper picks up a packet of razor blades from a spy shelf, SNAP! A hidden camera secretly takes a closeup photo of the shopper's face. (And a second photo is snapped at the cash register!)

Gillette's spy shelves have been uncovered in England and we suspect they have been tested at various locations around the United States and other countries.

While it cannot be said how often this has happened in the U.S., Gillette apparently has not denied the allegations.

That they would even consider such a move is absurd. Americans are quite litigious, and snapping a photo of the wrong person, especially a minor child, might land them in court.

Carnival 47 is finally up and running over at Right We Are. Leave it to a chick to be fashionably late.

Kate is enjoying being part of the in-crowd. I'll be standing outside, behind the velvet rope.

"Martin Luther King would have done the same thing." -- Ron Walters, director of the African American Leadership Institute at the University of Maryland, suggesting that Dr. King would perform corporate shakedowns and take protection money the same way that Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow/PUSH coalition does.

I find the notion offensive.

The AP reports that Big Brother has Biloxi public schools in his clutches.

Students in Biloxi public schools started classes this week under the watchful eye of Webcams that will keep track of every classroom and hallway.

School and security officials said they believed Biloxi is one of the first districts in the nation to install cameras in every classroom.

I find the acceptance of the authoritarian's watchful eyes disturbing. This is a tremendous invasion of privacy, and I would never let a child of mine attend a school filled with cameras.

The presence of cameras all over Britain hasn't stopped their crime problem, and it probably will have little impact on children's behavior. (Although it may make meting out punishment easier.)

Still, you have to ask, do you really want your child attending a school that has gotten so bad they had to resort to this sort of thing? It sounds like another reason to push for school vouchers.

Harold Thomas Weed, 21, was on parole for two aggravated assault convictions notes the AP. Now, he's pushing up daisies, after kicking in the door to The Foxhole club in South Carolina. According to reports, a club owner shot Weed once in the face, after he attempted to rob the place as they were closing up for the night. The club had been robbed three times in the last year.

The AP reports that some GFWs don't even want their police officers to have guns.

When this town's seven police officers go on patrol, they never reach for their guns. That's because Hooper Bay [Alaska] is the only known municipality in the United States whose police officers are forbidden to carry firearms.

Town leaders say they fear guns will just make the village more dangerous, even in the hands of cops.

How can the village be any more dangerous than it is right now? If a nut ball dropped into the middle of town and started shooting up the place, even the police would have to resort to begging the criminals for mercy.

Of course, this isn't a new idea. The U.K. has been doing it for years, and a PSU editorial from last summer expressed concern that policemen were being allowed to carry firearms when they were off duty.

Related articles:

Stop, or I'll say 'stop' again! - 01/24/2003
Cops shouldn't have guns either - 07/29/2002

The Sports Illustrated Big East Football Preview came out Monday, and VT was picked to be tied for first place. They show us as having a loss in the division, so I presume they mean we'll lose to Miami. Of course, Pitt and Syracuse seem to have the Hokie's number as of late. Syracuse and Miami have to play in Blacksburg, but Pitt gets home field advantage in November. All three games should be tough, and there is still the matter of Texas A&M. (and West Virginia, Virginia, and BC for that matter...)

Regardless of what happens, with Bryan Randall and Marcus Vick (of Michael Vick lineage) under center, it should prove to be an exciting season. SI also notes that sprinter DeAngelo Hall will try his hands at receiver this year. With Hall clocked at 4.14 in the 40, Randall/Vick should have a nice open target to aim at.

As for me, I'm graduating from arm-chair quarterback. With my sister's recent relocation to the Left Coast, I'll be sure to put her unused season tickets to good use. Look for me near the 40 yard line.

I posted this entry just a few hours after Arnold's surprise announcement was made. (It went up about 10 hours before the actual timestamp of the post) Even so, this blogger doesn't seem to want to cut me any slack.

Firestone makes a tire. Ford puts in on a car. A woman buys that car, and drives it around for three years. One day she gets a flat, and hitches a ride from a stranger while fixing it. She is tragically murdered by this predator, and guess who gets the blame?

The woman's parents, Susan and Dale Stahlecker of Fremont, claimed in the suit that a Firestone Wilderness AT tire on their daughter's 1997 Ford Explorer failed, setting off the chain of events that resulted in her death.

The lawsuit claimed Firestone was negligent in making the defective tire and Ford was negligent in putting it on one of its vehicles.

Although the claim was rejected by the Nebraska Supreme Court, it still stands as a good example for much needed tort reform or a loser pays legal system.

Remember this the next time you hear some GFW claim that there is nothing wrong with firearm's registration and permitting. In 1998, Taxachusetts started requiring citizens to purchase a state provided FID license before buying any sort of "weapon". This year, they've decided to increase the fee 400% from $25 to $100.

As with any licensing and registration scheme, comes their ability to deny you your basic rights. In the case of Massachusetts, the fee must also be paid to buy a measly can of mace or pepper spray. That means that any woman out there who wants to protect herself against muggers, rapists, or jealous ex-boyfriends has to pony up an extra $100, (if she can afford it) and jump through government hoops just to do so. It also means that whenever the government wants to rein in your right to keep and bear arms, all they have to do is jack up the fee a few hundred bucks more.

What really gets me steamed is that the anti-self defense bastards don't seem to care too much about the tremendous burden this puts on women who want a line of self defense. Check out the attitude of this female cop, who apparently thinks that women should not carry any self-defense items at all:

"You don't want [pepper spray] to get into the wrong hands," says [Salem Police Officer Nancy] O'Donnell, who heads a Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) class in Salem. "Whatever you carry can be taken away from you and used against you."

