You've probably seen it before, but the point is still valid. Jewelry store owner fights for his life while the cops take 20 minutes to show up.

It's amazing how the shit hits the fan when a computer company enlists private investigators to spy on the media. These tactics are no worse than what the New York Times, Washington Post, or other big media outlets have done in the past.

Documents have shown that investigators working for HP intruded into the personal lives of seven HP directors, two employees, nine reporters and family members of the targeted individuals. In addition to impersonating those targeted to procure phone records, they also spied on an HP director and his wife, sifted through their garbage, and concocted an e-mail sting to dupe reporter Dawn Kawamoto of CNet Networks Inc.'s technology news site.

When reporters do this its called a "scoop", and they hide behind the First Amendment. They talk about journalistic integrity and the public's "right to know".

But in trying to protect trade secrets by daring to investigate leaks to the media, the HP scandal has "brought federal and state criminal probes, and claimed the company's chairwoman, two directors and two high-level employees".

Just once I'd like to see federal and state criminal probes into say.. publishing national security secrets on the front page of the New York Times.

One of the reasons I stand up for smoker's rights is because I know that the pleasure police will not stop at banning cigarettes. And sure enough New York City health officials are gearing up for their war on fried foods. The first target is banning trans-fat oils and margarines from city restaurants. This would force restaurants to change they way they cook common everyday foods like french fries or fried chicken.

Doctors are getting to be as bad as lawyers, scientists, and researchers at spreading fear, uncertainty, and doom.

Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard University School of Public Health, praised New York health officials for considering a ban, which he said could save lives.

"Artificial trans fats are very toxic, and they almost surely causes tens of thousands of premature deaths each year," he said. "The federal government should have done this long ago."

My first thought is, what gives the government the right to use the threat of lethal force to dictate how french fries are cooked? If Tom wants to sell fried chicken to Harry, why does the government get to interfere? And how big of a leap will it be for the government to start telling Harry how to cook his own food at home?

The Reuters "news agency" is back to beating the global warming drum. This time they say that "scientists" have temperature data going back a full million years, and that the Earf is hot hot hot.

Overall, Earth is within 1.8 degrees F (1 degree C) of its highest temperature levels in the past million years, Hansen and the others wrote. They noted a recent steep rise in average temperatures, with global surface temperatures increasing about 0.4 degrees F (0.2 degrees C) for each of the last three decades.

Scientists attribute this rise to human activities, specifically the release into the atmosphere of greenhouse gases--notably carbon dioxide--which let in sunlight and trap its heat like the glass walls of a greenhouse.

So, to what do scientists attribute the rest of the increase? Well, they don't. What's more, they don't explain what happened to the ice age if there was no significant temperature increase until SUVs came along during modern times.

Of course any global warming trends that may be occurring are not caused by carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases. It's caused by THE SUN, which has been at the highest level of solar output in the last 1100 years. And everyone seems to have forgotten that the globe has been warming for 20,000 years.

UPDATE: Heh. Unpartisan thinks I'm "from the left".

Quiz 2D, who created the Libertarian Quiz that has been a staple of my sidebar, finally got around to publishing their stats. I was beginning to wonder if they'd ever do it. Of everyone who made their stats public, take a look at who referred the most test takers.

I've been getting a lot of spam lately from the feedback form, so I added a math challenge to keep the bots at bay. I like the math challenge better than the weird shaped letter challenges that have become so popular lately. It doesn't deter people with vision problems or those who block images.

Yes, that is Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez inviting members of the U.N. to join his socialist book club.

I would like to invite you, very respectfully, to those who have not read this book, to read it. Noam Chomsky, one of the most prestigious American and world intellectuals, Noam Chomsky, and this is one of his most recent books, "Hegemony or Survival: The Imperialist Strategy of the United States." [Holds up book, waves it in front of General Assembly.] . . .

Taranto has more.

You gotta love how the Reuters "news agency" glosses over the abuses of Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe:

Foreign currency shortages in Zimbabwe have worsened after a fall-out with international donors over policy differences, such as the seizure of white-owned farms for blacks.

According to the Reuters, rape, murder, and pillaging are just "policy differences".

Not surprisingly, the Washington Post has a gushing expose on commie pinkos Fidel Castro and Che Guevara.

It never takes very long for some federal bureacrat to mandate technological innovation. This time we have the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requiring that electronic stability control be installed on all new cars beginning in 2012.

