Some time ago I stopped getting emails from the Carnival. I don't think it's deliberate, but it's sure wreaking havoc with my win/loss record. Either I've dropped off the list, or other bloggers have good memories. I would have completely forgotten if I hadn't already seen the published link someplace else.

I used to miss Carnivals because I forgot or was too busy. Now they are wizzing by me so fast, I can only scratch my head and say, "Is it that time again?" I've been so busy lately, I barely have time to update this site as it is, much less try to remember the weekly Carnival.

Any way, enough griping. This weeks show is over at Dodgeblogium. Go, read, enjoy.

Taranto has this almost unbelievable zero tolerance horror story in today's Best of the Web:

Raylee Montgomery, a ninth-grader at Duncanville High School, near Dallas, was hit with a suspension "after an administrator noticed the 13-year-old girl's shirt had become untucked," the Associated Press reports. "The girl said she apologized, tucked in her shirt and asked if she could continue to class but was not allowed." Duncanville's "zero-tolerance dress code" has "led to 700 student suspensions since August," the AP notes.

So much for teaching kids to be tolerant and reasonable. And they wonder why so many parents prefer vouchers or home schooling to government schools.

"If I had to predict, the way things are going, I'd say the chances are about 50-50 that humanity will be extinct or nearly extinct within 50 years. Weapons of mass destruction, disease, I mean this global warming is scaring the living daylights out of me." -- Ted Turner, in an interview with the AJC.

So Ted sleeps next to a communist for 10 years, but its global warming that he's losing sleep over.

Trading cards used to come with gum.

Popcorn poppers were a home appliance.

Station wagons.

Telephones were all shaped the same, and were owned by ma' bell.

Reel to reel tape decks.

Yesteryear
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Fox News reports that the GOP is officially supporting the Governator. As a Libertarian, I'm not surprised. We're used to seeing Republicans sell their soul for the easy win. As a true conservative, I'd still back McClintock (not that I have a vote).

Besides, you've never heard of a John Wayne movie called Schwarzenegger.

Onlookers in Maine, who included many women and young children, were shocked to see police officers whip out a 12 gauge and send a bull moose straight up to heaven. I'm sure that stories like this one anger a lot of people, but for me, I was reminded of a story from my childhood.

My uncle came home one Christmas Eve and told my sister that he'd just seen Santa Claus. She was elated, until he said that he'd shot him. Of course she burst into tears at the thought of my uncle having shot Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. After seeing her tantrum, he took pity on her and told her he'd just winged him and was sure that ol' St. Nick would be alright. He must have been, because we still had Christmas the next morning.

(And people think I'm ornery.)

"I thought it was going to be like Dodge City, with people walking around with guns," said Mike Pangerl, dining over pizza at a packed suburban Minneapolis bar. "It hasn't been like that."

Whaddayaknow, concealed carry hasn't been the big fuck up that GFWs have been predicting. Of course, those of us that live in the 45 states that allow some sort of concealed carry already knew that.

The Washington Times reports that less than 3% of eligible DC workers were awarded a bonus by the bonus committee. Interestingly though, 50% of the bonus committee members received a bonus.

The bonuses were being distributed even as city officials renewed calls for more federal funding and congressional approval for a proposed tax on commuters.

Only the government is able to write their own paycheck, and then go out and seize taxpayer dollars with the threat of lethal force to pay the bill.

This is an account of one of the most unique soldiers of the 1860s, by James I Robertson, Jr.

It was the first month of the Civil War and a new regiment was training at the fairgrounds in West Chester, Pennsylvania. A civilian came into camp with a wicker basket and presented it to one of the officers. The captain reached inside and, with a smile, withdrew a pug-nosed, black female terrier scarcely four weeks old. When placed on the ground, the puppy toddled about on clumsy legs.

In the weeks that followed, the dog happily discovered that she had hundreds of uniformed friends. Each could be counted on to give her a pat or a morsel of food. The soldiers named her after one of the local beauties in West Chester. Thus did Sallie become the official mascot of the 11th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment.

The little terrier quickly developed a personality of her own. Sallie was even-tempered and affectionate with the members of the regiment. Yet she exhibited a distaste for all civilians and strangers, whether male or female. She was clean in her habits and proud in her bearing.

Sallie knew the drum-roll announcing reveille; she was first out of quarters to attend roll-call. In drills, she latched herself to a particular soldier and pranced alongside him throughout the exercise. At dress-parade, the dog took a position beside the regimental colors. During encampments, she slept by the captain's tent after strolling leisurely through the area on her own kind of inspection.

Her first battle came in 1862 at Cedar Mountain. Sallie remained with the colors throughout the engagement. She did the same at Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. No one ever thought of sending Sallie to the rear in time of combat. She was the regiment's spirit and its inspiration. And she would not have voluntarily stayed in the rear anyway.

In a spring 1863 review of the Union army, Sallie marched alongside the 11th Pennsylvania. A tall man in the center of the reviewing stand saw the dog. With a twinkle in his eye, he raised his stovepipe hat in salute. Thus did Abraham Lincoln give a special acknowledgment to the mascot.

On the first day's fighting at Gettysburg, the 11th Pennsylvania was driven back a mile from its original position. Sallie disappeared in the smoke and chaos. Three days later, medical details moved onto the battleground. There they found Sallie, still comforting her wounded friends and guarding the bodies of her dead compatriots. How the dog escaped harm amid that bloody three-day struggle was a near-miracle.

The following May at Spotsylvania, the dog received a neck wound and thereafter proudly bore "a red badge of courage." Then, in the Petersburg lines throughout the night of February 4-5, 1865, Sallie's mournful cries awakened many in the regiment. The next morning the 11th Pennsylvania made a concerted attack at Hatcher's Run. Men in the second wave were advancing under heavy fire when they found Sallie on the battlefield. She had been shot through the head and killed instantly. Weeping soldiers, oblivious to the hail of gunfire in the struggle, buried the little dog where it lay on the battlefield.

There is an epilogue to the story. In 1890, surviving veterans of the 11th Pennsylvania dedicated a monument on the Gettysburg battleground. From afar, it looks like all other regimental memorials: a bronze statue of a defiant soldier standing atop a tall and ornate marble pedestal. But something else is there.

Near the base of the monument, on a small ledge, is the bronze likeness of a little dog. It is Sallie, who appears to be asleep. In all likelihood, however, she is keeping watch through eternity over the spirits of soldiers with whom she shared an undying love.

*Transcript of a WVTF radio broadcast
�Copyright 2001, James I. Robertson Jr.

Story courtesy of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies. (Donate?)

A fear of beer commercials? That's hard to imagine.

Toothpaste that came in metal tubes and had a twist off cap.

Professional Football's Baltimore Colts and St. Louis Cardinals.

Carburetors.

Analog cell phones.

"Disk" film cameras.

Yesteryear
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I missed Oktoberfest again this year. One of these days I'll make it back there.

(Photo via Reuters)

Virginia state Sen. Emmett W. Hanger Jr. (R-Augusta) suggested raising Virginia's cigarette tax 1200%, which he claims will give the commonwealth an additional $117 million to piss away on government spending programs vote buying schemes. Since Virginia is a tobacco state and home to the world's largest cigarette company, the Washington Post reports that the tax is being approached with political caution.

Naturally, the tobacco prohibitionists are giddy with excitement. Donna Reynolds, a spokesman for the American Lung Ass. is calling for a tax increase of 3000%, which would raise the rate higher than the national average. She claims, "Obviously, a lot of people are looking at the tobacco tax because it's embarrassingly low." Yes, we Virginians are sometimes downright embarrassed at how low our tax rates are. We should raise them up high like Californiastan or Taxachussets.

Of course raising our tax rate would also raise the national average, giving her the ammunition to hit up other states (who suddenly find themselves lagging behind) for another increase. Supporting her do-gooder nanny temperance agenda, the Post editorializes, "The possibility of higher state taxes is no longer the primary threat to the cigarette manufacturers or the tobacco farmers, according to people familiar with the industry".

Of course, the Post doesn't mention just who those people are.

I think this story is pretty telling.

The number of robberies at banks in the city is up 148 percent from last year, according to new NYPD statistics.

As of last Thursday, 328 banks in the five boroughs had been robbed this year, up from 132 in the same period in 2002.

Most of the robberies occurred in Manhattan and in more than 80 percent of the crimes, the thief was armed with nothing more than a note or a threatening voice.

In a post-Guiliani world, unarmed thugs are having their way with New York City.

The smoke nazis haven't had too warm of a reception in New York bars. The New York Post notes that Lisa-Marie Dallas, a 33 year old bartender at the delightfully named Puffy's tavern located in Tribeca, has been fired because of an incident with the smoking gestapo. Dallas got into a shouting match back in July, when a member of Bloomberg's SS issued her bar manager a $200 citation for failing to stop a patron from smoking.

"The inspectors came in, [and] one customer was smoking," Dallas recalls. "They asked my why I hadn't told him to stop. I said I hadn't noticed it. But they said I should have called the cops on him."

The busybody inspector returned later and issued a $2000 ticket for another patron who was smoking. That's when Ms. Dallas got her pink slip.

The Post notes that Dallas wasn't too broken up over losing her job, because her tips had plummeted following the ban. (Being forced to call the cops on your customers might be a reason why.)

Other restaurant managers and owners find many of the inspectors to be nit-picking when it comes to issuing tickets.

"I don't disagree with the smoking ban," said Steve Lopez, 28, a manager of Upper East Side bar Tavaru. "But getting tickets for little things you didn't even know about is not fair."

Lopez claims inspectors ticketed him for having an ashtray in his office, which is located upstairs from the public bar.

Apparently now, even ashtrays are illegal.

Related articles:
NYC smoke ban may extend to cars and homes -- 09/23/2003
Opposition to NY smoking ban increasing -- 09/11/2003
Butts ban in NYC a boon in Jersey -- 06/02/2003
Bloomberg's "minor economic issue" -- 05/12/2003
Bloomberg's smoking ban claims a life -- 04/14/2003

"Content: At this time, Google policy does not permit the advertisement of websites that contain 'firearms and ammunition'. As noted in our advertising terms and conditions, we reserve the right to exercise editorial discretion when it comes to the advertising we accept on our site." -- Google, exercising their freedom of choice to arbitrarily deny advertising to firearms related businesses.

Most gun owners would probably agree that Google has every right to deny advertising to firearms related sites. If they don't want our cash, so be it. That doesn't mean that we necessarily agree with their bigoted, narrow minded, sissified, French point of view.

Kim du Toit helps me remember why I liked Wonder Woman so much as a young adolescent boy.

NA$A was good enough to justify their budget by offering this full color photo of Hurricane Isabel from space.

(Photo by NASA, click to supersize)

In the accompanying story, scientists note some interesting details about the photo.

"The colors are natural," says Gary Jedlovec, a climate scientist at the National Space Science and Technology Center in Huntsville, AL. "This is what an astronaut would see looking down on the hurricane from orbit."

Really? I had no idea you could see the state borders from space. How much taxpayer money was spent chalking out those lines?

When I read about the French lunar mission, I knew there was a joke there. Rather than try to hash it out, I figured I'd just wait a few days and Scott Ott of ScrappleFace would get around to it. Hilarity ensues:

(2003-09-28) -- A French-made Arianne rocket took off from French Guiana last night on a European Space Agency mission to "go round and round the moon."

The unmanned probe will take 15 months to get into lunar orbit, where it will try to determine the moon's mineralogical composition and whether it has water. The probe will not land.

Between 1969 and 1972, the United States launched six successful lunar missions, during which men walked, drove a small car and hit golf balls on the moon. They returned to earth with 842 pounds of lunar rocks, core samples, pebbles, sand and dust.

The European mission is dubbed SMART-1.

What is amazing is that Ott doesn't really have to work too much. The story actually plunges itself into self-parody without too much outside effort. Kudos to Scott.

I'm curious as to why it is taking them 15 months to get to the moon. Didn't we go to MARS in less time, and land a rover?

The score certainly doesn't reflect the stats, when your team only runs 48 plays to their 85, is outgained by almost 100 yards, doesn't convert a single third or fourth down, and only has the ball 18 minutes to their 41. That UConn only scored 13 points against Virginia Tech is a testament to a tired defense that spent more than two thirds of the contest defending their own goal.

For the record, Virginia Tech found a lot of different ways to score, and score quickly: field goal; receiving TD; rushing TD; interception TD; kickoff return TD; punt block TD.

Is it just me, or does Chris Rix seem to be asking for trouble? After being caught illegally parking in a handicapped space last week, this week he parked in spaces reserved for patients.

As someone who's kept an eye on FSU football over the years, I cannot help but think there is a serious discipline problem at the university. All schools have their problem players, but the Criminole's seem to have them EVERY YEAR. I don't think Bobby Bowden's policy of letting players play as long as they aren't sitting in jail does much to help the situation.

