Who needs neighbors like this? In Suffolk, Virginia a woman witnessed a three year old playing with a pistol. Did she take quick action and take the pistol away from the kid? Nope, she grabbed a video camera. (Was she hoping to catch footage of the kid blowing his head off?)

The gun was unloaded, and the child unharmed (no thanks to the neighbor). The parents will be facing felony child endangerment charges for their act of stupidity. The neighbor isn't facing any charges for her failure to act, although in my opinion she should. They were all negligent, but the neighbor's seemed more willful.

Said parents also lost their parenting privileges. Their three children were confiscated by the government and given to relatives for safe keeping. Meanwhile, the neighbor lady is playing up the hero role for the news media.

Now I want to emphasise that I am in no way saying that Michael Moore is a communist. But the communists sure seem to be huge fans of him and his work.

U.S. director Michael Moore's anti-Bush documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" was shown on prime time Cuban state-run television on Thursday after playing to packed cinemas for a week. [...]

Cubans have stood in long lines to buy tickets to see rough DVD copies projected at 120 cinema theaters across the island to unfailing applause.

"We hope this film will lead Americans to see the reality of their government, and not only deny Bush reelection but put him on trial for the harm he has done to humanity," said retired worker Armando Rodriguez.

His supporters can call him a patriot if they want, but I tend to judge a man by the company he keeps.

I've always known dentists were masochists but this story is pretty sick. What I really want to know is how all these women recognized the taste so quickly.

The Washington Post is still having a hissy fit over people celebrating their Constitutionally protected rights. In the past month, there have been a whopping three, lets count them again, three instances where Northern Virginians have been caught celebrating their right to the open carry of firearms. This has been a protected right in Virginia for almost 400 years (with the exception of very few localities) but the Post is trying to convince people that Virginians are doing something new (and dangerous).

EVER SINCE July 1 -- when yet another gun-lovers' law loosened up Virginia's already lax governance of weapons -- it's been one big macho-fest for heat-packers who get their courage from strapping on pistols. Not every diner may relish the sight of six armed men at the next table, but unless the General Assembly comes to its senses next year, families out for a gathering will have to get used to pistols and ammo belts with their burgers and fries.

Macho-fest? Ammo belts? Notice how they conclude that the General Assembly must be nuts to not use the threat of lethal force to squelch the right of the people.

As reported by The Post's Tom Jackman, residents have been spotted around Fairfax County several times in the past six weeks exercising their new right to wear arms. Police commanders have had to issue reminders to officers that "open carry" is legal.

This is not a new right. This has been the right of every Virginian for 400 years, except for those that lived in a few cities in Northern Virginia where citizens were being denied their rights. (For the record, several times=three times [gasp].)

Maryland and the District don't allow all these "freedoms." So area travelers should be on notice: Virginia Is for Gun-Lovers.

Nice scare quotes. The Post sounds proud that freedom is being denied in the District and Maryland. Of course freedom is protected, not allowed. An allowance is a priviledge that the state grants you. The right to self protection is granted by God, not the government.

And travelers *should* be on notice. Far be it for the Washington Post to actually tell you the truth, but Virginia, despite because of their free-wheeling gun-toting attitude, enjoys a lower crime rate than both D.C. and Maryland. Fairfax County Virginia has almost 1 million people. Raw federal crime data shows 11,938 crimes reported with 2 murders, 38 rapes, and 132 robberies. Just across the river in Montgomery County Maryland, however, there were 27,840 crimes reported; more than double. They included 12 murders, 177 rapes, and 814 robberies. If it weren't for simple thievery which is over two thirds the total in Maryland and 85% of the crime in Fairfax, the two counties wouldn't even compare. When it comes to violent crime, they don't. Montgomery County has 600% of the murders, more than 400% of the rapes, and more than 600% of the robberies. These are raw numbers, of course, so to put them into perspective Montgomery County not only has more crime but they have less people. Although almost equal, their population is just over 900,000, compared to nearly 1 million in Fairfax. Washington D.C., arguably the crime capital of the U.S., doesn't even compare.

So if all you D.C. tourists want to stay in Maryland or the District, feel free. But you do so at your own risk.

Has Kerry completely written off the South?

"It comes as little surprise that the Kerry campaign has given up on their short-lived southern strategy. It was, no doubt, cancelled due to lack of interest," said U.S. Sen. John Cornyn. "Their decision to fold their tent makes perfect sense: Even with a southerner on the ticket, the Kerry-Edwards campaign simply can't shed their liberal, elitist, out-of-touch image.

I think Cornyn is over-confident.

For the past several years, I've been hoping to pick up the paper and read a headline like "Saddam Hussein* died suddenly".

This comes close.

* Same wish applies for Osama, Arafat, Clinton, Feinstein, etc.

If you haven't seen them yet, here are some of the photos of Kerry's visit to NASA.

The first time I saw them, I thought they were photoshopped. But they are indeed real, and the Kerry campaign is lashing out at NASA for "leaking" the bunny suit photos. The claim is laughable, considering they are obviously posed and taken with Kerry's consent.

Drudge reports that John Kerry was quite the filmmaker in Vietnam, re-enacting action scenes and casting himself as the hero.

NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Lt. Col. Robert "Buzz" Patterson in his new book RECKLESS DISREGARD, details one of the claimed Kerry reenactments for film:

"On February 28, 1969, now in charge of PCF 94, Kerry came under fire from an enemy location on the shore. The crew's gunner returned fire, hitting and wounding the lone gunman. Kerry directed the boat to charge the enemy position. Beaching his boat, Kerry jumped off, chased the wounded insurgent behind a thatched hutch, and killed him. Kerry and his crew returned within days, armed with a Super 8 video camera he had purchased at the post exchange at Cam Ranh Bay, and reenacted the skirmish on film."

The short films that Kerry made are being given a Hollywood makeover into what Steven Speilberg protege James Moll is calling a "documentary". In reality, it's a marketing film, and it should debut tonight.

Wisconsin Gun Owners reports that police recently went door to door confiscating firearms.

Since their website has no permalinks and uses annoying frames, I've reprinted the entire article here:

OSHKOSH POLICE CONDUCT DOOR TO DOOR GUN CONFISCATIONS

Shooting of Oshkosh police officer results in knee jerk neighborhood gun grab

Oshkosh, Wis. -- Following the shooting of an Oshkosh police officer Saturday night, area residents were forced from their homes, their lawful firearms being confiscated by police.

The Oshkosh Police Department's Special Weapons and Tactics Unit responded to the area, with a K-9 police dog in pursuit of the perpetrator who was reported to have fled on foot.

Citizens' guns were seized through searches of area homes. The police promised to return the firearms after forensic tests proved they were not involved in the crime. The injured officer's name was withheld, but media reports indicate his condition is not life-threatening.

"The message is: Hand over your guns, now!" said Corey Graff, executive director of Wisconsin Gun Owners Inc. "This is a blatant case of guilty-until-proven-innocent and an abuse of police power."

Still, residents in the area are furious about the home invasions by police and what they see as theft of their property. Although early reports are unclear, they indicate a search warrant was issued for two homes, yet additional home owners also had firearms confiscated.

"We want the perpetrator of this crime caught and brought to justice just like everyone else," said Graff. "But that doesn't mean the police should trample citizens' 4th amendment protections, steal lawful private property and enter the home without reasonable suspicion or warrant."

One homeowner in the area said his guns were taken by police, guns that hadn't left his gun safe since last hunting season. Another victim of the police searches -- an elderly women -- reported waking up to officers' searching her home in the early morning hours.

The Oshkosh Northwestern reported, "Residents were not being allowed to return to their homes by press time."

This is why all police business should be conducted on the porch. If a policeman wants entry into my home, unless they have a warrant the answer is always "NO". I don't know about you, but if you hear that Ravenwood's guns have been taken, you'll know Ravenwood is dead.

- WBAY corroborates this somewhat, stating: "As the police were doing their door-to-door search on the night in question"

- The Post-Crescent states: "Officers began clearing houses shortly after. Residents in the area were being kept from returning to their homes as of late Saturday night."

- The Green Bay Gazette pretty much has the scoop, although they don't seem to be alarmed about it at all: "Special Weapons and Tactics Unit conducted a house-by-house search... ...The SWAT team completed its search by 5:30 a.m. Sunday and detectives began investigating the scene and gathering information. SWAT team members took firearms from at least two homes in the area, but without concluding they were used in the shooting."

I guess they've never heard of "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated..."

Has anyone else noticed that all other news seems to be taking a back seat to the convention. Check out the number two story over at CNN:

(Click to supersize)

I guess 68 dead Iraqis aren't as important as Lady Ketchup.

For those of you who are counting, this is the third straight day that just about the entire front page of the CNN website has been devoted to the Democrat National Convention. Will the RNC get this kind of coverage? We'll have to wait and see.

UPDATE: CNN has finally bumped convention coverage for some real news.

The United Nations tried to pass a resolution to condemn anti-Semitism at the General Assembly. The measure would mean that Arab states can no longer make reference to those "dirty Jews", and blame all things bad on the "Zionist conspiracy". White hoods and swastikas would also be out.

But to the United Nation's complete amazement, the Arab states actually balked at the idea. They are shocked, I say, shocked that Ambassadors from Arab nations would not embrace their feel good resolution.

Once again the U.N. proves their worth.

Charles Hill notes that the music industry is up to no good:

Those wonderful folks at Macrovision claim they have a "99-percent" effective copy-protection system for music CDs. A CD thus protected will demand to be run on Windows Media Player, which will then offer (yeah, right) to install Macrovision's Active Software Protection program, which blocks rippage and cloning.

The Reg goes on to claim:

The upshot, says Macrovision, is that users are forced to used [sic] WMP [Windows Media Player], which invokes the installer. This time round, users are asked if they want to install a "licence" on their PC, but on goes Macrovision's Active Software Protection (ASP) code too, which actively blocks rippers and cloners. To be fair, Macrovision is keen to stress that the on-screen installation information admits that ASP is there, but how many users will take the time to read it, rather than dashing straight for the OK button, we wonder?

So let me get this straight. The music industry is going to partner with Microsoft to ensure that all music CDs will only work on their integrated Windows Media Player. WMP will, in turn, make sure that the computer blocks access to third party player software. (Note how they dubiously assume that all other software consists solely of "rippers and cloners".)

Can we say ANTITRUST. Has Microsoft learned NOTHING from their anti-trust lawsuit? If they buy into this, they deserve to be broken up.

Here's an idea: Next time I'm in a music store, why don't I just bend over, drop my pants, and let them give it to me up the ass. That is obviously what the RIAA wants to do.

Every one of the candidates running for President and Vice President is a multi-millionaire. But some of them are more well off (and more ostentatious) than the others. For all the criticism he takes, George W. Bush is the poor kid on the block. The Weekly Standard takes a look at the staggering differences between the candidates of today and candidates of the past.

In most cases, the well-to-do in American politics have been like the Kennedys, Bushes, and Roosevelts, people who lived in great comfort but not ostentation, with, say, a town house, a (family) place in the country, small pleasure boats, and of course live-in help. When he ran for president, Franklin D. Roosevelt had a flat in New York and the family seat in Hyde Park and he lived in the governor's mansion in Albany. Theodore Roosevelt had a house in Washington (where he served as McKinley's vice president), and his ungainly Sagamore Hill mansion on Long Island. When John Kennedy ran, he had a nice but unostentatious town house in Georgetown, and a nice but unremarkable house on Cape Cod. (To be fair, he also had access to his father's Palm Beach oceanside mansion, and the family's several apartments in New York.) When George W. Bush ran for president, he lived in the governor's mansion in Austin, and his one home was his ranch.

