Okay, so I haven't had much to say about the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Basically, I don't know what there really is to say. I certainly hope those impacted by the storm recover and rebuild. My heart goes out to them. It looks like construction workers along the Gulf Coast will be very busy for months (if not years) to come.

Then there's the nut cases. If there's one thing this storm has done is separate the environmentalists wackos from the regular folks. First of all, anyone who says the Hurricane was caused by global warming is an idiot. They probably deserve a swift kick in the nuts, but you're better off just rolling your eyes at them and walking away. The idea that man can cause hurricanes is patently absurd. Not only that, but global warming actually lessens the affects of hurricanes. All those melting ice caps and glaciers that the enviroweenies are crying about would actually cool the oceans down at the equator. But the facts don't fit the agenda, so they just make it up as they go along. It's gotten so bad that any weather event at all is attributed to global warming.

If man caused the hurricane, why didn't man stop it? Why didn't we all just stop driving our SUVs last week to make the hurricane go away? When we saw the storm coming, why not just close all the gas stations? I mean if we can cause the hurricane, than certainly we have the power to stop it.

Know this. Anyone who blames this on global warming and the actions of man is a moron and should be treated as such. Period.

The AP reports that this skinny home is just over 5 feet wide at it's narrowest, and 9' 11" at it's widest.

More movies could go straight to video. The Washington Times reports that the interval between releases to the theater and DVD is already narrowing. In the future, they could be marketed and sold together.

Robert Iger, chief executive officer-elect and president of the Walt Disney Co., has suggested the day could come when a digital video disc is released while the movie is still in theaters. The millions of dollars that studios spend marketing first-run movies would serve double duty promoting the more profitable DVDs, making for a faster and more efficient return on investment.

The New Scientist has published a scientific research paper that shows that most scientific research papers are wrong. (I've been saying that for years.)

Assuming that the new paper is itself correct, problems with experimental and statistical methods mean that there is less than a 50% chance that the results of any randomly chosen scientific paper are true.

John Ioannidis, an epidemiologist at the University of Ioannina School of Medicine in Greece, says that small sample sizes, poor study design, researcher bias, and selective reporting and other problems combine to make most research findings false. But even large, well-designed studies are not always right, meaning that scientists and the public have to be wary of reported findings.

"We should accept that most research findings will be refuted. Some will be replicated and validated. The replication process is more important than the first discovery," Ioannidis says.

In the paper, Ioannidis does not show that any particular findings are false. Instead, he shows statistically how the many obstacles to getting research findings right combine to make most published research wrong.

Via Lori:

The poverty rate increased to 12.7% reports Reuters. But it appears as though white people were the hardest hit.

The poverty rate rose for only one group -- non-Hispanic whites -- which had an 8.6 percent poverty rate for 2004 compared with 8.2 percent in 2003. The poverty rate declined for Asians and remained unchanged for blacks and Hispanics, the report showed.

Of course when you look at how poverty is measured, it doesn't seem very relevant. They only count cash income. Non cash benefits (such as subsidies and food stamps) do not count, nor do capital gains. So by this standard if Bill Gates retires and lives off of his $50 Billion without earning any actual cash income, he's considered living in poverty.

What's more "poverty" in this country is the lap of luxury in others. How many poor people own their own home, or their own car? How many own a computer or have cable television? Internet access? I'm not saying there aren't poor people. But some of the so-called poor people in this country would be considered middle-class in Europe.

The Washington Post reports that the next President of the United States might be a former Governor from Virginia. That no good lying fucktard son-of-a-bitch Governor Mark Warner is prepared to announce that he will not seek Senator George Allen's seat in 2006. Since Warner is term limited, the Post reasons that Warner will compete with the Hildabeast for the Democrat Presidential nomination in 2008. But he could meet George Allen again:

The announcement would rob Virginia of what could have been a blockbuster political confrontation in 2006. Allen, a former governor who is ending his first term in the Senate, remains popular at home and is also considering a run at the presidency in 2008.

Warner's decision to avoid an immediate clash with Allen sets up the possibility that the two might meet on a much larger battleground two years later. Warner is barred by Virginia's constitution from running for a second consecutive term as governor.

A Senate battle with Allen now might have forced Warner to emphasize his more liberal credentials in order to draw sharp contrasts between the two. That could damage Warner's efforts to present himself as a moderate alternative to likely candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.

Warner "might have won. He might have lost," said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. "But the risks were enormous. It could have killed his 2008 presidential candidacy."

Way to go out on a limb there Larry. Winning could have killed his candidacy too, considering the jump from Senator to President is rare in modern times. Still, I marvel at the prospect of a President Allen. George Allen, despite being a wahoo, is a staunch conservative. He would have my vote for sure, and would nullify Warner's southern connection - despite Kerry's claim that the Democrats don't need the South. [Gee, I wonder who the Wash. Post would support?]

Not that I think Warner stands much of a chance in 2006. He's not very popular in Virginia after committing a bald face lie to push through the largest tax increase in the 400 year history of the Commonwealth. Not to mention he cut back on planned tax cuts, something that Virginians remember every year with their car tax bill. But memories fade, so in 2008 the timing may be just right. By then Virginians may have forgotten his horrible reign of terror.

One thing's for sure, Warner will never get my vote.

The anti-war peacenik crowd is still complaining that we haven't found any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. They seem to have selective amnesia. As proof, Neal has a nice run-down of the WMD that has been reported to have been found in Iraq so far.

Here's also a nice little list of what was found:

-500 tons...that's right...TONS...make that 1million pounds of yellow cake uranium. It was found at Saddam's nuclear weapons facility (yup...he had one of those too.)

-1.8 tons of partially enriched uranium found at the same place. You know, the stuff you need to make nukes.

-Hidden centrifuge parts and blueprints.

-Two dozen artillery shells loaded with Sarin and mustard gas.

Sounds like WMD to me!

He even backs it up with sources: USA Today; Newsmax; Frontpage Mag.

Or you could just ask the Kurds, or the Iranians. Both were victims of Saddam's chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction.

A lot of lefties are taking jabs at the Blue Angels. They claim the air shows are a huge waste of taxpayer dollars. As Neal points out, air show promoters foot the bill. They recoup the cost from air show attendees who walk around between events buying $4 hot dogs and funnel cakes. But even if air show sponsors don't cover the costs of maintaining the planes and training the aviators, so what?

The Blue Angels (and the Air Force Thunderbirds) are a huge recruiting and advertising tool. Staging an air show is similar to producing a TV advertisement or buying print ads. These people who are complaining about the cost of the blue angels are the same people complaining about the military not meeting their recruiting goals.

I don't want to question their patriotism, but it's almost enough to think these lefties are just anti-military.

Say Uncle wonders whatever happened to the due process of law:

A federal-state program designed to get illegal firearms off Jackson streets could be operational by year�s end, law enforcement officials say.

U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton wants to start a gun interdiction unit through the Jackson Police Department. Officers would use vans equipped to test-fire guns taken at the scene of vehicle stops and crime scenes.

Laboratory technicians would analyze cartridge casings and projectiles to determine whether those weapons had been reported stolen and used in crimes. The test results would be entered into a database linked to a national gun database.

Just remember, we have always been at war with Eastasia.

This is an oldie but goodie. I'm not sure why Countertop dug this out, but it's timeless, so I'm game. Kim du Toit has a list of things every man should do before he dies. Let's check and see how I'm doing:

1. Shoot a gun larger than a .22. [done]
2. Teach a kid to shoot. [don't have any kids]
3. Cook a meal out in the open (and I don't mean a backyard BBQ). [done, I was a Boy Scout]
4. Kill an animal which can kill you. [does a black widow spider count?]
5. Taste a good brandy (no French cognacs need apply) and a fine single malt Scotch. [done]
6. Visit at least eight countries outside your own continent, none of which speak your home language. [need one more: Italy (and the Vatican), Germany, Holland, Austria, France, French Canadia, and Ireland]
7. Read any six Shakespeare plays. [done]
8. Win a solo sporting competition�anything that involves physical exercise. [done]
9. Be part of a winning sports team. [done - used to run track]
10. Make love with a woman in a forbidden place. [done - blush]
11. Have a strange woman invite you home with her; and refuse her, because you're married. [I'm still single, but I've refused a woman because she's married.]
12. Build something tangible�out of wood, steel, brick, whatever. [done]
13. Sit up all night comforting a sick child. [again, don't have any kids]
14. Tell the truth, where a lie would both be undiscoverable, and keep you out of trouble. [done]
15. Watch at least one real virtuoso play a musical instrument�in any kind of music. [done]
16. Perform on stage (music, theater, whatever), to a large (500+) audience. [I've performed, but never to that big of an audience]
17. Play at least one musical instrument competently. [done]
18. Make love to a woman at least ten years older than you are. [over half way there (she was 7 years older)]
19. Tell a government bureaucrat to fuck off. [done - at the DMV]
20. And finally: tell a true story to your grandchildren. [not even close]

"That bullet is a tribal mark, orientation, something we all gotta get sometimes -- just as long as we don't die, it's fine." -- Rapper Petey Pablo, after Marion "Suge" Knight was shot in the leg at a party preceding the MTV Video Music Awards.

Gun control is aimed at the law abiding, since they are the only ones who obey gun laws any way. And one of the purposes of gun control is to create barriers to prevent the legal purchase of firearms. Bureaucrats set up hoops for you to jump through, and then when you dot all your 'i's and cross all your 't's, they simply refuse to do their job; effectively robbing you of your civil rights.

Take Illinois for instance. They recently enacted legislation requiring gun owners to get government permission before selling guns at gun shows. Gun rights advocates claimed that the law was intended to get rid of gun shows. The gun control lobby claims they were just closing a loophole in the law. Any doubt you might have had about the law's intention was erased last weekend when local authorities failed to show up to facilitate the background checks. Law abiding citizens were effectively prevented from exercising their rights, because the government bureaucracy broke down.

People at the gun show were unable to sell guns, which seems to have been the whole idea.

"Around the year 2004, 2005, we're going to have a great crime wave unprecedented in Virginia's history." -- Richard P. Kern, "a top state criminologist", Nov. 18, 1993.

"'There is a tremendous crime wave coming in the next 10 years,' fueled not by old, hardened criminals, but by a group he calls 'the young and the ruthless.'" -- USA Today, quoting criminologist James Alan Fox in 1995.

"The predictions didn't come out right, but maybe that's because the predictions were there. If myself and others hadn't gotten people's attention, maybe we would have just sat around waiting for the worst to occur rather than trying to avert it early on." -- James Alan Fox in 2005.

"You issue a hurricane warning in advance with the hope that the public will take the necessary precautions and board up their properties and evacuate so as to minimize the property damage and causalities. Our lawmakers heeded the warnings and took precautions to prevent crime from spiking." -- Richard P. Kern in 2005.

Talk about having it both ways. You claim the sky is falling, and then when it doesn't happen you take credit for sounding the alarm and preventing it from happening. Global Warming advocates will no doubt make the same claims when the world doesn't end on schedule.

Today most of the Criminologists are now saying that longer criminal sentences, abolition of parole, more better prisons and zero-tolerance in schools has led to the overall decline in Virginia's crime rate. While those may be valid points (save for the zero-tolerance), not one of them credits the systematic deregulation of guns and the issuance of tens of thousands of concealed carry permits, all of which started in the mid-1990s.

What's more hilarious than a fake bank robbery? How about duping a young girl into handing the bank teller your stickup note. Michael Lyons, 45, from Savannah (GA) told police that he and a group of girls celebrating his daughter's birthday were just playing a practical joke. While Lyons used the ATM, a 13-year old girl went inside and allegedly handed the note to the teller. Police and the FBI responded to the bank's alarm, and they were not laughing. Lyons has been charged with "criminal attempt of robbery by intimidation".

Since french fries "cause" cancer, you'd better eat them with a cup of cancer curing coffee.

Coffee not only helps clear the mind and perk up the energy, it also provides more healthful antioxidants than any other food or beverage in the American diet, according to a study released Sunday.

Too much coffee can make people jittery and raise cholesterol levels, so food experts stress moderation. But, said Joe A. Vinson, a chemistry professor at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, "the point is, people are getting the most antioxidants from beverages."

Antioxidants, thought to help battle cancer, are also abundant in grains and many fruits and vegetables.

Provinces in Canada are practicing doggie genocide, whereby racially profiled doggie breeds are to be rounded up and slaughtered.

Pit bull owners now have 60 days to get their animals spayed or neutered, and must muzzle and leash them in public.

People will not be able to own, breed, import, transfer or purchase pit bulls, although they can still adopt them for a limited time.

Those violating the rules can end up with their pets seized and euthanized, while they could face finds of up to $10,000 or even jail time.

However animal advocates fear hundreds of adult and puppy pit bulls may now be euthanized and candlelight vigils were held across Canada Sunday night to protest Ontario's new law.

According to some British psycho. journal, men really are smarter than women, on average; at least when it comes to their IQ.

Men are more intelligent than women by about five IQ points on average, making them better suited for tasks of high complexity, according to the authors of a paper due to be published in the British Journal of Psychology.

Genetic differences in intelligence between the sexes helped explain why many more men than women won Nobel Prizes or became chess grandmasters, the study by Paul Irwing and Richard Lynn concludes.

They showed that men outnumbered women in increasing numbers as intelligence levels rose. There were twice as many with IQ scores of 125, typical for people with first-class degrees.

When scores rose to 155, associated with genius, there were 5.5 men for every woman.

Given that women already live longer and there are more of them, men aren't exactly winning the battle of the sexes. And men may be smarter, but women can still wrap them around their finger. And the smarter the man the easier he is to wrap. Like the old saying goes, women already have half the money and all the p... well, any way...

As Kim du Toit points out, five IQ points are pretty much unmeasurable and the IQ divide is far from permanent. A hundred years ago, when education opportunities for women were rare, the difference was probably much bigger. That also means that it's hardly genetic, as they claim. (Genetic is very quickly becoming a code word for "It's not your fault".)

Besides, men may be better at book learning, but women are better at other things like cooking, cleaning, and breast-feeding. Heh. I'm gonna get hate male on that one.

Two weeks ago, a story started to break about the ATF questioning the family and neighbors of prospective gun purchasers. Gun dealers at the Richmond (VA) gun show would turn in the paperwork required to conduct a background check on gun buyers. While the paperwork was being processed, the ATF would grab their name and address and dispatch officers to their home to question friends and family members about their purchase. Officers would ask friends (and sometimes neighbors) questions like: "Did you know your husband was going to a gun show today?" "Did you know your husband was going to buy a gun today?" "Did you know that your neighbor was buying a gun today? How do you feel about him doing so?"

The "residency checks" as the ATF called them were not only heavy handed, but probably violated federal privacy laws.

At first the idea of federal agents and police visiting your home while you were waiting to buy a gun seemed absurd. But now the Virginia Citizens Defense League has the smoking gun. [link in PDF]

In an email, VCDL President Philip Van Cleave points out that this wasn't the first time:

One of VCDL's members did a Freedom of Information Act request to the Virginia State Police on the BATFE 'residency check' scheme that was being run on purchasers at the last Richmond gun show...

The first three pages talk about the last gun show. The fourth page was created sometime before March of this year.

Notice on page four that 'residency checks' have been going on for at least a year! I'm surprised that we didn't learn about it earlier. I would guess that many people either didn't know who to notify or, more likely, were too intimidated...

Also it is noted on the third page that "Twenty-one individuals were deterred from making purchases due to questioning by Task Force members." It doesn't say that those were all criminals buying guns. It is very likely that it spooked off mostly legitimate gun purchasers who didn't want to purchase a gun in an oppressive environment where the police were hanging around and appeared to be chomping at the bit to bust someone.

Finally, it is noted on page three that the BATFE is only suspending the 'residency check' scheme, not terminating it. Thus, it could rear its ugly head in a more covert manner in the future.

These "residency checks" have been going on since at least July of 2004 and as of January 2005, 43 firearms have been confiscated for various reasons. So far this appears to be limited to the Richmond Regional Office, but may in fact be happening in other cities across the country.

Today's trash laying in, on, or near the road was:

• A Fan - It had oscillated it's last breath.

Statistics
Commute: Foggy.
Door to door: 17 minutes

Hurricanes have always been an annual event, but the environmentalist wackos think they're man made. (And probably all Bush's fault.)

Florida has been pummelled by six powerful hurricanes since last August, in what forecasters describe as an "unusually active season". Environmental campaigners say the turbulence is a product of global warming disrupting world weather patterns. Katrina is the 11th storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began on 1 June.

If this really is the start of something sinister, perhaps they should check the angular vector of the moon.

I've had my fill of warning labels. My brand new truck has federally mandated big yellow stickers permanently attached to the sun visors warning me about the dangers posed by the federally mandated air bags.

Now the government (of California) is trying to force companies to put warning labels on french fries.

In a complaint filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Lockyer sought an injunction to stop restaurant chains such as McDonald's Corp. and Wendy's International Inc. from selling french fries without some form of warning.

Also named were producers of potato chips and other packaged potato products like PepsiCo's Frito-Lay Inc. and Procter & Gamble Co., makers of Pringles chips.

The suit asks manufacturers of these products to identify the dangers of high levels of acrylamide, a chemical that studies have found is created when starchy foods are cooked at high heat.

Acrylamide, like every other substance in the world, is thought by the state of California to cause cancer. California's list of carcinogens (available in xls or pdf) currently stands at more than 800 chemicals. I wonder what all these warning labels are doing to the environment. (Maybe the warning labels should have warning labels.)

Kevin Baker questions the media coverage of recent Wal-Mart shootings. When a mentally disturbed individual shot up a Wal-Mart it made national headlines. But when a self-defense shooting occured, big surprise, the media was largely silent.

For people with too much time (and money) on their hands, a Mall of America store is selling naps.

The store, to be called MinneNAPolis, is aimed at weary travelers who need a nap after a long flight but aren't staying long enough to book a hotel room, or spouses of shoppers who are traversing the mall's 4.3 miles of storefronts.

"We think it would be really good for husbands at Christmas, when their wives are power-shopping," said mall spokeswoman Julie Hansen.

Founded by PowerNap Sleep Centers Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla., the new store will include at least three themed rooms: Asian Mist, Tropical Isle and Deep Space. Each will have walls thick enough to drown out the sounds of squealing children at the indoor amusement park.