That's right ladies, you are just too damned incompetent to be trusted with pepper spray, or any type firearm. Anything you carry, your attacker will just take away from you and use against you. Better to try physical resistance against a man three times your size, and then just allow yourself to be raped after he beats your head in. [/cynicism]

This is all part of a larger conspiracy to disarm women, many of whom are already under the mistaken belief that handling a firearm requires some sort of special training or ability that no woman could possibly possess. The years of being told "he'll just take it away from you" have conditioned women to be, on average, afraid of guns, and to rely on a failing 911 emergency system. (It has been a few months, so I'll repost this link to the Independent Women's Forum article on disarming women. It should be required reading for all women.)

Some times I simply cannot believe how unresponsive government leaders can be to the freedoms of their law abiding constituents. The next thing you know, they'll be cutting funding to rape crisis centers, forcing them to close. Oh wait, they're doing that too. Last month the commonwealth slashed funding to the centers 75%.

How long before the anti-Bush crowd picks up this story and starts calling it retaliation for opposing the Administration? No matter what the motive is, the government is merely enforcing the law by fining those that illegally violated sanctions against Iraq.

Of course, fines like this are not as rare as it would seem. Years ago I read that the government was cracking down on unauthorized trips to Cuba. U.S. citizens that violated the law and traveled the Cuba faced fines when they re-entered the U.S., if they were foolish enough to have their passport stamped. Even if they flew from another country, like Canada or the U.K., they were breaking the law. Customs agents starting taking note of it. They weren't fined on the spot, but instead received letters in the mail, similar to the ones being sent out for those that violated the Iraq embargo.

The sanctions and the process seem very similar to what was in place for Iraq. Our current embargo against Cuba makes it illegal for Americans to travel to Cuba. Even on sanctioned trips, there are strict limits on what you can spend money on, how much you can spend, and the value of goods you can bring back to the U.S.

It has been 8 weeks already. If you are on the same blood donation schedule that I am, that means you gave a pint yesterday as well. The Red Cross guy talked to me about donating platelets, which is something I've never done. It takes a few hours, so some weekend, I may go in and let them hook me up to the machine just to see what it's like.

The Sierra Times notes that the SCOTUS has not been as quiet on the Second Amendment as people tend to believe. Despite the much touted non-ruling in the Miller case of 1939 by anti-freedom groups like the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence Ownership, the SCOTUS has, in fact, ruled that citizen have a right to defend themselves with firearms.

Armed self defense with personally owned firearms is recognized and supported in more than a dozen cases, is a distinct right of American citizens, and an ancient "duty to retreat" is not obligatory.

The findings are the result of a six year study of Supreme Court cases that involve firearms, that is due to be released in September.

I've had some musings over the past several weeks that just don't seem to merit full weblog entries. So, I figured I'd list them here:

• With all of the talk about banning SUVs and placing strict restrictions on them, I have to ask why school buses are getting a pass? The big yellow monstrosities are slow, polluting, and unsafe. Most don't even have seat belts.
• With smoking still being constantly driven toward extinction, you have to wonder why drinking is not being attacked as well. While I would never advocate an alcohol temperance movement, I will note that drinking carries with it alcoholism, obesity, and drinking and driving deaths, none of which are serious concerns with tobacco. And how many smokers have gone on a binge and ended up beating their wife?
• There is a lot of hubbub surrounding Arnold Schwarzenegger running for California Governor. A few, but not many, are wondering if he's not just another RINO, and will do for California what Bloomberg has done for New York City.
• While there are always the occasional Hollywood halfwits mouthing off, I haven't heard from many lately. Are they actually keeping their mouth shut after receiving backlash over Gulf War II, or is the media just ignoring them more? (Methinks the former.

The Media Research Center notes that NBC has foolishly bought into the global warming fraud, and is blaming all the hot weather on the unproven phenomenon.

NBC's Patricia Sabga . . . warned that "scientists attribute the extreme temperatures to what's been described as a dome of hot air hovering over Europe, a summer weather pattern that may become the norm." Sean Seabrook, identified on screen as a "meteorologist," then asserted: "Scientists appreciate now that global warming is taking place and I think these occurrences of heat waves will become more frequent, so this may be a sign of things to come."

Suddenly the weather man is an expert on global warming, and every instance of high temperatures can be blamed on all of the SUV owners out there. Hot weather? In August? Go figure.

I've always known that model's photos are often airbrushed to remove blemishes and unsightly marks. However, I've never before seen such startling before and after pics as these. (safe for work)

Not content with repealing the Second Amendment, gun grabbers are now lashing out at the First Amendment, in what they call a "newspaper loophole". CNS News reports that anti-gun ownership groups are now pressuring newspapers to deny classified advertisements to gun owners.

"The issue is not guns, but the way guns are sold," claimed John Johnson, coordinator of the so-called National Campaign to Close the Newspaper Loophole, in a press release Wednesday. "In an age of increasing concern for public safety, we find it difficult to defend a newspaper's part in the private sale of firearms by unlicensed sellers without a criminal background check of the would-be buyer."

What a shame that pesky First Amendment some times gets in the way of stifling freedom. Opponents of this foolish cause point out that nobody is concerned about advertisements of used cars, tools, and machinery; any of which could be used to commit a crime. Personally, I'm not going to lose too much sleep just yet about these GFWs.

Pressuring newspapers to drop gun ads has to be the biggest waste of time I've ever heard of. A law banning classified advertisements of guns would directly violate the First Amendment, so the most these freedom grabbers can really do is to use their freedom of choice to pressure newspapers to voluntarily refuse business from gun sellers. While liberal rags like the Chicago Tribune have heeded the call, which is their right, others will not. Specifically, "Trading Post" style newspapers that specialize in classified advertising, as well as internet advertising sites, will not only ignore the whines from these GFWs*, but they will thrive from the increased business that less competition will provide. The end result is that private gun owners will still have plenty of open channels to use to advertise their firearms, and this anti-freedom group will have wasted their time and money on a futile quest to end classified advertising of firearms.