Kerry by contrast is master and commander of no fewer than five lavish mansions, all large, and all on the priciest real estate, where property values boggle the mind: There is the $3.7 million mansion in Fox Chapel, Pa., on a 90-acre estate with a pool and a carriage house; the $6.9 million town house on Beacon Hill back in Boston; the $9.1 million waterfront house on Nantucket Island; and a $5 million ski chalet in Ketchum, Idaho, built from a 15th-century barn discovered in England that was then taken apart, shipped to America, and reassembled stone by stone. When they want to live simply, the Heinz Kerrys make do with a 23-room town house in Georgetown, almost three times the size of the one that the Kennedys lived in, and worth a mere $4.7 million. To go back and forth between all of these places, the Kerrys have the deluxe model of the Gulfstream V private jet, which retails for about $35 million.

No matter how despicable you consider their professions (a trial lawyer and oil tycoon), you would have a tough time arguing that Edwards and Cheney didn't work for their money. On the other hand, both Kerry and Bush have more or less lucked into money. Bush earned his money through family connections, while Kerry has a gift for wooing rich women. There's nothing altogether wrong with either of those prospects, but when it comes to the politics of envy (that the Dems are so good at) they don't really have much to talk about.

Mike Adams weighs in on the New Jersey Senate President who thinks women and their rapists should settle their disputes without firearms.

[T]he Second Amendment Sisters simply advocate a woman's "right to choose" to own and carry firearms. But Dick Codey thinks the government should make that choice for them. He wants to abort their right to self-protection. He knows what's best for a woman.

Unbelievably, Dick Codey’s publicly released statement also contained the following assertion: "If a woman is being raped, she should just sit back and enjoy it until a man comes along to rescue her."

Where are the feminists on this issue?

Although I rarely read Ann Coulter, I laughed out loud at this. What's funny is not so much what Coulter had to say, but the reaction of the nitwits at USA Today who were tasked with editing her column. I can picture their faces as they try to pretend that they truly don't get what Ms. Coulter is trying to say. (USA Today comments are in CAPS)

A speaker at the Democratic National Convention this year, Al Sharpton, accused white police officers of raping and defacing Tawana Brawley in 1987, lunatic charges that eventually led to a defamation lawsuit against Sharpton and even more eventually, to Sharpton paying a jury award to the defamed plaintiff Steve Pagones. So it's a real mystery why cops wouldn't like Democrats.

USA Today: IS THAT LAST SENTENCE SARCASTIC? IF SO, YOU SURE LOST ME.

[...]

My pretty-girl allies stick out like a sore thumb amongst the corn-fed, no make-up, natural fiber, no-bra needing, sandal-wearing, hirsute, somewhat fragrant hippie chick pie wagons they call "women" at the Democratic National Convention.

USA Today: NOT FUNNY, I DON'T GET IT.

[...]

Looking at the line-up of speakers at the Convention, I have developed the 7-11 challenge: I will quit making fun of, for example, Dennis Kucinich, if he can prove he can run a 7-11 properly for 8 hours. We'll even let him have an hour or so of preparation before we open up. Within 8 hours, the money will be gone, the store will be empty, and he'll be explaining how three 11-year olds came in and asked for the money and he gave it to them.

USA Today: I DON'T GET IT.

[...]

I'd say I love all these Democrats in Boston so much I want them to go home, but I don't. I want Americans to get a good long look at the French Party and keep the 7-11 challenge in mind.

USA Today: WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY "THE FRENCH PARTY"? I DON'T GET IT.

Michelle Malkin points out that their not getting the reference to the French Party just goes to show that they aren't reading their own paper.

How Neal Boortz can talk to DiFi without jumping across the table and choking her is beyond me.

I cannot believe some of the photos coming out of the DNC Convention in Boston. Is this America or what?

These people support the DNC. Notice how they are treated.

These people are protesting the DNC. Notice how they are treated.

This is not the way government should treat citizens in a free society. And if the Republicans do this in New York next month, shame on them as well. Notice that this is all done in the name of "security". If this small cage where only a few people were "allowed" to protest is a "free speech zone", what does that make the rest of Boston?

Below are more shameful photos

(Geek covers this as well.)

Spoons catches CNN in some wishful thinking.

For every law enforcement official that supports gun bans, there are just as many that realize their futility. I would add that they are also a waste of government resources and time.

"I think it makes most police officers uncomfortable knowing the amount of fire power that is out there and available to the percentage of the population that would use it for evil purposes," said David Lain, chief deputy of the Porter County's Sherrif's Department.

"But I don't see that, ban or no ban, that it's going to affect what weapons the bad guys are able to get ahold of." [...]

"I haven't seen that the ban has made much of a difference," Jeff Wells said. He is a 15-year veteran of the Lake County coroner's office, which processes about 80 homicide scenes each year in which firearms are involved.

He said the number of victims riddled by semiautomatic weapons are rare. "I remember one case three years ago where three kids were killed in a van in Hammond. There were a lot of bullet casings at the scene," he said.

The simple fact is that criminals will always have guns, and there is absolutely nothing the government can do about it. We can't keep guns and knives out of our prisons or off of our airplanes, what makes them so naive that they think we can keep them out of the hands of private citizens?

Johnny Knuckles has a quiz everyone should take. The answers might surprise you. (Then again, they might not.)

Proponents of Michael Moore claim that he's a great American patriot for the things he says. Apparently our boys overseas don't see it that way.

"Michael Moore's film, Fahrenheit 9/11, is making the rounds here at U.S. bases in Kuwait. Some soldiers have received it already and are passing is around. The impact is devastating. Here we are, soldiers of the 1st Armored Division, just days from finally returning home after over a year serving in Iraq, and Moore's film is shocking and crushing soldiers, making them feel ashamed. Moore has abused the First Amendment and is hurting us worse than the enemy has. There are the young and impressionable soldiers, like those who joined the Army right out of high school. They aren't familiar w/ the college-type political debate environment, and they haven't been schooled in the full range of issues involved. They are vulnerable to being hurt by a vicious film like Moore's."

Moore's film, which has been cheered by terror groups like Hezbolah and the anti-American wingnuts in Europe, is nothing more than anti-American socialist propaganda. I would hope that our soldiers see him for the moonbat that he is. They should feel proud and honored for the job they've done, and ignore the ravings of the extreme left.

BTW, five bucks says Moore wins another Oscar.

The New York Times asks: "Is The New York Times a Liberal Newspaper?"

They immediately answer the question with "Of course it is", and then go on to explain that it's all New York's fault.

You can take the paper out of the city, but without an effort to take the city and all its attendant provocations, experiments and attitudes out of the paper, readers with a different worldview will find The Times an alien beast.

Taking the New York out of The New York Times would be a really bad idea.

They could have saved a tree and just said "We're liberal and proud of it. Nyaaah."

When women start bitching about the lack of available sperm donors, here's why.

The three-judge panel ruled Thursday that the deal between Joel McKiernan and Ivonne Ferguson -- in which McKiernan donated his sperm and would not be obligated to pay any support -- was unenforceable because of "legal, equitable and moral principles."

Despite an agreement that appeared to be a binding contract, the father is obligated to provide financial support, the court decided.

"It is the interest of the children we hold most dear,"' wrote Senior Judge Patrick Tamalia.

When you put it that way, how could you possibly argue that not getting $1500 a month in child support is in the interest of the children? Hell, with that logic you could argue that grocery stores should be forced to give away "free" baby food. After all, it's for the children.

"I remember a time when people in political parties in Pennsylvania talked to one another and actually got things done. We have to go back to those days when we can do things properly, for the people need it. We need to turn back some of the creeping, un-Pennsylvanian and sometimes un-American traits that are coming into some of our politics." -- Wannabe First Lady Theresa Heinz-Kerry, lamenting over the uncivilized tone in American politics today.

"Shove it." -- Theresa Heinz-Kerry, just moments later, expressing outrage and contempt at a local reporter.

UPDATE: CNN tells a slightly different story, and they come up with a reaction from the Hildabeast.

Asked about the comment Monday on CNN's "American Morning," Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said she believes that "a lot of Americans will say, 'Good for you -- you go girl.' And certainly that's how I feel about it."

Weren't these the same people screaming bloody murder when Dick Cheney told Senator Filibuster to go fuck himself. And don't write me telling me they are two different things. They mean almost exactly the same thing, you're just talking about different orifices. And I don't buy into the bullshit notion that leaving out the really bad words or using stupid made up words (like frickin' or crap) is any less vulgar. It's the meaning behind the words that counts.

If you're disappointed with the economic recovery, blame your local politicians, not President Bush. Local tax hikes are often times erasing the federal tax savings from the Bush's three rounds of tax cuts.

But after three tax cuts in three years, the part-owner of Loudoun County's Old Dominion Brewing Co. is not exactly celebrating his gains. Sure, his federal tax bill was trimmed, by a healthy $5,600, according to a rough calculation by Clint Stretch, director of tax policy at the accounting firm Deloitte & Touche LLP.

But other factors having nothing to do with federal taxes have clouded Bailey's situation. This year, the property tax bill on his Bethesda home will reach $6,725, a $950 increase over his payment four years ago. The annual cost of his 56-mile-a-day commute has jumped more than $300 since 2001, and the long, slow decline of business profits these past four years has left Bailey far behind, no matter what his federal tax payment may be.

Most tellingly, 71% of Americans think they didn't receive any tax cut at all.

Politicians in Brazil are feeling pretty good about themselves. Their cash for guns program took in a major haul recently, which they blissfully think will stem the tide of violence in the crime-ravaged nation.

A woman has turned in nearly 1,300 guns to federal police, responding to a government campaign for citizens to surrender privately held weapons.

The woman had kept the guns at home since her father, an arms collector, died eight years ago, federal policeman Wagner Castilho said Saturday. [...]

The government is paying Brazilians to surrender their weapons in an effort to reduce the country's murder rate, one of the world's highest.

Yeah, $65,000 is a lot of money, but her gun collection was probably worth several hundred thousand dollars. Also, she doesn't seem to be much of a crime risk. Coercing little old ladies to give up their guns does nothing to reduce the murder rate. But you can't tell that to the gun fearing wussies who ignorantly think that evil guns are the root of all crime.

While gun buybacks are a good way for criminals to get rid of crime guns (no questions asked), the Brazilian program is mostly taking in antiques.

[M]ost are old, and some even date back to World War II, police said.

Of cours, all these old guns, including any priceless relics, will be melted down for scrap.

Whaddayaknow.. I still made the Top 40.

You have to hand it to Lance Armstrong. Winning 6 straight Tour de France titles may be one of history's most incredible athletic accomplishments.

On an unrelated note, I'll never understand his attraction to moonbat Sheryl Crow.

Geek is appalled at the New Jersey Senate President. The Senator thinks that women should accept being raped rather than try to fight back with an eeevil gun. Moreover, Senator Butthead thinks that "disputes" between rapists and rapees should be settled rationally and with meaningful dialog rather than denigrating into senseless violence.

What an asshole.

The Congressional recess starts today and continues through Labor Day. The Clinton Gun Ban expires on September 13th.

I'm not celebrating yet, but I am wondering how my post-ban AR would look with shiny new bayonet lugs.

This defines irony.

LOL!

In April, Virginia's sleazy, no-good, lying, motherfucker Governor Mark "I will not raise taxes! I will not raise taxes! I will not raise taxes!" Warner passed that largest tax increase in Virginia history. Warner, a Democrat, who campaigned on a 'no new taxes' pledge had broken his promise because Virginia was apparently in such dire circumstances. A month later, it was discovered that Virginia was actually running a huge budget surplus.

With Virginia's robust economy chugging along, the fiscal year ended June 30th with an extra $324 Million in the bank. For the new year starting July 1st, we already have a $13 Million surplus. So, with all this extra money coming in, will lawmakers be giving it back to the taxpayers? Not on your life. Even though the few die hard fiscal conservatives in the GOP feel like first class suckers, Virginia lawmakers, Democrats and the Republican leadership alike, plan on spending the money. All those government programs and budget line items that were left on the cutting room floor are suddenly the most important projects on earth.

[House Speaker William] Howell says state legislators should consider directing a portion of future windfalls to transportation. The transportation budget has been cut by nearly 3-point-5 (b) billion dollars in the past three years, forcing the state to focus nearly all of its highway funding on maintaining existing roads.

By the way, those "future windfalls" are being seized from Virginians at the point of a gun.