The 70 cents per minute fee works out to $42 an hour. Some pointed out that it would be cheaper to buy an $8 movie ticket and spend two hours sleeping through a quiet movie. At the company's other napping center at the airport in Boca Raton, annual memberships cost $1,200 for unlimited sleep time.

Geez, paint and body work only costs $40 an hour. At $42 an hour, it might be cheaper to just get a hotel room instead.

The American Civil War is more correctly called the War Between the States. It was after-all, not a civil war. Civil wars are when competing factions battle for control of a nation. During the War Between the States (usually called the War of Northern Aggression by Southerners) the South was battling for Independence, not for control over the Union. They had already lost that battle in Congress.

But in today's lexicon the terms are all pretty much interchangeable, with 'Civil War' being the most accepted, 'War Between the States' being the most correct, and 'War of Northern Aggression' being the most apropos.

But with yellow journalism becoming all too normal at the Washington Post - especially when it comes to Supreme Court nominee John Roberts - the choice of words can be minced to the point of absurdity.

A fastidious editor of other people's copy as well as his own, Roberts began with the words "Until about the time of the Civil War." Then, the Indiana native scratched out the words "Civil War" and replaced them with "War Between the States." [...]

While it is true that the Civil War is also known as the War Between the States, the Encyclopedia Americana notes that the term is used mainly by southerners. Sam McSeveney, a history professor emeritus at Vanderbilt University who specialized in the Civil War, said that Roberts's choice of words was significant.

"Many people who are sympathetic to the Confederate position are more comfortable with the idea of a 'War Between the States,' " McSeveney explained. "People opposed to the civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s would undoubtedly be more comfortable with the words he chose."

That would be Democrats. It was Democrats who openly and continually opposed the civil rights movement, and it was Democrats who stood in the school house door. So by that logic it should stand to reason that it's Democrats who would be comfortable with Robert's choice of words. Perhaps Roberts was prescient and knew that one day he would need the support of Democrats to reach the Supreme Court, and chose his words accordingly.

The NFL is going to pat down fans entering football stadiums this year for "security reasons". Also, beer prices just went up $1. Okay, I made up that last part, but that's probably as much the real reason for feeling up fans.

When Atlanta tore down Fulton County Stadium and built Ted Turner Field, the Braves tried banning coolers and outside food and beverages. This sparked outrage from Braves fans, so the team begrudgingly allowed coolers into Turner Field. But on September 12th 2001, the team announced that coolers would be banned for "security reasons". The citizens of Atlanta accepted their fate as the product of a post 9-11 world. And the price of beer really did go up $1.

GUNS! GUNS! GUNS!

The Tennessee AG is trying to intimidate a country singer into not using tobacco products on stage. He claims that it amounts to advertising tobacco to minors, something forbidden under the tobacco settlement.

State officials said Gretchen Wilson can be seen on concert jumbo screens pulling a can of Skoal from her pocket while performing her new song, "Skoal Ring."

That may violate the 1998 settlement between states and tobacco companies forbidding tobacco ads targeting young people, Attorney General Paul Summers said.

"Many young people attend your concerts and purchase your music and T-shirts," Summers wrote in a letter he sent to Wilson Thursday. "Because your actions strongly influence the youth in your audience ... I ask you to take steps to warn young people of negative health effects of smokeless tobacco use."

By the way, all of my Tennessee readers be sure to check out Cohiba brand cigars. Nothing says cool, like Cohiba.

The FCC says that people using VoIP telephone service may encounter problems when dialing 9-1-1. Their solution? Disconnect them.

The Federal Communications Commission has set a Monday deadline for providers of Internet-based telephone calls to get acknowledgments from their Voice over Internet Protocol customers that they understand the problems they may encounter when dialing 911 in an emergency.

Providers of the phone service, known as "VoIP," are expected to disconnect service to people who have not responded.

Anyone out there want to be the grand exalted ruler of San Francisco? The way they've declared the city a military free zone, and have an anti-gun - pacifist attitude, you and your buddies could probably conquer them over a weekend. I certainly know a few people that have enough hardware.

Via National Geographic:

Speeding from the scene of the crime, a Chinese boy tows a floating plastic bag of stolen natural gas last week. Flouting a government ban, farmers around the central Chinese town of Pucheng frequently filch gas from the local oil field.

Just whose side are they on?

Italy's Red Cross treated four Iraqi insurgents with the knowledge of the Italian government last year and hid them from U.S. forces in exchange for the freedom of two kidnapped aid workers, a top Italian Red Cross official said in an interview published Thursday.

This could solve the "health care crisis" in the U.S. The next time you need health care but don't want to pay for it, just kidnap some Italians and negotiate their release contingent to receiving medical assistance.

(Via Geek)

So Britain is going to start throwing out Islamofacists who are preaching hatred for the West. That sounds like a good plan, until the leftists start relaxing the definition of "hate speech".

Fortunately for the British government, they don't have those pesky Constitutional protections to keep them from enacting such a plan. Then again, neither do we 60 days before a general election.

Who said this:

"We've exhausted other efforts to stop him, and killing him certainly seems more proportionate to his crimes and discriminate in its effect than massive bombing raids that will inevitably kill innocent civilians..."

Was it Pat Robertson calling for the assassination of Hugo Chavez? No, it was none other than former Clinton aide George Snufalufagus, who apparently wrote an entire Newsweek article on why we should assassinate Saddam Hussein in 1997.

"If Clinton decides we can and should assassinate Saddam, he could call in national-security adviser Sandy Berger and sign a secret National Security Decision Directive authorizing it."

I'm sure you remember the media outrage.

Hawaii, the state with the most expensive gasoline in the nation, is opting for price controls. Effective September 1 the government will cap the price of wholesale gasoline, a measure which could cause shortages, rationing, and according to some critics actually increase the retail price of gas.

Wholesale gasoline on Oahu, for example, will be limited to $2.16 per gallon for regular. If wholesalers charge the maximum price, then toss in taxes -- also the nation's highest -- as well as a typical 12-cent dealer markup, drivers could pay about $2.85 per gallon. Regular now sells for $2.76 in the Oahu city of Honolulu.

That's right taxes are also the highest, and removing them isn't even an option. Why am I not surprised?The prospect that retail gas prices could actually go up instead of down has given cap opponents an argument for blocking the law. They have asked Gov. Linda Lingle to suspend it before it takes effect. Lingle, a Republican, criticizes the measures, but has refused to block it, saying she can't unless it causes significant harm.

"At best, the gas prices will probably go up a little bit, and there will be some spot shortages," said state Sen. Sam Slom, R-Hawaii Kai.So, a few people won't be able to buy gas. The social collective will still benefit, so what if it's at the expense of the few. Just as long as you aren't one of the few.

[Big] Oil companies also hate the idea. Frequently accused of price gouging by the state's politicians, they insist that Hawaii's geographic isolation, laws governing the location of new company-owned stations and overall high costs of business inflate local gas prices.

That's just tough luck. Failed legislation must be met by more legislation not less. This is going to be interesting.

Slick Willie was the most travelled President in American history. Yet I don't recall reading any stories about how much gas he was consuming.

Getting President Bush from here to there consumes an enormous amount of fuel, whether he's aboard Air Force One, riding in a helicopter or on the ground in a heavily armored limousine.

The bill gets steeper every day as the White House is rocked by the same energy prices as regular drivers. Taxpayers still foot the bill.

Almost every vehicle Bush uses is custom-made to add security and communications capabilities, and the heavier weight of these guzzlers further drives up gas and jet fuel costs...

It is not Bush's choice to be ferried around in a less than fuel-efficient manner. Those arrangements are dictated by tradition and the Secret Service, whose mission is to protect him.

But Bush is one of the nation's most-traveled presidents.

He has visited 46 countries, some of them several times. He has been to all states except Vermont and Rhode Island.

So far this year, he has made 73 domestic and foreign trips, including crisscrossing the country on a 60-day, 60-city tour to promote his Social Security plan. He was on the road yesterday, speaking to a military audience in Idaho, before returning to his Texas ranch to resume his vacation.

Whether in Washington, Des Moines or Tbilisi, Bush is driven in a dozen-vehicle motorcade that goes as fast as possible.

It also often idles outside while the president is at an event, burning up fuel but ready to depart at a moment's notice.

The president's limos alone consume lots of gas...

In the air, Bush most often flies on a Boeing 747-200B laden with, among other things, an anti-missile system. Like gas for cars, fuel costs for the largest plane in the Air Force One fleet have gone up dramatically - from $3,974 an hour in fiscal 2004 to $6,029 per hour now, according to the Air Force.

Reducing his appearances outside the White House and making other gestures toward fuel conservation could help cut down on costs.

According to Forbes, the rifle ranks as the 7th "most important tool of all time, in terms of its impact on human civilization."

For as long as humans have created tools, they've made projectile weapons. Our ancestors made spears, slings and bows and mastered their use in hunting and warfare. But the rifle put all those tools to shame, boasting unprecedented accuracy, power, reliability, and range. Rifles have won wars, tamed continents and overturned empires.

What's more the rifle required much less training and skill than it's predecessors. Mastering the sword, which ranked 8th, could take a lifetime. But learning how to shoot is easy and requires much less physical acumen. It also defeated armor and bigger guns (like heavy cannon) made the castle and other structural fortifications obsolete.

The American Journal of Public Health did a study on restaurant locations in Chicago and discovered that they were strategically located in the busy parts of town. [The nerve] They go on to suggest that fast food restaurants are also located too close to schools and that zoning restrictions should be put in place to force restaurants to move away from population centers. (As opposed to moving the schools)

"This study emphatically does not show fast food outlets intentionally locating near schools," said Dan Mindus, senior analyst for The Center for Consumer Freedom. "All this study indicates is that restaurants are likely to be found in areas of high commercial activity -- the same places you might find a bank, a clothing store, a grocery chain, or a gas station. Restaurants locate where people work and shop. According to this study, when schools aren't in commercial areas, they're not likely to be close to a fast food restaurant."

Zoning restrictions on restaurants are just the latest example of a broad agenda to restrict what Americans eat and drink. This agenda also includes taxation and litigation.

In the study's conclusion, the authors compare fast food to the danger of guns to minors. Given legal precedents with regard to "firearms vendors," the study suggests the government should "impose stricter controls on fast-food restaurant sites."

You don't find guns in vending machines and in most states you must be 18 years or older to purchase guns. It sounds like a shock quote to me.

"Suggesting that a cheeseburger poses the same danger to a child as a gun shows pretty clearly that the food police have gone too far," Mindus said. "Instead of zoning restrictions on restaurants, there should be publishing restrictions on bogus studies that are simply propaganda pieces in support of radical regulations."

By that logic, wouldn't placing schools near Planned Parenthood clinics encourage kids to become parents? Try suggesting zoning restrictions for those and see what happens. Same argument for churches.

UPDATE: Photo supplied by reader Steve S.

A doctor who recommended a woman lose weight has found himself in hot water after she complained to the state doctor's guild.

"I told a fat woman she was obese," Bennett says. "I tried to get her attention. I told her, 'You need to get on a program, join a group of like-minded people and peel off the weight that is going to kill you.' "

He says he wrote a letter of apology to the woman when he found out she was offended.

Her complaint, filed about a year ago, was initially investigated by a panel of the New Hampshire Board of Medicine, which recommended that Bennett be sent a confidential letter of concern. The board rejected the suggestion in December and asked the attorney general's office to investigate.

Well if that's the case, perhaps this report will reach class action status.

The percentage of Americans with bulging waistlines is growing in just about every state, with residents of Alabama joining the obesity ranks the fastest. Only Oregon failed to fatten, according to a report released Tuesday.

The advocacy group, Trust for America's Health, said data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that the percentage of obese adults for 2002-04 stood at 22.7 percent nationally. The percentage for the previous cycle, 2001-03, was 22 percent.

Alabama had the unhealthiest increase. There, the rate increased 1.5 percentage points to 27.7 percent. Oregon's rate held steady at 21 percent.

California has abandoned plans to require serial numbers on every round of ammunition sold in the state. They may push for the issue again next year, but right now there are too many questions surrounding the non-existant technology.

Attorney General Bill Lockyer has shelved a novel gun-control measure that would have required manufacturers to stamp microscopic serial numbers on all handgun ammunition sold in California.

Sen. Joe Dunn, a Garden Grove Democrat carrying the legislation for the attorney general, said he needed more time to resolve a heated debate over how much the potentially landmark tracking system would cost and who would pay for it.

California police organizations have been reluctant to support the measure. Perhaps they realize the futility, or perhaps they are afraid that their own sources of ammo would either dry up or become prohibitively expensive.

Such a requirement would destroy surplus ammo sales in the state. Not to mention that when a box of ammo increases from $10 to $50, it would create a huge illegal trafficking market.

Another meme, courtesy Sgt. Stryker. A survey, in case you wanted to know more about me. Or not.

[ ] I've run away from home. (No, but my parents left me at a rest area once.)
[ ] I listen to political music.
[ ] I collect comic books.
[ ] I shut others out when I'm sad. (I don't have to be sad to shut others out.)
[ ] I open up to others easily.
[ ] I am keeping a secret from the world.
[ ] I watch the news.
[ ] I own over 5 rap CDs.
[ ] I own an I-Pod.
[ ] I own something from Hot Topic.
[ ] I love Disney movies. (I didn't even get to watch Disney movies growing up.)
[ ] I am a sucker for hair/eyes.
[ ] I don't kill bugs. (Spiders are okay, but all other bugs must die.)
[X] I curse regularly.
[ ] I paid for that cell phone ringtone. (Nope, converted a free midi.)
[ ] I have "x"s in my screen name.
[ ] I've slipped out a "lol" in a real conversation.
[ ] I love Spam.
[X] I bake well.
[ ] I would wear pajamas to school.
[ ] I own something from Abercrombie
[X] I have a job.
[ ] I love Martha Stewart.
[ ] I am in love with someone.
[ ] I am guilty of tYpInG lIkE tHiS.
[X] I am self conscious.
[X] I like to laugh.
[ ] I smoke a pack a day.
[ ] I loved Go Ask Alice.
[ ] I have cough drops when I'm not sick.
[ ] I can't swallow pills.
[X] I have many scars.
[X] I've been out of this country.
[ ] I believe in ghosts.
[ ] I can't sleep if there is a spider in the room. (Spiders are our friends.)
[X] I am really ticklish.
[ ] I see/have seen a therapist.
[X] I love chocolate.
[X] I bite my nails.
[X] I am comfortable with being me.
[ ] I play computer games/video games when i'm bored.
[X] Gotten lost in your city. (Are you kidding? I've gotten lost in my city too.)
[X] Saw a shooting star.
[ ] Gone out in public in your pajamas.
[ ] I have kissed a stranger.
[ ] Hugged a stranger.
[X] Been in a fight with the same sex.
[X] Been arrested.
[X] Laughed and had milk/soda come out of your nose.
[X] Pushed all the buttons on an elevator.
[ ] Made out in an elevator.
[X] Swore at your parents.
[ ] Kicked a guy where it hurts. (Guys don't kick.)
[ ] Been skydiving. (dumb)
[ ] Been bungee jumping. (dumber)
[X] Broken a bone.
[X] Played spin the bottle.
[X] Gotten stitches.
[ ] Drank a whole gallon of milk in one hour. (Milk, no. Beer, yes.)
[X] Bitten someone.
[ ] Been to Niagara Falls.
[X] Gotten the chicken pox.
[X] Crashed into a friend's car. (Intentionally, and I'd do it again.)
[ ] Been to Japan.
[X] Ridden in a taxi.
[X] Shoplifted.
[ ] Been fired.
[X] Had feelings for someone who didn't have them back.
[ ] Stole something from your job.
[X] Gone on a blind date.
[X] Lied to a friend. (Fat? In that dress? Of course not.)
[ ] Had a crush on a teacher/coach.
[X] Celebrated Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
[X] Been to Europe.
[X] Slept with a co-worker. (I was her boss, does that count?)
[ ] Been married.
[ ] Gotten divorced.
[ ] Saw someone dying.
[X] Driven over 400 miles in one day. (Try 1000.)
[X] Been to Canada.
[X] Been on a plane. (Well I didn't walk to Canada!)
[X] Seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
[ ] Thrown up in a bar.
[X] Eaten Sushi.
[ ] Been snowboarding.
[ ] Been skiing.
[X] Been ice skating.
[X] Met someone in person from the internet.
[ ] Been to a motorcross show.
[X] Gone/Going to college.
[ ] Done hard drugs.
[X] Taken painkillers. (Percocet, Vicodin, you name it.)
[ ] Cheated on someone else
[X] Were so bored you took this survey.
[ ] Have a tattoo

The French are continuing to try to destroy Lance Armstrong's legacy.

Via ScrappleFace:

(2005-08-23) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez beefed up security at his residence and offices today after reports that Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson has issued a fatwa calling for the assassination of the South American communist dictator.

Venezuelan police have begun detaining and searching "clean cut, Bible-toting men in unfashionable clothing" as likely followers of the wealthy, charismatic religious personality. However, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) immediately lodged a protest with the Venezuelan government over the "profiling" of '700 Club' devotees by security forces.

Mr. Robertson is revered among his fanatical TV viewers, who each year contribute millions of dollars to advance his so-called "ministry," as much as he's feared by the teams of U.S. journalists who track his movements and record his remarks.

The Pentagon immediately denied that Mr. Robertson's name had previously appeared on any Defense Department "watch list," but a spokesman discouraged news networks from airing video of the Robertson fatwa announcement, fearing his remarks might contain coded instructions for Christian cell groups around the world.

The New York Post reports what the mainstream media doesn't:

* Every one of the Army's 10 divisions � its key combat organizations � has exceeded its re-enlistment goal for the year to date. Those with the most intense experience in Iraq have the best rates. The 1st Cavalry Division is at 136 percent of its target, the 3rd Infantry Division at 117 percent.

Among separate combat brigades, the figures are even more startling, with the 2nd Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division at 178 percent of its goal and the 3rd Brigade of the 4th Mech right behind at 174 percent of its re-enlistment target.

This is unprecedented in wartime. Even in World War II, we needed the draft. Where are the headlines?

* What about first-time enlistment rates, since that was the issue last spring? The Army is running at 108 percent of its needs. Guess not every young American despises his or her country and our president.

* The Army Reserve is a tougher sell, given that it takes men and women away from their families and careers on short notice. Well, Reserve recruitment stands at 102 percent of requirements.