The AP reports that a service being unveiled in the UK will enable subscribers to track people by their mobile phone signals. The service promises to be accurate to within 50 yards, and is being marketed toward concerned parents.

But how long before your boss, your teacher, or the government is using the service to track people's whereabouts. If you call in sick, your boss better not catch you hanging out in the upper deck of Turner Field.

Of course, with GPS services being added to cell phones so that enhanced 911 can find people in distress, the accuracy is only going to improve.

The AP reports that NASA has sent another $800 Million hunk of space junk to Mars. The Mars rover is already malfunctioning, less than two months after blast off. NASA has 5 months before the two rovers reach Mars to try to fix the problem.

Of course, $800 Million is pocket change to NASA. This same time last year, they lost a $159 Million space probe that they called "low cost." And, given that only 10 of 30 Mars missions have reached their objectives, the total amount of money wasted is likely well into the Billions. One of their most notable Mars blunders, was the newtons vs. pounds fiasco that caused the Mars lander to plummet catastrophically to the surface of the red planet.

So, who wants to ride on the first manned mission? I can think of several people I'd like to nominate.

"We're supposed to evolve from frontier justice. You have to be a citizen of the world. ... These are difficult waters to negotiate, and you have to be a pretty evolved person to be able to do it. I think that [the Old West mythology] is a good thing to have in your spine. But it shouldn't operate your brain. It's nice to know that you're willing to fight. But it's good to know how smart you are about not fighting." -- B-movie actor Kevin Costner, known for such Hollywood hits as Sizzle Beach, USA, and Waterworld.

Who the hell cares what this man of a thousand boring baseball movies thinks? I guess Costner's roles in Wyatt Earp and JFK (each a mind numbing four or five hours long) all of a sudden qualify him to be an expert on Old West Mythology and international diplomacy.

Fox News reports that the California Lt. Governor has broken Democrat ranks and entered the race. Given all the hubub around Arnold, I don't see Davis retaining his throne if it comes up for a vote. While I realize that Davis will do anything to keep his crown, I don't think he'll risk letting the GOP take over. Davis will resign. It may be an eleventh hour withdrawal, that spurs controversy and requires the State Supreme Court to creatively "interpret" the law (Frank Lautenberg, anyone?), but I still think he'll resign. That is, unless he starts winning the baseless legal challenges that are already in the hopper.

One of the perks of being a celebrity is that everyone wants them to use their products. Celebrities are constantly bombarded with offers for free tennis shoes, free clothes, free sunglasses, and just about anything else you can imagine. Each year, movie and TV stars are offered elaborate gowns to wear at the various awards shows, free of charge. At the annual Academy Awards presentation, product marketeers fight for the chance to include one of their flagship products in the elaborate gift baskets that Oscar nominees receive. With all this attention, it doesn't take a Mensa candidate to figure out why, either. Even some of the dim-witted high school dropouts that live in Hollywood can figure out just why they are being lavished with such attention. It has just a little something to do with selling merchandise.

As the AP notes however, when it comes to handing out free cigarettes, the pleasure police call it "immoral" and "deceptive". Gwendolyn Young, a board member of the American Lung Association of California apparently thinks celebrities are too damned stupid to realize they are being tricked. Young claims, "What it really shows is the tobacco industry is continuing to use these deceptive strategies to lure people of all ages into a deadly addiction."

Isn't it ironic, that celebrities who are widely known for binge drinking, and gorging themselves on narcotics and illegal prescription painkillers, are some how being put in grave danger because of free cigarettes.

While California Governor Gray Davis goes on a Scavenger Hunt for a way to stay in office, and minimize the Collateral Damage of an out of control budget deficit, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger has decided to become a Running Man.

It may be the End of Days for Davis, if on The Sixth Day plus one of October, the election is allowed to proceed. While the record budget surplus is a major factor in the Total Recall, for many voters it has more to do with the True Lies surrounding the size of the overall deficit. Davis was accused of using a big Eraser on the financial ledgers and coming up with some fuzzy math.

With the plethora of candidates Pumping Iron, and lining up to replace him, will it be Judgement Day for Gray Davis? Will the recall be The Terminator of his political career? Opponents of the recall have acused Schwarzengger and Republicans like Darrell Issa of being a Predator of democracy. Although they aren't Twins on the political spectrum, the Dynamic Duo will no doubt take a lot of blame from Californians who are loyal to Davis.

Supporters think Davis is getting a Raw Deal, in having to face the Red Heat of the voters for the second time in as many years. To them, a GOP takeover is like a Rise of the Machines. Arnold is seen as Conan the Barbarian, coming "back" to be The Destroyer of democracy.

Regardless of what happens, it's Jingle all the Way to the bank for Gray Davis. He's no Junior fund raiser, and campaigning is what he does best. Davis has put on his Commando gear and will Stay Hungry to prove that he's no Kindergarten Cop. He's ready to be the Last Action Hero of California Democrats. Who knows, if that doesn't work, he could always play Hercules in New York to Hillary's Red Sonja.

--= Sorry for all the puns, but somebody had to do it =--

CNN reports that U.S. raids have turned up "a number" of weapons and ammunition. Am I the only one that thinks this "number" is a bit on the small side?