The idiots that run the DC Metrorail system never cease to amaze me. You would think that after requiring them, someone within the organization would have had the forsight to order some extra Smartrip cards. Or perhaps this is all part of their grand plan to beat riders off with a stick.

After encouraging the public to buy SmarTrip cards by installing SmarTrip fare boxes on more than 1,000 buses, placing SmarTrip vending machines in 33 stations and requiring their use by anyone parking at a Metro lot, the transit system is running out of cards. [...]

Transit officials said they were surprised by how many cards they have sold since June 28, when SmarTrip cards became the only way to pay for parking at Metro's many parking lots and garages.

"We weren't able to anticipate this," Metro Chief Executive Richard A. White told board members yesterday. "It turns out the crystal ball was cracked. It was foggy."

Why do I get the feeling this guy actually has a crystal ball in his office? The move to requiring Smartrip cards was to eliminate the need for cashiers. So, are they going back to taking cash? Nope.

Until SmarTrip card sales resume, anyone who parks at a Metro lot or garage and doesn't have a SmarTrip card must purchase a paper fare card at a station for the exact amount of the parking fee. That fare card must be handed to a parking attendant at the exit lanes.

That's right you get the inconvenience of fare cards with the inefficiency and added cost of actual human tellers. Isn't government amazing? (By the way, those extra tellers are going to cost taxpayers $34,000 a week.)

Metro officials seem to be doing all they can to chase riders away. Even though the DC Metro was already the most expensive Metro system to ride, they've still managed to raise prices several times in the last few years. Then, as ridership decreases even more, the leaders call for more fare increases to cover their budget deficit. Duh! (The endgame is there will be one guy left riding it and his fare will be $900,000,000 to cover the operating costs.)

More recently, Metro decided to cut the number of cars run in the evening from 4 to 2. The move was supposed to save millions of dollars, but instead left angry passengers standing on the platform. I'm sure these folks will be thinking about Metro next time they plan on traveling downtown.

The Metro also used to give you a 10% discount for purchasing fares in bulk. If you put $200 on your Smartrip card, it would only cost you $180. That highly popular plan was scrapped last summer, which chased even more riders away.

So what does the government do with an aging rail system that is more expensive and slower than driving your car to work? They expand it, of course!

Over the next 10 to 12 years Metro wants to build a whole new line out to Dulles Airport. They've even secured millions of dollars in federal tax dollars to fund it. Democrat Congressman James "Blame the J-E-W-S" Moran was on WMAL radio this morning explaining that they also plan on increasing fares, increasing parking fees, increasing tolls for cars that travel the Dulles toll road, and increasing local property taxes to pay the local share of the expansion. Oh, and by the way, it doesn't even go all the way to Dulles. The first phase has it stopping half way there at Wiehle Avenue. Eventually they hope to extend it all the way to Dulles Airport and into Louden County, but that is a long, long way off. By then, will anyone be left riding it?

Isn't it amazing that Sandy Berger, who was caught shoving top secret documents into his pants, is already yesterday's news. Berger is quickly be shoved off the front pages and into obscurity, meanwhile American prisoner "abuses" are still getting top billing months later.

And can anyone remember who Nick Berg was?

Hugh Hewitt has more on the lack of media attention on Sandy Berger.

When it comes to judicial nominees, the Democrats have taken a because he is Latino strategy. That is the practice whereby they won't even let the Senate vote on Latino and minority judges because it might allow Republicans to make inroads into the minority voting bloc. The Washington Post reports that their strategy appears to be working.

At a time when Bush and Kerry are running about even among all registered voters, Kerry enjoys a 2 to 1 advantage over Bush among Latino registered voters. Hispanics give Bush lower approval ratings than the overall population does, and the poll shows that the bulk of the Latino community continues to identify with the Democratic Party.

I wonder if they polled Miguel Estrada.

The Washington Post is lamenting over the income disparity in Washington DC. Of course, it is all Bush's fault.

A study to be released today by the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute said the top 20 percent of the city's households have 31 times the average income of the 20 percent at the bottom. The gap in the District is fed by extremes at both ends: The poor have less average income than in most of the country's 40 biggest cities, and the rich have more.

The persistent gap between rich and poor has been fueling debate over whether the national economic recovery is helping all Americans. The study deepens the picture of an increasingly fractured city, where poverty and wealth both grew in the last decade. The average household income for the top group was $186,830, and the average income for the poorest group was $6,126.

"The rich got richer and the poor didn't get richer," said Stephen Fuller, a regional economist at George Mason University in Fairfax. "The poor can't afford to get out of Washington to the suburbs. . . . Our wealthy class got wealthier in the 1990s, and it didn't trickle down to the bottom."

When are these people going to realize that the government doesn't make people "rich" or "poor"? The "rich" keep doing the things that make them "rich" while the "poor" keep doing the things that make them "poor". Meanwhile the politicians keep giving poor people welfare handouts (in the form of refundable "tax credits") in exchange for votes, all the while socking it to them with regressive and predatory policies. Between increasing Metro fares, the predatory marketing of lottery tickets (which are shamelessly aimed directly at the "working poor"), higher cigarette and alcohol taxes, and now a sudden interest in slot machine gambling, is it any wonder that the "poor" are always broke? And as long as they are always broke, they'll continue to look toward the government and politicians for answers. Which is the whole idea. He who steals from Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.

Lets face it, no one has more of a vested interest in keeping the poor, poor, than the liberal Democrats who continue to give them government handouts in exchange for unwavering support at the ballot box.

Silly me. All this time I've thought the First Amendment protected people's personal expression or beliefs from government persecution or retribution. It even starts out "Congress shall make no law..."

Apparently I missed the part where it says you have to put up with useful idiots like Linda Ronstadt. She can use your property to praise Michael Moore all she wants and you can't do anything about it. Or so says Michael Moore, whom apparently has never even read the First Amendment:

"What country do you live in?" Moore asked. "Last time I checked, Las Vegas is still in the United States. And in the United States, we have something called, 'The First Amendment.'...For you to throw Linda Ronstadt off the premises because she dared to say a few words in support of me and my film, is simply stupid and Un-American."

Of all people, Michael Moore knows what Un-American is.

I think I'll track down ol' Mikey. I want to stand in his living room and praise George W. Bush, Colin Powell, and of course Rummy. After all, Moore lives in the United States and in the U.S. we have something called 'The First Amendment'. That means I can go over to Mikey's place and say whatever I want and he can't kick me out or anything. If I call myself an artist, I could even charge him $50 for the priviledge.

Meanwhile, the New York Times says that Alladin should have booted their paying customers.

A New York Times editorial published Tuesday said the disgruntled audience members should have been booted.

"Perhaps her praise for Mr. Moore, even at the very end of her show, did ruin the performance for some people," the editorial read.

"They have a right to voice their disapproval — to express their opinion as Ms. Ronstadt expressed hers and to ask for a refund. But if their intemperate behavior began to worry the management, then they were the ones who should have been thrown out and told never to return, not Ms. Ronstadt, who threatened, after all, only to sing."

Hmm.. Your employee offends your paying customers, (perhaps even incites a riot) and you are supposed to boot your paying customers. Now that's a business plan.

Eight states are hoping to use the police powers of the government to force their power companies to lower their carbon dioxide emissions. They claim that the power companies are number one boogy man responsible for global warming and the impending doom that will befall the earth as witnessed in the prophetic action movie The Day After Tomorrow.

The lawsuit does not seek monetary damages, but rather asks a federal judge to order the companies to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions at 174 plants by 3 percent per year during the next 10 years. Spitzer said that shouldn't mean that the companies would need to raise prices.

Of course that's all bunk. Carbon dioxide is what plants breathe and these so called friends of the environment want to deny them their precious life giving air. I am shocked, I say shocked, to hear that they would choke off the very substance that all plants must have to sustain life.

Besides, any idiot can see that the real culprit is the sun, which is burning brighter now than at any time during the past 1150 years. The increased sun spot activity and increased brightness would have a severe impact on the warming of the earth. Then again, they can't sue the sun.

The Filipinos really gave a lot of incentive to the terrorists to take hostages, and now 6 more have been taken. I'm sure I'm not the first to suggest this, but I would take a two pronged approach to nip this in the bud. First, I would get rid of al-Jazeera. They have too long been a mouthpiece for the terrorists. Perhaps if they didn't get so much lovey dovey attention from al-Jazeera and ultimately the Western press outlets, they would have much less incentive to saw off people's heads on TV.

Second, every time a hostage is taken, that country should send 10,000 more troops to Iraq. (or at least some number). Basically, they need to make it so the terrorists are working against themselves. They want our troops gone, and countries like the Philippeans and Spain have been more than happy to meet their demands. We need to show them not only will we not offer concessions, but that we will do the opposite of what they want each time they take a hostage.

Wizbang does a good job of taking the New York Times to task for ignoring and glossing over the Sandy Berger kerfuffle.

Jenna Bush, daughter of President George W. Bush, stuck her tongue out at the media.

And this is news because?

Fox News is being sued for being right wing.

Fox News' use of the slogan "Fair and Balanced" constitutes deceptive advertising, two political advocacy groups claimed Monday in a petition filed with the Federal Trade Commission.

Liberal MoveOn.org and historically nonpartisan Common Cause assert that Fox News' reports are "deliberately and consistently distorted and twisted to promote the Republican Party of the U.S. and an extreme right-wing viewpoint."

If the viewpoint is so extreme, why are they the highest rated cable news channel?

Isn't this just like the liberals? They cannot win in the free market, so they take you to court.

In Florida, several advocacy groups are campaigning to restore the voting rights of convicted felons. No matter which side of the debate you take, you must admit that this is pretty telling:

According to Chris Uggen, a sociologist at the University of Minnesota, the outcome of the 2000 election would have been different had the disenfranchised felons been allowed to vote. In a 2002 study, he concluded that had 600,000 disenfranchised felons voted, Gore would have won Florida by 40,000 to 80,000 votes.

I can see the posters now: Felons for Gore Kerry. It's interesting how they keep using the word disenfranchise, as if felons bear no responsibility in the loss of their voting rights. They are just a victim of the man.

I'm reminded of when the Simpsons character Sideshow Bob was being hauled off to jail: "I'll be back. You can't keep the Democrats out of the White House forever. And when they get in, I'm back on the streets, with all my criminal buddys! *Maniacal laughter*"

If these people really want representation, they should just move to Maine.

When Virginia ended the legislative session, the gun ban group Virginian's Against Handguns Violence lauded the session as political coup for the gun grabbers. In a style reminiscent of Baghdad Bob himself, the gun fearing wussies claimed that they were winning the war to ban guns.

At the time, gun rights groups scoffed at the notion. Now, even the media is admitting that this has been a good year for individual freedom in Virginia.

Though none were earth-moving adjustments, Virginia passed more pro-gun laws than any other state this spring - a statistic local lawmakers say verifies the commonwealth's commitment to protecting the rights of its law-abiding gun owners.

Legislators approved 15 pro-gun laws, spurring shouts of praise from the National Rifle Association.

"This year was definitely a very good year for the Second Amendment in Virginia," said NRA spokesperson Kelly Hobbs, noting the 15 new laws.

I guess denial isn't just a river in Egypt.

Senator John Kerry has missed 80% of the Senate votes this year, including several close ones where he would have made a distinct difference. So, just what was it that was keeping Kerry so busy that he couldn't do his job? Matt Drudge thinks he has the answer.

As of late, there has been a huge kerfuffle surrounding the open carry of firearms in Virginia; (something that has been legal for almost 400 years). In one of the most even handed articles I've ever read, the Washington Times delivers this hilarious gem from a resident in our Northern neighbor, the District of Columbia.

Virginia state Sen. Janet D. Howell says she was surprised when a D.C. resident sent her an e-mail saying he won't be crossing the Potomac into Virginia anymore because of the open-carry law.

"He feels that the District of Columbia is a safer place to be," said Mrs. Howell, Fairfax County Democrat.