* And then there's the Army National Guard. We've been told for two years that the Guard was in free-fall. Really? Guard recruitment and retention comes out to 106 percent of its requirements as of June 30.

The numbers for "new recruits" are still down for the year.

Apparently Professional Hockey is coming back. Did anyone notice it was gone?

If I had my way, "a restraining order would restore the basic firearms rights of anyone it protects. Once the judge signs off on it, it would become a defacto gun license for both purchasing and carrying. . .it would prevent the government from preventing you from protecting yourself. When the judge grants the restraining order, you should be able to purchase and carry a gun (should you choose to do so) without fear of prosecution from the state." -- Ravenwood, February 9, 2005.

"North Carolina lawmakers have approved a measure that would require courts to give battered spouses information on how to apply for a concealed weapon. The bill. . .would also add protective orders to the evidence a sheriff can consider when determining whether to issue an emergency permit to carry a concealed weapon. Normally, an applicant must wait 90 days for such a permit." -- Associated Press, August 18, 2005.

We're not instapundit, but we'll show some linky love to Extreme Wisdom for this prescient yet hilarious movie clip.

Nobody ever accused criminals of being too smart, but hatching a murder plot while you're sitting in jail doesn't help your case.

Co-defendants in a drug case emptied toilet bowls in their Federal Detention Center cells and yelled to each other through the drainpipes about killing witnesses who might testify against them, prosecutors said.

What Dawud Bey and those he communicated with didn't know was that the FBI was also listening, via wiretaps in and around their cells, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark J. Ehlers said Thursday.

Now they face charges of threatening government witnesses on top of everything else.

The story about the ATF's heavy-handed "residency checks" is finally starting to get legs. The mainstream press is still silent, but CNS News picked it up, as did G. Gordon Liddy (MP3 ~8MB) [mirror]. The gun show promoter, Showmasters, also has photos of the police presence. I've been to this Richmond show before and there are usually only a handful of cops on hand for any given show.

Labor unions have always been an oddity to me. Of course I grew up in a Southern "right to work" state where unions are rare to begin with. I also quit my paper route and got a real job at the age of 14. I lied about my age so that I wouldn't have to get a "work permit" and live with the work restrictions and reduced hours that came along with it. Even at an early age I figured that it was my labor and I'd sell as much of it as I want. Why should I ask for government permission? (Did I also mention that I'm now a member of management?)

So it comes as no surprise that I don't understand unions. I realize that they had their place in time, but in a service driven market economy unionization seems like a complete oddity. Although when I shop at Giant (a union grocery store) I do refuse to take my cart back up to the store and be guilty of robbing a union brother of his job. I also refuse to use those self-checkout lanes. But I digress.

When I read about the Mechanic's union (AMFA) striking at Northwest airlines, I was surprised to read that other unions are not supporting the strike. Apparently the AMFA used competitive presssure to "steal" union employees from other unions that were making concessions to [evil] management. It's like a free market paradox.

Then there's this:

Northwest also sought to lay off about 2,000 workers, almost halving a workforce that is already half the size it was in 2001. The cuts would be concentrated among cleaners and custodians; Northwest has said other airlines use contractors to do that work for less...

After talks broke off late Friday, union negotiator Jim Young said the mechanics would rather see the airline go into bankruptcy than agree to Northwest's terms.

Now that's negotiation. It's like asking workers if they want to be shot in the arm or the leg. They'd rather all union brothers lose their job instead of just some of them. The scenario where all workers keep their job is unrealistic, unless of course they can talk the flying public into paying higher airfares. As air travel becomes a commodity with very little differentiation between airlines, customers are choosing to fly based on price. Hell, you don't even get a meal any more, so you might as well take the cheapest flight that meets your city and timetable requirements.

The Department of Labor wants to make 401k enrollment mandatory, reports USA Today. They are proposing regulations that will "encourage" companies to force enrollment on those who would not enroll themselves.

"We want to remove barriers for people to save for retirement, and automatic enrollment really addresses one of the problems that people face: They may be overwhelmed with the responsibility of saving for retirement," says Ann Combs, assistant secretary at the Labor Department's Employee Benefits Security Administration...

The Labor Department says the proposed regulation should give employers who automatically enroll workers in a 401(k) plan some protection from lawsuits if the investment options chosen are "reasonable." Some companies are reluctant to use automatic enrollment for fear that employees whose investments lost money would sue.

So just whose money is it any way? While I participate in a 401k and retirement planning, it's still nice to know that I can forgo my retirement contribution and take the cash should I want it. And there are any number of reasons why someone might not want to participate in a 401k plan. Perhaps they don't have the money, or perhaps they prefer to invest in another retirement vehicle outside of work. Taking the choice away sounds too much like a second Social Security plan.

From the "everything causes cancer" department, a member of the New York City Council is pushing for people to avoid certain cell phones because of the evil death rays they emit.

If you don't want an earful of radio waves, stay far away from two Motorola cellphones, City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz advised yesterday.

She released a list of nearly 400 cellphone models, along with the amount of potentially cancer-causing emissions absorbed through the ears of people who use them without headsets...

If she has her way, all manufacturers will include the numbers on their advertisements, on their boxes and right on the phones themselves.

She noted the "the jury is still out" on whether cellphones cause cancer.

Last May, the magazine Neurology reported finding no clear connection between cellphones and brain cancer.

Still, Moskowitz suggested cellphone use may turn out to be just as unhealthy as lighting up.

"They used to say that cigarettes weren't bad for you, but we know about that now," she said.

"There are 175 million Americans who use cellphones, and 69 percent of New Yorkers use them every day. We don't want to find out down the road that we've been doing damage to ourselves." [...]

"I definitely don't want to learn later that these things cause cancer."

When it comes to education funding, Connecticut is trying to have their cake and eat it too. They are suing the federal government over enforcement of the No Child Left Behind Act. They claim that they should not be bound by the education standards imposed by the Act.

The lawsuit argues that No Child Left Behind is illegal because it requires expensive standardized tests and other school programs that the government doesn't pay for. It asks a federal judge to declare that state and local money cannot be used to meet the law's goals...

The federal government is providing Connecticut with $5.8 million this fiscal year to pay for the testing, [Education Commissioner Betty Sternberg] said. She estimates federal funds will fall $41.6 million short of paying for staffing, program development, standardized tests and other costs associated with implementing the law through 2008.

Of course Connecticut isn't really obligated to meet federal standards. They can opt out of federal education funding and not be bothered by NCLB at all. What they are doing is gambling that they can get an activist court to tell the government that they must provide federal funding to Connecticut but cannot hold them to any federal standards.

According to the Cato Institute, Connecticut received over $100 Million [PDF] in Title 1 grants in 2002. And that doesn't include the huge budget increases of the last few years.

Imagine suing your employer for allocating your budget and then having the nerve to hold you accountable for how the money was spent. Perhaps the Fed should get out of the education business altogether. It is, after all, a local function. Maybe they should just tell the states they're on their own and cut the federal education budget to zero. I think I could live with that.

San Francisco, the city that voted to use taxpayer dollars to provide sex change operations, is refusing to accept the U.S.S. Iowa, a veteran ship of WWII, Korea, and Gulf War I.

In a sign of the times the city of San Francisco voted 8-3 not to have the retired warship USS Iowa remain docked in the bay.

The USS Iowa fought in battles from World War II to Korea to the Persian Gulf War and is recognized has having suffered one of the most horrific accidents in Navy history.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif, also a former mayor of the city, locked up $3 million for the ship to remain a tourist attraction in the city. But with the war on terror, the military policy on gays and the war in Iraq facing so much opposition, the city supervisors voted the measure down.

"If I was going to commit any kind of money in recognition of war, then it should be toward peace, given what our war is in Iraq right now," Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi tells AP.

"This isn't the San Francisco that I've known and loved and grew up in and was born in," says Sen.Feinstein. "This is a very petty decision." [...]

[Said Douglass Wilhoit, head of Stockton's Chamber of Commerce], "San Francisco's rejection of such a storied battleship is a slap in the nation's face. We're lucky our men and women have sacrificed their lives to protect our freedom. Wherever you stand on the war in Iraq you shouldn't make a decision based on philosophy."

The Iowa will now be docked in Stockton instead of San Francisco.

UPDATE: As Sgt. Fluffy points out, the U.S.S. Iowa was not a veteran of the Gulf War and was decommissioned by that time. Most articles covering this story are reporting that the Iowa was in the Gulf War. My guess is that some AP reporter somewhere read that the Iowa Class battleships (like the Wisconsin) took part in the war, and didn't understand the distinction.

Virginia Tech is picked to win the ACC and play in the Orange Bowl in Stewart Mandel's Pre-season Bowl Predictions. My [jealous] UVA friends point out that last year Virginia Tech was picked to finish 6th to 8th and ended up winning the ACC after drubbing UVA and pushing them up and down the field in the second half of the... okay, I added that last part. I guess that shows the value of pre-season picks.

In other news, the NCAA is starting to back down from their Indian ban. They're now saying that teams that have permission slips from Indian tribes *may* be permitted to keep their mascot and logo.

Speaking of the NCAA, they were being sued by the NIT for anti-trust violations with their basketball tourney. The NCAA appears to have nipped it in the bud by purchasing the rights to the NIT pre-season and post-season tournaments. How does this help them prove they aren't a monopoly? It sounds a bit like Microsoft purchasing Apple.

After months of painstaking work, researchers have discovered that high school kids would rather drive a Mustang, while parents would rather them have a Honda Civic.

"Young drivers, who often are very image-conscious, prefer the sporty 'cool cars,' but parents seem more concerned with safety and practicality when it comes to having their children behind the wheel," said Jack R. Nerad, an executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book.

What would we do without executive market analysts?

Colombian officials have jailed a cow for causing traffic accidents. That's right, a cow.

A cow has been put in prison after it was blamed for a road accident in Colombia.

The cow was wandering along a road in Giron when was hit by a woman on a motorcycle.

The woman was not badly hurt but police decided the cow was a danger and 'arrested' it.

Officers were unable to find out who owns the [cow] and are keeping it in the town's prison.

A police spokesman said: "If it was a person who caused the accident, he or she would be behind bars, so why not a cow?"

It looks like National Forests and "gun free" National Parks are increasingly becoming a battle ground for the war on drugs. Now police are warning hikers to be cautious of their surroundings, lest they stumble onto an illegal growing field.

...his point was to say that if a hiker had stumbled upon the kind of marijuana farm that officials shut down in the Coconino National Forest earlier this week near Strawberry, there may have been a tragedy.

Police had observed a person patrolling the area with an assault rifle, Charlton said.

Charlton said armed guards often are paid to protect marijuana farms, and an unwary hiker could lose his or her life.

"If you stumble across one of these places, back out the same way you came in and report it to authorities," Charlton said.

Illegal aliens sneaking into the United States apparently had to cross land owned by members of Ranch Rescue, a group that advocates strict enforcement of immigration laws. The illegals were caught and released, but later sued for emotional distress. Well, they won and are now being awarded ownership of an Arizona gun range.

Mancia and Leiva were caught on a ranch in Hebbronville, Texas, in March 2003 by Nethercott and other members of Ranch Rescue. The two immigrants later accused Nethercott of threatening them and of hitting Mancia with a pistol. The immigrants also said that the group gave them cookies, water and a blanket and let them go after an hour or so.

The Salvadorans testified against Nethercott when he was tried by Texas prosecutors. The jury deadlocked on a pistol-whipping charge but convicted Nethercott, who had previously served time in California for assault, of gun possession. He is serving a five-year sentence in Texas.

Mancia and Leiva also filed a lawsuit against Nethercott; Jack Foote, the founder of Ranch Rescue; and the owner of the Hebbronville ranch, Joe Sutton. The immigrants said the ordeal had left them with post-traumatic stress.

Sutton settled for $100,000. Nethercott and Foote did not defend themselves, so the judge issued default judgments of $850,000 against Nethercott and $500,000 against Foote.

Nethercott's only substantial assets was a gun range in Arizona, known as Camp Thunderbird - "headquarters of a paramilitary group that vowed to use force to keep illegal immigrants from sneaking across the border." It has been seized and awarded to the plaintiffs. The two illegals are still in the United States and have said that they will likely sell the ranch rather than take possession of it. They have both applied for visas "available to immigrants who are the victims of certain crimes".

I went to the theater on Friday to see 40-Year-Old Virgin. Imagine crossing American Pie with There's Something About Mary; there's a lot of sexual innuendo and toilet humor, and whoops there goes a boob. The film is filled with hilarious and side-splitting R-rated fun, as friends try to help the 40-year old virgin finally score. It's a wonderful departure from the blase PG-13 pseudo-sex that Hollywood usually offers.

There's not a lot of nudity, but there's plenty of swearing and adult themes, which is sure to make the pleasure police cringe.

Virginia Tech's firearms policy [PDF], released in July 2005, violates Virginia gun laws. Virginia's pre-emption law says that localities and state agencies cannot enact restrictions that are more severe than state law. That doesn't stop them from trying, though:

2.2 Prohibition of Weapons The university's employees, students, and volunteers, or any visitor or other third party attending a sporting, entertainment, or educational event, or visiting an academic or administrative office building or residence hall, are further prohibited from carrying, maintaining, or storing a firearm or weapon on any university facility, even if the owner has a valid permit, when it is not required by the individual's job, or in accordance with the relevant University Student Life Policies. Any individual who is reported or discovered to possess a firearm or weapon on university property will be asked to remove it immediately. Failure to comply may result in a student judicial referral and/or arrest, an employee disciplinary action and/or arrest, or arrest for trespass and/or violation of the appropriate state criminal statute.

As a "visitor or other third party" who routinely attends sporting events at Virginia Tech, I fully intend to traverse Virginia Tech campus and state property as I see fit - and as provided by the laws of the Commonwealth. Tech may get away with taking disciplinary action against students who dare to afford for their own defense, but they have no legal recourse against private citizens.

John Hawkins brilliantly breaks down the disagreement between a movie theater and a 7 year old disabled kid, and who the media leaves out of the picture.

A jury found prescription drug-maker, Merck, guilty of negligence, and awarded a gazillion dollars to a woman who tragically lost her husband to a heart attack.

Plaintiff Carol Ernst has won her lawsuit in Texas Superior Court in Angleton, which blames Vioxx for the 2001 death of her husband, Robert Ernst, a 59-year-old marathon runner and Wal-Mart worker who was taking the arthritis painkiller at the time of his death. Ernst died of a heart attack.

The verdict held Merck liable for the death. Jurors voted 10-2 in favor of Ernst.

The jury awarded more than $250 million in total damages -- a $24 million penalty to Carol Ernst for mental anguish and loss of companionship and $229 million in punitive damages. Ernst's Houston-based lawyer, Mark Lanier, said the punitive-damages figure was based on "the money Merck made and saved by putting off their product label changes."

I don't know the facts of the case, so I'm not saying Merck is innocent. But this illustrates the types of risks that drug manufacturers face. Keep this in mind the next time some lefty talks about the evil drug companies and how much they charge for prescription medication.

Richard Dreyfuss not only thinks that wars are fought with children, but that they're kidnapped from their parents in the middle of the night (ala Elian Gonzalez?). Dreyfuss bloviated, "No one should come for my son and tell my son to go and kill someone or put himself in harm's way unless I understand and agree to the need." I wonder if he agrees with parental consent for abortions?

In France, where vacations are a "right" guaranteed by the government, more people are staying home because they cannot afford it.

Nearly 4 out of every 10 French people don't go on vacation at any time of the year - nearly half of them because they can't afford it, according to a 2004 study by the Tourism Ministry.

The study defined a vacation as spending four or more nights away from home.

All European nations guarantee employees between four and five weeks of paid vacation a year. The United States and Australia are the only industrialized countries without national minimums on the length of vacations, according to the International Labor Organization.

The French average seven weeks of paid vacation a year - two more than the country's labor laws stipulate. They work an average of 1,441 hours per year, compared with 1,661 hours for the British, and 1,824 for Americans, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reports.

Rising travel costs and 10% unemployment rate are being blamed. But just because they aren't leaving town, doesn't mean the French are doing any work.

Despite the downward trend in vacations, France still all but shuts down in August. In Paris, so many shops, restaurants and pharmacies close that those staying open often put up signs: "We're here in August."

Once again Americans show just how prudish they can be. After thousands of complaints, the Department of Commerce is asking ICAAN to reconsider dedicating a XXX domain.

The Department of Commerce received an "unprecedented" number of messages opposing the .xxx address, Michael Gallagher, the agency's assistant secretary for communications and information, said in a recent letter to the nonprofit Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers. The Internet Corp. assigns Web addresses.

Gallagher wrote that the department received nearly 6,000 letters and e-mails expressing concerns about the effect of pornography on families and children and objecting to setting aside a domain suffix for it.

He stopped short of urging rejection of the address, but he called on the Internet Corp. to "ensure the best interests of the Internet community as a whole are fully considered."

Approval of the domain name had been expected as early as Tuesday, five years after it was first proposed and two months after the Internet Corp. gave it a tentative OK.

[snarky]Yeah because the internet is already "porn free". And blocking the entire .XXX domain would be difficult and technological.[/snarky]

Larry Flynt said it first, I'll say it again. Murder is illegal, yet if you take a picture of it, that's legal. They'll put it on the cover of Newsweek and give you a Pulitzer prize. Sex, on the other hand is legal. Yet if you take pictures of it or show it on TV or in movies, you're accused of some sort of deviant behavior.

VCDL is standing by the story that ATF agents visited the homes of Richmond area gun purchasers. While gun show patrons were waiting for approval to purchase guns, the ATF was visiting their homes and neighbors, asking family and friends questions about why they were purchasing guns.

The biggest question has been how would the ATF pull it off logistically?

At the gun shows in Richmond, the State Police setup a NICS check room where ALL the dealers drop off their NICS forms. Later, the dealers check back to see if the NICS check has been completed and the forms ready. All BATFE has to do is to grab the forms as they are dropped off by the dealers, call in the contact info and have an officer dispatched to the house. That officer reports results of survey back to dispatcher, who in turn gives it to BATFE. The form is then approved and released to the dealer the next time he checks back. It is not unusual to have to wait an hour for approval, so the average gun owner wouldn't really be alerted to anything until he got home.

Where the disbelief seems to be coming from is that in many states, the dealer calls in the NICS check from the show floor. Thus BATFE would have to be in the booth with the dealer to get the NICS info and make the dealer hold the form until the survey results were returned. This would have also alerted dealers as to what was going on. But that isn't how it's done at Richmond gun shows.