ACC denies Notre Dame expansion report -- SI, Thursday September 25, 2003

CNN's Tucker Carlson apparently voiced his support for telemarketers, and bravely gave out his home number, or so his audience thought. Carlson actually gave out the number for Fox News' Washington Bureau. Feeling obligated to help correct Carlson's error, Fox News offers up his real home telephone number for those trying to reach him.

Since it was a local call, I tried calling it and got his voice mail. Oh well, better luck tomorrow.

UPDATE: As Tiger points out, apparently the VLMC has gotten to Fox News and squelched their link. Actually they just changed it. I've corrected it above. Soloman has the full article, and hat tip to Ilyka, who came up with the new link.

(In case they decide to remove it, here is a screen shot)

I'm not sure if Tucker's phone is still off the hook either. Apparently it was last night, as his voice mail said that he and Patsy were on the other line.

UPDATE 2: Fox has either chickened out, or taken sympathy on Tucker, because they've changed the phone number in their story to CNN's Washington Bureau instead of Tucker's home.

"This was not an issue about free speech. It was really an issue where we had a hostile environment being created." -- Tim Moore, director of the SMU student center, defending SMU's decision to ban the protesting of Affirmative Action.

Where was Moore when the pro-Saddam rallies were shutting down the streets of San Francisco? The VRWC could use a guy like this to help us squelch the opposition. After all, the First Amendment only applies when no one's feelings get hurt.

I think that this comment on this post pretty much speaks for itself.

Reader "Slick Wiilly" writes:

Cliton was the greatest president in the 20th century. Plus he also had the longest period of economic growth in US history. Will keeping terrorism at bay. And using funds correctly. Don't listen to this rightwing propaganda. Read Al Franken, Michael Moore. Don't be sway by fox news. If you are, your a puppet!!!!!!!

He appears to be a typical democrat supporter.

This story made the rounds on weblogs weeks ago.

Scott Norvell at Tongue Tied reports that England has figured out an innovative way to keep students from failing.

Students in England will no longer 'fail' national standardized tests under new guidelines issued by the government, reports the Lincolnshire Echo -- they will instead get an 'N' grade for 'Nearly.'

People who grade tests have also been instructed to stop marking math questions as right or wrong, but instead use the terms 'creditworthy' or 'not creditworthy.'

This must be some sort of metric grading system. How long before N stands for nincompoop?

"Public schools are required to live up to the standards of accountability set out in the law, but they get no money. Now, the D.C. private schools are going to get the money, but there is no requirement for accountability." -- Sen. Tom Daschle, C-SD.

I'm not going to waste my breath pointing out the flaws in Daschle's "thinking", but I will note that DC Mayor Anthony Williams isn't pandering to unions, and wholeheartedly supports the voucher program.

Governor Gray Davis, who is running for re-re-election, has passed yet another California gun law. This one hopes to increase the number of accidental shootings, and make guns less available to the poor. The new "safety" features that Davis is mandating will not only add to the price of Californian guns, but it also teaches people not to check to see whether or not a firearm is loaded. Instead, Californians are encouraged to rely on a yet to be designed indicator that will tell the user whether or not the gun is "safe".

Nashville Tennesse's NewsChannel 5 reports that cops are patting themselves on the back for destroying some firearms and knives, like it will somehow have an affect on crime.

Tuesday morning, Metro police officers helped destroy 17,050 guns, knives and illegal weapons.

They loaded the weapons into cars at a salvage yard and loaded the cars into shredder, which hammers the metal into chunks no larger than a fist.

"I am happy to say that after today, these guns will never fire another bullet or threaten another citizen," said Deborah Faulkner, Metro's acting police chief.

Deborah Faulkner sounds like an idiot. Guns don't threaten people; people threaten people. If you catch a man waving a gun at people, you don't blame the gun for threatening people. What good does taking the gun away from a criminal do, if you destroy the gun while setting the criminal free? (which is exactly what lefties do.)

As if that wasn't loony enough, the media states in a rather condescending way: "The metal will be sold and used for steel to make things like washing machines and car parts. The different kinds of metal mean the chunks cannot be sold to make new guns."

That's right, you are safe now. These chunks of metal won't come back from the dead to threaten you ever again. They will be made into washing machines, and washing machines cannot hurt you.

Regardless of your position on guns, would you ever put a sign on your lawn stating that there are no guns in your house? Would you be so willing to announce to prospective burglars, murderers, and rapists that you are completely defenseless should they decide to forcibly enter your home? Well, if you go to St. Olaf College in Minnesota, they are doing exactly that for students who live in their residence halls. The student newspaper called Manitou Messenger Online notes:

Over Labor Day weekend, many arriving students and parents noticed new signs reading "St. Olaf College bans guns in these premises." Posted at the entrances to the residence halls, the signs were put up in August to comply with the May Minnesota Personal Protection Act. The act states that a permit holder may carry a gun wherever a sign specifically banning guns is not displayed.

St. Olaf, which I had thought was the fictional town on TV's Golden Girls, is a private college and has the right to ban guns on their property if they want. However, I would be very leery of living in a place that is so reckless with the safety of their students.

In liberal Minnesota, however guns have been a very polarizing issue as of late. The restoration of firearms rights has angered liberals who naturally were predicting a dodge city scenario. They are so hot and bothered over the prospect of law abiding citizens with firearms, that they are trying to coerce local businesses to get involved in local politics.

Target and Marshall Field's, two of Minnesota's largest retailers, have chosen not to put up signs banning guns in their stores. The result has been that some people have begun boycotting them. Kneser would like the public to know that the college is still just as free of guns as it always has been.

Actually Kneser is insuring that only law abiding citizens will be unarmed. Criminals, who don't obey the law any way, will be unfazed by the signs just as in this MN school shooting. The idea that Target and Marshall Fields should be compelled to delve into a political debate is disturbing. As a Target stockholder, I recently wrote Target management to express my concern over the idea. Gun fearing wussies can boycott the stores if they want, but boycotts never work in the U.S. and I have serious doubts that it will be effective. I can picture some pasty faced leftist warning me to stay away from Target because (gasp!) there may be people with guns in there.

For the students of St. Olaf, I wonder if they sleep better at night knowing that their college advertises the fact that they are completely defenseless. You can live there if you want, but I'll be damned if I would ever put myself in that situation.

The Carnival of the Vanities starts off year number two at Pathetic Earthlings. Although I submitted an entry, it was either "lost in the mail", or it was somehow blocked by the VRWC censors.

In the land down under, ABC Australia reports that sheep ships are big news. Apparently upset at the live sheep trade, enviroweenies are keeping a sheep ship from docking, to protest the live sheep trade. The tale seems like your typical animal activism, but what really strikes me as irregular are these two passages from the story.

Police say there are around 20 protesters gathered at the port in Portland [Australia].
[...]

Police are currently negotiating with the protesters.

Twenty people are keeping a ship from docking and engaging in lawful commerce, and the police are "negotiating". Maybe there is something I'm not understanding here, but how do 20 people keep a ship from docking and loading?

Here's my advice to the Aussies. Bring the ship into port and load up the sheep. Any protestors that put themselves into harms way, deserve what they get. If they are crushed by the ship, hit by the gang plank, or trampled by thousands of sheep, so be it. No one ever said that civil disobedience doesn't have a price tag.

UPDATE: (09/25) CNN reports that protestors have finally been removed.

The AP reports that DUI offenders in Escambia County Florida are being branded with a scarlet letter, and subjected to an "operation tips" style of public monitoring. Previously, drivers convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol had their cars badged with "Convicted DUI". The public shaming apparently wasn't enough to stem the tide of DUI offenses, (big surprise) so now the powers that be are tagging offenders for monitoring by stool pigeon neighbors.

Some convicted drunken drivers in the Florida Panhandle have been ordered to put bumper stickers on their cars asking, "How's my driving? ... The judge wants to know!!!"

Escambia County Judge William White said he hopes the bumper stickers, which include an identification number for each driver and a toll-free phone number, will reduce repeat offenses for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Won't it be fun to have the last laugh and report that jerk that cuts you off in traffic, drunk or not? Nothing like some cruel and unusual punishment to fix him up good.

Don't take this the wrong way, because I realize that drunken driving is indeed dangerous, but then again, so is speeding, aggressive driving, and any other number of traffic violations. Driving erratically, or while distracted or impaired should be punished, but the punishment should fit the crime. People who drive under the influence but do not actually do harm to anyone else should be treated on equal footing as all the other reckless or aggressive drivers out there.

I'm not advocating going soft on drunk drivers, but I am tired of the government taking punishments too far, and taking measures that don't actually have any affect on safety. For instance, lowering the minimum levels from 0.10 to 0.08 probably does little to make our roads safer. The people driving in that narrow range are not usually the problem, and should probably be treated like people that drive 5-10 mph over the speed limit. Sure, they may cause an accident, but how much of a danger are they really?

If you read most accident reports in the newspaper, people accused of DUI are usually 0.20 and above. A level of 0.15 would probably be sufficient for holiday checkpoints, and the lower levels should only come into question if there is an accident or a report of erratic driving. The lower levels should be used only to measure impairment during an accident investigation. After all, alcohol affects different people differently, and some people would probably be impaired at much lower levels than 0.08 while others would not.

Setting the science of blood alcohol levels aside, there are some localities that practice instant punishment and double jeopardy. New York City for instance started impounding vehicles at mere accusation, regardless of a conviction. Even if defendants won in court, they still didn't necessarily get their car back. Facing punishment without a trial, and then facing a second punishment later isn't a practice just isolated to New York. In many other localities you can lose your drivers license on the spot. Licenses are considered "privileges" and some states don't think twice about yanking them at any time without proving their case in a court of law. (And some people wonder why we don't want gun registration.)

Unfortunately such unreasonable government powers are often tolerated due to the stigmatizing of people caught driving under the influence. Proponents scream that it "saves lives", and that we should do it "for the children", which the excuse most often heard when freedoms are being removed.

I'll admit that views like mine are usually met with hostility, and irrelevant horror stories by people who's lives were tragically altered by drunk drivers. I say irrelevant, because you can find similar stories of people being killed by speeders and red light runners. Nobody wants to see innocent people killed, but violating the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments of the Bill of Rights should not be acceptable no matter what the benefit. Deterrence should, instead, come from the harsh punishments meted out to those that actually do deprive others of life, liberty, or property.

UPDATE: Kate has more, including a graphic of the sticker.

Here's one to watch. For some reason, the "Involuntary Celibacy Watch" gave me a good chuckle. I'm not saying why.

NBC 13, a Tuscaloosa Alabama affiliate, notes that law enforcement officials may be using their traffic cameras for monitoring more than just traffic. (emphasis mine)

Images from a traffic camera that was used instead to monitor passersby near the University of Alabama led to the arrests of three people allegedly misbehaving on the street, police said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, officials said they were still investigating who had diverted the focus of the camera from traffic -- where it normally is used to monitor vehicles -- to pedestrians, particularly young women.

The remote-control camera, located at an intersection near a row of nightclubs, usually shows traffic. But officials said someone in a state trooper office diverted the camera to focus on pedestrians in the pre-dawn hours last Friday.

Footage broadcast citywide on a cable TV channel showed several people, and the camera zoomed in on the breasts and buttocks of several young women walking past.

A 22-year-old woman was charged with public lewdness about 4:10 a.m. after baring her breasts in front of the camera, said Capt. David Hartin, and a 25-year-old man was charged with disorderly conduct moments later after allegedly grabbing his crotch as cars went by.

While nubile young women showing their goodies to drunken college kids is obviously a heinous crime, apparently using publicly owned traffic cameras for your own private peep show isn't. Just how long is this "investigation" going to take? I wouldn't think it would be too hard to track down who the camera operators were during that shift. Perhaps "investigators" are still combing through the captured footage frame by frame.

The New York Post reports that more New York smoking bans may be on the way, including bans that reach inside your own private property. Soon it may be illegal to smoke in the sanctity of your own car or home. Anti-smokers pull out all the usual plays to further their prohibitionist agenda.

Grannis (D-Manhattan) said bills like those outlawing smoking in cars with kids on board and banning the sale of more affordable small packs of cigarettes are designed to protect children.

And he insists his bill to ban smoking at parks and beaches is meant to cut down on litter.

The for the children rationale is nothing new, but litter has to be the lamest excuse I've ever heard. Just what cannot be banned in the name of cutting down on litter? Look on any street, and you're likely to see plenty more soda cans and fast food wrappers than cigarette butts and empty packs. Just about anything you can carry in your hand can be banned in the name of cutting down on litter.

If smoking is banned using the "litter" excuse, then all food, drinks, snacks, batteries, Kleenex, and any other consumable or product that comes with a wrapper should also be banned. And of course, you can forget about bringing a pic-a-nic basket.

-- In other news, smoking in restaurants *may* be reconsidered, because of the political fallout of the current ban. (Translation: Restaurants and wait-staff are losing their shirts.)

The BBC's heart bleeds for human shields. They try to tell the sad story of Faith Fippinger, who broke the law and an international economic embargo when she traveled to Iraq to support Saddam Hussein's brutal regime.