Are we supposed to care that some guy is afraid to cross the river into Virginia because we don't prohibit our citizens from carrying firearms? My guess is that this guy must be a criminal looking for easy prey. They are the only ones that have anything to fear.

As for which is safer, I'll let the statistics speak for themselves.

Crime statistics, however, indicate that Fairfax County is much safer than the District, even though the city has a fraction of the population of its southern neighbor.

From January through April this year, Fairfax County had four homicides while the District had 64. There were 189 robberies in Fairfax County compared with 1,214 robberies in the District, and 18 rapes compared with 100 rapes in the city.

D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey declared a "crime emergency" yesterday...

The population estimate of Washington DC (for 2003) is 563,000. Fairfax has over 1 million. I rest my case.

Neal Boortz notes something funny about this whole Sandy Berger kerfuffle. If you haven't heard, Clinton's ex National Security Advisor Sandy Berger was caught removing classified documents from the National Archives. Whether or not the America's former head of National Security really had no idea that removing classified material was a crime and could comprimise national security is up for debate. But what is very telling is how cool, calm, and collected the media is acting about all of this. What if this had been a Bush appointee? What if this were Dick Cheney and he was taking home top secret energy documents?

It would be the top story of every newscast, the Democrats would be calling for that person's arrest and screaming for an independent counsel. The media would be polling the public...."do you think Republicans are trying to hide something when they steal classified documents?" There would be no presumption of innocence, there would be no waiting for the investigation to be completed before passing judgment.

But Berger is a Democrat appointee. So even if partisan Republicans want to make an issue out of it, the media will just roll their collective eyes.

After all this is the same Democrat party and media accomplices who, when it surfaced that their game plan was to block minority judicial appointments for political reasons, called for an investigation of Republicans for reading their private memos.

Country singer Linda Ronstadt praised propagandist Michael Moore as a "great American patriot" and "someone who is spreading the truth." Her words had predictable results with the conservative country music base.

Ronstadt's comments drew loud boos and some of the 4,500 people in attendance stormed out of the theater. People also tore down concert posters and tossed cocktails into the air.

"It was a very ugly scene," Aladdin President Bill Timmins told The Associated Press. "She praised him and all of a sudden all bedlam broke loose."

Timmins, who is British and was watching the show, decided Ronstadt had to go - for good. Timmins said he didn't allow Ronstadt back in her luxury suite and she was escorted off the property.

Timmins also said Ronstadt will not be welcome back at the property, and kudos for him in listening to his customers.

This happened just days after Whoopi Goldberg got similar treatment from her employer, Slim-Fast, over her anti-Bush tirade.

Undoubtedly the useful fools will be screaming censorship, as if the VRWC has that long of reach or President Bush himself ordered the President of Alladin Casino to fire Ronstadt.

Boston will be adding dozens of new security cameras for the Democrat National Convention. They'll be watching the public and monitored by local and federal authorities, reports the Boston Globe. Of course, once the Convention is over they'll all be taken down, right? Well, not exactly.

While video surveillance has become a common tool for police and private security personnel, Boston police and federal officials concede that the additional cameras and new technology represent another chapter in Boston. And it's here to stay: Boston police say the 30 or so cameras installed for the convention will be used throughout the city once the event is over.

''We own them now," said police Superintendent Robert Dunford. ''We're certainly not going to put them in a closet."

Government officials are promising that they are only interested in criminal activity and will not be using the cameras to "snoop" on anyone. They also announced that they have several large lots of swampland in Florida that they are trying to sell.

UPDATE: On a related note...

As a staunch supporter of capital punishment, I'm proud of Virginia's ability to follow through with the death penalty. We aren't one of those wussy states that executes like 1 or 2 people a year, or whose governor commutes the sentences of everyone on death row in hopes of getting a Nobel Peace Prize (yes I'm talking about you, Illinois). We also aren't afraid to execute predators who manage to graduate to murder one before their 18th birthday. I don't believe (and never will) that something magical happens at age 18. I don't buy into the premise that murdering someone on Tuesday is less severe than murdering them on Wednesday because the perp wasn't 18 yet. If they can commit an adult crime, they should do the adult time.

Then come the anti's. Those are the people that oppose capital punishment no matter what the crime. They stand outside of prisons and hold candlelight vigils for even the most heinous of goblins. Apparently they also share similar views with Mikhail Gorbachev and Jimmy Carter.

A broad array of individuals and groups ranging from Jimmy Carter and Mikhail Gorbachev to the American Medical Association and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urged the Supreme Court today to declare that it is unconstitutional to execute people for crimes they committed before turning 18.

The United States is one of only five countries that execute juvenile offenders, a practice that shocks European allies and violates "minimum standards of decency shared by virtually every nation in the world," nine eminent former U.S. diplomats told the court in one of 15 briefs filed today.

Then again, these are the same people that praised Castro's legal system as "efficient" by "Cuban standards".

nikita demosthenes cites Britney Spears for illegal use of hands.

The AP reports that police have apprehended a "cheese-covered naked man".

Police say they arrested a 23-year-old man wearing nothing but cheese early Sunday. He was allegedly carrying snacks stolen from a concession stand at a pool.

"Let's talk a little media bias here. The media, I think, want Kerry to win. And I think they're going to portray Kerry and Edwards - I'm talking about the establishment media, not Fox, but - they're going to portray Kerry and Edwards as being young and dynamic and optimistic and all, there's going to be this glow about them that some, is going to be worth, collectively, the two of them, that's going to be worth maybe 15 points." -- Newsweek's assistant managing editor Evan Thomas, speaking to PBS's "Inside Washington".

Well, at least he's honest.

Kevin Baker notices something puzzling about this police chief's statement. When asked about the expiration of the 1994 Clinton Gun Ban in September, the Chief either lied intentionally, or showed his ignorance of the law and/or basic firearms knowledge:

East Pikeland Police Chief James Franciscus, who serves as Chester County Police Chiefs Association financial secretary, supports extending the ban.

"If the ban is lifted, people will be able to purchase fully automatic weapons, and they will be able to use those automatic weapons," he said. " It could jeopardize the lives of the public or police officers or others."

Of course, the 1994 Clinton Gun Ban has no effect what-so-ever on fully automatic firearms. Also, people are not prohibited from legally purchasing fully automatic firearms even now. All you have to do is follow the NFA procedures which were defined in 1934. For the record, since 1934 there has been only one murder committed with a legally owned automatic firearm, and that murder was committed by a police officer.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger apparently called some of his opponents "girlie men", and boy are they ever on the rag upset. The remark was made during a public rally, in which Schwarzenegger was lobbying for Democrats to stop delaying the budget.

Schwarzenegger said:

"If they don't have the guts to come up here in front of you and say, 'I don't want to represent you, I want to represent those special interests, the unions, the trial lawyers ... if they don't have the guts, I call them girlie men"

The girlie men have responded by, of all things, bitching and whining. They are calling the remarks sexist and homophobic, and of course are demanding an apology. Apparently they have no sense of humor, and are not fans of classic Saturday Night Live.

ScrappleFace: With Polls Flat, Kerry Drops Edwards

Democrat presidential hopeful John Forbes Kerry today announced he had dropped John Edwards from the ticket, and hinted he would name Missouri Congressman Dick Gephardt as his running mate before the Democrat convention in Boston.

"I actually picked Dick Gephardt, before I decided against him," said Mr. Kerry. "So this is not a change in my beliefs or strategy because my polling numbers are flat. This is who I have always been. I'm sticking to my guns with same sort of steely commitment my comrades-in-arms admired during my time in Vietnam."

The announcement comes about two weeks after Mr. Kerry named Mr. Edwards as his vice presidential candidate in order to boost his stagnant polling numbers. Yet even with a barrage of media coverage, paid advertising and campaign events, a New York Times/CBS poll showed no significant increase in support for the Democrat ticket, despite a torrent of negative news about the Bush administration.

"I see this decision like I see my support for the Iraq war," said Mr. Kerry, "I support John Edwards as vice president, but I don't like the way he's trying to become vice president, so I'm withdrawing the funding that would allow him to campaign."

More satire available at Scrappleface.com

The Senate approved FDA oversight of tobacco products, and if approved we will take a giant leap toward tobacco prohibition.

Tobacco is neither a food nor a drug yet big government Democrats and Republicans are prepared to grant the FDA sweeping regulatory powers over the recreational plant.

If the Bungalow owners and managers want to be anti-gun, that is their business. (Although calling it a "safe zone" is foolhardy.) But I have trouble with them giving people a slanted impression about gun owners in their restaurant.

On Friday afternoon, Kevin M. Tracy ordered signs to be posted in the windows of the four The Bungalow restaurants in Northern Virginia. They'll read: "The Bungalow, a Homeland Security model facility. No firearms, no WMDs, safe zone."

Tracy, the restaurants' director of operations, said the small chain decided to ban gun-toting customers in March after a man with a firearm strapped to his hip sat down in its Franconia restaurant and ordered a margarita. [...]

"People change when they have alcohol," Tracy said. "I think people make too many bad judgments. I've had people who were perfectly wonderful snap."

I think they are giving the impression that an armed patron was in there boozing it up, which is not the case. The patron in question was ordering a drink for his wife, something that both the bar owner and the Washington Post conveniently leave out.

But then that's the whole point. All the negative publicity seems to be working.

Sen. Janet D. Howell (D-Fairfax) said she'll reintroduce a bill that would prohibit openly carried guns anywhere alcohol is served.

"I think that any reasonable person would agree that alcohol and guns don't mix," Howell said.

I'm a reasonable person and an advocate of gun safety, and I do agree that consuming alcohol while carrying a gun is not a wise practice. Then again, I think only a foolish gun grabbing weenie with a higher anti-gun agenda would assume that every single person that dines in a restaurant (Virginia doesn't have any bars) is drinking alcohol.

The allowance of firearms should be left up to the proprietor, not the government. It seems to be working for the anti-gunners at the Bungalow.

Adrienne Washington writes about how scary Virginia is, because we don't prohibit the open carry of firearms; a practice that has been pretty much unrestricted now for almost 400 years.

Leave it to the Old Dominion lawmakers, or should we say to the East Coast gun-toters of the Wild West.

In them thar hillbilly hills and suburban highways, law-abiding Virginians can carry a six-shooter openly in a hip holster or conceal a weapon in a designer purse...

Isn't it nice how right off the bat she paints Virginians and gun owners as ignorant hicks and hillbilly rednecks. Nothing like a little Southern bigotry to get the ball rolling. If this elitist cunt wants to resort to name calling, how about Chicken Little. She seems to fit that profile.

... but they better not be caught toting a concealed machete.

Go figure. Which is worse while your family is dining on a "Grand Slam" breakfast at Denny's - sitting next to Quick Draw McGraw or Zorro?

I'll have to check to see if the open carry of machete's is legal. Personally, I've always wondered at people's fear of the machete. It's the most useful tool for clearing brush or hiking through thick trees. In South America they are still widely used.

"That's a Virginia law for you," said Suzie Robinson of Richmond, state counsel chairwoman of the "Million Moms March."

Mrs. Robinson, who has a 12-year-old boy, was reacting to a scary story in the Other Paper about a terrible summertime trend in the Old Dominion of folks "exercising their right" to carry guns openly.

Talk about editorializing. Robinson is a member of the Million Mommies so it is presumed that she has a child. Why mention her 12-year old son if for no other reason than to try to lend credibility to her inane views? She's also a Mrs, so why not say, 'who has a husband and a 12-year old boy'?

Also, I love the scare quotes around "exercising their right". And take note of how Ms. Washington gratuitously adds "scary story" and "terrible summertime trend" to drive up the fear factor. Open carry is always a summertime trend, mainly because people are wearing less clothing and are at times unable to conceal their sidearm. The gratuitous references continue:

In a strange show of support, a few Virginia folks have been strapping on their six-shooters and parading them in public after word went out last month that two gun-totting county students had been erroneously charged.

Just what is a "gun-totting county student"?

The Fairfax County officer who apparently was unaware of the open-carry laws that have been on the books for decades apologized and returned the weapons.