When I first read about it, I was extremely skeptical. I was tempted to throw the bullshit flag myself, but the more the story develops the more convincing it sounds.

The Washington Post is trumpeting that Supreme Court nominee John Roberts is anti-womyn. He "resisted" women's rights, and wanted to keep them barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen alludes the Post.

In internal memos, Roberts urged President Ronald Reagan to refrain from embracing any form of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment pending in Congress; he concluded that some state initiatives to curb workplace discrimination against women relied on legal tools that were "highly objectionable"; and he said that a controversial legal theory then in vogue -- of directing employers to pay women the same as men for jobs of "comparable worth" -- was "staggeringly pernicious" and "anti-capitalist."

As I remember it there was quite a bit of opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment (or ERA as it was called then). It is basically a holdover from the 1920s, a time in which women had just earned the right to vote.

Passage of the Amendment would have many consequences. First of all, women would have to register with the Selective Service System and be eligible for the draft (should there ever be another one). Wikipedia notes:

Other critics have argued that the courts could rule that the ERA would mandate the recognition of same-sex marriage. Critics also maintain that the ERA would require the integration of single-sex schools or sports teams�they point to a decision by a court in the State of Washington which ordered a fraternal civic organization to admit women, based upon the ERA within its state constitution. Finally, some opponents of the ERA contended that the amendment simply was not necessary, and that other provisions of the Constitution provide sufficient support for equal rights for both genders.

Then there are those people who are "outcome" based. They view equal rights not as equal opportunity, but as using unequal opportunity to create equal outcomes. These are the people who would demand that women be paid more (or men paid less) to reduce the "wage gap". Nevermind that women are naturally more family oriented, while men are more career oriented. This sort of affirmative action for women is indeed anti-capitalist and "staggeringly pernicious" as Roberts alleges. And forcing men to admit women into their fraternal organizations (ala Martha Burk and the Augusta National Golf Club) is anti-American.

But to the Washington Post, opposition is blasphemy. You can almost hear the astonishment in their writing:

Covering a period from 1982 to 1986 -- during his tenure as associate counsel to Reagan -- the memos, letters and other writings show that Roberts endorsed a speech attacking "four decades of misguided" Supreme Court decisions on the role of religion in public life, urged the president to hold off saying AIDS could not be transmitted through casual contact until more research was done, and argued that promotions and firings in the workplace should be based entirely on merit, not affirmative action programs.

GASP! He endorsed a speech by that no good monster Ronald Reagan!

His remark on whether homemakers should become lawyers came in 1985 in reply to a suggestion from Linda Chavez, then the White House's director of public liaison. Chavez had proposed entering her deputy, Linda Arey, in a contest sponsored by the Clairol shampoo company to honor women who had changed their lives after age 30. Arey had been a schoolteacher who decided to change careers and went to law school.

In a July 31, 1985, memo, Roberts noted that, as an assistant dean at the University of Richmond law school before she joined the Reagan administration, Arey had "encouraged many former homemakers to enter law school and become lawyers." Roberts said in his memo that he saw no legal objection to her taking part in the Clairol contest. Then he added a personal aside: "Some might question whether encouraging homemakers to become lawyers contributes to the common good, but I suppose that is for the judges to decide." [...]

Kim Gandy, president of the liberal National Organization for Women, which already has opposed Roberts, reacted more harshly. "Oh. Wow. Good heavens," she said. "I find it quite shocking that a young lawyer, as he was at the time, had such Neanderthal ideas about women's place."

Personally I don't think anyone should become a lawyer (but that's just me). But sometimes a shampoo contest is just a shampoo contest and a bad lawyer joke is just a joke. Unless of course you're a feminazi, in which case Roberts is just another useless knuckle-dragger. God help us when these women figure out asexual reproduction.

"Lions and elephants on the Great Plains? -- Scientists suggest relocating African species to North America" -- CNN Headline, August 17, 2005.

"Tiger kills Kansas teen during photo pose" -- CNN Headline, August 18, 2005.

Just days after Canadia and Mexico blamed America for the proliferation of guns, London is blaming Asia for the proliferation of knives. The lack of guns has meant that knife crime is on the rise, and Great Britain has long considered banning the implements of evil outright.

Now a recently released study shows that knives are crossing the border by the thousands and the number of people wounded and killed is mounting. The seemingly endless flow across the border -- and the sense the bad guys can tap the pipeline whenever they please -- has left many officers feeling helpless. "We remove knives [from the street] on a regular basis now," says Insp. Georges Thomason, head of criminal intelligence for the London police. "But for these people, it's like buying a pack of candy. They re-arm themselves immediately afterwards."

Most of the knives flow into the country from Asia. The vast majority are stamped with "Made in China". Others come from Taiwan. "Most knives come from China," reports Thomason. "It's like it's a billion quid a year industry."

The connection between the knife supply in China and the criminal element in Great Britain is, after all, well accepted, if not well measured. In 2004, British police asked Scotland Yard to trace 1,135 knives seized during criminal investigations -- cuttlery they were pretty sure originated in China. This year, they're on pace to top that number.

While they are forbidden by law from disclosing the success rate of the traces, it is said that knife issues represent about 80 per cent of the office's work these days. A good thing, too: according to the National Weapons Enforcement Support Team, a unit formed to combat smuggling, fully 94 per cent of crime knives they seized on London streets in 2003 came from China and Taiwan, while other studies suggest one out of two knives recovered in British crime are smuggled into the country.

Meantime, hardly a day passes without news of some stabbing in a British city -- often gang-related and too often devastating to innocent bystanders like Niles Cornish, a four-year-old from Manchester who was caught up in the violence.

Canadia's single minded focus on guns is misplaced, reports the Edmunton Sun. Statistically speaking, knives are a much bigger threat to Canadians.

"This year we've had 23 homicides, and 10 were a result of stabbings," said Edmonton Police Service spokesman Karen Carlson. "Eight of the deaths were shootings. Four were assaults, and one cause of death is unknown."

Last year, it was a similar sad story.

"Last year we had 28 homicides, half of which were as a result of stabbings," said Carlson. "Nine were shootings, four were assaults and one was undetermined."

So deaths by stabbing outnumber gun deaths. There is even more disparity in the numbers of attacks.

A check with Edmonton's Emergency Response Department paints an even grimmer picture. So far this year, paramedics have responded to 259 reports of stabbings - some of which involved more than one victim. Of all those calls so far this year, ambulances were cancelled in 86 instances. Still, that leaves us with EMS having had to respond to 173 stabbings - and the year is only half over!

Scanning through the Sun's electronic news archives is a real eye-opener. Almost every day there's a story about one person or more being stabbed. It's a true epidemic.

The amount of gun crime pales by comparison.

Don't worry though. After all the guns are rounded up, knives are sure to be next on the list. Just ask the Britons.

The Town of Herndon (VA) voted to build a "day labor center", where illegal aliens can meet up with those wishing to employ unbonded, uninsured criminals. The town council voted 7 to 2 to build a shelter using Fairfax County funds, reports the Washington Post. They apparently feel that tax dollars are better off being paid to support those who don't pay taxes and shirk immigration and employment laws, than in the pockets of hard working American families.

Project Hope and Harmony, a social services agency, was seeking a permit to build and operate a worker center near the Loudoun County line. The approval means the town will help fund the center with $175,000 in public money...

As a condition of the permit granted to Project Hope, the nonprofit group must distribute information to contractors telling them that hiring undocumented immigrants is illegal. But Project Hope officials said they will not ask the laborers to disclose their status.

This should be welcomed by law enforcement agencies. All they need to do to catch illegals now is stake out the shelter. While they're at it, they can arrest contractors who employ illegal aliens undocumented human resources. Both are party to violating numerous laws, including shirking the overwhelming tax burden that Joe and Jane America face every day. Not to mention hampering our national security.

Pricing for the next generation Xbox 360 has been set, reports CNET. The core (cheap) console will sell for $300, with the premium model coming in at a whopping $400. They will be backward compatible and play old Xbox games, but new games will be priced from $49 to $59. Microsoft isn't putting a hard drive in the core system, so they anticipate selling more of the premium model, which I think is a mistake.

For $100 more, gamers can upgrade to the premium edition. That package will feature, in addition to the standard equipment, a headset, remote, membership to the Xbox Live entertainment and chat network, and a 20GB hard drive for storing games, music, and other content downloaded from Xbox Live. It will also swap out the wired controller for a wireless one.

The premium edition will be known as the Xbox 360 and will have a cream-colored shell, while the lower-priced version will be called the Xbox 360 core system and will come in a light green box, said David Reed, director of platform marketing for Xbox.

He predicted that many players who will buy the Xbox 360 this holiday season are likely to opt for the premium version. "There's no question we're going to sell a lot more Xbox 360 this holiday than we are of the Xbox 360 core system," Reed said.

It's not surprising that the Marketing Director would be optimistic, but he's deluding himself if he honestly believes that. Four hundred dollars for a console game system just seems high to me. Especially when you can get a desktop computer for less than that.

What's more, holiday shopping is usually done by ignorant parents. You may have kids asking for the premium system and being disappointed on Christmas morning when they find out they got stuck with the cheaper crippled version.

I purchased an Xbox, which I hardly ever have time to play. But only after they dropped the price to $200.

CNN-Money, who once took financial advice from record artist Billy Joel, reports that record high gas prices set another record.

Gasoline prices set another high Thursday for their sixth straight record-breaking day, according to travel club AAA's daily fuel gauge report.

The nationwide average price for a gallon of regular unleaded hit $2.586, up about 2 cents from the previous day, according to AAA, the largest U.S. motorist organization, formerly known as the American Automobile Association. In the last year, prices have gained almost 72 cents, or almost 39 percent.

Although their headline claims that gas prices are at a record high, they later admit they're either lying or were duped by AAA.

Although the AAA has reported a record high price for gasoline, prices remain below their all-time highs when inflation is taken into account. According to the Lundberg Survey, a national survey released over the weekend, gas prices were the equivalent of $3 a gallon during the Iranian revolution in the early 1980's.

So shouldn't the article be about how the largest auto club in America is misleading the public?

The VCDL is pretty good about getting their facts straight. That's why I don't know what to think of this claim. It just sounds so preposterous, yet knowing what I know about the ATF, it could very well be true.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE), who seem to go out of their way to alienate gun owners with their heavy-handedness, behaved in a shameful manner this last weekend at the Showmasters' gun show in Richmond.

I had reports from members of police going to their houses while the member was waiting for their approval to purchase a gun at the show! The police asked the spouse and other family members questions about the purchases and filled in a survey! "Did you know your husband was going to a gun show today?" "Did you know your husband was going to buy a gun today?" and many other such questions.

If no one was home at the gun purchaser's house, the police went to the neighbors! "Did you know that your neighbor was buying a gun today? How do you feel about him doing so?"

Just what you need is someone going around telling people that you're not home, and you're likely to have guns in the house. And how does this cut down on gun crime, again?

Then there's this:

One member, who was carrying a personal gun to sell, was approached by BATFE and taken to a car while they checked him out. The officer said in front of Showmasters' management, "Did you know you need a business license to sell a gun at this show? I have seen you at a lot of shows - are you in the business of selling guns? I think you are."

I sometimes frequent Richmond shows, but I doubt they have agents prepared to drive 100 miles to my home to question my neighbors. But if I ever get questioned, I'll be sure to thank the ATF for letting me know that my neighbor is likely to have guns and is definitely not home right now. Maybe he'll loan me his battering ram.

UPDATE: The media is finally starting to pick up the story, and the ATF has admitted that the so-called "residency checks" did take place. They also say that they will NOT happen in the future.

The Washington Times reports that during a screening of a 1964 Ronald Reagan movie, The Killers, "a prestigious crowd of actors, actresses, writers, reviewers, scholars, researchers and film preservationists. . .erupted in cheers when Mr. Reagan 'the actor' was shot and killed."

Absent the applause, it was already an eerie scene to relive, considering Mr. Reagan, later as president, was shot and nearly killed in 1981 by John Hinckley Jr.

But that's not all. The audience also broke into "malicious cheers," one man in attendance tells Inside the Beltway, when Mr. Reagan was threatened at gunpoint and pushed out of a speeding car.

According to the plot summary, Reagan did play a "rich double-crossing bad guy", so maybe it wasn't personal.

The Oregon Governor signed a bill to "curb meth production" reports the Medford News. What he's actually done is turn a $5 box of cold medicine into a $90 visit to your family doctor to get a prescription.

"Meth has robbed many Oregon children of the right to grow up in a happy and healthy home," said Governor Kulongoski. "Limiting the availability of pseudoephedrine and providing long-term treatment will give hope for these kids to get their families back."

Measures that the Governor signed today will require that pseudoephedrine be available only by prescription and will provide additional resources for treatment and enforcement.

So Oregon children have the right to be happy and healthy, just so long as nobody gets a cold. I'm not one to support meth addicts, but taking away legitimate products because of the actions of a few is asinine. What's more, this will do almost nothing to curb meth availability or addiction. Prohibition never works and serves only to create an underground market and finance organized crime. The artificial increase in the price of sudafed will only mean that the drug will join the litany of products being bootlegged across state and international borders.

Some Canadian gun owners may soon be told to turn in their guns.

Gun owners in Toronto may soon be prohibited from keeping their firearms at home even if they are properly licensed and registered, Mayor David Miller said yesterday.

"There's no reason to own a gun in Toronto -- collector or not. If you are a collector and you have a permit, the guns need to be stored in a way that they can't be stolen. And perhaps a centralized facility of some kind could accomplish that goal," Mr. Miller told the National Post. "The law requires gun owners to have proper storage, but obviously not everyone adheres to that."

Of course when gunowners are instructed to turn in their guns for "centralized" storage, the gun database will make sure they're easy to find.

(Via Say Uncle)

Here's more proof that the gun grabbers are taking their fight international. Just a few weeks after Canadians blamed America for "half" their illegal guns, we are also being blamed for the proliferation of guns in "gun free" Mexico.

Since January, more than 600 people have been killed in an ongoing war between rival drug cartels using high-powered handguns and assault rifles fighting for control of drug smuggling routes on the Texas-Mexico border.

Federal gun seizures show that a majority of weapons used in violent crimes in Mexico were smuggled into the country from the United States or bought through other sources in a lucrative black market...

Federal agents that asked not to be identified for security reasons said the permitting process in Mexico is expensive and approval to buy a handgun or rifle (that must be .22-caliber or smaller) can take up to a year.

In the United States, the Brady law requires federally licensed gun dealers to run background checks on all buyers; the process usually takes seven days or less.

At the same time, Mexican law also prohibits gun owners from carrying their weapons in public. Texas gun owners can carry weapons if they have a concealed handgun permit.

(Also via SayUncle.)

Gas is expensive and if you plan on stealing it, you'd better make sure you don't get diesel fuel by mistake. Two men in Indiana were arrested on felony charges after their getaway was apparently spoiled because their car wouldn't run.

Two men who tried to steal gasoline from a construction company instead filled the tank of their car with off-road-grade diesel fuel Sunday, police said.

An employee of Beer & Slabaugh spotted the men on the company property near Nappanee, about 20 miles southeast of South Bend, as they were siphoning fuel out of a car's tank, Elkhart County deputies said.

The two told the employee that a friend had put the wrong fuel into the tank and they were trying to empty it, authorities said. The employee noticed that the fuel was the distinctive red color of off-road diesel.

Some schools are missing their "No Child Left Behind" targets. Still, for all their whining and complaining about how unfair it is to have high expectations for a bunch of dumb kids, on average Virginia's schools are improving dramatically.

Overall, performance across the state improved, as 80 percent of the 1,821 public schools met the benchmark -- an increase over last year's 74 percent pass rate. For the first time since the No Child Left Behind law was enacted, Virginia as a state met federal standards.

The schools that missed the target must allow kids to transfer, or provide tutoring.

A cache of Weapons of Mass Destruction have been found in Iraq. But the Washington Post makes assures us that these are new WMDs, created because of President Bush's illegal war for oil.

Combined, the chemicals would yield an agent capable of "lingering hazards" for those exposed to it, [Lt. Col. Steven A. Boylan] said. The likely targets would have been "coalition and Iraqi security forces, and Iraqi civilians," partly because the chemicals would be difficult to keep from spreading over a wide area, he said.

Boylan said the suspected lab was new, dating from some time after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The Bush administration cited evidence that Saddam Hussein's government was manufacturing weapons of mass destruction as the main justification for the invasion. No such weapons or factories were found.

Maybe Washington Post reporters should actually read the Washington Post, which reported back in May 2004 that a weapon of mass destruction dated from the first Gulf War had been used against U.S. troops.

An artillery shell containing the nerve agent sarin exploded near a U.S. military convoy in Baghdad recently, releasing a small amount of the deadly chemical and slightly injuring two ordnance disposal experts, a top U.S. military official in Iraq said yesterday.

The discovery of the nerve agent, reported yesterday by a team that has been searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq since shortly after last year's U.S.-led invasion, marked the first time the team has found one of the types of weapons that the Bush administration cited as initial justification for toppling the government of Saddam Hussein.

The Post also seems to be forgetting the more than three dozen vials of sarin found in Falluja, or the cache of blister agent shells found by coalition troops.

Those findings had been ignored because they weren't considered "stockpiles" of WMD. Now they don't even want to admit that they were found at all.

Cheap laptops in Richmond drove people to nearly kill each other.

A rush to purchase $50 used laptops turned into a violent stampede Tuesday, with people getting thrown to the pavement, beaten with a folding chair and nearly driven over. One woman went so far as to wet herself rather than surrender her place in line...

An estimated 5,500 people turned out at the Richmond International Raceway in hopes of getting their hands on one of the 4-year-old Apple iBooks. The Henrico County school system was selling 1,000 of the computers to county residents. New iBooks cost between $999 and $1,299.

Officials opened the gates at 7 a.m., but some already had been waiting since 1:30 a.m. When the gates opened, it became a terrifying mob scene.

People threw themselves forward, screaming and pushing each other. A little girl's stroller was crushed in the stampede. Witnesses said an elderly man was thrown to the pavement, and someone in a car tried to drive his way through the crowd.

British crimefighters have tried some pretty strange less than lethal alternatives to guns.

The branch once worked on a special gun that blasted a toffee-like foam at a suspect. Although it was effective in immobilizing suspects, the project was abandoned when researchers found the sticky goo blocked people's airways.