The article cites a raid on one house that contained "two AK-47s, 11 bayonets, more than 550 rounds of ammunition, two protective masks, 31 protective mask canisters, three swords, two axes and documents." Uh oh. Better look out for those documents, canisters and bayonets. Another raid turned up "500 ammunition rounds, 10 loaded AK-47 magazines and one rocket-propelled grenade".

While you could argue that the RPG is some pretty serious hardware, a few hundred rounds and 10 loaded mags are inconsequential. If I sent out my soldiers, and they came back with a measley RPG, two rifles, and a trunk full of crap I'd be more than slightly disappointed.

Ananova reports that a British man learned the hard way not to shoot a policeman with a water gun.

A man is set to face magistrates after an incident in which a passing policeman was hit in the face by a stream of water from a high-powered novelty water gun. [...]

Road worker Gary Parker, 26, maintains that if he hit the officer it was accidental and has claimed the policeman was "out of order" by using CS spray to arrest him.

That sucks getting sprayed by pepper sprayl, but had this guy done this in say, Chicago, he would probably have been dragged into an alley and pistol whipped.

Did the officer over-react? Maybe. Perhaps a normal person would just laugh it off, but that doesn't excuse the fact that this guy was spraying a water gun around without looking where he was aiming.

The Hill makes the astounding prediction that Bloggers won't match Limbaugh Well, who the hell ever claimed that they would? After all, Rush is still considered to be in a class of his own in Radio. Comparing him to the fledgling world of blogging is asinine. Even then, the Hill completely misses the reasons for the inevitable. They list four main hurdles that bloggers must overcome.

First, they list Rush's show prep as a huge asset. They are right, but any blogger could easily scour the internet for news and information. Having the discipline to read through them all is something else that anyone could train themselves to do.

They also make a claim about Rush's persuasiveness. The Hill claims that bloggers spend too much time mimicking each other, and not enough time coming up with original ideas. "Because some bloggers, even prominent ones, spend so much time writing throughout the entire day, they don't research their own ideas well enough to be persuasive."

Persuasiveness is about more than preparedness and research. It helps to be grounded in truth and fact. The Hill is on the right track, but the still miss the boat with this one.

Second, they note Limbaugh's production technique. Rush's experience as a disc jockey taught him that entertainment value is king. Then they go off on a tangent, and blast all bloggers for some people's poor web design. "By comparison, most bloggers seem oblivious to the production details that might polish their communication efforts. Few seem to care about the principles of effective Web design. Some even seem to consider the primitive style of their blogs a badge of honor."

They are on the right track with entertainment value but they go on a wild goose chase with the presentation. Many weblogs are brilliantly presented and have professional designs. Blaming everyone for the poor designs of a few would be akin to blaming Rush for Opie and Anthony's solicitation of a couple to have sex in a Catholic church.

Third, they harp on entertainment value again. Sure, entertainment is hugely important, but to say that all bloggers are boring is yet another baseless generalization. Limbaugh can be very witty, but then so can plenty of bloggers out there.

Fourth, they claim that the bonds that Limbaugh builds with his audience are somehow unique. "He provides enough details about his personal life that loyal listeners know something about his parents, brother, wife, their cats, his golf game, his diet, his hearing problems, etc." Like bloggers never do that?? This one is completely bogus. Sure it works for Rush, but that is not the reason bloggers will never be as successful.

All of these points about Rush are completely valid. Of course, they have nothing to do with their claim that bloggers will never be as successful as Rush. First of all, the idea that bloggers won't be as successful is a little silly. Being that Rush runs his own web site with political commentary, Rush could actually be considered a blogger. Neal Boortz, who also makes his bread and butter from radio could also be considered a blogger.

If I were to make the case however, I would say that the biggest handicap for bloggers, is the competition. There are literally hundreds of thousands of blogs, whereas in even the largest markets, there are only a handful of talk radio shows. Talk radio also has it's practical limitations. In the spectrum of public radio waves, there never could be hundreds of thousands of talk radio shows. Even with the advent of subscription based satellite radio, which is comparable to digital cable or satellite, there would probably only ever be a few hundred talk radio programs in any given market.

Not only does Rush face much less direct competition, but he rose to prominence when talk radio was effectively a dead medium. It wouldn't be that much of a stretch to claim that Rush revitalized AM radio. Rush is, and always will be, the Godfather of talk radio. He pioneered the business.

Who pioneered blogging? Nobody really has. Sure, you have people like Taranto and Glenn Reynolds, but outside of the blogging community, they are still largely unknown. Even people that don't listen to Rush, recognize his voice, and know who he is. Ask someone on the street who Andrew Sullivan is, and you'll probably get a blank stare.

To put it in the simplest of terms, Rush started out as just about the only fish in a tiny pond, and has grown into a huge fish in a relatively small pond. Bloggers however, are much smaller fish in a much, much bigger pond.

The second biggest handicap for bloggers is probably the medium itself. Humans like to have stuff fed to them, like on TV and radio. For that reason, the internet as we know it will probably never be quite as big as radio or TV. Not discounting future developments, humans would still rather have radio or TV on even as a background noise, than spend time reading through pages of text and pictures.

A third reason is the profit model. Internet advertising just doesn't pay like it used to, and until it does, radio and TV will continue to be bigger cash cows. Naturally, competition comes into play here as well. With few exceptions, usually it is radio and TV that bring people to the web, not the other way around.

But then again, what do I know? I'm just a blogger.

Ben Shapiro offers up a Quiz to save California. You might be surprised at some of the answers.

I'll admit that I got none of them right, and I'm proud of it.

Carnival 46 is up and running over at Across the Atlantic. I missed this one, but it really isn't my fault. I didn't get an email to submit an entry, and I looked all over for where it was going to be held but couldn't find it. (Curiously, I was on the distribution list when they sent out the link after it had been published. Funny how that works.)