For travelling to Iraq Faith Fippinger will now probably lose her house, her pension and go to jail.

I have a hard time feeling any sympathy for Ms. Fippinger. She should have known that she was violating the law, exhibited if anything by the lack of U.S. commercial flights into Baghdad. Setting aside the fact that she aided and abetted the enemy, she broke the law the same as if she had gone to Cuba or any other nation that Americans are not permitted to visit.

In her defense, she has likened the Bush Administration to Saddam, and claims that her freedom of travel and speech is being violated. Of course, if Bush were really like Saddam, she never would have received a letter from the treasury department, she would have simply disappeared. There would be no charges filed, and no trial. If America was like Saddam's Iraq, she would have been wisked away to an undisclosed location, had a confession beaten out of her, raped, and then executed.

She claims, "It's in regimes like Saddam Hussein's where that freedom [of speech] is not allowed", which begs me to question just why she was supporting such a brutal regime in the first place.

Gov. Gray Davis is considering granting illegal aliens even more privileges in Californiastan, the Sacramento Bee reports.

After granting illegal immigrants the right to obtain driver's licenses in California, Gov. Gray Davis now must decide whether to sign bills qualifying them for free community college tuition and requiring local governments to honor identification cards issued by the Mexican government.

If the Ninth Circus decides to allow Californiastan to hold their Gubernatorial election in October as planned, Davis will probably give illegals the privilege to vote by then. Setting the obvious pandering aside, you have to wonder how California hopes to stem the tide of illegal aliens when Davis keeps making the state a more attractive place for them to live. An even bigger question is why are California taxpayers allowing it to happen. It's bad enough that California seizes taxpayer dollars to give benefits for citizens who don't pay taxes. Now they are seizing your money to give benefits to non-citizens who don't pay taxes.

Personally, I don't understand how people get into the whole Emmy thing. I guess there are plenty of people out there that chase the stars, watch the Hollywood tabloids, and read People magazine. Maybe it's just my almost unbearable stench of self righteous, but to me it all seems kind of self-serving and pointless.

Now, I like to watch movies and television as much as the next guy. I probably watch more History Channel or Discovery than any network TV outside of the Simpsons or Football, but I just don't get as star struck as some people do. Personally, I would be bored as hell standing behind some velvet rope waiting for movie and TV stars to make their grand red carpet entrance.

Now I will admit that there are plenty of movie stars I wouldn't mind sitting down and having a beer with because I find them interesting. In the end though, they are just people. When it comes to their personal lives, I could give a rats ass unless it is interesting. For instance, Harrison Ford rescuing someone from the side of a mountain in his helicopter is interesting. Ford dumping his wife to hook up with the homely waif Calista Flockhart is embarrassing. Ben and J-Lo being on again off again is just fucking pointless fluff. All too often the fluff is just part of a gradiose advertising campaign for their upcoming movies. It isn't exactly coincidental that stars go on talk shows right before their album/movie/tv-show debuts.

CNN and FOX can report anything they want. But don't expect me to stay up late to catch the Emmys or Oscars, because I just don't care.

In England, Sky News reports that the government is beginning to realize that they have reached the "limit of acceptability" for property taxation. It is feared that homeowners, who have faced double digit increases lately will not take any more. So, just what does the government plan to do about it?

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Raynsford said the Government needed to consider alternative sources to raise money.

"The increases in the last two or three years have really taxed the patience of a lot of people," he said.

"We have to look at the possibility of finding other sources of revenue".

It's interesting that cutting government spending was never even mentioned. Instead, government officials are looking for new and creative ways to tax citizens, without facing political fallout. To government officials its all about money and power. How much many can we get, without losing our power?

Knox News notes that Virginia Beach and DC bloggers kept on blogging during Hurricane Isabel.

With candlelight and backup battery power, bloggers, as they are known, provided first-hand accounts, at times taking breaks to deal with the storm's aftermath.

They go on to quote several well known bloggers, which leads me to ask, have webloggers become free freelance reporters for media outlets now? I wonder if the day will arrive when instead of sending reporters to cover a story, news outlets just tap some well trusted bloggers instead. Ehh.. Probably not.

Down in Virginia Beach, mom and dad are still without power. It is going on four days, and there are no power crews working in their area today, so it will not be up today. The city had instituted a 9 PM curfew, which meant that most people couldn't even go out for dinner because restaurants had to close early and could not seat everyone. Thankfully they came to their senses and extended the curfew to 11 PM, so getting some grub is a bit easier. They said there are still 45 minute lines at grocery stores, restaurants, and hardware stores.

I've offered to have them come up here numerous times, but they still won't leave. What can you do?

Better keep an eye on this girl, and keep a safe distance. It's not that I don't like redheads, it's that I don't like the effect they have on me.

Speaking of redheads, Brent points out a group that may add me to their shit list. Look girlies, I like redheads, believe me, I do. You can ask any of the five redheads from my past, who toyed with me, batted me around like a ball of string, and then cast me aside when they were done with me.

"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government." -- George Washington

(Quote courtesy of Dr. Walter Williams)

I find the UK anti-gun culture to be humorous at times, but mostly sad and depressing. Just check out the anti-gun rhetoric being spewed in this story from the Manchester Online, (starting with the superfluous all caps for shock value).

A GUN-obsessed teacher [55 year old Thomas Hosty] jailed after police found an arsenal of weapons hidden at his home can return to the classroom.
[...]

Police discovered 13 handguns - outlawed after the Dunblane massacre in which 16 schoolchildren and their teacher were shot dead.

That's right, 13 firearms is suddenly an obsession. I wonder if the teacher would be considered "obsessed" if he had collected a mere 13 baby dolls, beer glasses, or records*. The media even shows a photo of Mr. Hosty with the word OBSESSED captioned beneath him like a scarlett letter.

But the gun fearing wussies are obviously getting restless, and the anti-gun newsspeak doesn't stop there.

Coun Colin Lambert, Rochdale council's lead member for Children, Schools and Families, said: "I think it's astonishing and disgusting that somebody who has a conviction for firearms is allowed to return to teaching.

"The teaching council's members should ask themselves if they would like this man to teach their children. The answer should be no."

A firearms conviction? Lambert makes it sound like he was caught knocking over a liquor store. Hosty was hiding his firearms because of the UK's irrational and dangerous disarmament of her citizens. Had this been a lefty issue, it would have been called "civil disobedience", and Hosty would have been welcomed back with open arms.

Besides, Hosty has paid his debt. I thought lefties were all about welcoming convicts back into society.

* For those of you that don't know, records are like CDs, only larger and made of vinyl.

For the average person, trying to go through airport security with a firearm would get them in pretty hot water. Of course, if you are a public servant or the wife of a public servant and you break the law, everyone just looks the other way. World Net Daily notes that being the spouse of a professionalized, federalized, TSA manager has it's priviledges.

The wife of a Transportation Security Administration manager at Denver International Airport won't be charged with a crime after screeners discovered a handgun in her purse.

The Denver Post reports 35-year-old Helene C. Nance was arrested Tuesday after screeners discovered a .380 semi-automatic handgun, seven live rounds and a magazine in her purse as it made its way through an X-ray machine.

Though such finds have often resulted in federal gun charges, Nance - an on-call secretary for the airport's human resources department - won't be charged because, state attorneys said, she did not appear to have intentionally violated the law.

For regular folks like you and me, the law is black and white. When it comes to the priviledged few, however, the executive branch who are tasked with enforcing the law, chooses to give them special treatment.

Normally, I would be very happy with the powers that be pretending to have some common sense in enforcing the law. Still, knowing that if I had inadvertently left my handgun in my bag that the outcome would be altogether different, this one fails the smell test. If you are going to look at "intent" you should do that for everyone. So much for equal protection.

UPDATE: The AJC notes that a Dekalb County Commissioner made a similar mistake. He was arrested, and will apparently face charges.

Here's one for those of you that use eBay. The Register gives us the comments of Ebay executive Joseph Sullivan.

"We don't make you show a subpoena, except in exceptional cases," Sullivan told a closed-door session at the CyberCrime 2003 conference last week.

"When someone uses our site and clicks on the `I Agree' button, it is as if he agrees to let us submit all of his data to the legal authorities. Which means that if you are a law-enforcement officer, all you have to do is send us a fax with a request for information, and ask about the person behind the seller's identity number, and we will provide you with his name, address, sales history and other details - all without having to produce a court order. We want law enforcement people to spend time on our site."

They also note that eBay boasts about logging every piece of user information back as far as 1995.

Oh boy. Check out what I wrote about comic books a mere month ago in August.

If the comics were written by the anti-war crowd, Superman wouldn't stop Lex Luthor, but would instead try to figure out what he did to make Lex turn to a life of crime. Rather than being stopped Luthor would be pacified and appeased, in the hope that he would stop being evil. Thankfully, kids would never read such mindless drivel. Well, at least not yet.

Well, we didn't have to wait very long. Brent Bozell notes that the September issue of "Justice League of America" is laced with pro-Saddam political indoctrination.

It was only a matter of time, I suppose. Comic-book superheroes have gone into the liberal political indoctrination business.

The September issue of the DC Comics book "Justice League of America," or "JLA," presents Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman as U.N.-promoting paper dolls for a thinly disguised propaganda play against President Bush's war on Saddam Hussein.
[...]

Superman then tells President [Lex] Luthor that millions of people are protesting worldwide. "No one supports what you're doing," says Super Pollster.

"I hear them," says the evil president, "but I can't listen to them." When Superman says perhaps an attack could be delayed for more proof, the president retorts, "Where do you get off questioning me? ... It's unbecoming to question your president during times of international unrest."

That's right, supervillian Lex Luthor plays President Bush, and the superheroes play the pro-UN weenies. Apparently nothing is sacred. Crime fighters that used to fight the forces of evil have been turned into frenchy anti-war freedom fighters who apparently fight... freedom.

Note: Please read the entire article to get the full monty. I did not want to do a blanket cut and paste of Mr. Bozell's work, so please click the link and show him some love. The comic's parallels to the "Hawk vs. Dove Commie Pinko" debate are so astonishing they border on self parody.

Dixie Chicks plane clips building -- CNN, September 19, 2003.

Related articles:
Dixie Chicks blame VRWC -- 03/20/2003
Not from the Heart of Dixie -- 03/14/2003

FOX News reports that "separation of church and state" has evolved into colleges dictating your major. The anti-religion movement is actually stripping scholarships from students who decide to major in theology.

I've always thought that financial aid was financial aid. Since when do schools get to tell you what you can or cannot declare as your major? Best of luck to Teresa Becker. I hope she wins her lawsuit.

Apparently a lot of Democrats are trying to make the comparison between General Wesley Clark and General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Scot Lehigh of the Boston Globe notes that comparing a backyard Kosovar squirmish to a long protracted World War is too much of a stretch. After WWII, everyone knew who Ike was. Today, Americans have largely never even heard of Kosovo, much less Wesley Clark.

For all he is or is not, Clark is no Ike.

"4 States Rated Highly in Fighting Smoking" -- Headline, NY Times, September 18, 2003.

Aren't cigarettes legal products? If so, why are taxpayer dollars being spent on "fighting" smoking? The smoking "fight" is nothing more than a governmental attempt to control human behavior, and there is no reason to spend taxpayer dollars to coerce people to give up the habit. Since smokers already pay sin taxes on cigarettes, higher life insurance rates, and higher medical insurance rates, the issue of health care costs is moot. Not to mention smokers die quicker and will ultimately use less social security and retirement benefits.

If they think smoking is so bad, they should just outlaw it. Then we could go back to the prohibition days of mob violence and bootlegging that the nanny temperance movement brought us in the Roaring 20s. Plus there is a lot of money to be made on the black market once cigarettes are illegal. Those $5 packs and $10 cigars will be worth 5 times that once prohibition is brought back.

I'm back from Blacksburg, and I have power. Many in DC do not, which was to be expected. There are some downed trees and branches but for the most part everything here seems disorganized, but fine. I called Mom and Dad in Virginia Beach, and they are fine. They lost power about 24 hours ago, but were able to drive to the south end of the city and get a hot meal. They had a tree come down and a section of the fence, but for the most part came through unscathed.

I'm glad I braved Hurricane Isabel and traveled to Blacksburg for the VT-TAMU game. It was a great game, and many who lost power were unable to see it. There were about 60,000 people in the stands. The upper decks looked empty in the corners, but for the most part the stadium was pretty full. Hokie fans are pretty resiliant and aren't going to let a little thing like a Hurricane keep them away. I managed to stay pretty dry, and the rain let up in the fourth quarter. The wind was gusty, but not too bad.

Since Marnette didn't go, I didn't have a hotel room. She never did forward me the hotel information so I thought I might have to sleep in my car. Many thanks go out to the desk clerk at the Wingate Inn in Lexington who was able to make room for me. It was the fourth hotel I had tried, and even they were sold out. It was 2 AM, so he bumped someone that hadn't showed yet, and I was able to bed down for the night.

