34

Thats 3 more than Uncle

BTW, I don't recommend you use their code to put this on your site, because it sends you to some dating site instead.

Someone loan Uncle a copy of Dr. Strangelove. The fun starts here...

Say Uncle notes that banks are once again asking bank robbers to remove their hats and sunglasses before robbing the bank.

Responding to a more than one-third hike in bank robbery, the Florida Bankers Association is urging its members to adopt new rules.

Not additional guards or cameras, but a dress code for customers.

The group rolled out a "No Hats, No Hoods, No Sunglasses" program, which includes lobby signs asking customers to remove those items before approaching a teller.

Those who refuse would be directed to an area with more security or a more experienced teller.

And those who refuse to drop their shotguns will be directed to the vault. I say once again, because we reported on this back in 2002, at least twice.

Some even theorized that crooks would be dumb enough to comply:

"FBI Special Agent Dave Burlew said it could make some robbers think twice and could give authorities a full view of a robber's face from security images..."

Much to the delight of liberals everywhere the sole conservative Republican candidate, Fred Thompson, has dropped out of the 2008 Presidential Race.

"Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the United States," he said. "I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort. Jeri and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people."

I'm not sure what to do at this point. I refuse to hold my nose and vote for liberals like Huckabee or McCain, and I will not vote for gun bigots like Giuliani. That pretty much leaves Romney, who is not much of a friend to freedom either.

With choices like that, I might be sitting home on election day.

CNN notes that black women only have two choices:

Analysts say black women never have held such power in determining the Democratic nominee for president. Black women are expected to make up more than a third of all Democratic voters in South Carolina's primary in five days. These women face a unique dilemma: Should they vote their race, or should they vote their gender?

Notice that voting the issues doesn't even come up. And they think conservatives are bigots?

UPDATE: Apparently a lot of angry readers gave CNN a piece of their mind. There were lots of good comments, but my favorite reader response was Michael:

"Since Edwards no longer officially exists, as a white male I face the same choice - either I vote my race (Clinton) or my gender (Obama). Or I could just pick the candidate based on who I think would be best," wrote Michael.

An elderly grandmother in Clearwater Florida ordered her McDonalds fries without salt. Naturally this means cooking a whole new batch of fries and can take some time. Since she was in the drive thru, this meant that the police officer sitting behind her would have to wait too.

Well apparently he didn't like that, because he arrested her for it.

(75-year old Jean) Merola was handcuffed behind her back and put in the cruiser. Another officer arrived and took her to the Pinellas County Jail .

Merola said she was searched, photographed and fingerprinted.

"All right. Come out with your hands up, two cups of coffee, an auto freshener that says Capricorn, and something with coconut on it!" -- Springfield Police Chief Wiggum

I've always been pretty good at Geography, but I'm stuck on Level 6 of this game. On my third try I fell 165 points short of Level 7 and gave up.

My Traveler IQ was 94, though... not too shabby.

So a pair of maggot infested Australian hippies attacked a Japanese research vessel they claim was illegally killing whales.

Australian citizen Benjamin Potts and British citizen Giles Lane, both members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, jumped on board the Yushin Maru No. 2 Tuesday to deliver a letter saying the vessel was violating international law and Australian law by killing whales.

But apparently the Japanese weren't violating international law. The Australians were. According to the often reliable Wikipedia:

Maritime piracy, according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) of 1982, consists of any criminal acts of violence, detention, or depredation committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or aircraft that is directed on the high seas against another ship, aircraft, or against persons or property on board a ship or aircraft.

To me, forcefully boarding a ship at high seas without the Captain's permission sounds a lot like piracy. And the penalty for piracy is (or used to be) death.

Someone licensed to carry a concealed handgun... in Maryland! You gotta understand Maryland gun laws. This is the state that requires government approval for which models of guns can be sold. They have a waiting period, purchase restrictions, and countless other draconian anti-gun laws.

Step 1 on how to even *apply* for a Maryland permit is "don't bother". This is truly a red letter date in history.