Still better than perforating someone's chest when you don't need to. I'd bet it's less lethal than TASERs too.

A supercharged water gun, complete with a strap-on water tank, was also among the list of failed inventions. The portable water cannon did not make it past trial stage because the pressurized stream of water knocked users off their feet.

Isn't that the idea?

Another idea was a cannon that fired tennis balls at high speed - notably less lethal than a gun, but lacking in accuracy.

DUH! The conical shaped Minie Ball has been around since before the Civil War. They also tried to use foxes as sniffer dogs, but discovered (the hard way) that the fox is really hard to domesticate.

The idea was shelved when the foxes kept biting their handlers and eventually chewed through their enclosures and escaped.

CNN-Money shares reader's reactions to the question of borrowing WiFi connections. By far, the funniest:

"Isn't my neighbor violating my rights by inundating my apartment with 'Internet' waves?"

You've heard of red light cameras and speed cameras. Now California is coming out with an emissions camera. The device will measure the emissions coming from the tailpipe of your car, take a photo of your license plate, and dispatch the local environmental gestapo to force you to fix your car.

The program, perhaps the largest of its kind, would measure vehicles entering freeways in the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside.

The sensors measure pollutants as vehicles accelerate and the cameras snap an image of the license plates.

But leave it to Californiastan to put a socialist spin on the crack down:

There's even an incentive to getting caught.

Owners of smoky clunkers would receive letters informing them that the government would help pay to fix or scrap the vehicles. Between 10,000 to 20,000 of the dirtiest vehicles would be spotted, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

That makes perfect sense. After all this unfairly targets older cars, meaning the poor will be hardest hit.

It's not every day you get to see a bug eat a bird. Bird watchers were apparently horrified to see a Praying Mantis catch, kill, and devour a Hummingbird.

"It looks like today, and this could change--as of today, it looks like women will be worse off in Iraq than they were when Saddam Hussein was president of Iraq." -- Democrat National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.

California has no right to bitch about the price of gas:

A federal judge effectively blocked new oil drilling off the California coast, ordering federal officials not to allow exploratory wells or other activity until they conduct a more extensive study of the environmental risks - a process that could take years.

The federal government wants to extend leases on 36 offshore tracts between Oxnard and San Luis Obispo so that [big] oil companies can turn them into working oil fields. State officials and environmental groups have been fighting the plan on several fronts. Friday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken came a day after the California Coastal Commission raised official objections to the same federal plan.

A New York restaurant is taking the option out of tipping. Instead, they will charge customers a flat 20% service charge on their meals. Waiters are not happy and say that the restaurant owners are trying to funnel more money to the cooks and support staff. The owners say they are tired of losing good cooks because they aren't tipped out well enough.

Regardless, if they know what's good for them they should probably just roll the tip up into the price of each item. If I went to a restaurant where they insisted on adding 20% to the bill I would be deeply offended. Much more so than if I looked at the menu and saw that the prices were 20% higher than normal.

I also wonder how it would affect the quality of the service. Waitressing is hard work, but on a bad day with bad service I like the option of being able to let the wait staff know when they've screwed up. Time will tell, but I don't think this will sit well with the eating public.

Here's the latest meme, via Countertop:

What was the last movie you saw in a theater?

- The Island

What was the last movie you watched at home (DVD/VHS, not TV)?

- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Mr. Turkle: Ain't no one jerkin' off nowhere muthafucker! I'm doin' the same fuckin' thing your doin'- hidin'!

What was the last TV show you watched?

- Seinfeld

What was the last TV show you watched on DVD?

- Band of Brothers

What is the next TV program you plan to watch?

- The Simpsons

Environmentalist wackos are claiming to get up to 250 miles per gallon out of their hybrids. And as long as you only drive them a mile at a time, you can apparently do just that.

It looks like a typical Toyota Prius hybrid, but in the trunk sits an 80-miles-per-gallon secret -- a stack of 18 brick-sized batteries that boosts the car's high mileage with an extra electrical charge so it can burn even less fuel.

Gremban, an electrical engineer and committed environmentalist, spent several months and $3,000 tinkering with his car.

Let's see, for my kitten stomping SUV that's 15,000 miles a year divided by 15 miles per gallon in the city, or 1000 gallons. At 2-something a gallon, $3,000 is nearly a year and a half worth of fuel bills. If I drove a tiny little girly car the size of a Toyota Prius, $3000 would be about 3 to 4 years worth of gas. Combine that with about a $3,000 premium for a hybrid and you're talking nearly 8 years worth of fuel bills, paid up front.

But at least you're doing something for the environment, right? Well...

Like all hybrids, his Prius increases fuel efficiency by harnessing small amounts of electricity generated during braking and coasting. The extra batteries let him store extra power by plugging the car into a wall outlet at his home in this San Francisco suburb -- all for about a quarter.

And where does that electricity come from?

Backers of plug-in hybrids acknowledge that the electricity to boost their cars generally comes from fossil fuels that create greenhouse gases, but they say that process still produces far less pollution than oil. They also note that electricity could be generated cleanly from solar power.

It could also be generated by a giant hamster wheel but it isn't. It's generated by burning fossil fuels, and that is generated miles away in power plants that are likely surrounded by poor people.

And I'm sure that hitting the road with a trunk full of toxic waste and battery acid doesn't harm the environment at all.

After failing at home, the gun control lobby has gone international. And in light of Canadia's recent whining that the American gun culture was causing an increase in Canadian violent crime and gun seizures, the Globe and Mail takes a look at the actual numbers. And, big surprise, they deduce that it's all a bunch of hooey.

As Canadian politicians express alarm about a rising tide of guns smuggled from the United States, statistics obtained by The Globe and Mail show that federal border guards are seizing fewer firearms and Toronto police are pulling no more guns off the streets than they ordinarily do.

The Canada Border Services Agency says it has intercepted 318 guns so far in 2005, below the more than 1,000 seized guns that border guards have averaged annually during the past five years, and far fewer than the 1,500 seized annually in the 1990s.

And while Toronto Police Service Chief Bill Blair was widely quoted last week as saying his officers have seized more than 2,000 guns so far in 2005, civilians in his statistics department say the chief inadvertently "misspoke." Their official tally is only 1,151, consistent with the pace of seizures in recent years.

Others claim that Canadia's problem is not enough liberalism.

"It used to be that we had more places to encourage kids to get power, self-esteem, and respect in a socially acceptable way," said psychologist Robin Alter, who has spent 25 years working in Toronto's violence-plagued northwest.

But, she said, camp programs have been cut, affordable housing has not been built and single mothers are working two or three jobs just to get by. Years ago, youth workers sat around talking about ways to get children into programs that suited them, she said, but "that doesn't happen any more."

It is easy to blame the United States for gun violence, she said, "but we have some of our own problems we need to address."

Wow, it sounds like Karl Rove has been busy north of the border too.

Gun control is having expected results in our National Parks. Attacks are on the rise, and not even the park police and park rangers are immune.

More than 280 million people are expected to visit a national park by the end of this summer. But as attendance to these parks continue to rise, so do attacks on the parks' rangers and officers...

According to PEER, law enforcement work in the National Park Service is the most dangerous in federal service. PEER numbers show that National Park Service officers are 12 times more likely to be killed or injured as a result of an assault than FBI agents.

Across the country, nearly half of these incidents took place in areas under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Park Police on the National Mall, the Statute of Liberty, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Camp David perimeter, dozens of D.C. area parks and five parkways.

In Newport News (VA), someone wandered into Warwick High School with a gun. Summer session was over and school was out, but office staff and employees signaled the alarm when they saw someone with a gun. Police were summoned, as was the Fire Department bomb squad. The surrounding neighborhood filled up with first responders ready for another Columbine-esque standoff. (I bet it looked like the Wild West.)

So who was the cause of the panic? Who was the depraved gunman who stalked the halls of Warwick High School? It was apparently a plainclothes policewoman.

As members of the tactical team were preparing to take positions around the school off Warwick Boulevard, officers were on the phone with the woman, who by then had left the building, police spokesman Lou Thurston said.

"Once we got a good description from the witness, we had a pretty good idea who it might be," he said. He said the possibility that they were wrong necessitated the heavy response.

Thurston wouldn't identify the officer, other than say she was in plainclothes and went to the school on personal business.

[Michelle Morgan, spokesman for Newport News schools] said the aide who saw the holstered pistol didn't see a badge, which according to Officer Harold Eley, violates department policy. The policy states the weapon must be concealed when in public, or the officer's badge must be visible next to the weapon.

"She had no identification that let the employee know she was a police officer," Morgan said.

The town of Maryville (TN) has banned the flag. They were specifically targeting the Confederate flag, but have actually banned all flags, laser pointers, signs, and noise makers from school sporting events.

Board members say the policy is designed to create a safe and secure environment, preventing any racial threats from being made.

While the ban is wide-ranging, the focus has been about the Confederate flag.

Flags, apparently, are dangerous articles and cause racial threats and violence. Someone should tell the International Olympic Committee.

(Via Say Uncle.)

The celebrity gossip is that self-annointed "America's Sweetheart" - Julia Roberts - is going to quit hollywood. Let's just say I won't miss her one bit.

In 2001, Roberts won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Erin Brockovich. During her self-aggrandizing acceptance speech, she proceeded to thank everyone except Erin Brockovich.

Countertop is organizing a Mid Atlantic Blogshoot for next weekend. As of right now, I plan to attend. If I remember to take my camera, I'll share some photos.

In the interest of equal time, reader Michelle sends a heated response to this post from the pre-iconic years.

You obviously have never had to get off a bus on your way to work and be late just so you can sit in the bus stop and use your inhalers trying to breathe because some young girl decided the bus was the best place to put on her makeup and spray herself, and half the bus, with an aresol perfume. Fragrance sensitivity is not a 'junk science'! Up until 1986 I was one of the oblivious masses coating myself in good smelling poison. Then I got very sick, couldn't keep any food down for several weeks, and slowly, over the next year or so, became 'allergic' to fragrances. Depending on the chemical makeup, they can make me weak, dizzy, and unable to stand; or, turn beet red and feel like scratching me skin off; or, worst of all, unable to breathe. Anything 'vanilla' will do all three. I am not a 'hypochondriac' or an idiot. 
 
As for just talking to the offenders instead of passing legistlation - at one of my previous jobs I told them about the fragrance problem up front before I was hired. A year later they hired a woman who bathed in it. She ended up being incompetent and they fired her. In the meantime, I had to get an ADA accomodation for a 'fragrance-free' office. The other workers hated me, sprayed perfume in my office when I was out to lunch, and went out of their way to cause me as much harm as possible. People can be extremely MEAN! If they feel you are putting your 'preference' above their 'rights' they can be down right viscious! 
 
Just thought you ought to know! Oh, and by the way - I am a Libertarian. But, the purpose of government is to protect those who can't protect themselves and to establish laws for the protection of everyone. Not for free handouts and economic meddling but for tort law - for harm done to others out of ignorance, willfulness, or cruelty. Anything that a person does that can directly harm another person falls into the proper jurisdiction of government. Smoking, using fragrances in the workplace, or on public transportation, smoking marijuana/crack/meth in a room crowded with children, driving your car with your eyes closed, you know, that sort of stuff. 
 
If I sound hostile, I apologize. It is just that over the last 10 years I have missed graduations, birthday parties, my own backyard (because of people doing laundry with highly fragranced dryer sheet 3 houses away), and so many other things that I can't even list them. I work in an office where they assured me there were several other people with fragrance sensitivities and it wouldn't be a problem. Yes, there are. And all of us are suffering in silence with headaches, frequent bronchitis, sinusitus, etc.

Maybe we should make peanut butter illegal to protect those of us with peanut allergies.

The Seattle City Council is trying to deprive nice young women of using their um.. assets to earn the best living they can. They want to pass stricter stripper control laws that will prohibit adults from touching other adults and exchanging currency directly.

The City Council votes Friday on a proposal that would ban lap dancing. Earlier this week, more than 100 strippers descended on City Hall to voice their opposition to the new regulations.

The regulations would also bar dancers from touching customers and the customers would not be allowed to tip the strippers directly.

One dancer, Suzanne Snow, says her income would take a nosedive if the anti-lap dancing rules go into effect. She says makes 50 grand a year working part-time so she can take care of her 5-year-old son.

The vote has been delayed until next month, but it is expected to pass. So much for a Constitutional right to privacy.

Seattle has already banned additional strip clubs, now it hopes to drive the existing ones out of business. While I don't frequent such establishments myself, I don't see the harm in consenting adults exercising in free enterprise.

For six months out of the year, residents of Cocoa Beach (and other parts of Florida) are forced to stumble around in the dark once the sun goes down. That's because baby sea turtles are too stupid to find the ocean once they hatch, and often end up following man-made lights instead of the moon. Now, turtles hatchlings are only born for one month during the year, but never the less from May 1 to November 1 residents who dare to turn on the light after 9 PM face a $1000 fine.

Of course, the rules don't apply to everyone. The city government is the biggest violator.

City officials won't turn off the lights on the Minutemen Causeway because of safety concerns. They're working with Florida Power & Light Co. to fix the problem within the next few weeks, then they'll address lights elsewhere in the city.

So the city keeps the lights on for safety concerns of the collective public. But if you're concerned about your individual safety, tough luck. You can just stumble around in the dark.

This Washington Post "news" article about the repeal of the estate tax is dripping with class envy from the very beginning.

The Few at the Top of the Heap Disagree on How to Keep the Most

The very rich and the merely rich are fighting over the fate of the estate tax.

So far, the very rich are winning.

They go on to explain that taxing the evil, hated, rich after they die benefits us regular folk.

This elite conflict has serious implications for average citizens as well: a sharp reduction in the estate tax would deprive the federal government of tens of billions of tax dollars each year. "Wealthy people will get tax cuts they don't need at the expense of important public services like food stamps and health care," said Matthew W. Gardner of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a liberal research group.

Oh the poor federal government. Wouldn't want to deprive politicians of vote buying money!

Now, I consider myself an average citizen - even though I don't use food stamps or government health care - and I'm all for repealing the death tax. Wealth is the product of hard work and has already been taxed at least once. This may shock WaPo staff writers, but I find the idea of the government waiting for people to die, and then seizing half of their assets to be revolting. Whether I'm impacted or not. Death should not be taxable, ever.

I installed Spamlookup last week, which was supposed to help moderate trackbacks that do not originate from their own server. This snags most spam trackbacks, because they are usually sent from bots and not the original web site. Unfortunately, it also blocks trackbacks from blogspot. (Because blogspot trackbacks are usually sent via haloscan or some other third party provider.)

It was set to moderate, which means they are submitted for approval and will hit the site after I say it's okay, but the moderate function didn't seem to work. Indeed, a few blogspot trackbacks were outright blocked this week.

The Spamlookup plugin was programmed to work with MT-moderate plugin, but the two didn't seem to work together at all. I checked through the documentation, and the release notes say that Spamlookup works with MT-moderate 1.0. I had installed the latest version of MT-moderate which was 1.1.2, so I figured maybe it was the newest version that was throwing it off. I hit the download page, and SWAG'd the filename for 1.1.0.

I guessed right and voila. By downgrading to Version 1.1.0, I was able to get the two plugins to work together, so now Blogspot trackbacks should be moderated instead of being completely blocked. Those of you sending pings from blogspot will not see them show up immediately, but after I hit the 'approve' button, they'll be posted straight away.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Say Uncle and Brutal Hugs point out that the annual Texas-Oklahoma game has been renamed from the Red River Shootout to the Red River Rivalry. Apparently 'shootout' was just too violent.

Then there's this, from George Carlin:

In football the object is for the quarterback, also known as the field general, to be on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy in spite of the blitz, even if he has to use shotgun. With short bullet passes and long bombs, he marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing this aerial assault with a sustained ground attack that punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy's defensive line.

Sports Illustrated has Virginia Tech ranked number 1 in their division in the ACC Preview. Furthermore, they list the Miami-Virginia Tech game on November 5th as the game of the year. Of course if Marcus Vick doesn't get his head out of his ass, he's going to prove to be a major embarassment.

In the Top 25, Tech ranks 9th, behind conference rival Miami who placed 6th.

In other news, Florida State has vowed to keep their Seminole name and fight the NCAA Indian Ban tooth and nail.

Some people just weren't meant to own guns.

A man annoyed by a noisy car alarm fired at least three bullets into a Toyota Camry, silencing the alarm and bringing out police who hauled him away in handcuffs, authorities said.

David Owen Rye, 48, was arrested and booked for investigation of reckless discharge of a firearm and felony vandalism, Sgt. John Adamczyk said. Rye allegedly told officers he grabbed his handgun and went out to put a stop to the car alarm.

The Washington Post is blaming the evils of capitalism for starvation in Africa.

As streams of women like Abdou arrive here, with breasts shriveled from malnourishment and skeletal babies strapped to their backs, they are discovering some unexpected reasons for the hunger crisis in Niger:

It is the result not only of food shortages but a host of other problems, including vendor profiteering, a government policy shift toward a free market, and a decline in the traditional culture of generosity that once helped communities in Niger survive cyclical periods of scarcity.

In a country adopting free market policies, the suffering caused by a poor harvest has been dramatically compounded by a surge in food prices and, many people here suspect, profiteering by a burgeoning community of traders, who in recent years have been freed from government price controls and other mechanisms that once balanced market forces.

NO NO NO! Price controls do not and cannot balance market forces. Markets just don't work that way. It is price fluxuation that balances market forces. When demand is high, the price goes up. When demand is low, the price goes down. Let me borrow a for instance from the great Thomas Sowell.

When either supply or demand changes, prices change. When the law prevents this, as with Florida's anti-price-gouging laws, that reduces the flow of resources to where they would be most in demand. At the same time, price control reduces the need for the consumer to limit his demands on existing goods and resources.

None of this is peculiar to Florida. For centuries, in countries around the world, laws limiting how high prices are allowed to go has led to consumers demanding more than was being supplied, while suppliers supplied less. Thus rent control has consistently led to housing shortages and price controls on food have led to hunger and even starvation.

Dr. Sowell goes on to discuss those skyrocketing prices when demand spikes. After a hurricane hits, hotel rooms that used to cost $40 a night are selling for $160 a night. That's gouging, right?

What if prices were frozen where they were before all this happened?