If I had it to do again, I wouldn't change a thing.

Between the recall and the damned hurricane, there is little news lately, so there are no posts today. The hell with all this weather bullshit, I'm going to the game, come hell or high water. Look for me on TV, I'll be the one wearing the poncho.

Washington D.C. is in hysterics right now. Hurricane Isabel is causing people to make runs on the grocery stores for bottled water, toilet paper and batteries. The D.C. Metro has already announced that they will likely suspend rail and bus service sometime in the near future. Personally, I don't see the reason for the panic.

I grew up in Virginia Beach, just miles from the Atlantic Ocean. We had our share of hurricanes come through, and most of them were just a lot of wind and rain. Isabel is going to hit North Carolina, so she has hundreds of miles of land to cross before she reaches Washington. The most we'll get here is some wind and rain. There may, I say again, there *may* be some downed branches and power lines, but for the most part I think we'll be fine.

My parents still live in Virginia Beach. I sent mom an email asking about the mandatory evacuation. Virginia Governor Mark Warner ordered a mandatory evacuation of the entire area. Mom said that they are thumbing their nose at Governor Warner, and are going to ride out the storm. They cannot make people evacuate, but they will refuse to rescue them if they need it. She isn't scared.

I remember years ago when my grandparents came to visit. We had a hurricane hit that week in the late evening, so we all went to bed like it was no big deal. No big deal, except to grandma and grandpa. They stayed up most of the night looking out the window. I'm still not sure what they were looking for.

I used to think the hysterics were somewhat fun to watch. Grocers enjoy the business, and no one is really hurt by being overprepared. However, I *had* planned on going to the VT-TAMU game tomorrow. I say *had* because now I may not get to go. My friend Marnette has already backed out. She is scared. She told me that she doesn't want to deal with the "weather uncertainty". Our other two tickets belong to another pair of friends that may also back out. I do not really want to go alone, and as of right now, it looks like I might be the only one in the stands.

Virginia Tech was supposed to announce whether or not the game was going forward, but they have not said anything since Monday. I doubt they'll postpone it, however, because of the revenues that come with a Thursday night national TV contract. Also, Blacksburg is a good 300 miles from the coast, nestled in the mountains. It isn't exactly hurricane country. (Just ask UMiami.)

I do hope that they postpone the game until Saturday, however. Not because I am scared, but because I would like to share the moment with my friends. I'm hoping that if the game is postponed, perhaps they will start being rational people once again. It's not like we've never sat out in the rain before at a game.

Besides, if this woman is riding out the storm in her trailer on Knotts Island, I think we can sit through a damned football game.

PANIC UPDATE: The D.C. Metro just announced they are suspending service at 11 AM tomorrow. The federal government also announced they will be closed.

The Carnival of the Vanities turned 52 today. For the one year celebration, it has returned home to roost.

The AP reports on a grocer who is taking a novel approach to collecting bad checks. He's posting the check writer's names on his marquee. A man who owed $200 came in just days after his name went up, to pay $100 on his debt. When grocer Vic Ricci was asked about the legality of his methods, he had this to say.

"People ask me if it's legal. I say I don't care," he said. "If you can't pay a $25 check, how can you pay a lawyer? If someone wants to take me to court, I'll go."

As someone who's worked in retail management in the past, I can attest to the fact that judges are usually on your side. Someone who writes a bad check and has ignored subsequent requests to pay the bad debt doesn't have much legal ground from which to stand. Besides, government officials never seemed too concerned about putting John's faces on TV. Why would they be the only ones allowed to use public humiliation as a tool?

Senator John Edwards, whose only apparent political experience is having been elected a U.S. Senator from North Carolina in 1998, has announced his candidacy for President, reports the Washington Post. To kick off his campaign, Edwards spouts every class warfare cliche from the lefty playbook. Here are some select favorites.

Instead of 'opportunity for all, special privileges for none,' [Bush has] given us 'opportunity for all the special interests.'"
[...]

The candidate said his goal as president would be to make "opportunity the
birthright of every American."
[...]

Edwards said his campaign was built on "new ideas and old values" and he
promised not only middle-class tax cuts but also health care for all children,
prescription drugs for seniors and a year of college tuition for all students
willing to work for it.
[...]

"That's the great promise of America -- a fair shake for all, a free ride for none."

He's plans to raise taxes on the evil rich, and use the money to provide "free" health care, "free" prescription drugs, and a year of "free" college. Then he has the chutzpa to say it is the rich who are getting a free ride.

Here is something I wish I'd said.

If recall is truly the product of a fringe element, then the majority of voters ought to have a right to say so promptly, so the governor can focus on doing his job, instead of trying to keep his job.

If, on the other hand, the majority of Californians want Davis out, then they have a right to say so now, so a successor can be elected.

Either way, Californians should have the right to vote Oct. 7.

That was Richard Riordon, former mayor of Los Angeles in the LA Times.

If you are a regular reader of Ravenwood's Universe, than you already knew Wesley Clark was going to run for President.

"I predict General Wesley Clark will enter the race" -- Lope, staff writer for Ravenwood's Universe, 06/27/2003

"Clark Schedules Announcement to Launch Presidential Bid" -- Washington Post, 09/16/2003.

Of course, the rest of Lope's prediction remains to be seen.

"They don't have the option to say no to us. We have made it clear we want that property. The only thing that will be settled in court is how much we have to pay for it." -- Kent Cagle, the city manager of Duncanville, Texas.

Neal writes that Cagle is seizing property from Deborah Hodge to hand over to a developer to build a Costco. According to Cagle, Hodge has no choice in the matter. She must either hand over her property or die defending it. It sends a chill down my spine.

Here's a riddle for you. An elderly British woman is struck ill. Calls are placed to an ambulance, and to her son in Spain. The ambulance needs to take her 10 miles to the hospital, while the son needs to travel 1200 miles to get there. Who gets to the hospital first?

If you want to know the answer, read Kim's story about a classic example of socialized fascist medicine.

SI reports that the women's metric football league has abruptly folded after 4 years. Guess who is getting the blame?

[Chairman of the WUSA board of governors, John] Hendricks blamed weak corporate support for the league's failure.
[...]

"If we only had six or seven CEOs in America that had stepped forward in the past year," Hendricks said. "An independent women's professional league can survive -- if it has corporate support."

It sound's like he's begging for a welfare check. It sounds to me like the reason women's soccer failed is because of John Hendricks. He was too busy trying to woo corporate sponsors that he forgot to woo the fans with a marketable product. Corporations may come up big with stadium naming rights and other promotional cash, but they only do that because of strong fan support. In turn, fans show their support (with their hard earned dollars), in exchange for entertainment value. In this case, the blame for the break down in the economic process should be placed squarely on the WUSA.

By whining about the lack of corporate support, Hendricks is indirectly indicting the fans for not showing enough support. His attitude is the same as those that support the National Endowment for the Arts. When artists, or in this case the WUSA, is unable to create a marketable product, they blame the consumer.

Now that it may not happen, and due in large part to the Christian Science Monitor, I've decided to go on the record for the California recall election. I had planned on holding my tongue for a little bit longer, but this passage is too much to pass up. Daniel Wood, from the CS Monitor writes:

Officially, two strong Republicans are vying for governor in California's historic recall.

Unofficially, based on the response of rank-and-file GOP members after Saturday's state-party convention, it is only a matter of time until conservative state Sen. Tom McClintock decides - for the good of the party and himself - to no longer be an active candidate.

Wood goes on to say that Arnold Schwarzenegger "would then become the sole credible Republican" in the race. While Arnold may be a Republican, he is hardly credible or even Conservative. I share some views with Arnold, but his stance on gun control, and Ward Connerly's Racial Policy Initiative don't make him a very attractive candidate.

Call me a right wing crazy, but if I lived in California there is no doubt I'd vote for McClintock. If McClintock drops out, and passes the hat to the Terminator, I'd cast my vote for Bustamante. I'd rather a Democrat lead them down the path to self destruction than a RINO. I don't think Arnold has the discipline to fix their problems, and would merely act as a Republican scape-goat; much in the same way that the nine dwarves are claiming that all the world's problems started in January of 2001.

Illegal aliens that are being granted the priviledge to receive driver's licenses in California are applauding the Ninth Circuit decision to delay the recall election. Unless the Supreme Court intervenes, the recall will be pushed back to March 2004. That should give the new licensees plenty of time to register to vote, and help them to thank Gov. Gray Davis in the March election.

Opponents of the recall note that the delay is certain to help Gray Davis keep his job. By March, he should be able to increase the California budget deficit to more than $50 Billion, and thus assure that nobody would be crazy enough to take the job.

This animation on liberty should be taught in school. If you still don't understand what Libertarianism is, this is a good start.

(Link via Neal.)

Isabel is heading right for my parents house in Virginia Beach.

Time to stock up on water, bread and batteries. Virginia Beach has been lucky over the past few decades. Storms usually hit the outer banks and then head out to sea, leaving Hampton Roads with just some wind and rain. This one looks pretty big. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I don't know about you, but it bugs me whenever I see someone desecrating the flag. Even though I would never support an Amendment banning it, I still think that if you are going to burn the American flag, you should have the decency to wrap yourself in it first. That is why it bugs me whenever I see people showing disrespect to our flag by flying them on vehicles, or letting them get frazzled and worn out.

I am highly patriotic, and I like it when other people are patriotic too, but flying a flag on your vehicle is wrong. Flags are normally flown from flag poles. Whenever a hurricane or strong storm comes through, most flag owners go out and remove their flag. They fold it up and tuck it away until the storm passes, and then return the flag to it's perch. They do this out of practicality as well as respect. After all, 75+ mph winds will ruin your flag, and you'll have to have it replaced, as well as properly dispose of the old flag. Why then, would someone willingly subject their flag to 70-90 mph winds by sticking it on their automobile? Flags are not meant to take such a beating, and even the best flag will start to show wear and tear immediately.

I think a lot of people don't know even basic flag etiquette. For instance, flags are supposed to be retired when they begin to show wear. If they are severely damaged, they should be properly disposed of. Local VFW posts often perform this service for free. Also, flags should always hang a certain way. When hanging flat on a wall, the stars should be on the flag's right. (The observer's left). Hanging a flag backwards or upside down sends a completely different message than what you were originally trying to convey.

Flags should never be raised to half staff. Instead they should be raised to full staff and then lowered half way. Also, the flag should be raised swiftly, and lowered slowly, and it should never be allowed to touch the ground. Allowing it to do so is another sign of disrespect. Once a flag is removed from the pole, it should be properly folded, so that only the stars are showing.

There are numerous other protocols that should be followed, many of which are readily violated. For instance, the flag should never be worn. It should not be used for disposable napkins, and should be properly lighted if flown at night.

I'm not trying to be a flag nanny, but merely hoping to help educate the masses. I'm happy that people want to express their patriotism. But not when doing so results in disrespect for our nation's flag.

(Click here for more on flag etiquette.)

As with any state that passes concealed carry laws, the gun fearing wussies go on the war path and press local businesses to ban guns from their property. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that some companies are already planning to put up "no guns allowed" signs.

The law prohibits guns being taken into stadiums holding more than 5,000 people, hospitals, places of worship, casinos or bars without the owner's consent. But other workplaces will need to post signs if they want to keep weapons out.

That is completely untrue. Posting signs will not keep firearms out. Metal detectors will not keep firearms out. Simply put, there is absolutely no way to keep firearms out of any place. It cannot be done.

We cannot even keep guns and knives out of our prisons, or off of our airplanes. What makes anyone think that merely hanging up a sign is going to work?

The Post-Dispatch also notes that companies are reminding employees that they are not permitted to bring firearms to work. Now, most employers have such a policy, and it is usually for liability reasons, especially in today's litigious society. Still, check out some of the anti-gun rhetoric.

"It's the same (policy), I suspect, of any ethical company - we prevent firearms on our site," said Mike Montague, spokesman for the drug giant Pfizer Inc.

Ethical? Banning firearms may be practical when speaking in terms of legal liability, but lets not bring ethics into it. There is nothing ethical or unethical about carrying a gun. There is, however, something quite unethical about blowing someone's head off for no good reason. I hate to sound cynical, but no sign or policy is going to prevent that.

In fact, creating a "gun free" zone actually makes you more of a target for violence. If you disagree with me, I challenge you to put a sign in front of your house that says "No guns inside", and we'll see how long it takes for the baddies to realize that you are an easy mark.

My 10 Ways to Please Your Man post has got this guy's wife so riled up, I need to go up there and calm her down.

Back Monday.

Chicago's sacrificial lamb has been released with a sentence of one year supervision, and time served. Ex marine, Vietnam vet, and urban outdoorsman Martin Beuck was arrested in the shooting deaths of six people in Chicago. Beuck was not the shooter, nor did he know the shooter. He was not even the person who sold the gun to the shooter. Beuck was the man who had owned the gun for 26 years, without incident. He had legally registered it, and legally sold it to a policeman.