Ever since Bush won in 2000, Democrats have been looking for ways to tweak the Electoral College so that Gore could have won. Now Geek is worried about New Jersey's plan to change how they determine their slate of electors. Apparently they are planning to make it so voters in New Jersey don't really matter by giving their votes to which ever candidate wins the National "popular vote".

If this change is as Geek describes it, not much would change. Yeah, NJ would have voted for Gore in 2000 (they did anyway) but they would have gone Bush in 2004 (which they didn't).

This only matters if carried to the extreme. If ALL states did this the electoral college would be all or nothing nationwide, and candidates would no longer campaign outside of the major cities. That's the downside to a popular vote. It's this downside that would keep other states from adopting such a model. Why would North Dakota give away their votes based on how people in New York, Texas, and California voted? They'd have to be stupid to outsource what little influence they already have.

What's worse is what Colorado attempted to do. They tried to apportion their votes based on the state's popular vote. That would assure that their votes would almost always be split 50/50 to 60/40, making their state essentially worthless for campaigning. No candidate would step foot in Colorado just to get a mere 1 or 2 net votes.

A Virginia man charged with carrying a 9mm Glock 17 to BWI Airport (in Maryland) was sentenced to 6 months unsupervised probation. They don't give any more details, other than that the guy was extra dangerous because he managed to cram 48 rounds into his pistol:

Charging documents say Sackie was walking with his daughter near the D Pier at BWI Marshall Airport when a Transportation Security Administration officer noticed "a bulge on his hip that would indicate a firearm." The weapon was loaded with three magazines, each containing 16 rounds.

I have long advocated that this article from the Independent Woman's Forum should be required reading of all women. I would add that this video should be also be a must see.

Reader Scott Slade emails his support for peanut butter bans...

This is crazy. Next they'll be infringing on more than just our inalienable rights to eat peanut butter anytime, anywhere. Soon, people will start telling us where and when we can smoke; then employers may start discriminating against smokers (and insurance companies might start charging more for people with unhealthy habits); then who knows, maybe they'll start forcing people to build wheelchair ramps to public buildings (not with my tax dollars!); then, an even scarier thought, airlines might try to forbid me from exercising my constitutional right to arms while on an airliner (wait, they already do this -- see the slippery slope we're on. This is crazy talk! Rule by the majority. Let's vote on peanuts in schools! Peanuts are important to education and the well-being of our children (at least those they don't kill). Survival of the fittest. What kills the weak makes the rest stronger.

But seriously, just wait until it's your kid whose life is threatened because some people can't refrain from eating peanut butter for eight hours a day. Can people not eat enough peanut butter (and anything else that can kill some children contact) in the morning to satisfy their cravings until they get home after school? Are poeple so callous as to be willing to instill the fear of a child's death into a parent so that their child can have a certain kind of sandwich? WOW -- and many of these people are the same ones who want to protect us from the terrorists who will be parachuting into our communities with dirty bombs any moment. Let' s spend billions to fight a war to PROTECT OUR CHILDREN! But forgoing peanut butter to protect your child -- that's absurd!

Our civilization is doomed with the ignorance that abounds and lines of logic that many (most) people follow in evaluating issues.

California lawmakers apparently think their consitutents aren't smart enough to control their own thermostats. So they plan to implement (via the building codes) remote controled thermostats that would be controlled by the state.

According to a proposed new rule, the state would mandate all new construction have a thermostat that the state can operate in emergencies.

The rule, set to be adopted January 30th, doesn't give you a choice. It's mandatory. In a section on "Programmable Communicating Thermostats" found on page 64 of this document, it states:

"Upon receiving an emergency signal, the PCT (your thermostat) shall respond to commands contained in the emergency signal, including changing the setpoint by any number of degrees or to a specific temperature setpoint. The PCT shall not allow customer changes to thermostat settings during emergency events."

Whaddayaknow, a whole new black market. How long before people are smuggling thermostats in from Arizona and selling them for a premium?