Those who got to the hotel first would fill up the rooms and those who got there later would be out of luck � and perhaps out of doors or out of the community. At higher prices, a family that might have rented one room for the parents and another for the children will now double up in just one room because of the "exorbitant" prices. That leaves another room for someone else.

Someone whose home was damaged, but not destroyed, may decide to stay home and make do in less than ideal conditions, rather than pay the higher prices at the local hotel. That too will leave another room for someone whose home was damaged worse or destroyed.

Back to Niger, the real problem is subsistence farming and land that is not arable. If they get smacked by locusts or a short rainy season, massive shortages ensue. In a market economy, prices will increase and suppliers will seek to fill the demand. If price controls are put into place, the lack of profitability means that many suppliers won't even bother.

The cost estimate for the Tyson's Corner Metrorail extension has been trimmed 25% reports the Washington Post.

Engineers said they have reduced the estimated cost of the 11-mile Metrorail extension from $2.4 billion to $1.8 billion by shortening a proposed tunnel through Tysons Corner, altering the "architecturally significant" design of the columns supporting the elevated portions of the track and revising the design of stations.

This would be great news, if just six weeks ago they hadn't increased the estimate 60%. They are still $300 Million above the original $1.5 Billion estimate. But in Washington, this is considered a cut. Given that daily ridership is only expected to increase by 15,100, that still works out to nearly $120,000 per rider.

If you ever want to practice calling 9-1-1, you may want to unplug the phone first.

Sylvia D'Antonio, 46, of Lake Parsippany, New Jersey, was charged with disorderly conduct for making three late night 911 calls.

But she insists the calls were made by Slayer, her German shephard, reports the Asbury Park Press.

A police dispatcher was alarmed because when the calls were picked up "the only communication was someone breathing".

The calls were traced and three squad cars raced to D'Antonio's home where they found there was no emergency.

Teacher's Unions are urging parents to boycott Wal-Mart because they are anti-union.

At various press conferences around the nation on Wednesday, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers will join other union officials in a campaign called "Send Wal-Mart Back to School."

It's part of the "Wake Up Wal-Mart" project, a union-inspired effort to pressure the large and profitable company that does not welcome union labor -- and promises "always -- low prices." (Wake Up Wal-Mart is a project of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.)

Ironically, the way our public schools are going down hill, an increasing number of the teacher's students will wind up working at Wal-Mart.

Officials in Portland claimed that the government had every legal right to rifle through your trash. Trash is, after all, considered discarded property and free for the taking. But when the Mayor, Police Chief, and D.A. condoned the process, they had no idea that local reporters would turn the tables on them.

Perched in his office on the 15th floor of the Justice Center, Chief Kroeker seemed perfectly comfortable with the idea of trash as public property.

"Things inside your house are to be guarded," he told WW. "Those that are in the trash are open for trash men and pickers and--and police. And so it's not a matter of privacy anymore."

Then we spread some highlights from our haul on the table in front of him.

"This is very cheap," he blurted out, frowning as we pointed out a receipt with his credit-card number, a summary of his wife's investments, an email prepping the mayor about his job application to be police chief of Los Angeles, a well-chewed cigar stub, and a handwritten note scribbled in pencil on a napkin, so personal it made us cringe. We also drew his attention to a newsletter from the conservative political advocacy group Focus on the Family, addressed to "Mr. & Mrs. Mark Kroeker."

"Are you a member of Focus on the Family?" we asked...

If the chief got overheated, the mayor went nuclear. When we confessed that we had swiped her recycling, she summoned us to her chambers.

"She wants you to bring the trash--and bring the name of your attorney," said her press secretary, Sarah Bott...

A few moments later, her office issued a prepared statement. "I consider Willamette Week's actions in this matter to be potentially illegal and absolutely unscrupulous and reprehensible," it read. "I will consider all my legal options in response to their actions."

The only one that didn't seem to mind was the District Attorney.

(Hat tip to Say Uncle)

In the American Spectator, Andrew Cline shreds the NCAA for their ban on Indians.

After NCAA busybodies spent time snooping around Tallahassee, Florida, to gather evidence for their case against Florida State's use of the Seminoles nickname, the Seminole Tribal Council voted in April -- unanimously -- to affirm the tribe's support for the university's nickname and mascot. Nonetheless, come August the NCAA decreed FSU's use of the name "hostile and abusive." Those silly Indians, they obviously don't know what's good for them.

Also banned is the nickname of the University of Illinois -- the Illini. "Illini" was the name of the tribal confederation that once ruled the land now called Illinois. It is the root word for the state name and the name of its people, Illinoians. It is hard to see hostility in a name the white people use to describe themselves, but the NCAA sees it.

University of Illinois basketball jerseys say "Illinois," not "Illini." In its eternal wisdom, the executive committee will allow jerseys printed with "Illinois," but not ones printed with "Illini." What will committee members do when they learn that "Illinois" is French for "Illini"? [...]

Indiana University, whose athletic teams are called "Hoosiers," escaped the NCAA's nickname ban. But Indiana's jerseys don't say "Hoosiers." They say "Indiana," which means "Land of Indians."

By the way, the NCAA is headquartered in Indianapolis -- "City of the Land of Indians." How embarrassing.

The NCAA has banned the University of North Dakota's "Fighting Sioux" nickname. "Sioux" is the name for a confederation of smaller tribes, including the Dakota. If UND removes the "hostile and abusive" "Sioux" name from its jerseys and replaces it with "North Dakota," it will still have a tribal name on its jerseys. Obviously, the NCAA executives have not thought their plan through.

There is a lot of outrage right now, and the NCAA may end up backing down. If they don't, postseason play could suffer if a few teams stick to their guns and decide not to boycott the games.

Canadia is jumping on the blame America bandwagon. After local politicos claimed that half of the illegal guns in Canada come from the United States, the press has set out to prove them right. That leads us to stories like this tale of woe about a Canadian gun runner caught smuggling guns into Canada.

John Butcher had fallen on hard times.

Boo hoo hoo. A product of the Bush recession, no doubt.

His wife of 33 years had died after a lengthy battle with multiple sclerosis. He'd lost his job in the financial services industry, he'd run out of money and, in his late 50s, the expat Englishman had been forced to move in with his daughter. With only an entry-level job at a golf course and moonlight gigs as frontman of a blues band to earn his keep, he felt like a burden. So when a close friend approached him with a shady sounding proposition -- $500 per trip to squire envelopes stuffed with U.S. cash into Canada from Detroit -- he swallowed hard and accepted.

Yeah, that sounds completely on the level.

He did in fact make two trips with money in early 2004, crossing the border without incident and collecting his fee in cash. But on his third trip, Canadian customs officers stopped him at the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel and searched his 1991 Pontiac Sunbird. There, in the space beneath the spare tire in his trunk, they found 23 high-powered handguns, including a TEC-9 semi-automatic, a weapon notorious within the law enforcement community for its tendency to spray bullets like water from a garden hose.

Heh. Sounds like a direct quote from the gun grabbers at VPC/Brady/HCI, etc. Yadda, yadda, yadda, it's all America's fault...

Then there's this:

...[Windsor, Ontario] Det. Brad Hill is unsealing box after cardboard box, laying pistols on a table for viewing. Some are in pieces. One has a crudely attached laser that casts a red dot on the intended target. Hill, who has a deadpan air that would play nicely on Law & Order, wears a quizzical expression as he handles the pistols. "I'm not really into guns," he admits. "I only know how to fire my own."

Well then in my opinion, Det. Brad Hill is an idiot. This is like someone looking at a row of parked cars and telling you they only know how to drive their own. I mean, basic gun functionality hasn't changed much in 150 years. Yeah, the safety might be in a different place and they're safer and more effective, but there's still a trigger, a magazine, a chamber, and a barrel. Learning how to use any new gun shouldn't take more than about 5 minutes.

The bull of the herd, a TEC-9 machine pistol [Ed. Note: That's a lie, it's semi-auto], sat in a shoebox on the porch of a tidy bungalow, just above a manicured row of shrubs.

It is, without stretching the point, a fearsome piece of hardware. As Hill hoists the TEC-9 for closer inspection, he brushes away fingerprinting dust on the 30-round clip and points to the absence of a second handle to govern the direction of fire. "You couldn't control it, even if you wanted to," he says.

That second handle that's missing is what most lawmakers use to define an "assault weapon". It's what the city of Columbus just banned. Leave it to the government to ban something, then complain when it's not there any more.

Another problem is America's ongoing love affair with firearms, which gun control advocates say blinds it to the fears of its neighbours.

It's our love affair with freedom. Just because Canada is passing tyrannical controls on civil rights, don't expect Americans to go along.

The latest statistics indicate there's a gun in America for nearly every one of the country's 280 million people, and the anti-firearms lobby is getting nowhere with Republicans in control of Congress and the White House.

I'd bet that number is much higher.

While the ATF and other agencies have worked diligently to help Canadian police, the sheer volume of firearms south of the border makes their work appear futile. To Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Washington-based Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, this alone justifies Ottawa sticking its nose into American affairs. "We need to hear from other countries who say, 'We've done all we can. We need help,'" he says. "You have a role in this debate."

Horwitz and the CSGV want to ban all guns. If Feinstein could have gotten 51 votes, Mr. and Mrs. America turn them all in, she would have done it. Is it surprising then that he would advocate Canada pressuring the United States to help further a goal that he has sold his soul to achieve?

Canada could try some practical measures, too, starting with a tougher approach to Americans who try crossing the border with weapons.

Hello! There's a gangbuster! Let's see, we're having trouble with criminals illegally importing illegal firearms. How about we step up border security! While you're at it, maybe you should also look for Canadians crossing the border with illegal guns. Perhaps even expatriated Englishmen driving 10-year old Pontiacs.

There's a third approach, however, that could prove more effective -- and more divisive -- over the long term. Instead of scolding Americans for their attachment to firearms, some advocates say we should make gun-smuggling a keystone issue in talks to create a continental security perimeter. In exchange for harmonizing immigration and entry laws to address U.S. concerns about terrorism, the theory goes, Canada could press for stateside action against gun smugglers, and investment by the Americans in stronger border measures to block the movement of illicit firearms.

Extortion is an ugly word. But what do you call it when your so-called "ally" tells you that they will not help fight terrorism unless you send them cash and other resources to combat gun smuggling.

As more of these blame America stories surface, it's become obvious that the gun control lobby has gone international.

Shouldn't they be buying books?

A mosaic mural on the Livermore public library is full of spelling mistakes. Artist Maria Alquilar of Miami is back in town to set things right. She's restoring the first "n" in Einstein and the second "a" in Shakespeare, among other fixes.

Alquilar is being paid $6,000 for the editing job, on top of the $40,000 she got to create the mural last year. City officials say they'll be sure to check the spelling this time around.

The city should spell her name wrong on the check.

There has been a lot of talk about Virginia Gubernatorial candidate Tom Kaine. Even some conservatives have viewed the Democrat as a moderate that might be worth considering. This is in spite of his past record of supporting gun control and using taxpayer dollars to fund the Million Mommies.

Now Kaine is promising "free" pre-school for every 4 year old in the Commonwealth, if you vote for him. This is known as vote buying, a scheme in which you promise your supporters money or some financial benefit if only they'll parlay some votes your way. And just how is Kaine going to pay for this "free" preschool? Why he's going to tax your neighbors of course, to the tune of $300,000,000 every single year.

And if you think its only going to cost $300 Million a year, think again. That is just the first year and it is only an estimate, and you know how government estimates go. That works out to $5,400 for each 4-year old in Virginia not already receiving government handouts, and is a baby step toward providing "free" day care, "free" nannies, "free" everything. Why not just turn your kids over to the government when their born?

His Republican opponent, Jerry Kilgore, should make a similar promise to every taxpayer in Virginia. Cut their taxes by up to $6000 a year so they can go out and spend it on whatever they want, whether they have a 4-year old or not. After all, that no good lying fucktard son-of-a-bitch Mark Warner just passed the largest tax increase in the 400 year history of the Commonwealth. The tax hike - which was advertised to preserve our credit rating - was hastily pushed through a month before it was revealed that Virginia was actually running a huge budget surplus. Ever since then, politicians on both sides of the aisle have been chomping at the bit to spend all of of the extra money we send to Richmond.

A concealed carry bill hasn't even been introduced in Wisconsin yet, but the police brass are predictably already lining up against it. Some top cops are even threatening pro-choice supporters.

"We are not anti-gun, anti-hunter or anti-NRA," Green Bay Police Chief Craig Van Schyndle said at a press event held by WAVE at the Brown County Courthouse in Green Bay. "This is an officer-safety issue and a community-safety issue. Green Bay, Appleton and Brown County are very safe communities, and concealed carry is a very dangerous proposition." [...]

Appleton Police Chief Richard Myers called the concealed-carry issue "political" and said if Wisconsin does pass a concealed carry act, the public could expect "a more aggressive style in policing."

"If we already have such safe communities, why would we want to change that?" Myers said.

If it does become legal to carry concealed weapons in Wisconsin, "expect to see a more aggressive style of policing," Myers said.

Talk about your slow news day.

Two teenage girls performed a C-section on a recently deceased pregnant feline to save the kittens. The Canadian Press reports on the miracle:

A kitten owes its life to the impromtu medical skills of a couple of kids who delivered it by caesarean section after the animal's mother died.

Monica Castonguay, 15, and Kim Quimpere, 13, were walking in the woods recently when they found a cat lying on the ground and not breathing.

The youngsters were familiar with the cat and knew it was pregnant. Although the cat had died, the teens found it was still warm and decided to save the kittens.

Although the teens hadn't taken a biology course and weren't sure they knew what they were doing, they got a sweater, a knife and some cotton and then performed a caesarian section on the mother cat.

Wikipedia points out that although it's doubtful that Julius Caesar was actually delivered by caesarean section, the fable has been around since the 2nd century AD. And many of those people had also never taken a biology course. Now knowledge of the procedure has apparently even reached Canada, where medical procedures are normally only allowed to be performed by the government.

"What the propagandists on the right have done is make people afraid to say they are Democrats. We have to be out there. We have to be vocal. We have to be pushing our version of the facts because their version of the facts is very unfactual" -- DNC Chairman Howard Dean

It's the 60th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Japan, and the historical revisionists are up to their usual bag o' tricks.

In Nagasaki, more names were added to the list of 'victims':

On Tuesday, the names of 2,748 additional A-bomb victims were added to a register of people who have died in the year up to the end of July.

Members of bereaved families and high school students made token offerings of water to the 137,339 people killed in the bombing.

This is from three years ago:

Today's Best of the Web reports on Tuesday's annual memorial service held in Hiroshima, Japan for those who died as a result of the WWII bombing. Apparently lists of names of the 226,870 people who died as a result of the 1945 atomic bombing, included 4,977 people who died in the past year.

"It sounds as though the Japanese are blaming America when bombing 'victims' die of old age," remarked the WSJ.

Maybe we should have continued to add to the death toll from the Pearl Harbor attacks. About 3,000 died on that day, but in the nearly 64 years since, that number could have reached tens of thousands.

Today's trash laying in, on, or near the road was:

• Ironing Board - Some woman must have dropped it.

Statistics
Commute: Fast and wet.
Door to door: 20 minutes

I always wondered what caused the pee shivers. After reading this, I'm still not sure. According to the bathroom habits survey, only 45% of people even experience them. And I'm a member of the only 18% of people who insist on hanging toilet paper around the front of the roll rather than the back. Strange.

The town of Stehekin (WA) doesn't have any telephones, and cell phones don't work there either. As someone who lives life without a home phone, I can relate to the desire for peace and quiet. But the anti-phone residents of Stehekin don't want their pro-choice neighbors to have phones either.

Spagna and many of her neighbors have numerous arguments against bringing phones to Stehekin. They say it will damage the town's rustic but neighborly nature and ruin its reputation as a place where tourists can truly escape their hectic city lives.

Some lifelong residents, descendants of Stehekin's first white settlers, fear the phone system would further diminish the town's already eroding spirit of self-reliance. They fume over a federally mandated subsidy program that would enable WeavTel to make money even if many of the residents never hook up.

I'm no fan of subsidies. But geez, just because I choose not to have one, what does it hurt if my neighbor has a phone? Most locals use two-way radios to communicate, and some residents have resorted to satellite and internet telephones, so Stehekin hasn't exactly been successful in keeping the town "phone free".

Washington D.C. native, Roger Chesley, editorializes for the Virginian Pilot, that "adding guns won't make D.C. less violent".

...gun control advocates contend, and I agree, that limits on guns reduce the chances of injury and death in arguments, domestic disputes, road rage and other incidents. Children are less likely to die accidentally from firearms when there aren't as many around. Fewer guns mean fewer chances of innocent bystanders being shot. And a study released in July by the nonprofit [extremist gun ban group] Violence Policy Center notes that, from 2000 through 2002, no District child 16 or younger died by shooting himself in a suicide attempt. (Alaska, which had the highest rate among the states, had 14 such deaths during that span.)

Of course he's right that children are less likely to die from a gun when there are no guns around. In fact, when there are no guns around at all, the chance of dying from one drops to zero. But what escapes Mr. Chesley is that there always have been and will always be guns around. His Utopian dream of a "gun free" society is an impossibility. There is no better evidence of that than the fact that Washington D.C. - which has banned handguns for nearly 30 years - is full of handguns.

What's more here is a journalist who lives 200 miles away in the bosom of Southeast Virginia, telling law-abiding D.C. residents that he doesn't think they're ready to be permitted to own a gun. So elitist is Chesley, that he enjoys the low crime rates of the gun-infested bible belt, while the residents of "gun free" D.C. are afraid to leave their homes after dark.

"Clinton says lawyers must make their voices heard in Washington" -- AP Headline, August 8, 2005.

Captain's Quarters wonders why the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, ABC, and CBS News have published 34 stories about the Martha Stewart insider trading case in the past 30 days, but ZERO about the Air America/Gloria Wise scandal. That's a $51,000 stock trade by a billionaire home improvement mogul, versus a lefty radio station bilking an underprivileged kids charity out of nearly $1 Million.

"We cannot do our duty if either Judge Roberts or the Bush administration hides elements of his professional record..." -- Senator John Kerry.

Then there's this:

A teacher's union in the U.K. has suggested that students no longer be given failing grades. Instead, teachers would give them "deferred success". The stigma of failing is just too much for kids to bear. It destroys their self esteem and pretty much ensures that when they fail later in life, they'll have no way to deal with it and will likely commit suicide in a cheap motel room.