Being homeless, however, Beuck had made the unfortunate mistake of throwing out his paperwork for the sale after a mere 9 years. If only Beuck had kept that paperwork, perhaps the murders committed by Salvador Tapia could have been prevented. Ok, well, maybe not. Still, Beuck made a good scapegoat, considering Tapia is dead, the two policemen who illegally owned the pistol are both dead, and the police are clueless as to how Tapia even got his hands on the gun in the first place. Beuck had the unfortunate distinction of being the only man they could throw in jail. Of course, given that the shooter, Tapia, had a long criminal history, was not allowed to own a gun, and had made numerous threats of violence with firearms, the killer should not have even been on the streets in the first place.

Media Bias Alert: Adding further insult to injury, after Beuck's lawyer expressed his "heartfelt sympathy", the Chicago Sun Times ran the headline Original gun owner apologizes for workplace massacre. (Apology: noun - an admission of error or discourtesy accompanied by an expression of regret.)

The entire episode is a good example of how powerless the Chicago police are to prevent crime, and how their strict gun laws, which even the police (whom are sworn to uphold the law) chose to ignore, actually put people in danger rather than protect them.

While I've been to Chicago a few times, I could never live there, or even in Illinois. It was a fun place to visit, but the oppressive government regulations are just too much to put up with over the long term. Thanks, but no thanks Chicago.

While I have nothing against HBO's film crews getting kicked out of the Capitol building, I find the reasoning to be down right laughable. Trent Lott, as chairman of the Senate Rules Committee and Ethics Committee claims that Senate rules "strictly prohibit the use of Capitol and Senate space for any commercial or profit-making purpose".

Should tax dollars be used for taking a census of the ocean? CNN reports that the census will take 10 years and cost $1 Billion. It will be paid for by both private contributors and "governments". They also report that "It's a staggering budget. But it's a fraction of the $55 billion seafood trade or what it costs to clean up a major oil spill." I never thought of the seafood industry as a "cost", and oil spill cleanups are certainly not planned expenses.

Reuters reports that a man was ordered to share his pension with his ex-wife, even after she remarried. Now that she's died, the German government is forcing him to continue making payments to his ex-wife's husband.

The California legislature has approved a 'living wage' of $10 per hour for just about every business in the state. If Davis signs the bill into law, which he probably will do to try to save his job, look for some businesses to contract or pull out of California. Plus there is the tendency of minimum wage floors to put low wage earners out of work, as workers with higher skill sets suddenly find the jobs more appealing because of the increased pay rate.

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The Missouri legislature came up with a few pro-gun victories this week. STL Today notes that the Senate garnered the 23 votes necessary to override the Governor's veto and pass concealed carry legislation. Spoons notes that this is a huge victory for the good guys.

In another big victory, the Senate also overrode the veto of a law to limit gun liability lawsuits. The law would prevent local governments from trying to sue gun makers out of business for the criminal misuse of their products.

Here's some classic Scrappleface:

ABC News says it will continue to demonstrate the "insecurities of our homeland" in upcoming reports. One reporter even claims he got through L.A. customs without declaring a bottle of vodka purchased undercover on the streets of Jakarta. The bottle could be used to make a Molotov cocktail, a kind of hand-tossed firebomb.

"Right now we have reporters positioned around major airports toting shoulder-launched missiles," said an unnamed ABC News producer. "We also have trucks full of explosives in dozens of underground parking garages, and 55-gallon drums of various toxins poised to dump in major reservoirs nationwide. Of course, we have to pace ourselves in how we reveal this to keep our ratings momentum going."

The producer hinted that Nightly News anchor Peter Jennings may personally "run some guns" from Canada into Detroit later this year.

"Jennings gets through customs in the limo real easy, eh?" the producer said. "But it just shows how porous our borders are. We're doing these reports for the good of the nation."

Some Atlanta supporters of the corruption plagued former Mayor Maynard Jackson want to put his name on the airport. The problem is that the airport is already named after former mayor William Hartsfield. Since Hartsfield is white and Jackson is black, the debate was bound to get ugly. Compromisers have suggested naming other local landmarks for former Mayor Jackson, but "the former mayor's supporters insist anything less than 'Jackson Airport' will be an insult."

Fox News notes a lawsuit against AAA. It seems a woman was murdered while waiting for her car service.

The lawsuit names the national AAA; its local affiliate, AAA Southern New England; and the tow truck driver. It asks for unspecified damages. The case is being watched by the legal community to see if a jury will hold AAA liable.

It looks like they are suing everyone except the actual murderer.

In case you forgot just how little religious freedom there is in Saudi Arabia, or how poorly women are treated in the kingdom, check out this article.

The Miami Hurricanes were perienially one of the most penalized teams in the NCAA. The only thing interesting in this article is that they are concerned about it.

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Remember the Big Lake Pastor, Rev. Phillip Mielke? He shot two men breaking into his church, and was indicted by a grand jury. Prosecutors have been making a big deal that the burglars were unarmed and appeared to have been shot in the back. Now the Anchorage Daily News reports that there is a wrinkle in the prosecution's case.

Assistant district attorney Bob Collins requested the delay on Thursday to accommodate the state medical examiners and so his office could respond to new developments in the case. Late last week, Collins said, he received laboratory results that showed both Palmer's and Jones' DNA on a handgun found in the chapel basement. He is awaiting word whether Mielke's DNA is also on the weapon, Collins said.

This "development" would appear to blow a huge hole in the prosecution's claim that the goblins were unarmed. That probably won't stop them from zealously forging ahead though. It sounds to me like they found proof that the burglars had the gun, but the prosecutors are telling the forensic scientists to look again and see if they can prove it was Mielke's.

(Another hat tip to reader Tom Scott for the link.)

CNS News reports that support is growing for repealing the New York State smoking ban. Businesses are losing money, people are losing jobs, and polling data suggests that even a majority of non-smokers support repealing the ban.

The smoking ban has so riled some business owners that they are now suing the state.

The Empire State Restaurant and Tavern Association is challenging the constitutionality of the anti-smoking law, which bans smoking inside bars, restaurants and other workplaces. The association claims the smoking ban is so vague and confusing that it has failed to effectively provide any recourse for businesses that may be suffering economically.

I wish them the best of luck, because I think they are going to need it. On the issue of police protection, the courts have repeatedly found that the government has no responsibility to safeguard individuals. I could easily see them ruling that the government has no responsibility to safeguard individual businesses either, especially given that the state is sticking to their "for your own good" reasoning.

NASA scientists at Lockheed Martin have discovered gravity in a way that would make Isaac Newton beam with pride.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - A nearly completed, $239 million weather satellite suffered significant damage when it toppled to the floor as it was being moved at a Lockheed Martin plant, officials said Tuesday.

Apparently, someone forgot to make sure that the sensitive scientific instrument big paperweight was properly bolted down. I had thought that NASA had already discovered gravity, when the Mars Observer plummeted to the Martian surface after a simple newtons-pounds math error.

Related articles:
NA$A bungles another Mars mission -- 08/08/2003
NA$A is hiring, despite lack of work -- 05/30/2003
Millions spent for blurry Earth photo -- 05/23/2003
First Thanksgiving Day Spacewalk -- 11/29/2002
NA$A, Lost in Space -- 08/16/2002

I've been saying this for years, although I could never speak as elequantly as Dr. Williams. I was especially baffled by Ohio, who forces people to wear seatbelts, but makes helmets optional for motorcyclists.

It has long been thought that the movement against using cell phones while driving had little to do with safety. Statistics show that modern drivers are faced with all sorts of distractions while driving, and that eating, drinking, and messing with the radio all cause more accidents than talking on the cell phone. Reuters reports on a German man who has taken distracted driving to the extreme.

German police caught a man playing the flute with both hands as he sped through traffic at 80 miles per hour on a busy highway, police said Wednesday.

Yesterday morning on my way to work, I saw a woman eating a bowl of cereal while she was driving. She had one hand holding the bowl, and the other on a spoon. I don't know what, if anything, was holding onto the wheel.

Here are some musings that just didn't merit a full entry in the weblog.

It looks like Gray Davis' attempt to woo the illegal alien vote may wreak havoc for California citizens. Fox News notes:

Because of security concerns, some states may also decide not to accept California driver's licenses as ID, saying the new law there sends the message that immigration rules are meaningless.

Maybe Davis will promise to repeal the law if he's allowed to stay in office.

As much as I hate the BCS, I don't like the idea of Congress meddling with the system. After drawing Congressional ire, the BCS affiliates are already talking about an affirmative action program for non-BCS conferences.

In other NCAA football news, Maurice Clarett's days at Ohio State are numbered. The school has already said he won't play football, and it looks like he may lose his scholarship. He also faces criminal misdemeanor charges for overstating the value of goods that were stolen. Clarett is mulling suing the NFL for early entry, but I don't see the legal merit of his case. The NFL may go easy on the star running back, but legally, they should be able to set whatever hiring practices they want. Even though his mess is largely self created, it is still sad to watch a young man on the path to self destruction.

The new currency looks gay. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) Has the "gay fever" that's hit prime time also hit the federal treasury?

If you haven't heard, Blogger was purchased by Google. As a result, Blogger Pro features are going to be rolled into the free version of Blogger. As a reward to Blogger Pro subscribers (like I used to be) we all are to receive a free Blogger hooded sweatshirt.

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I've noticed that a lot of blogs are doing some radical redesigns lately, and I'm not sure what to think. When it comes to aesthetics, I've always resisted radical change. Call it tradition, but this web site has looked pretty much the same since I created it. I've tweaked the fonts a bit, configured it to work with netscape and made several improvements over the years. Sure I've made a few different style sheets to accommodate those that don't like the default look, but the basic "look" and "feel" of the site has remained pretty much the same, and it probably always will.

I cannot speak for everyone, but I like the familiar. Some web sites change their colors like they change their clothes. (I know, web sites don't wear clothes.) Maybe I just don't have any sense of style. I'll be the first to admit that I lack creativity. If I find a design I like, chances are I'm not going to change anything for a while.

With women breaking the gender barrier at public military institutions, it is no surprise that some men want to form their own private college to restore what once was. Personally, I have no problem with women in the military or military institutions. I do, however, have a problem with regulations and specifications being relaxed to accommodate them. If a woman wants to go to the Citadel, that's fine, but she should not complain about the lack of privacy or the tough physical regimen when she gets there.

The gender barrier was indeed broken, as it probably should have been at a public institution. Women pay taxes too, and should not be excluded from such places. Separate but equal never did work, so gender integration was inevitable. But private institutions built with private funds should be free to practice gender discrimination should they so choose. CNN reports that some military academy graduates are planning just such an institution. Media whores like Martha Burk are sure to get their panties into a bind over such a plan, and moving it forward may prove to be more difficult than they expect. Local officials are already whispering about whether or not such an institution would be welcome in their back yard.

Bedford County Executive Jimmy Woodson said he has not been contacted by the group but said the college would be welcome if it "doesn't discriminate against minorities and women."

Legally, I don't think there is much Woodson could do about it, once it's in place. Since it isn't in place, however, he can use his political power to influence building permits, business licences, and other services that an institution would require of local officials. To be blunt, if he doesn't get his way, he can set up obstacles and make life a living hell for the academy founders. Expensive lawsuits could be necessary to compel local government officials to do the jobs that they are required to do. Just like a local Mayor shouldn't be allowed to keep a black man from opening a business because he's black, he also shouldn't be allowed to keep male separatists from opening up their own military college just because he doesn't like them.

I don't quite understand the opposition to an all male school. Women have had all female schools for decades. Assuming the institutions aren't being funded with taxpayer dollars, the local government should treat them like any other business. Whether Woodson wants them there or not, shouldn't matter. They have a right to exist, and are breaking no laws.

"Ask your Senators to vote for S. 1034 to renew the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, which will expire in September 2004 if Congress does not take action. The Ban has been successful in decreasing the supply and availability of specified military-style, semi-automatic guns with multiple assault weapons features such as high ammunition capacity and rapid-fire capability (e.g., the Uzi and AK-47). These guns are not well suited for hunting or self-defense, but they are the weapons of choice for criminals." -- The NEA teachers union, pushing for renewal of the hideous Assault Weapons Ban.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. The ban has not decreased the supply or availability of certain types of firearms. The AK-47 was banned, so the SAR-2 was born to replace it. The guns are essentially the same.

None of the guns banned were rapid fire. That the NEA calls them semi-automatic and claims they are rapid fire shows that they either don't know the definition of semi-automatic, or are deliberately being deceptive. By definition, any semi-automatic firearm only fires one shot for each pull of the trigger.

The guns can be used for both hunting and self defense, although the latter is more likely. Also these firearms are most certainly NOT the firearms of choice for criminals. Very few crimes were committed with these guns before the ban, and there is no reason to expect crime to increase after the ban expires.

I'm curious as to why a labor union would support such a worthless piece of legislation, and I don't really know what they stand to gain. Statistically, there are no safety benefits to the ban, and I wonder if teachers want their union dues spent in such a manner. It does worry me, however, that these people have our nation's children captive for 8 hours a day.