I'm sure that it was all an English plot to keep a gun nut like me from joining in their reindeer games.

Fox News notes that the Student Government Association at the University of Central Florida recently spent $7,000 to send students to a pro-marijuana conference in California. They also spent $10,000 to buy high-definition plasma televisions, and $140,000 on tickets to Disney World. However when it comes to shelling out $3,140 to buy American flags for the campus classrooms, it's no sale.

They say international students, among others, might be intimidated by the sight of an American flag in a college classroom. [...]

ROCK [Rebuilding on a Conservative Kornerstone] provided to Fox News e-mails from other student groups who stated, among other things, that the U.S. flag symbolizes violence and fascism.

Ahh, nothing says liberalism like the veiled nazi accusation.

If you have ever lived in Virginia, you probably know what a headache car registration can be. In addition to normal DMV hoops that you have to jump through, Virginia makes you pass a state inspection, before you can put your vehicle on public roads. In theory, the state inspection is a good idea. After all, not allowing people to drive around with no brakes, one bad headlight, and only one working brake light is beneficial to us all, right? Unfortunately, as with most government regulations, the end result is hardly what was intended.

Each year, residents must take their car to a state inspection station to have it inspected. The inspector usually checks all the signals and lights, the brakes, the shocks, and various other parts of the car. If you pass, you get a sticker to put in your window that is good for one year. If you fail, you also get a sticker for your window, but it says REJECTION. Once your car has been branded as a reject, you have 10 days to make the proper repairs and get it re-inspected. The whole process costs $10 $15, which is the limit under state law.

At the core of the problem is how Virginia implements this inspection process. Instead of Virginia inspectors being agents of the commonwealth, they are auto mechanics who are certified to inspect vehicles. This of course creates a huge conflict of interest, whereby auto mechanics have a vested interest in your failing the inspection. Instead of losing money by tying up a mechanic for a measly $10 $15, the auto shop stands to earn hundreds or even thousands of dollars on cars that need to have work done. To put it plainly, the state is basically forcing you to take your car to a mechanic and ask him to poke around and see if he can find any work that needs to be done. Who, in their right mind, would do that if the state didn't make them?

Of course, some inspection stations are completely honest. However, there are enough dishonest ones out there to ruin it for everyone. I recall one encounter I had with an inspector back in 1995. My car was only two years old, so I expected it to pass. Rather than slap my $10 $15 sticker on the window, however, the mechanic handed me an estimate for over $500 worth of work that needed to be done. He claimed that my tires needed to be replaced, that I had "moisture" in my headlight caused by a tiny hole (which would require the whole assembly to be replaced), and that I had an unknown electrical problem that kept the hazard lights from working properly.

Rather than give the bastard the satisfaction, I took the car down the road to another mechanic, to get a second opinion. The mechanic there could find no electrical problem, and both sets of hazard lights seemed to work just fine. I did need new tires, which he sold me for $150, and he told me how to fix the headlight myself with a hairdryer and a dab of caulk.

Recently, a friend of mine has had her own horror story with a mechanic. She took her aged 1989 Honda in for it's annual inspection, and had it come back rejected. From as far as I can tell, they gave her a four figure estimate. Rather than pump thousands of dollars into a 14 year old car that drives just fine, she has been risking a ticket by driving around on the rejection sticker for several weeks. The last I heard, she will probably end up having to buy a new car.

Of course, while the annual inspections go a long way to pad the pockets of dishonest mechanics, they do very little to actually keep unsafe cars off the road. Whenever you're out on the road in Virginia, there are still plenty of folks driving around with bad brakes, mispointed headlights, and no burned out tail lights. Yet another case of good intentions ending up being a huge nightmare for everyone.

We had these volunteer sober drivers in Atlanta, when I lived down there. I never bothered to try one though, because I figured they tried to talk you into switching Gods or something.

Silflay Hraka points out that our friends the French are stealing the Carnival of the Vanities. Naturally, although an American idea is good enough, no Americans are actually permitted to join the French fake.

NOOOOO!!!!!!

Boys and girls, contrary to what anti-smokers want you to believe, smoking really does make you look cool. If I hadn't been toking on a big ol' stogie at the concert, I never would have met this hot babe.

You see, anti-smoke nazis and members of the pleasure police were all nerds and dorks in high school. They were the goodie-goodies, who ratted people out for making spit balls. They were too afraid to get caught by the Vice Principal to risk looking cool. Their revenge on the popular kids is to try to stigmatize you into thinking smoking is way uncool, and that conforming to their rules will make you popular. Yeah right.

Oh yeah I almost forgot, smoking also makes you look older and more mature. So, please, feel free to light up. After all, it's your life, so enjoy it while you can.

Yesterday I noted that Canada should ban knives, forks, rubber bands, paper clips, and baseball bats. Perhaps I should have added a few things to the list.

Sure, you can ban them, register them, and make them idiot proof, but nature will adapt and overcome. In Germany, Reuters notes that they have built a better idiot.

BERLIN (Reuters) - German police have arrested a man for firing potatoes at passers-by with a home-made bazooka, authorities in the western city of Essen said on Friday. [...]

Police said the weapon consisted of about five feet of drainpipe attached to an aerosol can which the man ignited to propel the root vegetables toward their targets.

Considering just about anything can be used as a weapon, banning them never works.

For the computer nerd who has everything, you might want to get him some Digital Data Porn. (Definitely safe for work)

The site is guaranteed to satisfy your cravings for vintage computer products.

The LA Times is talking about Whoopi Goldberg's new show. It has been said to be the edgiest show since "All in the Family".