The Professional Association of Teachers will be told at its meeting next week that the label of failure could undermine pupils' enthusiasm...

Liz Beattie, a retired teacher, will call on the association's annual gathering in Buxton, Derbyshire, to "delete the word 'fail' from the educational vocabulary to be replaced with the concept of 'deferred success'".

She argues that repeated failure, such as in exams, can damage pupils' interest in learning.

She told the Today programme on BBC Radio Four she had deliberately made the motion provocative to spark a good debate, but said it reflected the way the education system was developing.

Of course when I went to school, nobody got 'F's. Our grade system went A through E, which sparked many a quandry with the F-people.

"E's, what are those?"

"It means you failed."

"No. F means you failed. E doesn't mean anything."

"Okay, so what does A mean?"

"Umm..."

Of course in high school chemistry class, our teacher graded on a 10 point scale and didn't stop at 'E' or 'F'. Many a failing kid got 'G's, 'H's, or 'I's.

The AFP reports that "Men do have trouble hearing women". And it's not just because we tune out their nagging.

Men who are accused of never listening by women now have an excuse -- women's voices are more difficult for men to listen to than other men's, a report said.

Heh. Notice he said hard to listen to, not hard to hear.

NeuroImage, said researchers at Sheffield university in northern England discovered startling differences in the way the brain responds to male and female sounds.

Men deciphered female voices using the auditory part of the brain that processes music, while male voices engaged a simpler mechanism, it said.

The Mail quoted researcher Michael Hunter as saying, "The female voice is actually more complex than the male voice, due to differences in the size and shape of the vocal cords and larynx between men and women, and also due to women having greater natural 'melody' in their voices.

"This causes a more complex range of sound frequencies than in a male voice."

The findings may help explain why people suffering hallucinations usually hear male voices, the report added, as the brain may find it much harder to conjure up a false female voice accurately than a false male voice.

Frog's Sports Club in East Carondelet (IL) is likely to lose their liquor license after officers observed them allegedly hosting nude spaghetti wrestling.

Ray Curtis, co-owner of the bar, asked Mayor Herb Simmons not to revoke the bar's liquor license. "Everybody deserves a second chance," Curtis said. "That's what we're asking for."

Village Attorney David Schneidewind asked for the village to revoke the bar's liquor license for violating local ordinances and state statutes regarding illegal gambling, nudity and underage drinking.

Sounds like a good weekend in Vegas.

During the hearing, Curtis said he had no idea that the nude entertainment was going on at his bar.

"It's my fault for not being there more often," Curtis said. "The fliers said spaghetti wrestling, not nude spaghetti wrestling. Somebody could have come to me with this information before."

Shocked, I say, shocked!

According to the police report, it was bar co-owner Tom Williams who contracted St. Louis-based Unleashed Entertainment for $100, and agreed that the wrestlers would be able to keep their tips...

East Carondelet Police officer Tim Bedard testified during the hearing that the spaghetti wrestling contests had been held at least on two occasions: Once at the end of May and again on Saturday.

Heh. So the officer was there back in May too.

Bedard said that while he was undercover he took photographs of the women during one of the wrestling contests, and was approached by Williams to e-mail Williams a copy of the photographs.

That doesn't sound very "undercover".

Former female employees of Frog's bar testified that Williams encouraged bartenders to flash patrons and pay out poker games. Both women said an underage boy had been served and had been to the bar on several occasions, including the wrestling matches.

The "boy" was 19 years old and apparently used a fake ID.

So just who are the victims here? You have adults standing around drinking while other adults frolic around in spaghetti. And somewhere along the line a boob pops out, and he starts taking pictures for the local prosecutor. And just how many people were shot, raped, or robbed while police resources were spent trying to enforce the morality code among consenting adults on private property?

Congress voted to extend daylight savings time, which means that TVs, VCRs, Computers, Cell Phones, and other electronic toys may display the wrong time for parts of the year, or need to be updated manually.

An energy bill President Bush is to sign Monday would start daylight time three weeks earlier and end it a week later as an energy-saving measure.

And that has technologists worried about software and gadgets that now compensate for daylight time based on a schedule unchanged since 1987.

"It is unfortunately going to add a little bit of complexity to consumers," said Reid Sullivan, vice president of the entertainment group at Panasonic Consumer Electronics Co. "In some cases, depending on the product, they may have to manually increase or decrease the time."

The upcoming transition evokes memories of Y2K, the Year 2000 rollover that forced programmers to adjust software and other systems that, relying on two digits for the year, never took the 21st century into account...

Businesses and governments around the world threw some $200 billion at the problem, and the transition occurred without any worldwide disaster, even leading some critics to suggest they were victims of a big-money bamboozle.

This problem will likely be much smaller. But it's a good illustration of the law of unintended consequences.

I had thought that most people knew that British TV was prohibitively expensive. But apparently now, so here's a brief education, thanks to turnoffyourtv.com, a "progressive" anti-TV site.

"Using a television without an appropriate licence is a criminal offence. Every day we catch an average of 1,200 people using a TV without a licence. There is no valid excuse for using a television and not having a TV Licence, but some people still try - sometimes with the most ridiculous stories ever heard. Our detection equipment will track down your TV. The fact that our enquiry officers are now so well equipped with the latest technology means that there is virtually no way to avoid detection." -- from the official website of the British Television Licensing Authority, May 2003

A TV license costs about $200 per year. I know what you're thinking. How would they enforce such a ridiculous license? Well, they mandate tracking technology be installed in every TV set, another cost the consumer must bear.

They use the "TV Licensing database" with details of more than 26 million UK addresses -- and their television sets. Also, part of the work is done in special "detector vans." The TVLA website explains that "every TV contains a component called the 'local oscillator', which emits a signal when the television is switched on. It's this signal that the equipment on our vans picks up. But, what if you live in a block of flats or a house without road access? Well if this is the case our enquiry officer can simply use one of our hand-held scanners. Measuring both direction and strength of signal, they make it easy for us to locate television sets in hard to reach places."

Of course removing the oscillator doesn't work, because simply not having a TV license is enough to raise suspicion. In fact, getting rid of your TV seems to make things worse:

In an email, Bennett wrote that "living without a television in the UK is not as simple as getting rid of the TV set. In the UK the licensing authority operates under legal statute giving them wide powers. The licensing authority have no real concept of the non-viewer and class them as suspect licence-dodgers. Thus, we are subject threats and other manner of persecution. Considering we are only refusing an entertainment service it is a ridiculous situation." [...]

In one letter to Bennett, the TVLA stated that "there are a high number of people who advise us that they do not use TV equipment, but are subsequently found to be doing so." The letter goes on to say that if their inspectors find that no TV sets are present on the premises, then no further contact will be made -- until next year.

And don't forget that these ridiculous laws are enforced at the point of a gun. And with a disarmed populace it's all too easy.

Big surprise here:

You Are a "Don't Tread On Me" Libertarian

You distrust the government, are fiercely independent, and don't belong in either party.

Religion and politics should never mix, in your opinion... and you feel opressed by both.

You don't want the government to cramp your self made style. Or anyone else's for that matter.

You're proud to say that you're pro-choice on absolutely everything!

What political persuasion are you?

Geez, they make me sound anti-religious, which isn't true at all. I don't really care where you post the Ten Commandments, just so long as you don't arrest me for coveting my neighbor's ass.

(Hat tip to Dizzy Girl, who is also sporting a pretty sexy photo of Ashley Judd.)

It looks like the angry left is guilty of what some people call doing a Baldwin. That is, they aren't leaving like they promised.

Canadians can put away those extra welcome mats -- it seems Americans unhappy about the result of last November's presidential election have decided to stay at home after all.

In the days after President Bush won a second term, the number of U.S. citizens visiting Canada's main immigration Web site shot up sixfold, prompting speculation that unhappy Democrats would flock north.

But official statistics show the number of Americans actually applying to live permanently in Canada fell in the six months after the election.

Of course James Taranto says it's the cold weather:

The winter temperatures? How about the summer temps? According to the Globe and Mail, the expected high today in Toronto is a bone-chilling 28 degrees. This almost sounds appealing when you're in sweltering New York City (current temperature: 97), but then if we wanted subfreezing temperatures in the middle of August, we'd move to the Southern Hemisphere.

Of course, it turns out it isn't really that cold in Toronto. Weather.com gives today's high as 82, not 28. The trick is that Canada is on the metric system, in which temperatures are read backwards. What a clever way those Canucks have found of keeping undesirable immigrants out.

The National Collegiate Athletics Ass. has declared the Native Americans and their likenesses are offensive and shall be hereby banned from attending post-season events and tournaments. I'm tempted to start attending NCAA post season events in full Indian garb, which will really be something considering my school's mascot is a 6 foot turkey.

Nicknames or mascots deemed "hostile or abusive" would not be allowed by teams on their uniforms or other clothing beginning with any NCAA tournament after Feb. 1, said Harrison, the University of Hartford's president.

"What each institution decides to do is really its own business" outside NCAA championship events, he said.

Guidelines were not immediately available on which logos and nicknames would be considered "hostile or abusive." ...

The NCAA plans to ban schools using Indian nicknames from hosting postseason events.

I wonder just how far this "hostile or abusive" definition can be stretched? Are the War Eagles, Screaming Eagles, Fighting Irish, Cavaliers, Gamecocks, Mountaineers, Tigers, Lions, and Bears considered "hostile or abusive"? Most lions I've ever seen are definitely hostile, especially when they're hungry or you rattle a stick against their cage. And will all tigers be banned, or just the white ones.

I also wonder if sports fans will be still be allowed to buy tickets from those guys... you know, those guys that stand around outside the stadium and sell tickets. What are they called again?

I've installed more better anti-spam plugins. The site should filter out comments being left via open proxies, which spammers use to maintain anonymity. If you have any trouble posting comments, please let me know.

The all-knowing and all-powerful European Union is demanding that German barmaids wear less revealing clothes.

Bavarians are hot under the collar over an EU directive that will force their barmaids to cover up, supposedly to protect them from the sun.

Brewery owners, politicians and most of the women themselves have condemned the legislation as absurd, claiming the "tan ban", as it has been nicknamed, will destroy a centuries-old tradition.

Bavarian barmaids typically dress in a costume known as a "dirndl", a dress and apron with a tight, low-cut top whose figure-hugging effect is enhanced by a short white blouse.

Under the EU's Optical Radiation Directive, employers of staff who work outdoors, including those in Bavaria's beer gardens, must ensure they cover up against the risk of sunburn.

It's time for the Europeans to tell the E.U. that enough is enough. What are they going to do? Invade?

Well, the backlash has apparently been heard at the E.U., because now they are backing off of their demand.

While rumors swept the area that the European Union planned to ban dirndls, officials finally said that working in a beer garden is not considered a high-risk occupation -- at least for sun exposure.

So only gardners, landscapers, lifeguards, etc. will be told that they have to wear more clothes.

I saw "The Island" on Wednesday, and was quite impressed. It's a great scifi film, and I liked it much better than "War of the Worlds". It's not a remake, or a sequel, or a warmed over 70's sitcom reject. It's a futuristic movie that reminded me a lot of "Logan's Run".

Sadly though, the movie appears destined for financial failure most likely because of lack of marketing. (link has some spoilers)

I had been wanting to see it and almost missed it. Someone sent me a link to the trailer, which jarred my memory that it was something I'd been wanting to see. Even then I had to check IMDb just to find out that it was already playing in theaters.

The lack of marketing savvy is astonishing.

Michael Yon is on the ground in Iraq, and he makes a familiar claim about U.S. small arms firepower:

The lack of power of the American M-4 and M-16 rifles is astonishing. So many people and cars shot-up, but they just keep going and going. For a moment, it appeared the terrorists might get away.

Maybe the gunnies in Columbus could them some of their so-called "assault weapons".

The city of Columbus (OH) is encouraging law-abiding citizens to register their so-called "assault weapons". Any gun with a detachable magazine and a pistol grip (or other mean and nasty features such as a forward grip or barrel shroud) will be banned after August 11. The PRO points out that the registration scheme and ban will have no impact on crime.

Of course, easy process or not, criminals still won't be registering their guns. Even the assistant city attorney who worked on the language for City Council, Josh Cox, admitted to the Columbus Dispatch in a story a few weeks ago that the ordinance will have no effect on criminals.

The reason being, that requiring criminals to register their guns violates the Fifth Amendment. Since they are already debarred the use of arms, making them register is a form of self-incrimination and thus verboten in the United States.

Columbus' graphical representation (PDF) of just what makes an "assault weapon" shows just how silly and ineffective these laws really are. Note that none of the cosmetic features that are banned have any effect on the lethality of the gun or it's rate of fire.

We've come a long way if this is what we consider cruel and unusual punishment. (entire article quoted below)

Five straight turkey dinners prompted El Paso County jail inmates to go on a brief hunger strike. The inmates refused to eat Saturday, arguing that meals such as turkey chili mac, turkey a la king, turkey stew and turkey sausage were unnecessarily cruel.

If that's the case, then my mother inflicted cruelty on us every week after Thanksgiving.

Sheriff's officials said Wednesday that the hunger strike ended after about half an hour.

"Turkey, turkey and more turkey is not a form of punishment," the Sheriff's Office said in a tongue-in-cheek prepared statement. "The inmates accepted this reasoning and gobbled up their dinner meal."

The inmates had spaghetti for dinner Wednesday � with turkey-based meat sauce.

Inspired by Japan's famed capsule hotels, easyHotel promises cheap rooms in London that measure just 49 square feet.

Officially, they range from 60 sq ft to 80 sq ft but the Guardian's tape measure puts the smallest rooms at 49 sq ft, with a 7ft-high ceiling and a 14 sq ft en suite pod, cramming in a shower, sink and toilet. Room to swing a cat, there is not. Nor are there windows. In keeping with the easyEthos, such frills are ditched in favour of value for money.

Critics think the venture is doomed to fail because it's overpriced.

Mr Haji-Ioannou, who hopes to expand the model through a franchise network across Europe, said he expected occupancy to remain above 90%, with room rates averaging out at �35 a night to break even.

This came as a surprise yesterday to Nabeel Khalid, whose nearby Green Court hotel is one of scores of guesthouses and hostels in the area, known for its popularity among antipodean backpackers.

"I thought Stelios was going to offer rooms from �5 or something like that," Mr Khalid said. "If you were to shop around, there are hotels which will match or beat his prices." The Green Court offers single rooms from �38, including satellite television channels, breakfast and rooms with windows. At quieter times prices drop to �25, he said.

Hostels, popular with backpackers, cost about �15 for a no-frills dormitory.

At easyHotel, by contrast, guests must get their own breakfast, pay �5 extra for access to the TV remote control in their room, and �10 to have their towels and bed linen changed.

Then there's this, from the EasyHotel FAQ:

Is there a laundrette or facilities for washing clothes?	No
Is there a telephone available in the room / hotel?	No
Can I store my bicycle within the hotel?	No
Can I buy alchohol at the hotel?	No
Is there a mini-bar in the room?	No
Is there a gym in the hotel?	No
Is there a swimming pool in the hotel?	No
What items are prohibited?	The use of electrical appliances such as toasters, kettles and mini cookers are expressly forbidden in the hotel.
Is there a wardrobe in the room?	No wardrobe or allocated storage area in rooms. There is a storeroom for bulky items of luggage.
Can I hang my clothes up in the room?	There are two coat hooks in each room.
Do I need to bring my own soap, shampoo, etc?	Soap is provided - anything else you will need to bring.
Are there electric razor sockets in the rooms?	No
How big are the beds?	All beds are standard doubles 4' 6" (120cm) wide by 6' (180cm) long.
Do the rooms contain hair dryers?	No
Are safety deposit boxes available?	No
Are, extra beds, cots, or cribs available?	No
Are adjoining rooms available?	No
Is there a lift inside the building?	No

That's right, not one, but TWO coat hooks in each room.

Beauty apparently isn't in the eye of the beholder, as Britain's Committee of Advertising Practice is telling liquor companies to put more ugly people in their ads.

Upset by an ad for Lambrini wine coolers that showed three fun-loving single gals "hooking" a hunky bloke, the prissy bureaucrats wrote, according to the Times of London: "We would advise that the man in the picture should be unattractive � overweight, middle-aged, balding etc."

In fact, the CAP's new rules forbid "the implication that drinking alcohol is essential to the success of a social occasion" and mandate that "links must not be made between alcohol and seduction, sexual activity or sexual success."

Since good looking people don't need alcohol to get together, I guess truth in advertising rules do technically apply. Maybe they should show the women "hooking" the hunky guy and waking up with the "unattractive, overweight, middle-aged, balding" guy.

First the internet, now Al Gore has invented public access TV:

"He has a world class collection of name tags from jobs he's tried, but he does have his own public access TV show." -- Plot from the 1992 movie Wayne's World.

"The former vice president now describes himself as a "recovering politician," and today he turns the page on the next chapter of his life with the launch of Current � a cable and satellite TV network � that he claims will reinvent TV by letting its viewers supply the content." -- ABC News description of Al Gore's latest job he's trying.

Fox News just won't play nice with the Democrats and the liberal media. While the liberals in the mainstream press are criticizing President Bush for an "abuse of power" in his recess appointment of John Bolton, the right wing hacks at Fox News have the gall to report the truth. The appointment of John Bolton "is neither unique nor necessarily politically and diplomatically hamstrung".

The president's power to make a recess appointment was originally conceived by the framers of the U.S. Constitution to fill sudden vacancies during the long congressional recesses. But such appointments have become increasingly common even as the recesses have become ever shorter. Appointments are set to expire at the end of the Senate's next session.

So far, President Bush has made 110 recess appointments...

Modern presidents have used this power of recess appointments to side step a variety of Senate obstructions. President Clinton made 140 recess appointments during his two terms. The first President Bush made 77 in one term. Ronald Reagan had 240 in two terms...

President Eisenhower placed three justices on the Supreme Court through recess appointments...

Editor and Publisher has the round up of editorial reactions to Bolton's (dis)appointment.

Centre Daily Times (State College, Pa.): "There's something sadly fitting about President Bush naming John Bolton as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations through a tactic known as a 'recess' appointment. Bolton, after all, is the diplomatic world's equivalent of a playground bully."

Chicago Tribune: "...A Bolton meltdown would embarrass the president who defied and skirted Congress to ramrod him into the job..."