Then, others have deliberately followed suit. One was spotted at a Starbucks, of all places. I know those high-priced coffee lattes are highway robbery, but c'mon.

Notice how she assumes that the person carrying openly is in there to rob the place rather than keep from being mugged. And whats wrong with carrying in Starbucks? That's elitism for you: you might need your gun at an inner city chicken restaurant but not a yuppie place like Starbucks.

Can you imagine the additional problems and danger this craziness is presenting, especially for county officers but also for residents? [thats just bad grammar] Don't law enforcement officers already have enough trouble discerning the good guys from the bad guys in a quick-draw second?

This is just moronic. If someone is walking around with a gun holstered on their side, it should be assumed that they are doing nothing wrong. Just because someone owns a car, doesn't mean they're speeding.

However, Sgt. Richard Perez, a spokesman for the Fairfax County police, said, "You're not going to get me to tell you that [the open-carry law] presents a problem for our officers."

Sgt. Perez said the officers are trained to deal with stressful situations and they will investigate each complaint in the manner in which they were trained. After all, they are proud of the part that the department has played in ensuring that Fairfax County has one of the lowest crime rates for a county of its size in the country.

There you have it! The Fairfax County Police don't even have a problem with this, and they take pride in knowing that Fairfax has ONE OF THE LOWEST CRIME RATES IN THE COUNTRY. But that isn't good enough for Chicken Little.

Fine. I wonder how long that's going to last if folks have a mind to take the law in their own hands because they are carrying a gun on their hip? Doesn't the county have a growing gang problem? Are guns or machetes really their preferred weapon of choice?

Oh no! It'll be like Dodge City. They'll be shooting each other in the streets. The sky is falling, the sky is falling.

Chicken Little goes on to spew the typical anti-gun rhetoric which doesn't bear repeating here. She gets her jabs in at the expiration of the Clinton Gun Ban, and signs off sounding glum and depressed:

But they are not planning to lobby against the open-carry or concealed-weapons laws that allow Virginians to act like cowboys in the Wild West.

"Unfortunately, Virginia is a whole different bowl of marbles," [million mommy Robinson] said.

Deadly unfortunate, indeed.

Perhaps Chicken Little would feel safer in the killing fields of Washington D.C. or Maryland. Both ban open and concealed carry, yet for some inexplicable reason have much higher crime rates. Go figure.

AOL's instant message chat-bot, which is aimed at children, favors John Kerry reports CNS News.

Smarter Child is able to dispense facts and figures, movie times, or just plain conversation with AIM users.

But when Erin told the robot that "George Bush is awesome," she was shocked by the response. "No way. George W. Bush is way uncool," the reply stated. She asked, "Do you like George W. Bush?" and the program replied, "I'm a Kerry supporter myself."

This warms my heart.

Eight soldiers flying home from Iraq for two weeks of R&R flew in style instead of coach after first-class passengers offered to swap seats with them.

"The soldiers were very, very happy, and the whole aircraft had a different feeling," flight attendant Lorrie Gammon told The Dallas Morning News in Thursday's editions.

The June 29 seat-swap on American Airlines Flight 866 from Atlanta to Chicago started before boarding, when a businessman approached one of the soldiers and traded his seat.

When the swapping was done, "the other two first-class passengers wanted to give up their seats, too, but they couldn't find any more soldiers," Gammon said.

(Hat tip to the Geek)

"I come from Florida, where you and others participated in what I call the United States coup d'etat. We need to make sure it doesn't happen again. Over and over again after the election when you stole the election, you came back here and said, 'Get over it.' No, we're not going to get over it. And we want verification from the world." -- Rep Corrine Brown, D-Fla. arguing that the U.N. should have a role in our national elections.

This is in spite of the 7-2 Supreme Court decision stating that the way Florida was handling the recounts was unConstitutional.

I pretty much agree with this guy. (last section)

[T]here are lots of reasons why open carry is generally a bad idea.

* With open carry, you lose the advantage of surprise. The attacker gets to choose the time, place, and victim. By carrying open, you've revealed your secret weapon.

* Say you're present in a bad scene, like a bank robbery or hostage situation, such as the recent case at Dyersburg State Community College. The bad guy has 11 hostages and one of them has a gun strapped to his hip. Put yourself in his shoes. Who would you shoot first? (Note that - since it was a college campus - the students and teacher in that class had been legally disarmed by the state. Criminals, crazies, and terrorists will continue to attack where there are victims who are least likely to fight back.)

* While it seems crazy to attack someone with a gun, the instructor mentioned a motive: maybe the bad guy needs a(nother) gun. Since you decided to carry in the open, the bad guy can see what a nice pistol you have, and since it's your gun it can't be traced back to him.

* Carrying a gun openly will make lots of people nervous, including friends and family members. It will also attract unwanted attention from police and security guards everywhere you go.

* If people start carrying in the open, more businesses will post notices that guns are off limits, and there will be fewer and fewer places to carry. Open carry is a losing strategy for our side.

I know open carry is a protected right in Virginia. But just like your right to free speech, sometimes exercising your right isn't the best idea. For now, I'll stick to concealed carry.

Three people exercising their rights apparently is enough to baffle the Fairfax police:

Fairfax County police say they're baffled by the sudden display of residents carrying pistols in public.

Three times in the past month, authorities say residents have been spotted out and about with guns strapped to their hips. In one incident, a couple carried the weapons as they strolled down a busy street at the Reston Town Center.

The president of an organization representing thousands of Virginia gun owners told The Washington Post the residents might have been out celebrating a law that took effect July 1.

Virginia now completely prohibits any locality from enacting regulations on gun ownership, carrying, storage or purchase, except for rules related to the work force.

Although packing a pistol is perfectly legal in Virginia, that's not the case in District of Columbia and Maryland.

If you get a chance, please vote in the NBC poll on that page.

And for those of you who are wondering, no it wasn't me. I rarely (if ever) carry openly.

UPDATE: Here is the related WaPo story for those of you who are interested. The WaPo gun grabbers, of course, are very disturbed. The Fairfax gestapo aren't too pleased either.

"Hopefully no one feels the need to carry a gun, lawfully or unlawfully," [Lt. Col. Charles K.] Peters said. "But there's no question it is lawful to carry a gun on the street. So we've had to ensure that all of our officers are updated on the nuances of Virginia law that allow citizens to carry firearms in public places."

This has ALWAYS been the law in Virginia. I've known it since I was in high school. Why must the Police be constantly reminded what the laws are??

UPDATE2: Same story, another poll.

I am constantly amazed at the new heights of stupidity reached by the gun grabbers. In Australia, where handguns have been effectively banned, and long guns are heavily regulated with licensing, safe storage laws, and surprise police inspections, they are still calling for more better gun control.

Greens MP Lee Rhiannon has called for an overhaul of New South Wales firearms licensing system after yesterday's triple murder-suicide in the Hunter Valley town of Gresford.

Uh oh, a triple murder suicide; that sounds serious. I wonder what happened.

Michael Richardson, 32, is believed to have stabbed his wife and suffocated his two children, before turning a gun on himself.

That's right, Richardson STABBED one person and SUFFOCATED two others, and the Aussie gun grabbers are blaming a GUN. Rhiannon suggests overhauling the gun licensing system. She claims, "clearly the current system is inadequate, [and] there is also the issue of the availability of guns that needs to be considered as well."

That should have a predictable effect on stabbings and smotherings.

Hillary Clinton, the junior Senator from New York was not offered a prominent speaking role at the upcoming Democrat National Convention. Whether it was her choice or Kerry's will probably remain unknown, but the decision has riled up the drama queens.

"It's a slap in the face, not personally for Hillary Clinton, but for every woman in the Democratic Party and every woman in America." -- Judith Hope, a major Democrat party fund-raiser.

I cannot speak for every woman in America, but I think they'll survive.

Minnesota gun grabbers hope to turn back the clock on their two year old concealed carry law. A county district court judge ruled that the law was unconstitutional and gun fearing wussies are rejoicing. This is in spite of the fact that the there have been no wild west shootouts in the streets and the world hasn't ended, as was predicted by the gun control nazis.

CCRKBA notes:

"Ideally," added CCRKBA Executive Director Joe Waldron, "the appeals process will take less than a month or two, during which time no Minnesota resident should have his or her safety placed in peril by this lower court decision. This really is a safety issue, and with all due respect to the plaintiffs in this case, the Adath Jeshurun Congregation, a church group does not have the right to interfere with the self-defense right of any citizen."

Gottlieb and Waldron both wondered why a challenge to the law took so long to make it through the court.

"This law has been on the books for two years," Gottlieb noted. "It works, the plaintiffs know it works, and yet here they are, selfishly pushing a political agenda onto the backs of their fellow Minnesotans. This effort has far less to do with a concern about public safety or private property rights than it does about an anti-gun religious group arrogantly trying to enforce its personal code of conduct on every Minnesota resident. Whatever happened to the separation of church and state?"

Liberals trying to impose their lifestyle on everyone? I'm shocked!

Read this hilarious account of a group turning the tables on those 419 Nigerian email scammers.

ABC (Australia) is reporting that compared to where it used to be, the whale population is 'booming'.

What happens when a cash strapped school finds a valuable art collection stowed away in the basement? Why they refuse offers to buy it of course, and probably bitch about needing more taxpayer funds.

A man who told his doctor about how much he drinks in the privacy of his own home lost his driver's license. This is yet more proof that when you permit the government to regulate something, you give them the power to deny you of it.

Mike Adams says that every time some lefty anti-gun nut ball bitches to him about gun control, he goes out and buys another gun. I wish I could afford to do that.

The government says you should dump Internet Explorer. Then again, aren't these the same people who sued Microsoft because of IE?

The Filipinos are proving they are spineless by answering the terrorist's demands to leave Iraq. They only had 51 guys there to begin with, but their withdrawal gives the terrorists a victory.

Radical protesters are planning on besieging the GOP convention in New York. They are preparing to attack and trick police with the ultimate goal of evacuating Madison Square Garden. Hopefully the police are preparing to give them a beating they will never forget.

Kerry's campaign staff is a cast of thousands, including more than 200 economic advisers. If he has this many paid advisers now, just imagine how much he would add to the bureaucracy of the federal government if elected President.

Remember the non Jewish French woman who claimed to be the victim of an anti-Semitic attack? It's been making its way around the blogosphere and I first cataloged it here. It turns out to have been a hoax.

But it still teaches us a little something about the attitude in France. That it could have been believable speaks volumes. Perhaps this is the reason why.

The Interior Ministry released figures last week showing that hate crimes had spiked in the first half of the year. There were 510 anti-Jewish acts or threats in the first six months of 2004 - nearly as many as in all of last year, 593.

Racist attacks were up too: There were 95 attacks and 161 threats through June, compared to 232 total such crimes reported in 2003.

I still hate the French.

Do you frequently eat out? Growing up, going to a restaurant was a treat. My parents weren't poor but they did have a budget and eating out wasn't on it. Now that I'm an adult I still eat most of my dinners at home, chiefly because eating out is expensive. I can afford to eat out, but the more I spend on food the less I can spend on wine, women, and song.

In San Francisco, the city wants to extend the joy of eating out to those that cannot afford it. So, they've authorized restaurants to begin accepting food stamps.

Normally, food stamps can be spent only on groceries, but the homeless or seniors may have no way to cook them.

Doesn't that sound pleasant? Imagine sitting in a posh restaurant and having an urban outdoorsman seated at the next table. Perhaps thats way so far most of the first takers have fast food restaurants.

Of course they've also replaced the traditional food coupons with a food stamp "credit card". That way people on government assistance aren't as embarrassed. Of course all the changes are being made to increase the use of the government program. George Manalo-LeClair, legislative director at California Food Policy Advocates said, "I do think having an easy outlet will increase food-stamp participation. Why get food stamps if I can't use them?"

Iron Mike for Senator?

Drudge reports that John-John can't keep their hands off each other. The display is quite sickening.

Do not adjust your set. That really is Secretary of State Colin Powell wearing a construction outfit and performing Y-M-C-A by the Village People.