"Whoopi," featuring a relationship in which her brother is dating a white woman, takes a swipe at everything from fears about terrorism, Arab American stereotypes, kids who talk in exaggerated street slang to mispronunciations by President Bush.

With all that going on, guess who is getting their panties in a bind? The anti-smokers. That's right, Whoopi has the audacity to (gasp!) smoke a cigarette on her own show.

Pleasure police are up in arms, at this blatant slap in the face to their temperance movement. Of course not only will she be smoking on prime time television, but she's completely un-apologetic about it. Pleasure police groups like the American Lung Association successfully pressured CBS's Becker, starring Whoopi's old love interest Ted Danson, to go smoke free. Now they are pushing for NBC to move Whoopi's show to a later time slot, even though they haven't even seen it yet. Meanwhile the show's producers are already bending over backwards to try to convince them that she doesn't portray smoking in a positive light.

We'll see how long her smoking lasts on the show.

One one side of the story, we have a dimwitted, drunk, abusive husband who decided to destroy his wife's car. The problem is that he picked the wrong car, and proceeded to ram her neighbor's car upwards of 30 times.

On the other side of the story, we have the wife. Despite having a restraining order against her estranged husband, he still managed to destroy her neighbor's car. It may sound like just another ho-hum dumb criminal run amok story, but I think it illustrates just how futile restraining orders are. Had this jerk, in his drunken rampage, decided to attack his wife, there isn't much her restraining order could have done about it. A gun, however, would level the playing field quite nicely.

California Gov. Gray Davis, asked the State Supreme Court to delay his recall election to 2006, the year of the next regular gubernatorial California election. The Davis camp is also suing for Davis' name to be added to the list of candidates on the 2006 ballot. Davis contends that being left off the ballot by some silly term limits law, California voters that want to keep Davis for a few more terms are unjustly disenfranchised.

UPDATE: Scrappleface takes a similar direction: "[Davis] asks the court to issue an injunction delaying the recall until November 2006."

I've always been pretty sure that a lot of GFWs out there exhibit an irrational fear of guns. I know several women who plainly admit to being afraid of the inanimate devices. When she expressed fear for her life from one of her acquaintances, I recommended to one woman I know that she purchase a gun and learn how to use it. At best I would describe her response as cold and irrational fear. No gun, no way, no how. However, I've never really met a guy that exhibited that same fear. Hell, I really only know one guy that has gone on the record as being anti-gun. (I know there are plenty out there, I just don't really now any.)

Well, Julia Gorin must know a few, because she takes a scathing look inside the mind of the anti-gun male, whom she deems as cowardly.

He often accuses men with guns of "compensating for something." The truth is quite the reverse. After all, how is he supposed to feel knowing there are men out there who aren't intimidated by the big bad inanimate villain? How is he to feel in the face of adolescent boys who have used the family gun effectively in defending the family from an armed intruder? So if he can't touch a gun, he doesn't want other men to be able to either. And to achieve his ends, he'll use the only weapon he knows how to manipulate: the law.

She goes on to suggest that many GFW men are suffering from some sort of "psycho-sexual inadequacy". That is, the man feels like less of a man because of his fear of guns. Rather than admit that fear, his solution is to take guns away from everyone else, thus leveling the playing field. But if you think that sounds brutal, check out her money quote:

In short, he is a man begging for subjugation. He longs for its promise of equality in helplessness. Because only when that strange, independent alpha breed of male is helpless along with him will he feel adequate. Indeed, his freedom lies in this other man's containment.

So, I guess the next time some yokel tells me "I'm over compensating" because I own a gun, I'll shout back "'fraidy cat, 'fraidy cat, suffers from psycho-sexual inadequacy! Nyaaaah"

If I ever break the law and have to flee Virginia, I'm headed to New Mexico. The Governor there seems to welcome fugitives from other states, and even provides them with taxpayer funded privleges.

New Mexico Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron says that New Mexicans welcome the revenue brought by fugitives fleeing their own state. "They chose Albuquerque; they're spending money," she said. "This is an opportunity for a little bit of money to be exchanged in the state."

If they get rid of the death penalty, I'm sold.

An insurance company who sells long-term care insurance notes that their "study" shows that the average costs of nursing care are on the rise.

No problem. As long as seniors continue to vote regularly, the government can pay for their nursing home costs and tax us into the next century to pay for it.

Do you remember those Stanford and U.C. Berkeley professors who announced that their "study" shows that Bush and Reagan were akin to Hitler and Mossolini, and that all right wing political conservatives are basically crazy?

Well, guess who paid $1.2 million for it? If you said American taxpayers, give yourself a gold star.

They used the police power of the government to seize money from taxpayers like you and me, so that they could research the readings of Paul Krugman, and "conclude" that we're crazy. And the short of it is that if we let them get away with it, we are crazy.

Have you ever noticed that Democrats and many Republicans never seem to think that spending hurts the budget. In Virginia, Governor Mark Warner has been really been praising tax increases lately, which leads me to believe that he's going to try to raise my state taxes soon. Apparently, I cannot blame Warner, however.

CNN notes that Warner claims that President Bush is to blame for the state's fiscal troubles. Warner alleges that the Bush tax cut, (that we are only just now starting to get) wiped out the budget surplus that tax and spend democrats worked so hard to create.

Meanwhile, Warner has been a model governor, working double time to preserve the high rate of taxation for Virginian's. Even though the Virginia legislature voted to repeal the death tax back in March, Warner vetoed the bill. Warner wants to be first in line with his hand out when someone kicks the bucket. I can hear him saying it now, "Sorry for your loss, now give me that money!"