UPDATE: Ask and ye shall receive. Kevin offers just such an instance where an AK-47 was used defensively.

Like I said the other day, I think the Recording Industry Ass. of America is shooting themselves in the foot with these lawsuits. One of the people they are suing is reportedly a 12 year old little girl. Brianna LaHara faces fines of up to $150,000 per infringement. The RIAA's President Cary Sherman calls the lawsuits an appropriate reaction to theft.

How long before public outcry forces some changes in the law?

UPDATE: Apparently the RIAA recognized this as a potential PR nightmare. They've settled with the family, for $2000. (She probably won't be receiving her $4 weekly allowance now for the next 10 years.)

The Virginian Pilot reports that former President George H.W. Bush attended the dedication ceremony for the keel of the aircraft carrier that will bear his name. As most people know Bush was a naval aviator during WWII, and the dedication ceremony held a little surprise for him.

While a keel-laying ceremony traditionally ends with a flyover of the most powerful jets, this ceremony ended with a restored Torpedo bomber flown by a Chesapeake pilot making two rounds overhead -- much to Bush's surprise.

"It brings back a lot of memories," Bush said on his way out. "He was going full speed, 150 knots, I could tell. Low and slow, and very stable. It's so different from what these guys fly today."

You can see a photo of the torpedo bomber that flew over the ceremony here. Yes, that is me standing in front of the TBM that flew over Bush 41's ceremony, and yes I have flown in that plane. Ken tells me that the former President also came by later to check out the plane.

Greg Hlatky points out the inane policies of a Tarrytown (TX) shopping center owner. She's a member of PETA, and as the local media reports, she has really gone off the deep end.

A few years ago the shopping center's owner imposed a strict rule -- no meat or animal products can be sold.

Since then, a grocery store, a Chinese restaurant and a Texas French Bread closed. A vision shop and shoe repair stopped selling leather products, a liquor store stopped selling caviar in gift baskets. Nancy Owen, owner of Alegra's Bridal and Invitations, said she was told she could not exterminate her ants. Instead she'd have to relocate them.

The loss of sentimental hot spots is a shame. I've lost my share of favorite bars and restaurants to various reasons. But the enviroweenie that owns the shopping center is completely within her right to refuse lease renewals. As long as it's her money she's throwing away, what do I care? Besides, that's less resources she'll have to fire bomb and SUV dealership.

I've been looking through the referral logs. Whaddayaknow, I've been listed as a John F. Kerry Hate Site. I'm not sure I'd say I hate the 'Felafel'. Just because he doesn't support a war that he voted for, and he wants to raise taxes that he recently voted to lower. That is no reason to hate the Senator, who I hear has even faithfully served in Vietnam.

In other bizarre referral news, I'm also listed as an Accident Caught on Tape.

First, I want to point out that I have taken painstaking efforts to make this site e-mail address free. I started by trolling all the pages of HTML and taking out any [email protected] I could find. I also took down the guestbook because it was getting hit by spambots as many as 10 times a day. I also changed all my templates so that any comments left on this site would display a URL (if there is one), or just the name. Commenters inputting their email addresses can rest assured that they will not be published in any HTML code where the spambots can find them.

Second, I want to encourage other webmasters to do the same. A large percentage of spam comes from email addresses culled off of websites by spambots. They search all your HTML files, looking for anything in [email protected] format. With some creative template editing, you should be able to remove all email addresses from your web site, and take a bite out of spam.

Sincerely,

Staff Writers of Ravenwood's Universe

This guy is my kind of activist.

(I see I'm not the only one who has noticed.)

"If you are going to contribute to our economy, you have the right to drive to work." -- Gov. Gray Davis, kissing up to immigrants by signing a law that will allow illegal aliens to get driver's licenses.

Davis may want immigrants to be able to legally drive to and from work, as long as they aren't working in Sacramento.

The RIAA may have legal merit for filing these lawsuits, but I think they may be shooting themselves in the foot. After all, laws can be changed. They'd better be checking their defendants for VIPs, because if they sue enough people, they are bound to run across a Senator's son or daughter. Next thing you know all that good lobbying money will be down the drain, and their copyrights will be nullified by the stroke of a congressional pen.

Recently California Gov. Davis slammed Arnold Schwarzenegger for being an immigrant. During a speech fit for fellow cross burning democrat Robert Byrd, Davis claimed that "you shouldn't be governor unless you can pronounce the name of the state." Davis' lily white campaign speech even whipped the crown into a 'hate-speech' frenzy, as one supporter yelled out "He's a foreigner!". I guess immigrants need not apply for job as Governor of California. I wonder if Bustamante has an accent?

Arnold isn't immune from the action either. Drudge reports that it is being said that Schwarzenegger has a history of racist comments.

In a completely different incident, protestors are crying 'racism' for the removal of Dallas' first black police chief, by the first Mexican-American city manager. During the protest, some activists blamed the ouster on "sell-out wetbacks". In recent years, black activists have held up signs with similar ethnic slurs, or chanted "Go back to Mexico."

Even Italian wine makers are getting into the act with their historical series of wines. I cannot speak for the wine, but the labels that depict Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin are certainly in poor taste. Germany has asked the Italian government to investigate whether or not the wine with labels "depicting Nazis Adolf Hitler, Hermann Goering and Heinrich Himmler violates European Union anti-racism rules".

First this girl made a goofy list about what men should do for women to please them. A few guys like this guy, felt the list was more than a little self serving. Considering it contained items like "walk her dog or dangle toys for her cat", and "surprise her one day by washing, vacuuming, and gassing up her car" I tend to agree with his point. Sorry ladies, but if I play with your dog it is because I like your dog, not because I want to get into your pants. Talk about over-analyzing things. (BTW, if I vacuum your house for you, it is because I want to get into your pants.)

That said, I've got a short list of my own that I think compares to Shell's list.

10 Ways to Please Your Man*

1. Shut the hell up. Sometimes guys just wants some peace and quiet; especially during football season. Remember, it's not you that's the problem, it's your mouth.

2. Get him a beer. A guy works hard all day, and a cold beer helps a guy put up with a women who just will not follow rule number one.

3. If you want something special for your birthday, anniversary, or just because, ask for it. Men are not mind readers, and most still won't get the hint if you spell it out with beer nuts. If you want to save time taking it back to the store to exchange it, make sure he knows the exact size, color, model number, and place to buy it. Better yet, just buy it yourself and send him the bill.

4. Leggo the remote. Men like to be in control of things. He doesn't want to be seen having you control his TV set any more than he wants to be seen having you drive him around town in your minivan.

5. Speaking of cars, how about you say something when the damned oil light comes on. Don't expect that light to buzz or flash when the problem gets worse, or to just go away by itself. If you want to give your man a real feeling of self worth, let him take care of it for you.

6. Clean up your damned feminine products. There's nothing a guy hates more than having to wade through your time of the month crap when he's trying to go to the john, or worse, brush his teeth.

7. Don't make us put up with your mother. If we liked your mother, we'd talk to her. Telling us to be nice to her only makes us hate you for the same reasons we hate her.

8. Don't ask us if you look fat in anything. You don't want an honest answer, and probably won't like it if you get it. Besides, if you're fat, you shouldn't blame the clothes.

9. Don't wait for men to notice things. Even if a guy notices you cut/changed/colored your hair, he's not going to say anything because for all he knows you did it two months ago.

10. Don't over analyze us. Men are what they are, so don't treat us like some sort of science experiment. Anything you read about us in Cosmo is wrong, and the only reason it was put in there was to sucker your dimwitted self into buying the magazine.

I could go on and on, but I think the top 10 are a good start. If you can master these, you should be able to please just about any real man*.

* These techniques may have little or no effect on "metrosexual man" that the feminazis have created. If you have one of those, throw him back and try again.

Class warfare queen Cynthia Tucker of the AJC claims that economic recovery is aimed squarely at the rich. She claims that Bush's tax cut has been a financial boon to people that don't even need the money. They'll probably just burn it in their fireplace this winter. Tucker writes:

...you might think President Bush's program for economic recovery isn't working. You'd be wrong.

The president's economy policy is working just as he planned it. The stock market is bouncing back, sales of Rolexes and Range Rovers are humming right along, and compensation for CEOs is still in the stratosphere.

Wow. Lets all run out and beat the crap out of those rolex-wearing, hummer-driving, CEO bastards. Tucker goes on to take a jab at Cheney, with this complete non sequitur: "(Notice how well Halliburton has been doing since the invasion of Iraq?)". Well, it does have just as much to do with the economy as CEO pay does. And it's not like there are any hard working Americans who make a living by producing those Hummers, or selling them, or repairing them, or filling them up with gas, or changing their oil, or trucking them from the plant to the dealership, or manufacturing the steel, or making the tires, or publishing magazine articles about them, or bitching about them in their newspaper columns. I mean, those Hummers are obviously made by Oompa Loompas in secret VRWC sweatshops run by Dick Cheney and Halliburton Oil, and producing them provides no economic benefit at all.

I'm not entirely sure if Tucker actually believes the drivel she writes, or whether she just got her weekly memo from the VLMC to spread the "bad economy" bullshit once again. Joseph Goebbels, the National Socialist Propaganda Minister to Adolf Hitler, said that "a lie repeated often enough is accepted as truth." Tucker lives up to that philosophy by repeating the leftist lies, and then using them to try further her socialist agenda. (emphasis mine)

If Bush understood those frustrations, he would not have squandered the budget surplus on tax cuts for the wealthy but would have preserved the funds to pay for programs that might help to tide over workers who cannot find jobs. A creative economic policy would have anticipated the continued flow of jobs to lower-cost countries (the trend started years ago, after all) and looked for ways to help Americans adjust. For example, Americans need not just longer-term unemployment payments but also low-cost or free health care if they find jobs that don't provide health care coverage.

Nevermind that the non-existent surplus was largely wiped out because of those 2.5 million job losses she can't stop bitching about. If you received a tax rebate check, or had your taxes reduced, Tucker thinks the money was "squandered" on you, and should go to provide "free health care" for those that cannot find a job to provide it. Yes, the evils of globalism have given us cheaper TVs and VCRs that don't break a week after the 90 day warranty expires. Jobs are also being lost to those third world weasels that work for a fraction of the wages that fat Americans are willing to work for. But how is free health care going to solve that?

How many of these people that would benefit from extended jobless "benefits" are still buying beer and lottery tickets every week? How many people that are crying for "free" health care have cancelled their cable or satellite TV, or stopped going to Braves games? In general, people mis-prioritize their needs and wants in life, and it never ceases to amaze me. Then along comes a socialist like Cynthia Tucker, who would use government police power to force you to pay for their health care, and serve only to encourage their stupid behavior. People that would force their neighbors to pay for their health care or provide them unlimited jobless "benefits" should be prevented from using such luxuries. If you are going to live on the government welfare dime, you need to make sacrifices, and beer, lottery tickets, and cable TV should be the first things to go.

Ashlee Vance at The Register isn't congratulating Universal for cutting CD prices. She says it's about damned time.

...this is the first CD price cut since the media format came on the scene in the 1980's. Think about that for a minute. New format, volumes low, prices high. Ronald Reagan was president. [...]

The labels' [1990s financial] performance was, no doubt, helped by a "promotional program" the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) likes to call price-fixing. [...]

Two decades and four presidents is a long time to wait for a single price cut on what became a mass market good. CD players certainly went down in cost.

She raises a valid point. When DVDs came on the market they were $20 to $30 a piece. Today the most coveted new releases debut at about $14. Universal enjoyed decades of inflated CD prices, even as the cost of production and blank media fell to all time lows.

CNS News reports that some Nevadans are hoping to recall their Republican Governor after he raised taxes in an apparent violation of the state constitution. In case you don't remember, Guinn successfully passed a tax increase, and circumvented the state constitution by claiming the tax increase was for the children. His creative move pitted a constitutional provision requiring a two-thirds supermajority for tax hikes against another provision that demanded that school funding be secured. I found Guinn's actions to be appalling.

Faced with a state budget deficit of $700 million, Guinn proposed a $5 billion budget, including $1.3 billion in spending increases and $860 million in tax increases.

Taking that statement at face value, spending increased more than 35%, and it looks like the budget deficit is largely self-created. Even though Nevada has two year budgets, considering there are only about 2.2 Million people, it is still a pretty big increase.

Opponents of the recall note that a recall of the Governor isn't likely. They blame "fringe characters" for trying to unseat the Governor, and note that poll data shows that 68% of Nevadans are opposed to recalling Guinn. Since more than 128K signatures (representing 25% of the voters from last November).

If fiscal conservatives like myself are considered "fringe characters", then the Free State Project is looking better and better.

If you bought one of those Girls Gone Wild videos, you could be breaking the law. Prosecutors allege that as many as 35 of the girls featured in the videos are underage, which would make it illegal to possess them. There is no telling how many times this happens in the U.S., but girls lying about their age in these sort of videos is nothing new. Perhaps the most famous incident happened decades ago when Traci Lords publicly announced her 18th birthday, years after she had made dozens of hard core porn films.