The price of cigarettes is about to jump in Fairfax County. In Virginia, Fairfax and Arlington are the only two counties permitted to tack on per pack cigarette taxes; and they must not exceed the state tax. When Virginia raised the state tax 900%, Fairfax was free to do the same. The only thing they are fighting about now is how to spend the money.

At least they aren't pretending that it will discourage people from smoking either; this is purely a ploy to increase tax revenue. When asked if the tax hike proposal might be voted down, Supervisor Elaine McConnell, Springfield Republican, said, "Oh, no. There's no doubt. We need the money."

And that's truly the government way. When you need more money just go out and take it.

Since the 2000 election, when the NAACP all but accused George Bush of driving the truck in the dragging death of James Byrd, Bush has snubbed the black rights group. Given the words said at this year's convention it looks like he's pretty much justified.

In perfect temerity, NAACP Chairman and former Democrat legislator Julian Bond accused the Republicans of "playing the race card in election after election."

If they're going to delay the election, my vote is for April 15th.

Kerry Edwards, who owns the domain name kerryedwards.com looks to be on the verge of cashing in big. Not that I would blame him for accepting the $150,000 (or more) that he's reportedly been offered for his website. But the Democrats seem to be passing on the offer to buy the domain name, something that resulted in the following exchange between domain owner Kerry Edwards and CNN's resident lefty Carol Lin:

LIN: Now, you voted for President Clinton. Why not help out the party again?
EDWARDS: How do you mean?
LIN: Sell it to the Kerry people for whatever they're willing to pay for it.
EDWARDS: For whatever they're willing to pay for it?
LIN: Yeah.
EDWARDS: I don't think they're willing to pay what it's actually worth, and I'm not in the financial position to just give away money. So if they were willing to pay what the Web site's worth, that's great, I'll give it to them.

Kerry is a democrat and has already gone on record as saying he'll vote for John Kerry. But apparently he's not crazy enough for Kerry to fork over an asset that could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Personally, I'm hoping that he'll rethink supporting the tax and spenders when he sees how big of a bite the government takes from him for selling that domain name.

Both Michael Moore and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle have such credibility problems, it's hard to know who to believe. Especially when they are contradicting each other.

"I know we senators all tend to look alike. But I arrived late, and I had to leave early for Senate votes. I didn't meet Mr. Moore," Daschle said.

In a lengthy Time magazine piece about the movie and its political effects, Richard Corliss reported Moore's criticism of Daschle's leadership and the filmmaker's account of a hug with Daschle.

"At the Washington premiere, Moore sat a few rows behind Daschle. Afterward, says Moore, 'He gave me a hug and said he felt bad and that we were all gonna fight from now on. I thanked him for being a good sport,'" Corliss wrote.

Daschle, who was at the premiere at the invitation of producer/distributor Harvey Weinstein, said he and Moore have never met.

Could it be that Michael Moore is stretching the truth to drum up publicity and cash in? It's not like that's never happened before. Then again, I can hardly blame Tom Daschle for being ashamed to admit that he was hugging and fawning over the great white whale.

When it comes to smoking and anti-smoking, sniffing out the bullshit is usually pretty easy. There are very few positions on the debate. There are the smokers, who are clearly in the minority and dying off every day. There are their non-smoking supporters (such as myself) who espouse truly "live and let live" libertarian beliefs. We are an even smaller minority. There are the anti-smokers who show such contempt for smokers I wouldn't be at all surprised to read about them tying smokers to the back of their truck and dragging them to their deaths. They are also a minority. Then there are the useful idiots, who normally would care less but if it came down to a vote would side with non smokers just because they don't really give a shit about anything that doesn't effect them. This is the overwhelming majority.

Of course then there's guys like this who are vehemently opposed to smoking, but are masquerading as so-called experts. They will say whatever lies it takes to advance their agenda.

A few weeks ago before the Prince concert, I took my family to W.A. Frost for dinner. The evening was beautiful, the food was outstanding, but the air was intolerable because of a chain smoker sitting two tables upwind. Did I mind the $300 dinner bill and the $45 tip to the server? Not really. Will I go back? Not until W.A. Frost is smoke-free. Am I just uniquely fussy? Not at all.

When I was director of CardioVision 2020...

He lost me. I can't read any more. Nevermind that he's still partying like its 1999 with Prince, and is too stupid to ask for a table in the non smoking section, but he's a medical doctor (the letter is signed Dr. Killjoy, MD or something) and former director of some group called CardioVision. Color me skeptical, but I think this guy might be biased.

A quick google of CardioVision turns up their website, where they claim to support the prevention of cardiovascular disease through nannyism and "community action". A look at their about page digs up this gem:

Our goal is to promote a smoke-free environment, heart-healthy nutrition habits and a physically active lifestyle for all children and adults...

CardioVision 2020 Five Personal Goals
- Five servings of fruits and/or vegetables per day and choose only lean or extra lean meats and low-fat dairy products.
- 30 minutes of physical activity most, if not all, days of the week.
- Tobacco-free lifestyle and zero exposure to environmental tobacco smoke.
- Total cholesterol <200 mg/dl (LDL <100 mg/dl for individuals with coronary heart disease).
- Blood pressure <130/85.

Now, setting personal goals is admirable. But when you impose goals on other people, they cease to become goals.

Now, if Dr. Busybody would keep to just applying market pressure on businesses or peer pressure on people, that'd be fine. Boycotts never work, and we've all heard boobs like this claim how much money they're not going to spend at some business because they aren't getting their way. (Personally, I think a $45 tip on $300 is lousy.) Fine, go someplace else. That is his right.

But Dr. Forceyoutoexercise doesn't stop there. He and his group are calling for legislative action. He pleads for the mayor to use the police power of the government to force people to stop smoking. I don't care what the health effects are, that's wrong. And if he can use political power to keep people from smoking, whats to stop them from mandating exercise period or banning all but the leanest of meats?

When my doctor nags me about eating less or exercising more, I find a new doctor, and let him know why.

UPDATE: Kim du Toit covers a similar topic. Government mandated exercise might be on it's way.

Since the months leading up to the Iraq war, anti-Semitism has been on the rise in France. But this should attack skirts domestic terrorism.

Six people attacked a young mother on a suburban Paris train, chopping off her hair and scribbling swastikas on her stomach in what leaders denounced Sunday as an example of growing anti-Semitism.

As the 23-year-old woman was assaulted Friday, other train passengers watched but did nothing to help her or her infant child, who was knocked out of a stroller.

NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON helped this woman? I realize that the French are pacifists but this seems rediculous. I've always heard stories of people in big cities (in America and abroad) looking the other way when people are in need of help, but I've never actually experienced it. I would like to think that had I witnessed six thugs attacking a mother and her child, I would step in to help. Then again, if France didn't have a near total ban on handguns, perhaps this woman could have defended herself.

In the 1990s, many liberals claimed that Bill Clinton was the first black president. Now, according to the Washington Times, John Edwards could be the first black vice president.

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., Illinois Democrat, told the Associated Press in April that the lack of diversity in Mr. Kerry's inner circle could "dampen voter enthusiasm" and was a problem that should be "quickly remedied."

Mr. Cummings and the Kerry campaign said the criticism was unfair, but the campaign immediately began seeking qualified blacks to fill communications slots, an issue in the campaign that Rep. James E. Clyburn, South Carolina Democrat, also described as a "problem."

But it seems that the addition of Mr. Edwards as the vice-presidential candidate has turned the black electorate around.

Since Edwards is not running for re-election in the Senate, there will be no more blacks in that house of Congress, save for a longshot win of Denise Majette in Georgia.

John-John is calling George W. Bush dishonest. A dishonest politician, imagine that.

In one of a series of interviews since teaming up on Tuesday, Kerry and Edwards predicted they would win the political fight over which party best exemplifies the values and ethics of most Americans...

Now that takes chutzpah: a big government anti-war liberal and a personal injury lawyer promising to restore values and ethics to American politics.

Q: How do you tell a politician is lying?
A: His lips are moving.

During Ohio's fight to legalize the concealed carry of handguns, one of the major arguments against concealed carry was that open carry is already legal. Indeed the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the ban on concealed carry was constitutional because open carry was the right of all citizens.

Now, I cannot remember if similar arguments were used back in the early to mid 1990s when Virginia fought to legalize concealed carry. But for as long as I can remember, open carry has been legal in Virginia. But as someone who regularly carries a pistol, I must confess that concealed carry is my preferred method. When it comes to self defense, a low profile is the best profile. The only real reason to open carry in Virginia is because of our stupid restaurant law. Open carry in a restaurant that serves alcohol is perfectly legal, but concealed carry is not. Personally, I never carry in restaurants because if they serve alcohol you can bet I'm drinking it. (But that's another story)

In this week's email, the Virginia Citizen's Defense League notes that open carry in Northern Virginia has been coming under attack as of late. In these specific cases, the officers involved are either ignorant of the law or are purposely violating it. (infused commentary is VCDL's, not mine)

* A member was open carrying in a Loudoun restaurant (restaurant owner had been asked if open carry was OK with him and said "yes"). Loudoun police show up and tell member and restaurant owner that carry, open or concealed, is not allowed in restaurants that served alcohol! Member had to leave (unlawfully).

* On July 1st a member, [name omitted], was walking on a sidewalk in Manassas was open carrying for the first time. A Manassas police officer proceeded to check him out (no one had called to complain) and lecture him on the evils of open carry. The officer returned the member's (now) unloaded gun and member went back home.

* On July 5th a member, [name omitted by request], and his fiance were openly carrying through the Reston Town Center. 3 Fairfax police officers checked them out and all went well and was wrapping up when a Lt. arrived and proceeded to berate and humiliate the member and his fiance with such questions as why they needed to carry a gun. The Lt. then proceeded to find a mall security guard and press him to request that the members be removed from the property. The guards only said that they would "prefer" if the guns were concealed. The Lt. continued to try and stir up trouble by pressing the question with the guards. In the end failed to get the guards to ask the members to leave. (The guards should be given the Lt.'s job in my opinion.)

You can bet that VCDL will be in contact with these jurisdictions to ensure that their officers are property trained.

These problems of police harassment are outlined mainly because of the officer's seemingly elitist anti-gun attitude. Had these officers just stuck to doing there duty, I don't see much of a problem. And neither does VCDL:

An officer checking out a gun owner who is openly carrying a handgun in and of itself is not a big deal, especially in our more urban areas. Police, and much of the public, aren't accustomed to seeing citizens open carrying. As more and more of you are choosing to open carry, the odds of such interactions with the police increase. They are simply checking out a call on a person with a gun. The 911 operators could do a better job by asking the complainant, "Is the gun in a holster?" (Yes) "What is the person doing? (eating) Is anyone being threatened?" (no) etc. Basically the officer arriving has no idea what is going on, so be patient.

When folks call the police in hysterics simply because a private law-abiding citizen chooses to arm himself, it's the caller who should get the lecture. We don't want to discourage people from calling the police for an emergency, but is it too much to ask that people use a little common sense about these things?

Also from Jibjab, a dog that can fetch and fireworks can be a bad combination.

This is too funny. It takes a little while to load, but is definitely worth the wait.

(Hat tip to Spoons)

This is a test post. Hosting company making a update to test.

UPDATE: It looks like everything is back up and running. Thanks to the Emaxhosting support team for getting everything back up and running so quickly.

Any user comments left late last night during the maintenance window were deleted when the server was moved over. (I know of at least two.) Sorry for the inconvenience; it was not intentional.

Enviroweenies are a bitter lot. Apparently they were all upset about the University of Arizona building an astronomical observatory on Mount Graham, home to some wee little bushy tailed rat. They lost in court, the observatory was built any way, and the world didn't end like they had predicted.

But now the observatory is threatened by wildfire, and some environmentalists seem to be hoping for the worst.