Owen Courreges notes that Warner's fuzzy math skills and attitude toward taxes come from his devout religious beliefs. When DC wanted to cut in on Warner's action with a commuter tax on us Virginians, Warner acted like a pimp protecting his bitches. Warner claimed that as Governor of Virginia, it was his job to seize Virginian's money, not DC's. "D.C. should have the right to raise taxes on its own citizens as much as it would like," Warner said. "That's a God-given American right. But the idea that somehow the District is going to go out and raise taxes on Virginia residents, that's not something I support."

So, there it is, right out of the bible. So, the next time some politician raises your taxes, remember, it's all George Bush's fault, and it's also his "God-given American right".

First they pass strict gun control and registration laws, now Canada is setting her sights on air and pellet guns, because a few lawless teens used them for a night of mischief. I guess it's much easier to regulate an industry than to make parents take responsibility for the actions of their children.

Next on Canada's register/ban/restrict list:

• Knives - Knives are really sharp and pointy, and have been known to make eating steak a lot easier. All knives should be banned.
• Sling shots - Kids just aren't learning their lesson from that episode of Andy Griffith show, where Opie kills the momma bird with is slingshot and has to raise the baby chicks himself. Slingshots should be banned.
• Rubber bands - In the hands of a mischievous 13 year old, rubber bands can leave quite a red mark. They should be restricted to persons over 21.
• Paper clips - Sure, the bendy wires may keep your papers organized, but they can easily be straightened out to make a lethal weapon. Ban on metal clips, strict registration scheme on the plastic colored ones.
• Baseball bats - Baseball bats lead to such monstrosities as the Expos and the Blue Jays. All baseball bats should be banned in Canada.
• Hockey sticks - There's nothing wrong with hockey sticks. -- Still, just to be on the safe side, only Canadians and Russians will be permitted access to them.
• Forks - Forks have not one, two, or three, but four pointy tynes. Also, the repeated use of forks has been known to lead to heart disease and obesity. The use of forks should be subject to stringent regulation.

In addition to banning and regulating current consumer products, Canada will continue to work closely with the Playskool division of Hasbro to develop new, safer products that will be much less of a potential threat to consumers.

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. As the hit counter rose, and the ratings increased, I lost my unofficial Most Underated Blog status.

"Once Davis exhausts all of his legal challenges, and realizes his fate, he'll resign." -- Ravenwood, July 24, 2003.

"We have to be careful not to get divided and allow them to take California through this fluke recall election. If (Sen.) Dianne Feinstein is talked into getting onto the ballot, I hope Gray Davis would step down." -- Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, August 2, 2003.

After last month's prediction that California Gov. Gray Davis will resign, I received some criticism. I also started to question whether or not I'd be eating crow, after Davis ramped up his re-re-election campaign and started fund raising.

As the deadline for filing approaches, however, Democrats united behind Davis are starting to waver. Now Rep. Maxine Waters seems more than a bit concerned that the Democrat's control of the Governorship will be left up to a general election.

She has given me the resolve to renew my prediction. I still think the Dems will have Davis resign so that they have more control over the process. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if Davis resigns at any time before the recall election, the Dems will simply be able to pick a successor rather than have the voters do it. That seems like a more favorable scenario for the Dems than leaving it up to the voter.

Site traffic decreased slightly in July, due to many factors, including a drastic decrease in the number of posts (because of my blog vacation), and of course the summer heat. Lope did a fabulous job of blogsitting, and his "Hunting for Bambi" post was ranked high in the search engines, and netted hundreds of unique hits (which actually increased to 7765 in July, from 6214 in June.

Here are some raw numbers according to Webalizer: 11606 visitors (12513 last month), 27383 page views (31117 last month), 393511 hits (448649 last month), and 3.36 GB (3.82 last month).

The Ravnwood.com page counter also went over 95,000 last month, with very little fanfare.

There were 120 posts in July, (the lowest level since July 2002) compared to 169 in June, 140 in May, 127 in April, 124 in March. The high is still 186 in November, 2002.

I'm slowly learning to laugh at this. Transparency Planet is a member of a Green web ring, and they list their mission as "Organizing Progressive resources to promote government and business transparency efforts worldwide".

Not only do they have me listed on the left as a "Progressive News Source", but I'm filed beneath the "Rainbow/PUSH Coalition." I share the list with organizations like Amnesty International, The Nation, Not in Our Name, PBS, and The Progressive.

That makes me wonder if the person that created this list ever actually read anything written here.

"I also think this type of behavior among politicians is probably more common than you think. Anyone remember the big congressional check bouncing scandal?" -- Ravenwood on Senator John Edwards overdue tax bill.

"Presidential adviser Karl Rove is late in paying his Washington, D.C., property taxes" -- Fox News

I never realized this before, but my old home town of Virginia Beach requires a person to apply for a permit request, and go through an approval process for the privilege to vote. Apparently you have to fill out a city request form and submit it to a city government agent. As with any government service, you have to pay a fee ($10) to have your request processed.

Surprisingly, you also have to give them a "reason" for your request. Assuming that all your ducks are in a row, (you don't have any felonies and have never been in trouble with the Virginia Beach Police), your request should be approved, and processed within a reasonable amount of time. Once you are approved by the government agent, (and your check clears) they will send you back a permit that allows you to vote in the next election.

The really galling part is that your permit is only good for the next election. You MUST go through this arduous process each and every time you want to vote. How can this be legal??

I would have thought this sort of treatment for merely exercising your Constitutional rights would be illegal, but apparently not. Wasn't there a court case about this decades ago??

Oops. My mistake. Virginia Beach only requires you to jump through all these hoops if you want to buy a gun, not to vote. It's an honest mistake.