San Francisco Chronicle: "On the long list of questionable appointments President Bush has made during his tenure, [Mr. Bolton] may be the worst of all."

It's one thing if you don't like John Bolton personally. But it takes chutpah to bitch about Bush circumventing the Senate, when in fact it was the Senate who was circumventing the "advice and consent" process with a filibuster. I mean, if Bolton is really that bad why not let the Senate vote him down.

Not that I'm a big fan of Terry Bowden, but he has Virginia Tech ranked at number 7 in his pre-season poll. For what it's worth, we're also the highest ranked ACC team (in the world according to Terry). USC is his "no-brainer" number 1.

In January, Pennsylvania lawmakers received a 5.2% cost of living pay raise. But that wasn't enough, so they voted themselves (in the middle of the night) another 16 percent to 34 percent pay raise. Now Pennsylvania has the most expensive slate of government lawmakers in the nation. Pennsylvania's payroll is twice the size of California's - a state with double the population.

In Pennsylvania, the base compensation for state legislators after this latest pay grab ranges from $81,050 to $145,553, not counting the free cars, gas, generous defined-benefit pensions, fully paid prescription coverage, free dental and vision insurance, free parking, "walking around money," fully paid life insurance and long-term care insurance, expense accounts, and the no-receipt $128 daily reimbursement for every day the Legislature is in session, whether the legislator spends the money or not.

And that's not the end of the self-aggrandizement. By way of a provision that's built into this year's pay raise, on top of automatic and inflated cost-of-living increases, lawmakers' paychecks in Pennsylvania will go up each time the House and Senate members in Washington give themselves a raise.

Additionally, in order to sidestep the section of Pennsylvania's Constitution that forbids lawmakers from voting themselves raises that take effect during their current terms, the politicians will pocket the new money by use of no-receipt "unvouchered expenses."

None of the above costs to taxpayers includes the price of the legislators' staffs. Not surprisingly, Pennsylvania is at the top of the pile when it comes to the number of friends, relatives and other assorted helpers the state politicians have added to their payrolls. With a legislative support staff that's 2,947 strong, that breaks down to 11.6 staffers per Harrisburg lawmaker.

The article goes on to note that the pay and benefit package for the lawmakers and their staff amounts to $462 Million annually. "Based on the 77 days per year that the Legislature averages in session, that comes out to $6 million per day."

That's not a bad haul for 4 months worth of work. Did you get a 30% raise this year? Maybe Pennsylvanians should vote themselves a raise, by sending the lawmakers home and cutting their tax rates.

Charles Madigan writes for the Chicago Tribune that he had to wait for his mother to die before he could get her gun away from her. He talks about trying to get her to give up her ".32-caliber Miami-made Saturday night special" (racist overtones be damned). It was her only means of protection, but Madigan didn't care. He'd rather her be helpless against an attacker because he thinks guns are inherently evil and bad, even in the hands of his own mother.

When his mom died, he called his sisters and told them to stay away until he could retrieve the evil rod.

It was cocked and loaded and packed in a Portage National Bank change bag and buried at the bottom of a cedar chest under lots of potpourri. Quite an incongruity, a pistol and potpourri. But there you were. She made a bad choice, and it was just waiting there to kill someone.

This was such a ridiculously bad pistol that, after I had found it and released the hammer, I had to dismantle it to get the bullets out of the chambers. There were three .32-caliber rounds and two blanks. My assumption was she thought she might scare someone with the blanks, and if that didn't work, she'd just shoot them. I called the local cops and said I had a gun I wanted to give up, but they didn't want it.

So I went to a gun dealer in Hollidaysburg, Pa., and sold it to him for $10. He said someone might use it for sculpture or something, because you certainly wouldn't want to try to fire it.

Cynthia Janak is fighting the good fight against Illinois gun registration database. In doing so, she takes a look at gun control throughout modern history.

In 1911, Turkey established gun control.
From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

In 1928, Germany established gun control.
From 1939 to 1945, 13 million Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally ill, and others, who were unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control.
From 1929 to 1953, approximately 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

In 1935, China established gun control.
From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents were unable to defend themselves and were rounded up and exterminated.

In 1956, Cambodia established gun control.
From 1975 to1977, one million "educated" people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

In 1964, Guatemala established gun control.
From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

In 1970, Uganda established gun control.
From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

That places total victims who lost their lives � because they were unable to defend their liberty � at approximately 56 million in the 20th century.

Take a look at who else she's referenced further down in her article.

If you've been wondering how absurd the anti-Bushies can get, the Democrat National Committee has an answer. They are blaming President Bush for being too healthy, while our nation's kids are getting fat.

While President Bush has made physical fitness a personal priority, his cuts to education funding have forced schools to roll back physical education classes and his Administration's efforts to undermine Title IX sports programs have threatened thousands of women's college sports programs.

"President Bush's has dropped the ball when it comes to fully funding physical education in public schools and women's athletic programs at the college level," said Democratic National Committee spokesman Josh Earnest. "His personal habits indicate that physical fitness is not just fun and games for him. Don't our kids deserve the same opportunities to be physically fit? President Bush should stop running from his responsibility and make sure that all American children have access to physical fitness programs."

President Clinton set a horrible example, gobbling up cheeseburgers and McDonald's fries, but nobody made a federal case about it. But along comes Bush setting a healthy example, and all of a sudden kids can't slim down without a government exercise program.

Ravenwood on prostitution:

The idea that you cannot charge someone money for something it is perfectly legal to give away, is perplexing. What's more, if you film it and distribute it, it's called art and you can pay both parties.

As long as all the parties are consenting adults, I don't see the harm in either activity. But a Manhattan judge says there's a world of difference.

Prostitution, as traditionally defined, requires person A paying person B for sexual activity to be performed on A, Supreme Court Justice Budd G. Goodman wrote in People v. Paulino, 6687/04.

Pornography, on the other hand, involves person C paying B for sexual activity performed on A.

Glad he cleared that up.

The American Hunters and Shooters Association web site sure has been making the rounds. At first glance, it looks pretty convincing; guys in camo and blaze orange, fathers teaching sons how to shoot, ducks fleeing for their lives. But if you read the site before sending them your $25, you'll notice something strange:

AHSA believes the FBI should be given reasonable access to National Instant Check System (NICS) purchase records to insure terrorists and other prohibited individuals do not have access to firearms. . .

AHSA supports requiring all transfers of firearms at gun shows to be subject to all federal, state and local laws and regulations currently applicable to federally licensed firearm dealers including the conducting of the instant background check on purchasers. . .

AHSA supports legislative efforts to regulate .50 caliber BMG sniper rifles in the same manner as machine guns are regulated under the provisions of the National Firearms Act of 1934. . .

So, these so-called "hunters" and "shooters" support gun registration, banning .50 caliber rifles, and forcing private citizens to get government permission before they sell a gun. If I didn't know any better, I'd think this was a front group for the gun grabbers.

Bruce is having trouble exercising his Second Amendment rights in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Even though the law says that the government must take action on his application within 40 days, he's been waiting more than three months. His protests are met with more of the same; inaction.

Can anyone explain to me how this isn't anything more than a de facto handgun ban in the City of Boston. I mean, hey, if you can't get what you want through legitimate legislative channels, order those who enforce the law to violate the law to suit your particular agenda.

It's the Massachusetts way.

Now, does anyone think for one minute that if the authorities acted this way in denying a federal housing loan to an African-American resident of Boston, or a marriage license to a gay couple in the city, or a driver's license to someone based solely on their age, that there wouldn't be hell to pay and reams of legal paperwork being filed by the ACLU on behalf of the oppressed minority?

Absolutely. But keep in mind that the ACLU doesn't recognize Second Amendment rights.

ACLU Policy #47: Gun Control

The setting in which the Second Amendment was proposed and adopted demonstrates that the right to bear arms is a collective one, existing only in the collective population of each state for the purpose of maintaining an effective state militia.

The ACLU agrees with the Supreme Court's long-standing interpretation of the Second Amendment that the individual's right to bear arms applies only to the preservation or efficiency of a well-regulated militia. Except for lawful police and military purposes, the possession of weapons by individuals is not constitutionally protected. Therefore, there is no constitutional impediment to the regulation of firearms.

Nearly a year ago sea captain Salvatore Atanasio was issued a gun permit in New Jersey. He pilots a tour boat, and used the threat of terrorism as justification for his permit and the court agreed. But now New Jersey's only concealed carry permit holder has had his permit revoked on appeal.

While it doesn't surprise me that the government of New Jersey would appeal something as inane as the issuance of a gun permit to a higher court, you have to laugh at the paranoia of the appellate court's ruling:

"If such were the test, then conceivably every airline flight attendant, every bus driver, every truck driver transporting hazardous materials, every person employed by or with access to potable water reservoirs or fuel storage facilities, would be legally entitled to carry concealed firearms," the appeals court wrote in its ruling.

GASP! Oh the humanity. If New Jersey started issuing permits to anyone that wanted one (and wasn't specifically disqualified from having one), they'd be just like Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

The Godfather captured this exchange between Katie Couric and Chris Matthews, discussing the recess appointment of John Bolton. Katie apparently doesn't know much about the U.S. Constitution.

THE PERKY KATIE: So over the weekend the White House, Chris, seemed to indicate that President Bush is poised to use his recess appointment power and send John Bolton to the UN without a Senate confirmation vote. (exasperated) How can he do that!

MATTHEWS: Well, he can do it under the law and he can make the appointment through the end of this Congress, which means the earliest days of 2007. It's interesting because the title that he's getting is "permanent representative to the United Nations," and it won't be a permanent appointment. It will be a recess appointment, only good for one Congress. He really won't have the full authority of someone like Daniel Patrick Moynihan who spoke for the whole country, not just for the president.

As if any job is really permanent.

Any prosecutor who says something like this should be fired:

Stop writing and we�ll reduce your charges, an Ohio prosecutor has told an editor, in essence now publicly admitting that the criminal charges lodged against the website writer are direct retaliation for his exercise of First Amendment rights.

(Via Jeff Blogworthy, via Say Uncle.)

One of these days I'm going to buy one of those shirts...

Via Countertop

From the Washington and Lee University Off-Campus Housing Guide:

At night, if you think you hear someone breaking in, leave safely if you can, then call police. If you can't leave, lock yourself in a room with a phone and call police. If an intruder is in your room, pretend you are asleep. [Ed note: And if you're being raped, pretend you're enjoying it.]

NO NO NO! It is your duty to resist any and all attacks. You stand a much better chance doing everything you can to get away.

And of course whatever you do, don't buy a gun:

Guns are responsible for many accidental deaths in the home every year. Think carefully before buying a gun. If you do own one, learn how to store it and use it safely. Also check the provisions of your lease, because some landlords prohibit firearms.

Of all the places I've lived, I've never seen a landlord try to prohibit gun ownership. Even if it were legal, it would open the landlord up to all sorts of legal liability. If my landlord prevented me from defending myself and I was robbed, he'd be the first one sued.

Remember the Fairfax teacher who was arrested and charged with two felonies for having a handgun in his car on school property? Thirty-one year old Timothy Fudd had a Virginia concealed handgun permit, so had it happened after July 1 (instead of in April) he wouldn't have been charged with anything.

While the charges should have been dropped, that wasn't going to happen so Fudd apparently plead the charge down to a misdemeanor.

Based on the plea agreement between Fudd and county prosecutors, Judge Mitchell Mutnick sentenced Fudd to a 12-month suspended sentence and one year of probation.

He must also forfeit his weapon and hand in his conceal and carry permit, according to Mutnick, who handed down the verdict.

Fudd may not be able to replace his handgun either. ATF Form 4473, which must be filled out and processed prior to purchasing a gun, asks: "Have you been convicted in any court of a felony, or any other crime, for which the judge could have imprisoned you for more than one year, even if you received a shorter sentence including probation."

One of the London bombing suspects is saying that there is no link between the July 21st bombings and al Qaeda, and that they were committed to draw attention to Iraq and not meant to hurt anyone. Of course the useful idiots from the blame America first crowd will play right into this and say "See! See!", it's all Bush's fault. Because a guy who would commit murder and heinous acts of terrorism wouldn't lie.

"I am against war," the source quoted Osman as saying. "I've marched in peace rallies and nobody listened to me. I never thought of killing people."

Effective today in California, residents will have to pay for a city building permit just to fix a light switch or install an overhead light. The Berkeley Daily Planet points out just how expensive it will be for city residents to replace a $3 wall outlet.

Starting Aug. 1, when the 2004 California Electrical Codes automatically take effect, residents will have to apply for a city building permits to replace or add wall, porch and ceiling lamps, light switches, electric receptacles, and other common do-it-yourself chores.

So changing that noisy electrical switch with a quieter mercury switch will cost a lot more. Besides the costs of the new switch, there'll be the $81 basic permit fee plus an additional surcharge of $2.15 for each receptacle, outlet or switch and - if you want to add more - $21.50 for altering or changing wiring.

Say Uncle notes that common cold medicines may soon be unavailable because of the war on drugs. As drug stores are being made to jump through hoops or face serious fines for selling sudafed without checking ID and logging the purchase, more of them are simply dropping the product, which is a common ingredient in methamphetamines. Target has already dropped several types of baby medicine, and Walgreens "has agreed to pay $1.3 million" for "failing to monitor sales of over-the-counter cold medicine". Walgreens will also "spend $1 million to monitor purchases of this medicine".

As rape becomes more common in the Sudan, Secretary of State Rice is calling for a "public campaign against violence and the prosecution of rapists". But Countertop has a better, cheaper, and easier solution that's also guaranteed to cut down on recidivism.

That reminds me, it's been a while so here is my obligatory link to an article by the Independent Women's Forum on disarming women. This should be required reading for all women.

Like I said years ago, the article makes several key points:

• Less than 5% of 911 calls dispatched to police are early enough to actually prevent a crime.
  
• Police and government organizations have no legal obligation to protect you as an individual.
  
• Firearms proficiency can take only a few hours of practice.
  
• While martial arts training may "equalize" the disparity between a woman and an attacker, multiple attackers have an advantage.
  
• Firearms proficiency can make ANY woman strong enough to fend off attackers, regardless of their size or strength.
  
• In more than 92% of "defensive gun uses" simply brandishing a firearm, or firing a warning shot is enough.

Draconian gun control laws and mandatory waiting periods only serve to put law abiding citizens at risk. Forcing or encouraging women to rely on restraining orders and the 9-1-1 system as means of protection is not only foolhardy, it's dangerous. A lot of good a court order does when she's dead. Maybe they can paste it on her tombstone.

Besides, wearing a pistol makes you look thinner. Ladies, just ask any man, "Does this gun make me look fat?"

The Senate voted to shield gun manufacturers from frivolous lawsuits intended to drive them out of business. But the usual gun grabbing Democrats lined up to attach gun control amendments, and the Republicans let one slip through. Gun dealers will have to include a trigger lock with every gun sold. The law seems innocuous, but if you've got a drawer full of trigger locks you'll never use, you might get tired of paying for one every time you buy another gun. Of course the government won't be forced to waste their money like the loyal subjects will. (emphasis mine)

Democrats won inclusion this year of a new requirement that each handgun be sold with a separate child safety or locking device, unless purchased by government officials or police officers.

Maybe stores should put a bin by the door for people to get rid of their locks before they leave. At the very least, the locks should be itemized as a seperate $5 charge on your receipt that reads "Democrat Triggerlock Fee".

The Senate also brushed aside a Kennedy amendment that would have banned hollow-tipped, so-called [by Kennedy] "cop killer" bullets.

My hollow-tips have killed less people than Ted Kennedy's car. And in case you forget who tends to support individual freedom and who tends to support gun control, here's a reminder:

The gun industry gave 88 percent of its campaign contributions, or $1.2 million, to Republicans in the 2004 election cycle. Gun control advocates, meanwhile, gave 98 percent of their contributions, or $93,700, to Democrats during that election, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

If you believe that the anti-gunners only spent $93k, I've got a bridge you might be interested in. Maybe it's hard to pin down their numbers, considering they repeatedly fail to report contributions.

Chicago Tribune is cheering Illinois Governor Blech's attempt to "shore up gun control", by mandating that private citizens get government permission before they sell their gun to anyone. The Governor is also vetoing a law that provides for doing away with Illinois de facto gun registry. And for those of you who still insist that Illinois doesn't have a gun registry:

Of the 157,440 people who applied to buy guns in Illinois last year, 1,108 were denied, state records show. More than 500 of those applicants had expired or canceled firearm owner's permits. The rest were ineligible for reasons including felony convictions, mental incapacity and domestic battery offenses.

The records-destruction bill would have wiped out the records of the approved applications, but not the denied ones.

Got that. There are permanent records for every legal Illinois gun buyer. If that's not a registry, I don't know what is.

"What's your rationale for shooting the Pope? I guess the guy figured, 'Hey look, I want to go to Hell and I don't wanna wait on line with everybody else.'. . .I wanna take the Hell express. . .You walk up to the door with your ticket, they say, 'Shot the Pope? You can go right through, man.'" -- Eddie Murphy, on the subject of shooting the Pope.

Here's someone else who apparently wanted to take the Hell Express.

A Pittsburgh-area T-ball coach allegedly paid one of his players $25 to hurt an 8-year-old mentally challenged teammate so he wouldn't have to put the boy in the game, police said Friday. Mark R. Downs Jr., 27, of Dunbar, Pa., is accused of offering one of his players the money to hit the boy in the head with a baseball, police said. Witnesses told police Downs didn't want the boy to play in the game because of his disability. Police said the boy was hit in the head and in the groin with a baseball just before a game, and didn't play...

An unidentified finger gesture (digit malfunction?) has Comedian Jay Leno wondering if President Bush flipped the press corp the bird.

On "The Tonight Show" Wednesday, the late-night comic showed videotape of the president leaving a meeting with congressional Republicans on Capitol Hill earlier in the day and passing by a clutch of reporters shouting questions on the fate of the Central American trade pact. On the video, Bush striding away from the camera suddenly thrusts his right hand into the air and extends a finger -- precisely which one was unclear. White House officials yesterday said it was his thumb.

But there were other interpretations. "I think President Bush is getting a little fed up with the press," Leno said, and he then showed the video to much laughter from the studio audience, which seemed to see it the same way. "What was that all about, huh?" Leno asked. "You see? That's the great thing about the second term: Who cares?"

And wouldn't that be a turnabout, considering the press corp has been pretty much saying 'f you' to Bush since Texans were calling him Governor.