Environmentalists waged numerous lawsuits in an attempt to stop construction of a University of Arizona observatory on Mount Graham, contending the project would kill off the squirrels. The lawsuits held up the project for two years, but the mountaintop observatory finally opened in 1993. [Ed. note, more than ten years later the squirrels are still there]

Now the lightning-caused wildfires threaten the $200 million observatory as well.

"Over and over and over, the university astronomers were asked to please not build this facility in a volatile, fragile forest system," said Dr. Robin Silver, a physician and environmentalist who fought the project. "Those of us who warned them, who begged them and who pleaded with them are not going to feel sympathetic to whatever fate they might suffer."

It's one thing to oppose someone politically. It's altogether different to hope something bad happens to them. The lightning caused wildfire is something of a non sequitur. That is, the green weenies weren't telling them not to build there out of concern for their safety. They were worried about some pesky little tree rat, that is apparently so weak it cannot survive any place else. Now both the university and the rats are threatened by fire, and the environmentalists only reaction is one of schadenfreude.

The United Nations is demonstrating it's irrelevance again. CNN is reporting that their forthcoming ruling on the wall that Israel is building comes down on the side of the (surprise) terrorists.

"Israel is under an obligation to terminate its breaches of international law; it is under an obligation to cease forthwith the works of construction of the wall being built in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem, to dismantle forthwith the structure therein situated."

Apparently Israel's attempt to defend herself is in violation of some international UN law. I didn't even realize there were international laws. I knew that the United States and other nations have voluntarily agreed to abide by some international treaties, but the UN seems impotent to impose it's will on us or any other first world nation with the power to defend herself. (If it came down to it, I think our boys could make easy work of those blue helmet guys.)

Personally, I think Israel's response should be a raising of the right arm and an extension of the middle digit on the right hand. Either that, or in the immortal words of Dick Cheney (to Patrick Leahy), "Go fuck yourself!" Perhaps then, after 12 years of empty resolutions and threats, the UN will beg the United States to step in and put a stop to the construction.

Freedom grabbers like Joe Harris are disturbing.

Firearms have become this nation's "weapons of mass destruction".

Approximately 35,000 people will be killed this year by gun violence in this nation. That is nearly 40 times more people than will be killed in Canada and nearly 1,000 times more people than will be killed in Japan. The United States has the highest rate of deaths by gun violence than all the industrialized nations. There are over 222 million firearms in the United States. 30,708 people died from firearm injuries in 1998. There are 35 times more firearms in the U.S. than in Canada.

In the United Kingdom handguns are outlawed entirely. Police officers do not even carry guns. England, Japan and Australia have far less gun ownership than the U.S. In both England and Japan police forces rely on the ability to exercise search and seizure with ease. England has evolved culturally to the point, where firearms are not needed, as a significant part of society. They are sipping tea, content in the peace that dominates their country.

Never mind that the phrase "weapons of mass destruction" is a played out cliche. This guy thinks a society that has "evolved culturally" to the point where government agents "exercise search and seizure with ease".

He's also pretty loose with the statistics. Comparing firearms deaths directly is always a misnomer. For one thing the deaths undoubtedly include defensive uses as well as offensive uses; including even those who are shot by the police government. Also, comparing homicides by firearm doesn't mean much if you don't throw in all the other ways people are killed. There's a lot to be said for Archie Bunker's statement, "would you rather they was pushed out of windows?"

When you throw in the different ways that countries calculate statistics there's just no easy way to compare the numbers.

Painting the picture that England is "sipping tea, content in the peace that dominates their country" is idealogical bullshit. Britons may be sipping tea at home, but that's only because they are terrified to go out. You are more than twice as likely to be robbed in London than in New York. So much for dominating peace. The only thing dominating England is the bureaucracy, and idiots like this would have us do the same thing here.

He goes on to claim that white gun owners are all just a bunch of racists, afraid of being attacked by blacks. This is unfounded, he says, apparently because blacks never attack whites.

Blacks with guns and bad values don't kill white people. Angry white people with guns kill white people. Angry black people with guns kill black people.

Harris does get it right that gun control laws are inherently racist.

Gun law history Most Americans don't realize that gun control laws were first created to keep black people powerless and enslaved. This continued after the Civil War, when more laws were passed to prevent Blacks, freed slaves, from getting guns. The passage of the "Black Codes" of 1865 were laws limiting the rights of blacks, after slavery was abolished. These Black Codes were the first gun control laws of the country. They were meant to prevent blacks from owning firearms. Other such laws followed, all aimed at preventing blacks from owning or obtaining guns. The term "Saturday Night Special," which refers to a small cheap pistol, comes from the racist epithet "Niggertown Saturday Night," an early 20th century derogatory term, used to refer to blacks who came to town to revel on Saturday nights, after a hard week's work in the fields.

Of this fact, I cannot agree more. But then Harris somehow concludes that gun control (despite it's inherent racism) is a good thing.

A well-regulated national centrally administered gun control law is warranted and necessary. Such legislation has proven successful in Canada, England, Japan, Australia and other industrialized nations.

Now that's a whopper. The Canadian gun control registry is 5000% over budget and has been rendered impotent by the provinces unwillingness to enforce it. It's on the verge of being scrapped.

Gun control in England and Australia has resulted in skyrocketing crime. From the rugged Australian outback to the capital, citizens are left to fend for themselves against wild animals. And in England, the streets are so dangerous even the police don't feel safe anymore.

If that's their idea of progress, they can have it.

I've always sucked at golf, but just how I managed to get the golf ball outside the course on the Orbitz ad, I'll never know.

CNSNews reports (in a fair and balanced manner) that the jobless claims are the lowest since October 2000. (That dates back to when whats-his-name was still selling pardons.) Over at CNN, this number was reported as distorted.

CNN dryly notes that President Bush has once again declined to speak at the NAACP convention. Given the James Byrd ads they ran against him a week before the 2000 election, I can hardly blame him for the snub.

Apparently Australian Kangaroos can be quite aggressive, if not deadly.

Australians living in the nation's drought-ravaged capital have been warned to keep their distance from aggressive kangaroos after the iconic marsupials attacked one woman and killed a pet dog. [...]

A senior wildlife ecologist with Environment ACT, Murray Evans, said on Wednesday the kangaroos could pose a threat to people and dogs, with one woman savaged by a large kangaroo as she was walking her small, pet dog in a paddock last week.

"Her dog went near the kangaroo and she followed and before she knew it the kangaroo lashed out, scratching her down the side of her body," Evans told Reuters.

Another woman told how a kangaroo drowned one of the four dogs she was walking with a friend, attacking it in a pond and holding it under the water with its hind legs while it hit out at one of the other dogs with its front legs.

Aussies should probably take warning and carry a gun for protection. Oh wait, guns are illegal. Well, perhaps a big knife then. Oh wait, that won't work either. Perhaps just something sharp and pointy. Oh wait, nails are practically banned too.

CNN/Money just cannot let themselves report any good economic news, can they?

The title of the article says "Jobless claims drop much more than expected". However, the headline was truncated to read simply: "Jobless claims drop" and a sub-headline was apparently added to temper the good news: "Report shows sharp drop in those filing for benefits, but seasonal factors distorted results."

Meanwhile economists, who couldn't predict a sunrise, are defiant. In response to getting it wrong this week, Mark Vitner, an economist at Wachovia Securities says: "This won't hold up. This (drop) really shouldn't have been unexpected."

Yet for some reason it was. Economists are starting to rank right up there with lawyers and politicians on the lack of credibility scale.

CNN/Money, who sometimes takes advice from financial guru Billy Joel, takes a look at the impact of the planned Kerry/Edwards tax hikes and ask "how would that affect you?".

Kerry has promised to roll back some of the tax cuts passed in 2001, 2002 and 2003, cut government waste and push for Congressional rules to curb spending, among other things.

But he has also proposed a health-care plan, new tax cuts for individuals and businesses and other spending plans, making the accomplishment of his goal extremely difficult, according to some analysts.

Quoting unnamed "analysts", how definitive. I tend to think that anyone who quotes an "unnamed" source is full of shit.

But Kerry also wanted to keep the higher child tax credit, the lower marriage penalty and the new 10 percent bracket for lower-income families. He also called for new tax credits for health care and college tuition.

Talk about giveaways. How long before these tax credits are made refundable? And a refundable tax credit is the politically correct term for welfare.

But U.S. payrolls are still more than 1 million jobs lower than they were when Bush took office, and Kerry has promised to create 10 million jobs in his first term as president, with his hiring incentives and a plan to cut the corporate tax rate by 5 percent.

Keep in mind that corporations don't pay taxes, they collect them. The taxes are paid by people and those people include customers, employees, and the shareholders.

While still a candidate for the Democratic nomination, Edwards was equally bold, promising his plans would create 5 million jobs in two years.

Such promises could be risky gambits -- at various times, the Bush administration has promised its policies would add specific numbers of jobs, giving Democrats a handy talking point when such job growth failed to materialize.

This is an outright lie. Bush's promised job growth has appeared, as I've proven on this site.

Perhaps I'm being too critical, but for a magazine called "Money" they don't seem to know too much about it. I mean, they never even answered their title question of "how would that affect you?"

The New York Post tried to scoop everybody by calling the Democrat Veep Nomination early. There is only one slight problem.

Up until today I had mixed feelings about whether or not Marcus Vick should return to Virginia Tech. He was convicted for giving beer and having sex with a minor, but given the circumstances (she lied, and it was consensual) I was sitting on the fence about his possible return. After this, I no longer have any doubts. Marcus should not return.

Having a career in football, has something to do with your off the field behavior. Vick slipped up once, and the decision about his return to Tech was still pending. Had it ended his career it would have been tragic. But with all that looming over his head, he still manages to get caught driving recklessly with a dime bag of weed in the car. If this ends his football career (and it likely will) he has nobody to blame but himself.

My webhost provider is doing some maintenance this weekend, which is not at all unusual. What was interesting, was this part of their notification email.

On July 9th at 6pm Central standard time we will be moving all accounts located on the server... We ask all clients not to update their website between July 9th at 6pm Central standard time and July 10th 6pm eastern standard time.

So, on July 9th at 6 PM CST, (which is actually 7 PM CDT) the server will be moved and DNS will be pushed. If I make any updates to the site prior to July 10th 6 PM EST (which is actually 7 PM here in the Washington D.C. area, but still 6 PM CDT), I might lose those changes when they restore the server backup to the new server. I think I understand.

It seems pretty confusing; enough for me to complain. But in response to my query, their support staff simply sent me this link. Thanks guys.

Gun grabbers want you to rely on the police for protection rather than arm yourself. But that approach is increasingly proving to be deadly.

A community college professor was shot to death in front of an empty police station by her husband, who then committed suicide, police said.

Debra Allen Vazquez, 50, had driven to police headquarters to get help, but all officers were on assignment at the time, authorities said.

Ironically, gun grabbers will probably exploit this story to call for more gun control, when instead, it better illustrates the unfortunate fact that police cannot possibly protect everyone in society. The courts have already ruled in dozens of cases that the police have no responsibility to protect individuals from harm. Even had the police been there and refused to help, they still would not be liable.

Had she chosen to arm herself, Ms. Vazquez might still be alive today.

After being rejected by Republican Senator John McCain, John Kerry selected retiring Senator and former personal injury lawyer John Edwards as his Vice Presidential running mate. Edwards is an interesting choice, if for no other reason than Kerry's own statements about not needing the South to win. Perhaps he's having second thoughts.

I also find it hilarious that next to John Kerry, a former ambulance chaser is considered likeable.

On the surface, Edwards seems like a good choice, but I disagree for several reasons. Personally, I don't think anybody votes for Vice President. The Veep candidate didn't help Mondale nor did it hurt Bush 41. Historically, having a good running mate just has not made that much of a difference. But for those who say it will make a difference, here is why they are wrong.

First of all, although he appears to be a nice guy on the surface I think Edwards has too much dirty laundry. His sleazy relationships and lawyerly like ways will come back to bite him. Vice President Dick Cheney has been under constant assault from the left for his ties to Halliburton and "big oil". Whether or not it has hurt him is a matter for debate, but look for similar mudslinging to be aimed at Edwards. His former violation of the campaign finance laws don't help much either.

