Love the punch line (below the fold):

"Guns don't kill people, people kill people. Guns defend people against people with smaller guns."

The taxman is cometh for your pumpkins. Tax collectors in Iowa are claiming that pumpkins are a decoration, not food, and should be subject to sales tax.

"We made the change because we wanted the sales tax law to match what we thought the predominant use was," [department spokesman Renee] Mulvey said. "We thought the predominant use was for decorations or jack-o'-lanterns."

In a great moment in government bureaucracy, if you plan to eat your pumpkin you can still fill out a tax-exemption form. I wonder if I can fill out one of those forms when buying a cat, as long as I plan to eat it.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV delivers Breaking News on October 30th:

Last night, temperatures fell on many parts of the East Coast and, frankly, even in the West Coast. It's been getting cold all over America. Then this meant this morning and in the DC area for the first time this year, people had to reach into their closets for scarves, heavier suits -- even coats -- for the first time this season.

There are parts of Nevada that are really cold.

We've had freezing temperatures in Ely and Elko already this year. As the temperature falls all over the country, we begin to think about the cost of heating our homes for the winter.

I live near D.C., and Harry Reid is right. Even I had to take precautionary measures this morning. Luckily I've won life's lottery. I can afford a coat. But I'm doing my part. I drove my gas guzzling SUV to work, hoping it would raise the Earth's temperature a few degrees.

SayUncle reports on some misinformation coming out of the ATF courtesy of the Washington Post:

But law enforcement officers on both sides of the border have never seen anything like the flood of guns now surging into Mexico. The increase has been stoked by the cartel war and by the ease of buying high-powered weapons since the U.S. assault weapons ban was not renewed in 2004, William Newell, a special agent in charge of the ATF's Phoenix office, said in an interview.

So apparently the surge of illegals coming in from Mexico are buying semi-automatic high powered machine guns and heading back down to Mexico.

"You don't like the fact that you can't have a gun on your college campus? Drop out of school." -- Peter Hamm, Spokesman for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Ownership

How To Carve A Pumpkin, to the tune of everybody's favorite, Monster Mash.

Pro-gun lawmaker Dick Black is running for the late Jo Ann Davis' seat. Dick Black has been a friend of gunowners and has a long and storied pro-gun record in the Virginia Legislature.

Best of luck to Dick Black.

There's an election every year in Virginia, and this year Fairfax County Board Chairman Gerry "Hit and Run" Connolly comes up for re-election. Connolly is best known for two accomplishments. First, the Fairfax Democrat has raised taxes every year he's been in office. Property taxes have doubled, and we still can't get the roads repaired.

Perhaps Connolly's greatest was his ability to get out of "Hit and Run" charges using his executive priviledge.

[Judge Craig] Johnston, in issuing his not guilty ruling, said Connolly's "position and his duties have caused him to be oblivious to what is going on in his car."

So here we have a guy who isn't even qualified to drive a car, and he's probably going to be re-elected to run the largest county in Virginia.

NewsBusters reports that Air America is blaming the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy for a mugging in safe, gun-free, New York. (emphasis in original)

Pointing out that Rhodes was wearing a jogging suit and displayed no purse or jewelry, [Air America Radio host] Elliott speculated that "this does not appear to me to be a standard grab the money and run mugging."

"Is this an attempt by the right wing hate machine to silence one of our own," he asked. "Are we threatening them. Are they afraid that we're winning. Are they trying to silence intimidate us."

Some of blog posters also expressed concerns that the attack on Rhodes was hate crime.

New York Daily News refutes the mugging claim and says that Rhodes simply violated the law of gravity. Personally, I blame Global Warming.

Literally:

"He finally told us, 'Hey, I'm Chester Stiles. I'm the guy you're looking for,'" according to Dye. "At that time, he said, 'I'm sick of running.'" . . .

Stiles has been turned over to Las Vegas Metro Police, who were seeking him in connection with a four-year-old videotape that shows a small girl being sexually assaulted.

Has it come to this? You can't even debate Concealed Carry without being kicked out of school.

Hamline University has suspended a student after he sent an e-mail suggesting that the Virginia Tech massacre might have been stopped if students had been allowed to carry concealed weapons on campus. Student Troy Scheffler is now required to undergo a mandatory "mental health evaluation" before being allowed to return to school.

And any unfavorable results of said "mental health evaluation" could be used to keep you from owning a gun, forever.

So much for free speech in academia.

CNET reports on what might be the next big copyright battle: recipes.

Content tracking company Attributor recently conducted a study to get an idea of how frequently online recipes are copied and reposted to other sites. What it found might concern some recipe publishers. . .

For the purposes of the study, Attributor researchers defined a match as any two recipes in which at least 50 percent of the content was identical. Then they looked more closely at the matches with low percentages of similarity and threw out those they thought couldn't be considered clear cases of copyright infringement.

On the surface, 50% seems like an awfully low bar to meet. Under this standard, any recipe for Fish and Chips that includes fries, fish, and flour could be construed as a copyright violation. But I take this with a grain of salt because Attributor just wants to sell their recipe matching software. They are putting a bug in the ear of companies that publish recipes; telling them they're losing web traffic which translates into lost ad revenue.