Even though she made the films voluntarily, and is now a consenting adult, her films are illegal to possess even to this day.

Two Louisiana women had a close encounter with a pair of suspected burglars, reports WBRZ from Baton Rouge.

Two women with knees bent and feet planted wide apart to ensure a steady aim held a pair of would-be burglars at gunpoint Thursday afternoon until West Baton Rouge sheriff's deputies could arrest the suspects, the Sheriff's Office said.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Firearms are great equalizers. GFWs would rather have these women cower in fear and pray that the burglars show them mercy rather than defend themselves. They say that guns are too complex for a mere woman to handle, and that a physically superior man will just take a gun away from an inferior woman. As a gun owner, I know that's bullshit. Instead of putting themselves at the mercy of these alleged crackheads, this dynamic duo used firearms to give them the upper hand against the baddies. I think it's sexy.

At one time Kim was putting together a list of volunteers to teach any woman willing to learn, the ways of the gun. At the time I volunteered my own services, but have not heard anything back.

Sen. Robert "Sheets" Byrd claims that children can't get any smarter without getting a big box of taxpayer money. He claims that to meet the requirements set by the No Child Left Behind Act, states will need Billions more federal taxpayer dollars than they are getting now. He hasn't gone on record yet, but I'm betting that only taxpayer dollars from "the rich" will work.

It's pretty interesting that government lawmakers can set requirements for home-schoolers and private schools to meet, without doling out any money. For some reason, however, whenever the government schools are held accountable for what student's are learning, it cannot be done without huge government grants.

Sometimes trolls just don't get it. Mr. du Toit, like most other webloggers, isn't immune to the "who cares what you think" response from some mindless trolls armed with a web browser and a keyboard. Recently Kim received the typical, "You're a fucking dork. Who gives a shit what your favorite things are." comment, and the always sinister "Why don't you go back to where you came from?". Kim responded most eliquently:

I write on these pages because I want to, on subjects which appeal to me, or which are deserving of my splenetic rants. If I had five readers, or five million, it wouldn't change one damn thing.

It reminded me of something I said not too long ago.

I do it for myself, and no one else... I would probably still do it if nobody read it.

The anti-immigrant attitude doesn't surprise me or even bother me. It is naked prejudice that should be taken at face value and promptly ignored. Like Kim is going to hop on the first plane back to his homeland because some dimwitted troll thinks he doesn't belong here.

No, what gets me is these people who think they should be the arbitor of what is allowed on the web and what isn't. Believe me, there are plenty of sites that are a huge waste of time out there. Any fan site devoted to David Spade or Pokemon, for instance, doesn't interest me at all. Ok, I couldn't actually find a David Spade Fan Club site, but that isn't the point. I don't write the author of any site and ask them just what the hell they think they are doing.

Sending someone an email to tell them I think they have a crappy web site is just hateful and mean. It serves no purpose, other than to try to hurt someone's feelings. And as any lefty should know, Kim, as well as other conservatives like myself, don't have any feelings.

Did anyone else see the subtle similarities between these two stories?

Turtles lured to disco death in Greece -- CNN, September 5, 2003.

Amnesty offer for music file sharers -- CNN, September 5, 2003.

Sorry for the lack of bloggage this weekend. My parental units came in from out of town, and we spent most of Saturday touring D.C..

School choice is coming to Washington D.C.. Congress approved $10 Million worth of vouchers so that students who currently attend government schools can opt for a private school instead. The AP notes that now that the Fed has moved forward on vouchers, the states will be pressured to do likewise. Still, there is a perception that this is money being spent. Check out this gem from the article:

Still, with states in their worst financial shape in decades, this is not a time when many state leaders will be inclined to start earmarking money for private schools, [Todd Ziebarth, policy analyst for the nonprofit Education Commission of the States] said.

This quote is indicative with what is wrong with the big-government attitude. They view it is their money and not taxpayer money. Sure, they may be diverting $10 Million away from D.C. government schools, but they are also removing a lot of students from using government services.

Let me put this in perspective. The D.C. voucher program allows for up to a $7500 voucher. As of June 2001, D.C. was spending more than $10,800 per pupil. It is safe to say has not decreased in the last two years. To simplify the exercise lets call it $10,000 per pupil, and say a school has 10 pupils. That would mean that a DC school is currently spending $100,000 for 10 students. If we take away 1 pupil and $7500, the total spending drops to $92,500, but there are now only 9 students. That means the per student money available actually increased from $10,000 to over $10,275. It is doubtful that 10% of the students will be allowed to participate in the program, but no matter what the percentage, the money per student will always increase.

Likewise, if so many students are taking advantage of the program that it begins to implode on itself, than it is indicative of just how bad the government schools are failing. If parents end up leaving them in droves, perhaps it is time to do away with them altogether.

In other sporting news, Maurice Clarett may sue the NFL for early entry. Apparently he thinks that private companies should not be permitted to set their own hiring practices. What's next, high school students suing prospective employers who are requiring a college degree?

Clarett's mother is "distraught" at the way her son is being treated by Ohio State.

What better reason than to sue the NFL! Of course, if it weren't for Clarett's apparent boneheadedness, he'd still be playing college ball. This sounds like yet another case of people not taking responsibility for their actions.

As much as I hate the BCS, I don't think it is the right of Congress to get involved. My first thought is that no good can come from this. I think the BCS should probably be subjected to market pressure rather than legal pressure to change. There may be a legal (anti-trust) reason for Congress to get involved, but I cannot see them implementing positive changes.

Lately, the bums on the Hill cannot do anything right.

As a card carrying firearm's enthusiast (a/k/a gun nut), I usually go to gun shows once or twice a month. One thing I've noticed is that gun shows in Virginia seem to pale in comparison to gun shows in Ohio. I still remember my disappointment at my first Northern Virginia gun show. I could hardly believe how few tables the gun shows in this area have. I hate to run down the fine folks at Old Dominion Gun Shows, who do all the shows in Northern Virginia, but the shows up here are tiny. Come to think of it, the gun stores up here are tiny too, but I digress.

The largest show put on by ODGS has 225 tables. To put that in perspective, the Berea/Cleveland Ohio show usually has 800 tables. Even the show in the tiny city of Mansfield where I used to live has 350 tables. Mansfield is a town of about 45,000 and is surrounded by, well, nothing.

Probably most notable is the lack of bulk ammunition at shows in Virginia. At the Ohio shows, you could buy ammo by the 1000 round case, and most vendors would even let you use their dolly to take a few cases out to your car. So far I've been to several Bealeton and Dale City shows, and I've yet to see ammo sold by the case. That means I'm left using online vendors like Ohio based AIM Surplus, or Cheaper Than Dirt out of Texas.

I have no explanation for the size disparity between the two states. Is it that Ohioans buy more guns, or are Virginians subjected to some strange gun show size limitations? One of these days I'll drive down to Richmond or maybe even Roanoke/Salem to find out. Those shows are put on by different promoters, so perhaps they are a bit bigger. For now, I just have to tough it out.

These guys need Americans for Chicken Safety.

Perhaps this chick can help me come up with a tag line.

It looks like music companies are finally realizing that file sharing isn't to blame for declining music sales. Fox News reports that the Universal label is slashing music CD prices, and hoping to implement a $12.98 retail price cap. For a market where a DVD movie typically costs $13.99 while the CD sound track costs $18.99, this should help bring some parity.

The AP reports that Judicial nominee Miguel Estrada has removed his name from consideration, after having his nomination blocked by the Senate for the past two years. While Democrats have played sleazy partisan politics, it is the Republicans that have let this happen. Bush and the Senate Republicans alike should have been making the Democrats pay the political price for blocking such a well qualified candidate. The fact that he was a successful minority who lefties claimed was Not Hispanic Enough should have made it an easy fight.

That the Democrats have paid no political price for turning their backs on minority nominees such as Estrada and Priscilla Owen, will only make them do it more often.

Related articles:
Dems to filibuster third minority judicial nominee - 06/17/2003
Daschle Tries to Filibuster Hispanic TV Merger - 05/30/2003
Dems continue to block minority judges - 05/06/2003
Schumer: Bush shouldn't nominate judges - 05/01/2003
Democrats vow to filibuster another minority nominee - 04/30/2003
Dems Improve Constitutional Judicial Process - 03/06/2003
�Como Se Dice "Liar"? - 02/17/2003

CNN reports that the economy hasn't hurt everyone. Congress is planning to give themselves a 4.1% pay increase; the fourth consecutive pay increase. Not only does Congress have the unique power of being able to vote themselves a raise, but they have actually it set up so that their raises are automatic, and a vote needs to be held to stop them from occurring.

Last year, Senator Tom Daschle, Soc.-SD gave himself a pay raise and then had the nerve to tell Greta Van Susteren on "On the Record" that it was "not a raise." By Tom's logic, since his pay raise was but a mere 3.1%, it was in fact a pay "cut". We should all have that luxury.

Personally, I haven't had a raise in over two years. At my last company, we were told that pay raises would be frozen for during the hard economic times. While weathering the storm, I watched our number of employees decrease from over 90,000 to less than 30,000. After two years of layoffs, I had the experience of being let go right before the holidays. My layoff was followed by about 5 months of unemployment. Considering my current job pays about 3% less than my last one, I still have some catching up to do to match the 3-5% annual pay raises that Congressmen enjoy.

I will also note that my cost of living has increased threefold in the past year, since I moved from low-rent Ohio to high-rent DC. While the move was self inflicted, even had I stayed in Ohio or been living in DC the entire time, I would still be facing pretty steep inflationary increases. Property tax increases have pushed up rental prices and tax payments for everyone. The hot housing market has inflated the cost of homes, and of course there have been the ubiquitous "War on Terror" travel, insurance, and gas price hikes.

My biggest complaint about Congressional raises is the lack of accountability. Regular folk like me don't have the luxury of setting their own salary, and then seizing money from Americans (using the threat of lethal force) to pay for it. I mean I could try to give myself a raise and force my neighbors to pay for it, but I'd probably end up in jail. Even union employees have to negotiate a raise with management, and management has to negotiate their raises with the shareholders. There is always a bottom line. With government, there is no bottom line. When they want more money, they just go out and take it.

Democrats and Republicans alike have been "serving the public" for so long that they seem to have forgotten who they work for. Spending and taxes continue to increase, while private sector salaries have pretty much stagnated. I'm tempted to ask that Congressional and political salaries be tied to economic performance. Since Congress ultimately has so much say in how much money this country pisses away, they should be paid for performance. During economic slow downs their pay raises should slow down. During recessions and/or periods of high unemployment, Congressional salaries should be frozen or even rolled back. I'm tempted to recommend tying it to the size of the deficit, but I know they'd just raise taxes to cover their spendthrift habits.

Of course, for many in Washington the pay seems largely symbolic any way. Many Congressmen (Senators especially) would probably work for free if they could hold onto the tremendous power that they currently wield. That power is best illustrated by the big lobbying money that comes in to gain access to their political influence. With the passage of the dreaded Seventeenth Amendment, the checks and balances of state power over Senators was effectively eliminated. Throw in a six year election cycle, the Incumbent Protection Act, and pork barrel spending, and it's no wonder that Senators rarely worry about their job.

World Net Daily takes a look at whether or not Michael Moore even met the Academy entry requirements for his "documentary" film Bowling for Columbine. Aside from the controversy surrounding Moore's staged performances and scripted scenes (in a "documentary"), Moore may not have even met the basic entry requirements for documentary films. The Academy requires that documentary films run for at least seven days in Manhattan or Los Angeles County, and that the film be advertised during the entire run in a major newspaper. Moore seems to have failed that requirement.

In previous years, entries were required to have proof, however for 2002 the rules were changed and proof was not required. WND also notes that Moore's scripting and staging of scenes also violates Academy rules for documentaries. That rule has largely been ignored, much to the chagrin of competing documentarians.

Dan Gifford, an Academy Award nominee himself, has called on the academy to investigate whether Moore "fabricated scenes and video of real people that has been edited to manufacture a fictional reality intended to mislead viewers."

If it is determined those accusations are true, Gifford, the producer of "Waco: The Rules of Engagement," wrote to Bruce Davis, executive director of the academy, Moore should be stripped of the Oscar and it should be awarded to the runner-up.

Gifford's complaints seem to have fallen on deaf ears. In typical leftist fashion, the ends seem to justify the means. The Hollywood elite seem to be overlooking the lies and deceit, because they largely agree with Moore's wacky claims.

Am I the only one that is starting to hate the Fox News web site? (For other than political reasons.) First they put those (search) annoying (search) tags all (search) through their (search) articles, like they are (search) Yahoo or something. Now they appear to have hijacked my right click. Perhaps it is just my computer or perhaps netscape, but my right click appears to not work on their main page. (When I click on a link, it goes directly to that link instead of giving me options to open in a new tab or window.)