Second, the fact that he's a rich lawyer made his fortune chasing ambulances hardly brings the Kerry ticket closer to the people. Most of his contributions during the primaries came from fellow trial lawyers. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it doesn't bode well for his "likeability factor".

Third, he's way too young. This doesn't have so much to do with voters as it does with the Clintons. A Kerry-Edwards win in 2004 would set up a Kerry-Edwards win in 2008 and an Edwards run at the presidency in 2012. Where does that leave Hillary Clinton? Many pundits think that Clinton will try to torpedo Kerry's run at the presidency, and picking Edwards as his running mate would seem to bolster their view.

I'm sure the addition of Edwards will give Kerry a short term boost in the polls. But the election is still months away and there is plenty of campaigning to be done. Just like the luster has worn off Kerry, so too will it wear from John Edwards.

I went out of town this weekend and am still recuperating. Posting should resume to normal shortly. I hope everyone had as good a holiday as I did.

Festival hot-dogging it with 37-feet, 2-inch weiner

Beaver blamed for cellphone service outage

The Democrat Party, which claims to represent the common man, and continually shouts about "counting every vote" and "disenfranchisement", has successfully sued to keep Ralph Nader off the ballot in Arizona.

Zeese said the campaign submitted 21,185 signatures to the Arizona Board of Elections but, due to a legal challenge from the Democratic Party, more than 6,400 of the signatures were disallowed.

"They litigated us out of the race," Zeese said of the Democratic Party, labeling the court challenge "underhanded harassment."

Arizona Democratic Party Chairman Jim Pederson said that Nader did the "only honorable thing" by withdrawing his name in the state.

CNN doesn't say why the signatures are invalid, you have to go to MSNBC to find that out. Apparently the Democrats are claiming that many of the signatures were not from registered voters. Another complaint was that the signatures were gathered by convicted felons, and should be invalidated.

I guess the Dems didn't like Nader horning in on their action. Felons are only good for registering Democrats to vote, not for gathering signatures for non-Democrat candidates.

Speaking of unregistered voters, in Atlanta, Democrats routinely rented passenger vans on election day and rounded up bums vagrants homeless urban outdoorsman. They would give them cigarettes and bus them over to the polls so that they can cast a vote for their candidate.

And of course, don't forget that whole Toricelli ballot switcheroo up in New Jersey, where the 108 year old Frank Lautenberg was allowed to be substituted at the last minute after it became obvious that Toricelli would be lucky to stay out of jail defeated in a landslide.

Kudos to Bill Cosby for not backing down.

"Let me tell you something, your dirty laundry gets out of school at 2:30 every day, it's cursing and calling each other n------ as they're walking up and down the street," Cosby said during an appearance at the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition & Citizenship Education Fund's annual conference.

"They think they're hip," the entertainer said. "They can't read; they can't write. They're laughing and giggling, and they're going nowhere."

While some people may be acting shocked, the current results of this CNN poll (which, at 98% with over 105,000 voting, is the most lopsided I've ever seen) seems to support Cosby.

UPDATE: James Taranto points out this biased piece of AP reporting by Don Babwin. The following is the first two paragraphs.

Bill Cosby went off on another tirade against the black community Thursday, telling a room full of activists that black children are running around not knowing how to read or write and "going nowhere."

He also had harsh words for struggling black men, telling them: "Stop beating up your women because you can't find a job."

If black men who beat their wives are "struggling", what does that make their wives?

I'm hearing that actor Marlon Brando passed away yesterday, but oddly enough it isn't making the news.

UPDATE: CNN finally catches up to Ravenwood's Universe.

Yesterday, I heard Col. Oliver North sign off a guest host on Sean Hannity's radio show. Colonel North gave one of the most humbling Independence Day speeches I have ever heard. He detailed the sacrifices made by the 56 men who stood up to a King, and helped found this nation.

I have been unable to find the full text of that speech, but it was largely drawn from a column he had written years before. Through the magic of the internet, here it is.

Exerpt:

Few Americans know that the Declaration was actually drafted by a committee of five: Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Philip Livingston, Roger Sherman, and of course, Thomas Jefferson. Fewer still know that most of the work on the document was done between June 10 and July 2 (when the Continental Congress actually resolved to declare independence from Great Britain) in a boarding house at the intersection of Market and 7th Streets in Philadelphia. The draft document was so good that when debate ended late on July 4, the larger body made but 86 changes, eliminating 480 words, and leaving 1,337 of the most dramatic words in any political manifesto.

The Declaration is far more than an assertion of freedom or a bill of particulars levied at a tyrant. No other founding document for any nation reflects on "the laws of nature and of nature's God." No other proclamation declares that all people are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." No other national manuscript appeals to "the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions." And no other mechanism of national design or intent places the fate of its founders in the hand of God with words like this: "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor." Good thing they weren't writing this stuff in a public school!

In an era when Fidel Castro and Che Guevara are revered revolutionaries, the 56 who signed the Declaration just don't cut the mustard. They were all men of means, well educated and wealthy by the standards of the day. Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists; 11 were successful merchants and traders; 9, like Jefferson, were prosperous farmers. Nine of them would die before the war was over; 5 were captured and tortured by the British and 12 had their homes looted and destroyed.

Neither John Morton of Pennsylvania nor Button Gwinnett, the signer from Georgia, would live to see the first anniversary of their signatures. Philip Livingston, the merchant from Albany, New York who served on Jefferson's drafting committee, was dead before the second anniversary. Thomas Lynch, a farmer from South Carolina died of wounds received in a 1797 naval engagement.

Carter Braxton, a wealthy trader from Virginia saw his armada of trading vessels swept from the seas in battle. To pay his debts, he sold all that he owned and died in rags in 1797.

Thomas McKean, a lawyer from Delaware, served without pay as a member of the Continental Congress. The British forced him to flee with his impoverished family five times during the war. When he died in 1817, his sons had to take up a collection from their neighbors to pay for his funeral.

Thomas Nelson of Yorktown, Virginia borrowed 2 million dollars to provision the French Fleet that would eventually come to our aid. After the war he liquidated his entire estate to pay back the money he borrowed because the Congress refused to reimburse him. He died penniless in 1789.

John Hart, a New Jersey farmer was driven from his wife's sickbed by a British patrol and lived on the run for more than a year. Upon learning that his beloved wife was failing, he took the terrible chance of returning home to find her dead and his children gone. When he died a few weeks later, on May 11, 1779, his friends said it was of a broken heart.

John Hancock, the merchant from Quincy, Massachusetts, claimed that his bold signature would allow King George to read it without spectacles. When the British burned the port that made him rich, Hancock was reported to have said: "Burn, Boston, though it makes John Hancock a beggar, burn!"

All 56 signers were hunted, hounded and declared criminals. All were indicted, tried in absentia for treason, and all were convicted and condemned. Yet, despite all they endured, not one man broke his pledge.

When I was in high school we took our senior trip to St. Louis Missouri. At the base of the "Gateway to the West" arch, one of my classmates, an odd fellow named Chris, started to trot up the stairs. It wasn't just that he was running up the long staircase, it was that he was plopping along like a, shall we say dimwit. There were a dozen or so of us watching from the bottom of the hill, and we immediately broke into that familiar theme. Na-na-naaaaah. Na-na-nah. Du-du-na-na-na-naaah (to the tune of Gonna Fly Now). You know, the one people always hum when they run up a large flight of steps.

So here we are, a bunch of geeks singing the Rocky theme as Chris made his jaunt (ala special olympics style), up to the top of the steps of the St. Louis arch. Then something amazing happened. Many of the other tourists had noticed Chris' stunt, and feeling inspired, joined in as well. First it was just one or two, but then several more couldn't resist the amazing pull of the Rocky theme song. By the time Chris reached the top and turned around with his fists up in the air, there were literally hundreds of people singing the Rocky theme. Geeky as it may sound, it was still the largest spontaneous musical display I've ever seen. It's the stuff you think only happens in movies.

But apparently, for some inexplicable reason, they do it in Philly too.

Sorry for the lack of notes this morning. I went to see Spiderman 2 last night and then had to pack for my trip this weekend. The movie was predictable, but still a fantastic ride. I would definitely recommend seeing it.

Tom Brokaw is still out spreading the lie that there is no link between Iraq and al-Qaeda. The 9/11 Commission did conclude that Iraq did not collaborate specifically with the 9/11 attack. But they also concluded that there was a relationship between Saddam's regime and terrorism.

That didn't stop Brokaw from making a complete ass of himself though. He "corrected" the Prime Minister of Iraq, who according to Tom, foolishly thinks there is some sort of connection between Iraq and al-Qaeda.

When Allawi expressed that view during the interview aired on Monday's NBC Nightly News, Brokaw scoffed and corrected him: "Prime Minister, I'm surprised that you would make the connection between 9/11 and the war in Iraq. The 9/11 Commission in America says there is no evidence of a 'collaborative relationship' between Saddam Hussein and those terrorists of al-Qaeda." But Allawi stood his ground: "I believe very strongly that Saddam had relations with al-Qaeda."

Brokaw also pressed Allawi to agree that "won't you always be seen, really, as an instrument of the U.S. military and therefore of America?" and proposed: "Can't you understand why many Americans feel that so many young men and women have died here for purposes other than protecting the United States?"

Prime Minister Alawi should have noted that Tom Brokaw will always be seen as an instrument of the Democrat Party. (Either that or kicked him in the nuts.)

"Jesse is an immoral person. He has a history of being on the wrong side of history. The media -- the American media -- has invented our worst nightmare in the black community. He has never done anything beneficial for our people." -- Pastor Anthony Williams of Chicago's St. Stephens Lutheran Church.

About 100 protestors showed up for Jackson's appearance. They chanted and carried signs that read "Jesse does not speak for black people" and "America's number-one pimp selling the black vote."

Presidential wanna-be and part-time Senator John Kerry is proposing that the fed cap state tuition prices. He intends to use federal tax dollars to provide incentive for states to keep tuition increases in line with the rate of inflation. There's just one problem. Tuition hasn't really been increasing.

Kerry repeatedly notes on the stump that tuition is up 35 percent over the last three years. Some analysts dispute that, noting that financial aid has risen as well. [...]

At the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, fees rose 60 percent between the 2001-2002 school year and the 2002-2003 year, to $6,500. At the same time, tuition stayed at $1,714. (None of this includes the cost of room and board.) [...]

"Kerry's cynical attacks are at odds with the facts that more Americans have college degrees than ever before, and the amount students pay in tuition costs is down by a third since 1998," said spokesman Steve Schmidt, citing reports that growing financial aid funds have kept the actual cost of college paid by students relatively modest.

When you factor in the increasing financial aid students are receiving, net tuition has actually decreased. But that doesn't stop Kerry. There's votes to buy and he's got his hand in the federal kitty.

A Virginia prisoner set to be executed was granted a temporary stay of execution, so that he could appeal through the federal courts, reports the Washington Post. What strikes me as odd is the grounds for appeal. (emphasis mine)

Lenz was sentenced to death for stabbing Brent H. Parker 68 times at the Augusta Correctional Center four years ago. Lawyers for Lenz argued at his July 2000 trial that he feared Parker and killed him in self-defense.

Oh yeah. Let's set this guy free.

Gun buyback and turn-in programs, where volunteers purchase guns with no questions asked, are all the rage in urban areas. Crime guns can be deposited and destroyed without ever being traced back to the scene of the crime. But in Alabama, the theory doesn't seem to be working too well.

The Mercy/ No Mercy Strategy didn't get off to a rousing start, but it did net one gun.

The pistol was collected during the drive by a local minister.

According to Selma Police Chief Robert Green, the weapon was a .25 caliber semi-automatic handgun, belonging to an elderly woman.

That's right, they only got one person to turn in their gun, and it was a little old lady. Congratulations to the gun grabbers for getting one more gun "off the street". I'm sure the citizens of Selma will sleep better tonight.

I like to believe there is a special place in hell for people that do shit like this.

*Red Curtain of Blood tm