News Max has this humorous observation:

Starwood, a major hotel chain that will not make top-rated Fox News Channel available to guests, has a record of individual campaign contributions heavily favoring Democrats. Starwood's hotels include Sheraton, Westin, St. Regis, Luxury Connection, Four Points and, ironically, W.

Of course, being the former road warrior that I am (used to travel 200+ days a year), I already knew that. I had given Starwood the benefit of the doubt, and figured they just didn't have an agreement in place to pick up Fox News. I never realized they were part of a Vast Left Wing Conspiracy.

This is pretty ugly class warfare. David Chandler creates a graph he calls the "L Curve" and calls it an "income distribution graph". He stacks up $100 bills to directly compare the income of someone making $10,000 a year to Bill Gates' "income" of $50 Billion. Of course, the result is a half inch stack of $100s for the minimum wage earner, and a 50km stack for Bill Gates.

In the footnotes of his "thesis", Chandler does admit that Bill Gates' $50 Billion "income" isn't exactly an annual salary. My guess is that he's been getting a lot of emails about his fuzzy math. I wonder if any of them addressed the fact that income isn't "distributed", it's "earned".

Sure, Bill Gates made billions of dollars and "won life's lottery" (as Dick Gephardt would put it). Gates also helped usher in at technical boon and prosperity for millions of other people. Of course, Chandler doesn't talk about that. To him, Gates is just another robber-baron who got to the pile of money before he did.

Curtis Greer, brought his pistol with him to an Oregon High School Board meeting, violating their "no guns" policy. As it turns out, however, it is the school board's policy that is violating the law, and not Greer. Mr. Greer is licensed to carry a concealed firearm in Oregon, which gives him the right to carry into a school. Oregon also has a preemption law which prevents localities from trying to supersede state law.

While the Register Guard (Eugene, OR) tries to stay balanced, they still end up bolstering the anti-gun position, and showing some anti-gun bias, of which they probably aren't even aware. Check out this passage:

School officials were clearly troubled by the potential scenarios of allowing permit-holders to bring their guns to schools, as was Yvonne Atteberry. Her son, Ryan, was wounded in Kip Kinkel's 1998 shooting rampage at Thurston High School.

What's this? Someone (a permit holder perhaps) was permitted to bring a gun into the school and they went on a shooting rampage? That is what I originally thought, until I did a little research. A simple Google search turned up that Kip Kinkel was a 15-year old student of the school, who murdered two people and wounded 22. So, not only was Kip not a permit holder, he wasn't even legally allowed to own a handgun.

According to this report, Kip used a rifle and two handguns to gun down his fellow students. This other report notes that Kip was arrested the day before his rampage for illegal possession of a handgun in his school locker. He broke numerous laws, and yet the shooting still took place.

That lesson was lost on school officials though.

"To me this is an issue of safety," said [school official Yvonne] Atteberry, who queried Greer about competency requirements for permit holders. "This has nothing to do with the right to bear arms. But a school zone needs to be safe. I don't know why anybody would have to bring a gun to school."

Safety? How did all the gun laws that Kip Kinkel violated keep the school safe? Perhaps had Greer been there on that day, he could have used his concealed pistol to stop this butthole murderer before he even had a chance to commit his evil deeds.

Speaking of butts, Deputy Superintendent Steve Barrett proves he's a gun fearing wussie wussy. When questioned on what to do about permit holders that carry in schools, Barrett declared "The reality is if I saw the butt of a gun, 100 times out of 100 that person is going to be visiting with a police officer very soon."

I'm sure the police would love that. They have enough real crimes to address without having to be called out to calm Barrett's frightened nerves. Of course, the whole point of a concealed firearm is that it remain concealed. I wonder how Barrett feels about the butts of all the guns he didn't see.

The laughable part is that the school board is going to meet again to decide just what they should do. They claim their major concern is that they have several 21 year old high school students running around that could conceivably have a permit. Something tells me their "solution" to the "problem" will focus on taking away gun rights, rather than trying to graduate students out of high school before they reach the age of 21. Of course, they could just continue to violate state law.

No, it isn't ironic that tax and spend democrat and presidential wannabe John Edwards cannot seem to pay his taxes in a timely manner. Yes, it is interesting that the North Carolina Senator, who wants big tax increases for the most productive Americans, owes $11,000 in back property taxes on his Georgetown mansion. However, I don't think this is at all relavent to his political position on taxes. I also think this type of behavior among politicians is probably more common than you think. Anyone remember the big congressional check bouncing scandal?

After reading the Washington Times article yesterday, I initially thought it was sweet irony. Then, after thinking about it for a while, I realized that the late tax bills really have little to do with his tax position. In fact, they are a complete red herring, because Edwards does indeed pay his taxes. He may take a few months to get around to it, but he's not evading his taxes at all.

It is however, a big sign of financial mismanagement. I would personally never let any of my bills lapse for four months. I realize that Edwards is a Senator, and has a lot of things to keep track of, but that doesn't excuse not taking care of your obligations. Edwards should probably hire a financial advisor, or set those bills up to automatically draft. After all, if he cannot even make sure his own bills are paid on time, what good is he going to be running our country? This, of course reminds me of an issue I took considerable heat for back in February.

I publically went on record with my position on pre-employment credit checks, and I was sufficiently flamed for it. Any of you that blasted me for saying a credit check has nothing to do with your ability to do your job, had better not be blaming Edwards for his little credit lapses. (Yes, I'm talking to you, you, and especially you.)

After all, his ability to run the country has nothing to do with his ability to run his life, right? Just because Edwards cannot manage to stick a check in an envelope on a timely basis, doesn't mean that he's incapable of running the free world, right? [/sarcasm]

Also, I love his lame ass excuse "I never got the bill." Like they've never heard that one before.