If this is normal operating procedure for them, they are chasing power surfers like me away. If I cannot hit their main page, and open all the articles I want to read into separate tabs or windows, they can forget about me ever coming back there.

They also appear to insist on collecting marketing data such as how much money I make, and where I live. Do they not realize that everyone puts phony data in there?

UPDATE: We get results. They appear to have fixed the problem right click.

Frank Deford writes a humorous essay about Anna Kournikova, who by the way has never won a tournament. Apparently, she is some sort of tennis player, who actually used to be pretty good at the sport.

Unfortunately, Anna's beauty earns her just as many sneers as it does cheers. Envy is a powerful emotion, and when it comes to beautiful women in sports, some people think they should only be appreciated for their talent on the court. The fact that Anna gets a lot more attention than some players that have won tournaments is a sore spot with some people.

We are supposed to forget about charisma, and just obsess over the best players. Of course, the world doesn't work that way. Britney Spears isn't loved for her music, just like Dennis Rodman isn't loved for his basketball skills. I won't rehash Deford's entire point, you can read his article for that. But here is one of the money quotes:

Hey, may we get real? Males enjoy watching pretty girls doing ... anything ... walking, standing still, sitting ... at work, at school, at church -- yes, even there -- so why should we think anything would be different with men and boys in the sports world? But the equality police get all out of sorts when fans linger longer over blondes than backhands. And it's not as if Kournikova, who's never won a tournament, hurts her sport.

All you jealous women out there need to learn to relax. After all, we know you don't love Tom Cruise or George Clooney for their acting skills.

UPDATE: Although he has different tastes, Kim would appear to agree.

Am I the only one that thinks the Orbitz pop-under ads are actually kind of cool? Surely you've seen the little "flash" games that they've put out there. A few days ago, they had a dunking booth. Not only could you dunk the poor sap in the booth, but you could pelt him with balls until he was bruised and battered. Tonight they had a little blimp ride where you had to manuever a blimp through a city landscape. It could only be improved with a Hindenberg like cut-scene when you crash.

Spoons has more on the recent shooting from Chicago; the city where the only legal owner of the murder weapon is being charged with a crime. The gun the shooter used was a 1960s model .380 pocket pistol. Whether accidental or part of a larger conspiracy to make guns sound more evil than they are, the moronic Chicago media had this to say about the mighty .380.

[Acting Chicago Police Superintendent Phil] Cline said Tapia had a Walther .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol and "at least one extra clip.'' Cline described it as "an older model gun.'' The weapon is small and easily concealed, designed for plainclothes officers. [...]

A gun made for plainclothes cops because of its big firepower and small size was the weapon Salvador Tapia brandished Wednesday.

As any gun owner can tell you, while a .380 pocket pistol may be easy to conceal, "big firepower" it aint. The .380 cartridge is like a wimpy 9mm, but with less power, and calling it "big firepower" either illustrates just how ignorant the media is, or how willing they are to demonize firearms. Either way, the result on the average uninformed American is the same.

Lately, Libertarian radio host and blogger Neal Boortz has been covering the property rights fight in Alabaster, Alabama. The Alabaster city council is using their police powers to seize property to give to a developer that wants to put up a shopping mall. The city council cites "public use", and justifies it with the increase in tax dollars that the city stands to gain. Their rationalle is that since tax dollars would be increased with a shopping center rather than people's homes sitting on that land, the government has a duty to the public to make more efficient use of the land. That means shoving people off their land and turning it over to the developer.

Of course that reasoning is so extremely broad, that any city council in the nation could use a similar excuse to kick anyone off their land. On September 1st, Neal noted the incredible arrogance of city councilman Bobby Harris. Recently Harris sent out a newsletter to the people in his district that claims:

I warned you to get your property appraised. I put you on notice that your property was prime... Many of you failed to do your homework. ...As your representative I placed you (owners) on notice over five years ago.

I find the arrogance of city officials to be overwhelming. It is hard to fathom that your elected representatives would use police power to seize your property and sell it to someone else against your will.

Now, I never advocate violence, especially when peaceable solutions are available. However, if I lost in court and exhausted all legal appeals, I seriously doubt that I would allow them to force me off my land without a fight. This is exactly this kind of tyranical oppression that the Second Amendment was meant to protect against. Without respect for property rights, we no longer have a free society. In the end, I may not win the fight, but dammit I would take some of them to hell with me.

For the good people of Alabaster that just want to keep their homes, I hope that it never comes to that.

Fox News reports that the New York City smoking ban has taken over the U.N. building.

Denis Beissel, head of the U.N. Office of Human Resources Management, warned U.N. staff in a follow-up directive that anyone who smokes in the building could face "disciplinary action."

Look for U.N. resolutions, followed by 12 years of sanctions and inspectors roaming the hallways looking for smoking violations.

Memo to U.N.: Belgium may soon have some office space available.

So much for McCain-Feingold. The bill has failed to remove soft money from politics, yet it still bans so called "issue ads" that serve to protect incumbents from political attack.

The Carnival of the Vanities turned 50 today. You can catch it over at Rhetorica. For those of you keeping score, you'll find my wonderful entry under the appropriate heading: "Sideshow Freaks".

Acidman takes a cynical look at what else might happen between now and when this asteroid slams into the Earth in 2014. It seems that the only real certainty is that the "holier than thou" media would tell everyone that monkeys might fly out of their butt if they thought it would sell a few newspapers.

IMHO, some of them are no better than the Weekly World News.

ABC (Australia) reports that due to budget cuts, the Swedish armed forces are only working 9-5.

Sweden's armed forces will operate only during office hours for the rest of the year to cut costs, according to military headquarters.

They will also cut fighter plane patrols to a minimum, keep navy ships in port, mothball armoured vehicles and stop using large-calibre live ammunition during exercises. [...]

A parliamentary defence commission said in a recent report that the likelihood of Sweden facing a military threat in the foreseeable future was very small.

Now that the secret is out, the threat probably just got a whole lot bigger. They remind me of those GFWs that put a sign on their lawn proclaiming "Gun free home". In both cases, the sign might as well say "we are defenseless, please come attack us".

On the subject of running for President in 2004, Hillary Clinton announced that she was "absolutely ruling it out". Wesley Pruden thinks that it is all part of her grand deception. He says it is the same game plan Bill used when he broke his promise to serve out his term as Arkansas governor.

Personally, I cannot help but think that all the mixed polling data is a ploy to lure Hillary into the 2004 race. The weaker Bush looks the more likely she is to run. A recent poll that shows that not even their own mothers can name a Democrat presidential candidate only serves to sweeten the pot.

Perhaps taking a cue from officials in Naples Florida, police and city officials in St. Paul, Minnesota have caught another criminal red handed. The AP reports that Mikaela Ziegler, 7, and her 4-year-old sister, Annika were caught selling coke. Coca-Cola, that is, and lemonade were being sold by the young criminal pair without a license. After their bust, the young girls' father inquired about obtaining a business license, but the $60 cost would have put a serious damper on the $13 profit the girls made from selling refreshments.

Terrorists from the Animal Liberation Front, ALF, freed 10,000 minks. The law of unintended consequences kicked in, and as theAP reports, the minks are feeding on the local animals.

Hundreds of minks set free in Washington state by animal rights activists are devouring farm animals and exotic birds in the area. [...]

Animal activists say that while the farm animals' deaths are unfortunate, it proves minks raised in captivity can survive in the wild.

I hate to break it to the enviro-weenies, but eating penned farm animals is a far cry from catching prey in the wild.

Marv Essary gives us this wonderful essay on the double standard of "hate speech". Ann Coulter is constantly villified and Trent Lott was forced to step down, while Maureen Dowd and Howell Raines are given a pass.

Indeed, when this person started attacking Ann Coulter and accused her of being a racist member of the KKK, someone who runs over kittens, and someone who makes "black people slaves", I offered up my disagreement. It was after I pointed out the irony of this person using "hate speech" to accuse Ms. Coulter of "hate speech", that I was banned for of all things, using "hate speech". Hows that for a circle jerk? It seems too easy for people to conclude that because someone disagrees with them, it must be hate speech.

The thing is that hate speech is exactly the kind of speech that is protected by the First Amendment. If we all agreed with one another, there would be no need for free speech protections. Although it is not my style to ban people (I have yet to ban anyone), I don't have too much of a problem with being banned, or someone not wanting me to participate in their discussion. After all, that is their right when they are footing the bill. I just shrug it off and ignore them.

Still, I can't help but get out my ode de self-righteous stink spray and point out that those people living in those glass houses, shouldn't be so quick to throw stones at those whom they perceive to be hateful and intolerant.

UPDATE: Another case in point.

I'm sure that with enough tax dollars, we could probably prevent this giant asteroid from destroying the Earth. That is, if we can repeal the Bush tax give-aways in time. Otherwise, we might as well give up recycling and saving the whales because we're all dead in 11 years any way. (Smoke 'em if you got 'em, kids.)

The good news is that if the Dark Sky morons are successful, we should have a good view of it.

I'm amazed at how many comments this post is gathering. The current count is 27 (which is a lot for this site), and these guys are writing books. I guess that is a testiment to Lope's provacative topic.

Tazteck reports that the Florida wants to modernize their taxes, with a stifling network infrastructure tax. Those wires, cables, computers and switches could be taxed as high as 15% when the state of Florida gets through with them.

Duh!

A convicted felon just released from prison picked the wrong Texas home to invade. James Adam Garcia's apparent motive was to hold members of the family for ransom. When faced with Garcia holding a gun to his son's head, homeowner Richard Gomez promptly paid him in lead.

This random act of violence has police offering advice for any homeowner. "That if they have a peep hole or if they have a nearby window look through that before you open the door," said Sandy Guiterrez, San Antonio Police Dept.

It is so refreshing to hear police offer good advice, instead of the "just do what they want" bullshit that you might hear from the police in Chicago, or will definitely hear from these morons.

Kevin over at The Smallest Minority is keeping tabs on the recent Chicago shooting, in which six people were tragically murdered. The shooter was killed by police, so he can't be charged with anything. The previous owner of the gun was a cop, who died last year, so he can't be held accountable. The owner before him was also a cop, also currently dead, so he cannot be charged either. How about the guy that owned the gun originally?

That would be Milton Beuck, who owned the gun from 1966 to 1994, and is currently homeless. While Beuck owned the gun legally, and had registered it as required by law, he failed to maintain the sales record (from 1994) for the required 10 years. Apparently, being homeless has put a damper on his record keeping. Falling one year short of the record keeping deadline, he makes the perfect sacrificial lamb for Chicago prosecutors.

Beuck has been arrested, and charged with not keeping the sales record for the required 10 years. His bond has been set at a staggering $100,000, because of the seriousness of the "eventual crime"; a murder which, as Kevin notes, he did not commit. Ironically, it was because he complied with the law and kept a registration record, that the firearm was traced back to him.

While Beuck was the original owner of the gun, he legally sold it to a police officer back in 1994, who sold it to another police officer some time prior to 1997. Both officers are deceased, and neither had registered the firearm (which is required by law). Because they did not keep the required records, how it got into the murderer's hands is not yet known and may never be.

The Herald Tribune reports, in amazement, about a Florida businessman that sells legal products to qualified customers. The store owner has even decided to catch up to the 1990s by setting up a web site and using scantily clad women to hawk his wares. (Note: I checked thoroughly and could not find any scantily clad women on the site.)

Of course, the media is so completely shocked that they even print "The site is perfectly legal." in bold letters. At issue is the fact that Andrew Bigelow sells NFA transferable firearms and munitions. The practice that has been heavily regulated since 1934, yet for some reason it is just now making the news in Florida. They also take issue with Bigelow's previous businesses, a porn site and a "legitimate" internet search engine, as if porn and machine guns are in some way illegitimate.

Naturally the media cannot resist letting irrational GFWs further their agenda.

The store naturally raises the hackles of gun opponents in Southwest Florida who question why anyone would need such firepower.

"It's frightening to see how much weaponry they have for sale," said Susannah Michalson, a Sarasota resident and gun-control proponent. "For people concerned about the safety of children and human life it's a shock."

I find it frightening that people that are unnaturally afraid of inanimate objects are permitted to roam around with the rest of society. If Ms. Michalson lays awake at night, fretting over how Mr. Bigelow makes his living, she needs to seek professional help. If she has children, they should probably be taken away and made wards of the state. She doesn't seem grounded enough to walk around free with the rest of us.

Your CD-Rs may be degrading faster than tape, notes The Register. A Dutch firm has done some testing, and found that cheap CD-R media written just 18 months ago may be completely unreadable. The culprit may be cheap, unstable dyes used by the manufacturer, and premium brands may not be affected as much. They also note that recording speed has nothing to do with it.

Site traffic increased in August. Here are some raw numbers:

The Ravnwood.com page counter also reached the 100,000 milestone, and went over 110,000 last month, with very little fanfare.

There were 143 posts in August, compared to 120 in July, 169 in June, 140 in May, 127 in April, 124 in March. The high is still 186 in November, 2002.