Who could be against that? After all, safety devices are good right? Personally, I've got nothing against having the option to purchase safety features. My truck already has ABS, traction control, and anti-roll stability. But I don't like being told by the government that I have to buy it.

Of course it's not being communicated that way.

ESC is currently standard on about 40 percent of 2006 passenger vehicle models and is offered as an option on another 15 percent. On some vehicles, it is only available as part of a more expensive option package.

Adding ESC to vehicles that already have anti-lock brakes will cost car companies about $111 per vehicle, the agency estimates.

Wrong. Adding ESC will cost car purchasers about $111 per vehicle. It won't cost the car companies anything.

Maybe we should try to figure out why we pay researchers to study the obvious.

New research has shown that men bond together and cooperate well in the face of adversity to protect their interests more than women, which could explain why war is almost exclusively a male business, according to Professor Mark van Vugt of the University of Kent in southern England.

This reminds me of a study released late last year where "scientists" proved that *gasp* men and women are different.

I've been saying for years that guns are a great equalizer. A 6' 2'' - 300-lb thug doesn't stand much of a chance against even the smallest victim if they are ready, willing, and able to use a gun for their personal protection.

In this case that small victim was a little old lady in a wheelchair, and she was packing some serious heat. Keep in mind that this happened in Manhattan, NYC an environment that is usually considered a "gun-free zone".

Margaret Johnson might have looked like an easy target.

But when a mugger tried to grab a chain off her neck Friday, the wheelchair-bound 56-year-old pulled out her licensed .357 pistol (sic) and shot him, police said.

Johnson said she was in Manhattan's Harlem neighborhood on her way to a shooting range when the man, identified by police as 45-year-old Deron Johnson, came up from behind and went for the chain.

"There's not much to it," she said in a brief interview. "Somebody tried to mug me, and I shot him."

Deron Johnson was taken to Harlem Hospital with a single bullet wound in the elbow, police said. He faces a robbery charge, said Lt. John Grimpel, a police spokesman.

Margaret Johnson, who lives in Harlem, has a permit for the weapon and does not face charges, Grimpel said. She also was taken to the hospital with minor injuries and later released.

Gun permits in New York City are extremely rare, especially for regular-joe citizens who live in Harlem. Permits are usually reserved for the well connected aristocracy like a congressman or celebrity.

To read about a little old lady, packing heat, on her way to a gun range, using a manly .357 to ward off an attacker. . .the only thing that could have made it better would be hauling the guy away in a body bag.

Whenever you criticize them, Democrats are always talking about the "chilling effect" on free speech.

This must be what they're talking about.

Thomas H. Kean, the Republican who chaired the 9/11 commission and is a co-executive producer of the film, said in an interview that he recently asked for changes that would address complaints raised by the former aides to President Bill Clinton and that ABC is considering his request. . .

Democrats ratcheted up the pressure yesterday. Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) and four Democratic colleagues wrote to Robert Iger, chief executive of the Walt Disney Co., ABC's corporate parent, urging him to cancel the movie. The Democratic National Committee obtained more than 100,000 signatures on a petition demanding cancellation. Jay Carson, a spokesman for former president Bill Clinton, called ABC's plan to air the movie "despicable."

[...]

Kean said the filmmakers have made changes -- in one case, reshooting an entire scene -- based in part on his recommendations. "The suggestion that this is some right-wing group in Hollywood is absurd," he said.

When looking through this, I found this:

(click for uncropped image)

Since when did taking $15 worth of produce from a garbage can become a felony. Two members of the Rainbow Family were given 6 months in jail for stealing food from a dumpster behind a grocery store. They had faced felony charges.

Charle and Siller were charged with felony second-degree burglary and misdemeanor theft. As part of a plea agreement reached with Assistant District Attorney Kerry St. James, the men agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor trespass in exchange for having the felony they were facing dismissed.

Now I've only ever heard of Steamboat Springs as a ski resort town. It's a little early for skiing, but it could just be that the local bourgeoisie don't want long haired maggot infested hippies digging through the trash.

Then again, there's this:

Don Wirtshafter, an attorney in Ohio who represented many of the Rainbow Family members who were charged with crimes during the gathering in Routt County. . .

As much as I too hate long-haired maggot-infested, no-good commie pinko peaceniks, digging through the trash should never be a felony. If so the jails would be filled with tabloid journalists.

Cross posted at Dumb Criminals.