But I wonder how enforceable said copyrights really are. Ingredients lists and recipes in general aren't copyrightable. That's why Coke doesn't publish their recipe or disclose their secret ingredients. All you would have to do is make enough of a change to get around the copyright without affecting the taste. But a recipe's text might be covered, and if they were copied verbatim a case could be made for infringement. Then there's this:

Another issue is that recipe sharing isn't exactly a new phenomenon. Dig around in just about any kitchen and you're sure to find a box full of recipes that have been copied from cookbooks and cooking magazines. Sharing recipes has been part of the culture of cooking for decades, if not centuries.

Good recipes are closely guarded secrets for a reason. And by publishing a recipe it's implied that people are going to copy it, modify it, change it to suit their needs. And if big corporations start dragging grandmothers into court for posting their recipe collection on the web, there could be a serious backlash.

Bitter is worried about Virginia's future. With anti-freedom Democrats ramping up gun control platforms what's a girl to do. As Northern Virginia becomes more liberal and drags Virginia down with it, I sometimes share her distress.

The Democrat Party is resorting to scare tactics against pro-gun Senator Ken Cuccinelli, with an ad that says "Ken Cuccinelli voted to allow criminals to buy guns at gun shows and is against nearly all common-sense gun laws." My first thought was that Democrats must be really stupid to believe such nonsense. As if the Senate really passed a bill that said criminals can buy guns?

But Democrats and anti-gunners have been making inroads in the state legislature. In 2006, Del. Black who represented parts of Loudoun County was voted out of office. He was a stalwart pro-gunner just like Cuccinelli.

While we must remain vigilant against the anti-gunners, I don't think that the anti-gun platform is making a serious comeback. Instead I think that the same anti-Republican sentiment driving Democrat victories in the national elections is trickling down to the states. And it doesn't help that Northern Virginia's population has become much more liberal over the years, and is dragging down the rest of the state.

These victories have emboldened the anti-gun left the same way they've emboldened the anti-war left. It doesn't mean that the country or state is headed the way, it just appears that way because of a small vocal minority. Case in point is Arlington County.

Arlington has long been somewhat anti-gun, but this is just crazy:

Delegates to the Arlington County Civic Federation have embraced what could become a controversial issue: publishing the names of local residents who purchase handguns.

The federation's membership on Oct. 2 voted 20-14 to include the provision in its 2008 General Assembly legislative package, which is slated for final adoption next month.

The proposal calls for officials to furnish to media outlets the names of those who have purchased handguns. Newspapers and other media organizations can then determine whether to publish them.

If you want to help thieves, why not just publish the name and address of all new car buyers while you're at it. Other wishlist items include:

* Allowing convicted felons to have their voting-rights restored after completing sentences and probation. Virginia today severely restricts the ability of felons to win back voting rights. Vote: 31-8.

Gotta get that felon vote.

* Proposing a constitutional amendment to permit Virginia's governors to serve consecutive terms. Last year, the Federation proposed expanding the governor's tenure to a single, six-year term. Vote: 29-11.

Because they really wanted Mark Warner to be able to run again.

* Allowing localities to ban smoking in restaurants. Vote: 31-9.

Another anti-freedom vote. How about letting restaurants decide for themselves?

* Eliminating the so-called "abusive-driver fees," which were enacted by the General Assembly this year, but which have attracted great opposition, and replacing the funding lost with a one-cent increase in the gasoline tax. Vote: 30-8.

Replacing the funding? It just became effective a few months ago, why not repeal it outright.

* Opposing any widening to Interstate 66 from the Potomac River to the Capital Beltway, unless such widening meets with "community consensus." Vote: 33-5.

Dumb, they've opposed widening 66 for decades. It's time.

* Prohibiting the use of cell phones by drivers while a vehicle is in motion. The proposal does not say whether "hands-free" phones would be exempt. Vote: 31-9.

Dumb. I hate distracted driving too, but we have existing statutes that already cover this.

* Restricting the amount of interest that can be charged to borrows by "payday lenders." Vote: 33-5.

So the poor and minorities can't get credit.

* Allowing Virginia counties, including Arlington, to levy a tax on gasoline. Cities already have this authority. Vote: 25-15.

Never saw a tax they didn't like.

Okay, so I got off guns for a little bit. But my point is that liberalism is alive and well in Virginia, and Northern Virginia especially. Gun control is but one facet, and right now the libs are emboldened to press their agenda across the board.

Now more than ever, we need to beat them at the ballot box.

UPDATE: Pro-gun lawmaker Dick Black is running for the late JoAnn Davis' seat. Best of luck to Dick Black.

Hillary Clinton continues to show her socialist streak by promising to hand out money in exchange for votes.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who last month suggested giving $5,000 "baby bonds" to every child born in America but later backed away, called yesterday for a new retirement plan that would boost individual savings with federal tax credits.

Clinton's plan would match the first $1,000 of retirement savings for families making up to $60,000 per year. The proposal would provide a 50 percent match for families making between $60,000 and $100,000. . .

Clinton said she would pay for the tax credits by continuing the estate tax, which is due to expire at the end of 2009, for estates worth more than $7 million.

Hillary has suggested program after program that are all paid for the same way. Tax the "rich". Keep in mind that while Bill was a moderate, Hillary is just about as red as can be.

From CNN:

An off-duty sheriff's deputy used a police-style AR-15 rifle to kill six people at an early morning party in a small Wisconsin town, officials said Monday.

"I like the idea of giving every baby born in America a $5,000 account that will grow over time. . .so when that young person turns 18 if they have finished high school they will be able to access it to go to college or maybe they will be able to put that down payment on their first home, or go into business." -- Presidential Candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton