A little more on Sotomayor and Obama and the 2nd Amendment

Neither one of them thinks much of it:
The work began five years into Obama’s directorship, when the Foundation had experience in turning its millions into anti-gun “grassroots” organizations, but none at converting cash into legal scholarship.

The plan’s objective was bold: the judicial obliteration of the Second Amendment.

Joyce’s directors found a vulnerable point. When judges cannot rely upon past decisions, they sometimes turn to law review articles. Law reviews are impartial and famed for meticulous cite-checking. They are also produced on a shoestring. Authors of articles receive no compensation; editors are law students who work for a tiny stipend. …

The Joyce directorate’s plan almost succeeded. The individual rights view won out in the Heller Supreme Court appeal, but only by 5-4. The four dissenters were persuaded in part by Joyce-funded writings, down to relying on an article which misled them on critical historical documents.

Having lost that fight, Obama now claims he always held the individual rights view of the Second Amendment, and that he “respects the constitutional rights of Americans to bear arms.” But as a Joyce director, Obama was involved in a wealthy foundation’s attempt to manipulate the Supreme Court, buy legal scholarship, and obliterate the individual right to arms.
This has been noted before, but think carefully: he took part in acting to provide false information to judges to influence their decisions. Specifically to trash one of the basic Amendments to the Constitution. And it partially worked; four justices based their decision on deliberately-faked information, and a lot of people are still using their arguments, based on falsity, to try to trash the 2nd, in part if not in whole.

And his nominee to the Court?
The recent landmark case District of Columbia v. Heller put an end to decades of arguments regarding the meaning of the Second Amendment. In a 5-4 decision, SCOTUS rejected the collectivist interpretation favored by gun control advocates such as President Obama, noting that the Second Amendment’s protection of the right of citizens to own firearms for private use is an individual right that predates the Constitution, with its authority tied directly to the natural right of self-defense.

Just six months after Heller, however, Sotomayor issued an opinion in Maloney v. Cuomo that the protections of the Second Amendment do not apply to the states, and that if your city or state wants to ban all guns, then they have the right to disarm you. Such an opinion seems to fly directly in the face of Heller, exposing Sotomayor as an anti-gun radical who will affirm full-on gun prohibitions and believes that you have no right to own a firearm, even for the most basic right of defending your family in your own home.

There's an argument that Obama has nominated her both because of her views on things like this, and because he hopes dealing with her with cause less attention to be paid to his takeover of our health care. Could be. In which case, we need to keep yelling at our congresscritters on both: we can't let either one slip.

If you believe Israel has the right to exist, and to defend itself,

and you voted for Obama, you're a moron.
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration has blocked Israel’s request for advanced U.S.-origin attack helicopters.

Government sources said the administration has held up Israel’s request for the AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopter. The sources said the request was undergoing an interagency review to determine whether additional Longbow helicopters would threaten Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip...
Oh yes, we all know how the nasty Israelis just whack Pali civilians at every chance; why, they barely exist anymore!

No, wait...

Since most of the F35 JSF is already off limits to us, the new Boeing F15SE has been sought as a possible option by Israel - But that is also seemingly not in the cards. The F15SE was designed by Boeing specifically for export because it has no slot in US defense plans since its missions are already covered by other platforms, it is an upgrade path for international customers flying Eagles. Which makes statements by the Administration to the effect that the F15SE is not cleared for ‘foreign military sales’ curious indeed..
Nope, not 'curious'; just The Obama & Co. Way of screwing over Israel.

Meanwhile Clinton said Obama had “made it very clear” to Netanyahu that he expects a total freeze in the settlements. “He wants to see a stop to settlements. Not some settlements, not outposts, not natural growth exceptions,” Clinton said on Wednesday during a visit by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit.

So the Obama administration’s peace plan is essentially an appease plan: Israel is not going to be allowed to grow the suburbs of Jerusalem (Ma’aleh Adumim). Yeah, that’ll go over well. So, what are the Obama plans for the Palestinians?

“We think it is in the best interest of the effort that we are engaged in, that settlement expansion cease,” she said. “That is our position, that is what we have communicated very clearly not only to the Israelis but to the Palestinians and others. And we intend to press that point,” she said.

Ah. Pressure Israel. I see.

Obama will be meeting with Abbas this week. I’m guessing that the Palestinians are not going to be told that they have to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, give up any hope of millions of Palestinians settling in Israel rather than the Palestinian state, and stop teaching their children that there is no Jewish claim to the city of Jerusalem and inciting against Jews.

But hey, the settlements are the real reason there’s no peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Not

Apparently some of the creatures in Congress are even worse

than we thought:
Yesterday, as a result of one of my letters, I was paid a visit by the Joint Terrorism Task Force of the FBI. One Senator, Sheldon Whitehouse, reported to the FBI that he felt I was endangering the government and should be investigated as a suspected terrorist. This after every single one my letters was sent through the official website of the government, and contained all of my personally identifying information and was specifically stated as advising each U. S. Senator that I was offering political opinion about pending legislation, or governmental policy.
...
The FBI agent was very polite and respectful. He explained why I had been targeted and by whom, Senator Whitehouse, and assured me that this would be the end of it. I explained to him in answer to his questions what and why I had written. He agreed that I have the constitutional right to express my dissatisfaction with government policy. The last thing he said to me was to advise that I keep expressing my opinions.

At first I wasn't too bothered, but really amused that a Senator would do such a thing. I immediately starting penning a new letter to the Honorable Senator, then left it to cool before pressing the submit button. Over the course of the next few hours, the realization of the intent of the Senator's action, and the resulting wariness on my part to write anymore letters came rising up as rage that an elected representative in the United States of America would even dare do such a thing. Is this where we are headed? Is this the Socialistic Fascism the current majority is pushing on the American people to be followed by not only political Fascism, but tyranny at the hands of our Federal law enforcement agencies at the direction of political hacks? Is this the last of it, or am I now identified somewhere as a terrorist threat to be watched?

This particular creature is Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat from RI(and why is it no surprise to me he's an Evil Party creature?). I'll say this bluntly: any politician who uses or tries to use law enforcement to scare or punish people who speak their minds should be removed from office for violating the oath of office. And then, preferably, flogged down the street. This is so flat disgusting, I don't know if removal and flogging is enough(well, maybe if we use a flagrum).

The Democrat Party; daring you to actually speak your piece.

Today's session of "The administration is screwing the country"

will note several things. First, that the People's Republic of Maryland is finding out even more so that screwing people who work hard to succeed, costs.
Maryland couldn’t balance its budget last year, so the state tried to close the shortfall by fleecing the wealthy. Politicians in Annapolis created a millionaire tax bracket, raising the top marginal income-tax rate to 6.25%. And because cities such as Baltimore and Bethesda also impose income taxes, the state-local tax rate can go as high as 9.45%. Governor Martin O’Malley, a dedicated class warrior, declared that these richest 0.3% of filers were “willing and able to pay their fair share.” The Baltimore Sun predicted the rich would “grin and bear it.”

One year later, nobody’s grinning. One-third of the millionaires have disappeared from Maryland tax rolls. In 2008 roughly 3,000 million-dollar income tax returns were filed by the end of April. This year there were 2,000, which the state comptroller’s office concedes is a “substantial decline.” On those missing returns, the government collects 6.25% of nothing. Instead of the state coffers gaining the extra $106 million the politicians predicted, millionaires paid $100 million less in taxes than they did last year—even at higher rates.
There've been several studies over the years showing that most millionaires did not inherit a fortune or just fall into money; they worked their ass off to earn it. Lots of them don't buy the newest car or a McMansion; they worked hard for what they've got, and don't want to waste on on showy crap. People like that resent being told that being singled out for higher taxes is 'paying their fair share'. So if the state they live in decides to screw them, if they can, they move. And the class warriors like the idiot governor of the PRoM watch their budget sink even faster.


Now, let's move on to the Chrysler dealership closings. As someone pointed out, you wouldn't have to actually target R dealership owners to have an effect; you'd only have to protect D owners from being closed. Well, there's lots more being dug up, it seems.
"It became clear to us that Chrysler does not see the wisdom of terminating 25 percent of its dealers," Bellavia said. "It really wasn't Chrysler's decision. They are under enormous pressure from the President's automotive task force."
...
Now, and this is important, Chrysler claimed that its formula for determining whether a dealership should close or not included "sales volume, customer service scores, local market share and average household income in the immediate area."

Dealer Jim Anderer told Fox News' Neil Cavuto he can't comprehend how his dealership can be among those killed: he stated that his sales volume ranking is in the top 2 percent of all dealers.

Furthermore, Anderer says explanations aren't forthcoming. "They won't tell us. They seem to be running for cover right now because they won't give us a solid explanation. They come up with all these reasons, but none of them seem to make sense... This is insanity. The government is stealing my business. And they're telling me there's nothing I can do about it... There was no process that you could put your finger on and say, 'Hey, we cut 25 percent of the lowest performing dealers.' They didn't do that. Nobody will give us a real clear explanation of the formula that they came up with."
Long article, worth looking at.


Third, Pres. B. Cartman Obama's pick for the Supremes is not only a racist, she thinks the 2nd Amendment doesn't apply to individuals, it seems:
Sotomayor is a graduate from Princeton University, where her legal theses included Race in the American Classroom, and Undying Injustice: American "Exceptionalism" and Permanent Bigotry, and Deadly Obsession: American Gun Culture. In this text, the student Sotomayor explained that the Second Amendment to the Constitution did not actually afford individual citizens the right to bear arms, but only duly conferred organizations, like the military. Instead of making guns illegal, she argues that they have been illegal for individuals to own since the passing of the Bill of Rights.(note: in comments Jed says the thesis information may not be accurate)
And, like so many liberal wankers who have succeeded, she doesn't think anyone else can:
Even with her meteoric rise, the nominee still believes there is work to do. In a 1999 interview with a local author, Sotomayor stated that she believed that the United States, "...may never truly be fixed. Racism and economic warfare still crush the dreams of countless second-class citizens. The unfair dimensions of our culture are staggering. You cannot succeed if you are born poor; you simply cannot."
Yeah. Right.

I'd strongly suggest calling/writing your congresscritters NOW, and telling them to fight this nomination. Maybe she can't be stopped, be we can damn well dig up everything like this she's come out with and make sure people know about it. And any Republican who doesn't have the balls to fight this because 'it might hurt us with hispanics' or because they're a Rhino, needs to be dealt with. Like by being removed from office at the first opportunity.

Crap. I need to go cast bullets.

“When you have to shoot, shoot, don’t talk.”

The robbery suspect entered the Babcock Square Pharmacy around 9 a.m. at 5824 Babcock Rd. Inside were the owner/pharmacist, his wife, and an employee. The employee saw the man had a gun and told the pharmacist, who then pulled out his own handgun.

Seeing this, the robber reportedly responded by saying “Let’s get it on.” That’s when the owner shot him. The man died inside the business.

Thanks to Sondra for cheering up the day

I'm not actually retired yet,

but it's messing with me anyway.

For the last two or three years I've been carrying a pager. I'm not now, but I keep catching myself before going somewhere with "Where's the pager? Oh, that's right." Or I'm somewhere and check to make sure it's there and have a moment of 'Oh crap!'.

I was in the grocery store a bit earlier and one of the wheelchairs started backing up, 'beep-beep' and I thought "Dammit, now what?" before remembering "I don't have that anymore."

I wonder how long it takes to get over that conditioning?

For whatever reason, President Obama seems to dislike the British,

which is fine on a personal level; but he's a head of state, and he's not supposed to let his personal feelings crap up/crap on allies:
Indeed, she is decidedly displeased, angry even, that she was not invited to join President Obama and France’s president, Nicolas Sarkozy, next week at commemorations of the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, according to reports published in Britain’s mass-circulation tabloid newspapers on Wednesday. Pointedly, Buckingham Palace did not deny the reports.
Plainly and flatly: there is no excuse for crap like this. None at all.

I guess this is that 'smart-ass diplomacy' we were promised; Hope! and Change!

I have a proposal for the people who are pushing for 'smart guns':

when you specifically order law enforcement as well as us peasants to use them, maybe I'll believe you actually give a damn about 'safety' and such. Until then, you're just a bunch of clowns trying to make owning and using arms as difficult and expensive as possible.

And not caring if you get people killed because a gun couldn't be used when needed.

I was going to stop with the above, but let's just list some of the reasons someone could get killed bacause of this 'smart gun' garbage:
If it requires you to wear a magic bracelet,
the battery can die(two batteries, probably, bracelet and mechanism in gun);
the magic bracelet can be broken;
the magic bracelet can be torn off in a fight;
you might have to use the off-hand and the signal isn't reaching far enough;
your wife/husband/girlfriend/friend/partner might have to grab it to use.

If it's some super-duper next-generation fingerprint reader,
batteries again;
gloves;
they're going to have wraparound sensors so you can use the off-hand?;
see above on someone else needing to use it.

Every time someone pushes this crap, and exempt LE from it, they're saying they don't care if it actually works, and don't think it will(or else why exempt LE?); they just want to screw gun owners, current and future.

I have a proposal for the people who are pushing for 'smart guns':

Well, Tam has shown good reason not to spend time or money in Dallas

next time I'm down that way:
A word of caution before you head out for the long Memorial Day weekend: It's also No-Refusal Weekend. Which means? Well, if Dallas police pull suspect you're drinking and driving, you'll be stuck with a butterfly needle attached to a vacuum-packed container, and two vials' worth of your blood will taken and tested. And, no, you can't refuse the test; hence the name, as discussed in our cover story on the very subject last month.
And would you be surprised what group is right in the middle of this?
The program, which the DPD's been testing since last Memorial Day weekend, has proven to be most everything Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Dallas Police Department and the Dallas County District Attorney's Office hoped it would be.
So once again MADD is 'working with the police' and screwing people over. "...you can't refuse the test"? Just exactly what kind of bullcrap is this? And in Texas of all places?

As Tam puts it, Dallas, TX is an unlikely addition to the list of places I wouldn't spit on if they were burning.
And, as I say, next time I'm down that way, Dallas will be avoided.

And speaking of Lawdog, (link fixed)

Murphy was a cop
Bulletproof vests aren't.

The bigger they are, the harder they fall. They also punch, kick, and choke harder, too.

The speed at which you respond to a fight call is always the slowest legal speed. You want to arrive in time to arrest the winner and put the loser in an ambulance.

OC works on cops too, and regardless of wind direction, will always blow back in your face.

High speed chases will always proceed from an area of light traffic to an area of extremely heavy traffic.

If you know someone who tortures animals and wets the bed, he is either a serial killer or he works for Internal Affairs.

Placing your pistol back in a holster with your finger on the trigger will cause you to walk with a limp.

Flash hiders don't, nor do silencers.

If you have cleared all the rooms and met no resistance -- Congratulations: you kicked in the door of the wrong house.
And so on.


Note: repeat after me; I will make sure the link is good when blogging when I'm tired...

Lock them up, and write down the numbers, to steal James' title

over here. Short version: had a student who was going to get a gun safe(fine idea), but had never written down the serial numbers of his guns(bad idea). I think Lawdog had a post a while back about the problem of someone reporting a burglary where an old family gun was taken, but they had no record of the serial number, which greatly reduces the chance of getting it back.

It's worth saying again: if you own any firearms, make a list of the make, model, cartridge and serial number of each. Preferably take a picture of each. Take the list and pictures and put them in a safe place. Preferably with a backup copy.

While back I decided to make sure mine were covered, so I got out the camera and, each time I had one out, I'd take a good picture. When they were saved to the pc I renamed each shot with 'Fitzenboomer 310, serial #', and saved them all to a file, and made an inventory list with all the information and anything unique about each. And then I did two things:
Got a $5 flash drive and copied them both, picture list and typed list to it and put it in a safe spot.
Printed a copy of the inventory and put it away.

Ideally, if you've got a safe-deposit box or someplace else secure, put a backup copy there.

I'll throw something else in. Some old firearms- and a lot of .22 rifles- prior to 1968 did not have serial numbers. While you may not, for various reasons, want to/be able to stamp a number on them, you can take off the buttplate and put something under there with your name or something to prove ownership. Or stick a note under a grip panel or something. And note in the inventory that you did so.

So, like James says, secure them when not in use, and write it down and keep the record safe.g

If this is the actual 'what happened,

then this definitely counts as "Law Enforcement, Sorry Excuse For":
"As my partner was pulling onto the shoulder, the cruiser came alongside our unit and gestured for my driver to pull over," White says. "When the officer came to a complete stop behind the ambulance, I noticed a woman in the front seat. Based on the officer's erratic driving behavior, I thought that the woman in the front seat of the cruiser was in need of immediate medical attention; hence I exited the rear of the ambulance in order to assess the situation."

White says the officer was in a rage when he approached them and yelled "get your a-- back here! I am giving you a ticket for failure to yield." White says he told the trooper they had a patient in the ambulance and that they were on their way to the hospital.

I'm very much hoping there's more to this, because if there's not, then there's a OHP trooper who needs his attitude adjusted. Badly. The Chief's and Commissioner's offices must just be loving this.

Critter-aid by click

I'm told the proceeds go directly to animal rescue work, so go take a look.

Run over to Anarchangel

and read this. Then check out the cookbook. And if you can, order. Good recipes, and the money's going to a good cause.

Unless the prosecutor has some evidence to prove the pharmacist lying,

then he's going to get his ass handed to him.
Pharmacist Jerome Ersland of Chickasha has been charged with 1st degree murder in the recent shooting death of an armed robber inside an Oklahoma City pharmacy.

District Attorney David Prater filed the charge after reviewing police reports and, apparently, a videotape from cameras that captured the entire incident.

The videotape, released to the news media by Prater this afternoon, is about 11 seconds long. After Ersland's initital shot at the robber, who clearly has a pistol in his hand, Ersland pursues the second robber to the door. It shows Ersland then walking behind the counter, down an aisle way, opening a drawer, removing a pistol, then walking back to the wounded robber, leaning over and shooting him repeatedly. The robber isn't visible in the videotape, but Ersland firing is visible.

The charge alleges Ersland repeatedly shot Antwun Parker, 16, while Parker was semi-conscious, incapacitated and prone on the floor. Ersland’s account of the incident doesn’t match the video or the evidence collected at the scene, Oklahoma City Police Detective David Jacobson wrote in his affidavit.
Now, it's possible that this is the case; but if it's not, then the question becomes 'why this charge?'. From the story Clayton Cramer noted:
But as he started to chase after the second robber, Ersland said, he looked back to see the 16-year-old he had shot in the head getting up again. Ersland said he then emptied the Kel-Tec .380 into the boy’s chest as he kept going after the second robber.

"I went after the other guy, but he was real fast and I’m crippled,” Ersland said.
I haven't seen the video, but as it says above the deceased isn't visible in it. And there's another factor: Ersland is said to have recently had back surgery and be in a brace. If the robber was indeed getting back up... personally, I'd come down on the side of the pharmacist; he's got other bad guys around and the wounded one still quite possibly a threat.

Unless there's another video that's not been released showing the deceased at the time, then the video doesn't much. And I'm wondering what 'evidence collected at the scene' boils down to.

Unfortunately, there's the possibility this is politically motivated; pressure from racial-grievance groups for prosecution. I don't know anything about Prater; it may be that he'd never give in to such, but I don't know. It wouldn't be the first time a prosecutor with an eye on future politics did something he shouldn't have.

We'll see what else comes out.

Remember the concern that the administration was picking which dealers were closed?

And why?
** Earlier it was reported that the Obama Administration may have targeted GOP donors in deciding which Chrysler dealerships would have to close their doors.
** Last night it was discovered that a Big Dem Donor Group was allowed to keep all 6 Chrysler dealerships open.... And, their local competitors were eliminated by Obama's task force.
** The closings also tend to be in "Red" Counties where Obama lost.
Check it out.

Just how bad has PC-at-any-cost and islamism become

in Europe?
In Feyenoord, veiled women can be seen everywhere, darting like a flash through the streets of the neighborhood. They avoid any sort of contact, even eye contact, especially with men. Feyenoord is the size of a city, and there are seventy nationalities coexisting there. It is an area that lives on subsidies and residential construction, and it is here that it is most obvious that Holland – with all of its rules against discrimination and all of its moral indignation – is a completely segregated society.
...
Muslim lawyers in Rotterdam also want to change the rules of the courtroom, asking to be allowed to remain seated when the judge enters. They recognize Allah alone. The lawyer Mohammed Enait recently refused to stand when the magistrates enter the courtroom, saying that "Islam teaches that all men are equal." The court of Rotterdam has recognized Enait's right to remain seated: "There is no legal obligation requiring Muslim lawyers to stand in front of the court, insofar as this action is in contrast with the dictates of the Islamic faith."
...
Chris Ripke is a well-known artist in the city. His studio is near a mosque in Insuindestraat. Shocked in 2004 by the murder of director Theo Van Gogh by an Dutch Islamist, Chris decided to paint an angel on wall of his studio and the biblical commandment "Gij zult niet doden," thou shalt not kill. His neighbors at the mosque found the words "offensive," and called the mayor of Rotterdam at the time, the liberal Ivo Opstelten. The mayor ordered the police to erase the painting, because it was "racist." Wim Nottroth, a television journalist, camped out on the spot in protest. The police arrested him, and his film was destroyed. Ephimenco did the same in his own window: "I put up a big white sheet with the biblical commandment. Photographers came, and the radio. If you can no longer write 'do not kill' in this country, then you are saying that we are all in prison. It is like apartheid, whites living with whites and blacks with blacks. There is a great chill. Islamism wants to change the structure of the country."


They'll either decide to stand up and defend their heritage and nation, or they're down the toilet. And the flush handle's moving.

I think it's worth pointing out, as Obama wants to 'discuss' things-

like nuclear bombs- with the Iranians, just what kind of thing the Iranian government still thinks was wonderful:
During the Iran-Iraq War, the Ayatollah Khomeini imported 500,000 small plastic keys from Taiwan. The trinkets were meant to be inspirational. After Iraq invaded in September 1980, it had quickly become clear that Iran's forces were no match for Saddam Hussein's professional, well-armed military. To compensate for their disadvantage, Khomeini sent Iranian children, some as young as twelve years old, to the front lines. There, they marched in formation across minefields toward the enemy, clearing a path with their bodies. Before every mission, one of the Taiwanese keys would be hung around each child's neck. It was supposed to open the gates to paradise for them.

At one point, however, the earthly gore became a matter of concern. "In the past," wrote the semi-official Iranian daily Ettelaat as the war raged on, "we had child-volunteers: 14-, 15-, and 16-year-olds. They went into the minefields. Their eyes saw nothing. Their ears heard nothing. And then, a few moments later, one saw clouds of dust. When the dust had settled again, there was nothing more to be seen of them. Somewhere, widely scattered in the landscape, there lay scraps of burnt flesh and pieces of bone." Such scenes would henceforth be avoided, Ettelaat assured its readers. "Before entering the minefields, the children [now] wrap themselves in blankets and they roll on the ground, so that their body parts stay together after the explosion of the mines and one can carry them to the graves."

These children who rolled to their deaths were part of the Basiji, a mass movement created by Khomeini in 1979 and militarized after the war started in order to supplement his beleaguered army.The Basij Mostazafan - or "mobilization of the oppressed" - was essentially a volunteer militia, most of whose members were not yet 18. They went enthusiastically, and by the thousands, to their own destruction. "The young men cleared the mines with their own bodies," one veteran of the Iran-Iraq War recalled in 2002 to the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine. "It was sometimes like a race. Even without the commander's orders, everyone wanted to be first."

I'm going to say it bluntly, might as well get people all ticked off

right away: in our new Supreme Court nominee we have a racist, bigot socialist being pushed for the highest court in the land. Who, for that matter, has a record of reversals that argues she's either not that good a judge, or lets her personal feelings control her judgements.

Which, actually, also makes her not a good judge.

This was a strange day at work,

because it was my last working day there. On the 31st I'm officially retired from the agency I've worked at for a damn long time.

Yes, I've been preparing for it for a while; making copies of notes on 'how this crap actually works, as opposed to what the book says' and passing them on, cleaning out old paperwork and shredding it(no, not because it's incriminating), and so forth. And today, gathering up the last few things, putting them in a box and taking them with me when I left.

Really odd to think of not going back there again for work. I'm one of the original people who started that section, and had a hand in getting it where it is. On the other hand... a while back I told my daughter that "At times I think I'll miss the place; then something like this weekend with the last-minute call to work 12-hour shifts happens and I decide 'but I'll get used to it.' "

Right now, to bed. I've still got a lot of crap to take care of tomorrow here and about.

And speaking of nanny-state dirtbags,

A growing army of private security guards and town hall snoopers with sweeping police-style powers is being quietly established, the Daily Mail can reveal.

Under a Home Office-run scheme, people such as park wardens, dog wardens, car park attendants and shopping centre guards receive the powers if they undergo training, and pay a small fee to their local police force.

Their powers include issuing £60 fines for truancy and dropping litter, and being able to demand a person's name and address on the street.
This is just flat disgusting. "This gives me the power to demand your name and address! Do it or I'll call a policeman!" The only proper response to this in a free society is "Fuck you". But Britain isn't a free society any more. And Obama wants to foist the same kind of garbage on us, him being the nasty little socialist he is.

A Home Office spokesman said: 'The Police Reform Act 2002 requires a chief officer to be satisfied that an applicant is both suitable and has received adequate training to exercise Community Safety Accreditation Scheme powers.'
Oh, well, that makes it all right, then, doesn't it?
In a pigs ass it does.

Gee, a Rhino who serves Obama and wants to use the power of the State

to force you to change your life; talk about a confluence of assholes:
At the National Press Club on Thursday he attempted to respond to George Will’s column and to explain his vision for using the power of government to change people’s transportation behavior and to change the nature of American residential communities.

“We want to really--and notwithstanding the fact that George Will doesn't like this idea--the idea of creating opportunities for people to get out of their cars--and we're working with the secretary of HUD, Shaun Donovan, on opportunities for housing, walking paths, biking paths,” said LaHood. “If somebody wants to ride their bike, if--to work or to the place of employment or to other places--mass transit, light rail--creating opportunities for what we call livable communities.”
'Creating opportunities'; isn't that a nice way to say 'rearranging how you live to force you to travel the way we want'?
The moderator of the press club event asked LaHood: “Some in the highway-supporters motorist groups have been concerned by your livability initiative. Is this an effort to make driving more torturous and to coerce people out of their cars?”

LaHood answered: “It is a way to coerce people out of their cars.
Well, it is nice to have a nanny-state socialist who's at least honest about it. Or maybe he just slipped and let the truth out.
Lahood suggested to the reporters that George Will is the only person opposed to using the government to promote mass transit and bicycling over driving a car.

“And the only person that I've heard of that objects to this is George Will. Check out Newsweek magazine,” said LaHood.
If this idiot thinks Will is the only one who objects to this then he's too stupid to be out in public without a keeper to stop him from running into traffic. And if he thinks Newsweek tells what most people will think about this garbage, then he's either delusional or off his meds.

And, the final bit:
“Some conservative groups are wary of the livable communities program, saying it's an example of government intrusion into people's lives,” said the moderator. “How do you respond?”

“About everything we do around here is government intrusion in people's lives,” said LaHood. “So have at it.”
And there we have it; a flat admission that he and the other jerks in this administration are all about using the power of government to force us to do what they want. It's not like we hadn't figured it out, but it's nice to have it openly confirmed by this Rhino bastard.

Lots of sad clowns among the "We don't want to take your guns

(as long as you're paying attention) boobs, as Sebastian notes.

“People do not want to be on the wrong side of this particular cultural divide,” said Rep. David Price, D-N.C., who supports tougher gun controls. “It’s too bad there’s not a more responsible national organization” to counteract the NRA, he said.

Ouch, that’s gotta hurt. Even I wouldn’t be that harsh. The Brady’s were worthy opponents in their heyday, it’s just that once the grass roots gun owners got pissed off and fired up, they had nothing to counter it.

Rep. Lynn Woolsey of California is another Democrat frustrated by the gun debate. When she asks colleagues why they don’t support tougher restrictions, she said, they reply, “You just don’t get it, Woolsey. You don’t have our districts.”

Now, as someone in comments points out, that "You don't have our districts" comment could be taken one of two ways:
It could mean they understand the people who elected them don't like the idea, or
It could mean they're standard "I want to stay in this office no matter what" politicians who won't vote for gun bans and restrictions unless they think it won't affect their future election chances to do so.
If it's the latter, those Democrats need to be watched closely, and reminded at every opportunity that voting for personal disarmament/restriction laws will get their fat ass thrown out of that office at the first opportunity.


Uncle points to this article on more women buying firearms and taking carry classes, which fits right in with the above: when women realize that a gun can be the best self-defense tool they can have, and they want them, they won't look kindly on politicians who want to take them away.


On a personal note, a while back I mentioned my daughter is going to New Orleans this summer on vacation, causing various people to enter comments along the lines of "You're letting her go THERE?!?" Well, a few days ago at the range I was speaking with one of the staff who used to be with the U.S. Marshall's Service. I mentioned it to her, and she told me the 'suggestions' her group had been given a couple of years back when they had a meeting down there: "Stay on brightly-lit streets, and stay in groups of at least three if possible" among others. And her first question: "Does she have a gun?" When I said yes, gun and a carry permit, she looked relieved. And yes, I did report this to daughter.

Clayton Cramer has two posts I'll point to: first, on the idiotic reaction of a bunch of locals to an armed robber being killed:
About 10 minutes before 6 p.m., Ersland said, two robbers wearing ski masks waited for someone to leave the pharmacy and then grabbed the open door and threw down a board to stop the door from closing.

The robbers went in cursing and yelling, ordering employees to give them money and drugs, Ersland said.

Two women who were working behind the counter ran for a back room where they would be safe, but Ersland said he couldn’t run. Ersland said he’s a veteran with disabilities from wounds he received in Operation Desert Storm, wears a cumbersome back brace and just had his latest back surgery six weeks ago.

"All of a sudden, they started shooting,” he said. "They were attempting to kill me, but they didn’t know I had a gun. They said, ‘You’re gonna die.’ That’s when one of them shot at me, and that’s when he got my hand.”
Ersland managed to shoot one goblin, who expired from wounds received, and ran the other off. Also their driver:
Outside the pharmacy, he said he saw what he thought was a third black male in a car with the engine running and reaching for what appeared to be a shotgun.

"I pulled out my ‘Judge’ and pointed it right between his eyes and he floored it,” Ersland said.
So you've got three people planning an armed robbery for money and drugs, and when people didn't cooperate(i.e., cower and plead) started trying to kill everyone; good guy fights back and wins. So what's the downside?
He also recalls the angry voices of people who gathered outside the pharmacy Tuesday night, shouting that he was a racist who unnecessarily took a life of the Seeworth Academy charter school student, Antwun Parker.

"There were a lot of black people gathered out there yelling and everything at my boss,” Ersland said.
These people are, to put it bluntly, a bunch of fucking idiots, semi-pro race warlord poverty pimps. Never mind the robbery, never mind trying to kill everyone in the store, a nasty white man had the nerve to defend himself and his employees and, because the dirtbags were black, that makes him a 'racist'. I'll bet you that if someone of his staff had been injured or killed and he decided to move the pharmacy, these same bastards would be calling him a racist for moving. Kind of like the idiots after the King riots in LA who burned and looted all the stores, and then whined and bitched because there was no place left to cash their welfare checks.

On the off-chance that one of you morons happens to run across this, I'll spell it out: when you offer violence to someone, they don't really care what color your skin is; they care about protecting themselves and those who depend on them. So screw you, you miserable bigots.


Next, he notes more on the sad clowns in the gun-ban movement:
A majority of Democrats in the House and Senate still typically come down on the side of gun control. But the fact that they have been outmaneuvered by Republicans on gun issues is rooted in the fact that recently swollen Democratic ranks include senators and House members who represent Western states and more rural areas where gun ownership is popular and deemed sacrosanct.

When those Democrats team up with Republicans, they constitute a clear majority in the House and Senate.
Translation: those Democrats ran saying they would, among other things, not strike at the 2nd Amendment, and they know damn well what'll happen if they do. Plus, a lot of those western and rural area Reps and Senators probably do strongly support the 2nd; some probably only got support from the national level Evil Party because they desperately wanted more 'D' labels in Congress, and right now I bet some of the Evil Party bigshots are regretting it.

I'll throw in another thought: a lot of those first-time Reps and Sens are catching hell over the bullcrap Obama & Co. have pushed on the budget, and the tea parties clued them in to just how pissed-off people are; you think they want to piss them off even more just to make Pelosi and Reid and Obama happy?


Ok, there's a third: he notes some information on the sideshow of 'stopping southbound guns at the border:
The findings? Wads of U.S. currency headed for Mexico, wedged into car doors, stuffed under mattresses, taped onto torsos, were sniffed out by dogs, seized by agents and locked away for possible investigations. No guns were found as the reporters watched; they rarely are.

"I do not believe we can even make a dent in [southbound smuggling] because that assumes the cartels are complete idiots, which they're not. Why in the world would they try to smuggle weapons and currency through a checkpoint when there are so many other options?" said Border Patrol Agent T.J. Bonner, president of the agents' union.
Why, indeed.

Also, note this on things seized March 12 to April 30:
• Fifty-one pieces of ammunition, weapons parts and guns, a fraction of the 2,000 weapons the Mexican government estimates are smuggled south every day.
We already know the Mexican government is full of crap. And 'pieces of ammunition, weapons parts', that sounds suspicious as hell. It's been noted that having a fired .22 casing in your vehicle will cause the Mexicans to arrest you; are they counting things like that, or a loose cartridge in this? Wouldn't surprise me. And 'weapons parts', that's an awful wide possible category; that could include a spring someone claims is a recoil or mag spring, for instance. These may be legitimate seizures, but until I know more I'd be very suspicious of wording like this.


Another personal note: for most practice I use handloads, with a mag or so of carry-equivalent ammo each session; keeps costs down and is easier on my hands. For quite a while I was using Hodgedon Clays powder, but I was running into a problem: I'd get some cartridges that had obviously gotten less powder, causing problems. I don't blame the press, it's that powder, I ran into the same thing using my Hornady powder measure and the single-stage press. With the single-stage, as charging preceeded setting a bullet in each case before seating you could hold the loading block up and look at powder levels to see if any looked a touch low, with the Dillon that's not an option. It did give some failure-drill practice when something didn't eject fully, but it was a pain. So I looked in the book and decided to try AA#5; it's a ball powder, which usually meters much more smoothly. About 150 rounds later, problem solved.

I'll note that other powders are as bad or worse than Clays. Unique, the powder I use for the factory-equivalent carry loads, is about as bad. I load those on the single-stage specifically so I can look at the cases and spot any low charges and re-throw them.

I think that about wraps it up for tonight.

Memorial Day

The lady calls her post on this "Don't talk to the furniture",

which pretty much covers this idiocy:
When the landlady of my Toronto apartment building said an outraged neighbour had filed a complaint about me over an apparently inappropriate hallway interaction with his wife, my mind raced through the countless conversations I've had with fellow tenants, none of which seemed a possible source of offence.

It turns out, it wasn't a salacious transaction that had caused the complaint, but rather a neighbourly and -- to me -- entirely forgettable greeting, little more than a brief "good morning" as I passed my neighbours on the way to work.

Still, it was enough of an affront for the man -- once a doctor somewhere in the Middle East, my landlady clarified -- to feel I had broken a cultural taboo. The incident started an awkward feud which has involved warnings not to repeat my indiscretion and one face-to-face shouting match, which included allusions to my impending death.
Oh, GOD! He said GOOD MORNING to the woman! He should die for that! Etc.
His Muslim upbringing has ingrained in him a sense of entitlement to demand I not speak directly to his wife; and my prairie upbringing has ingrained in me a duty to strive for polite cohesion with my neighbours.
'Multiculturialism' my ass; this guy moved to another country and is demanding that everyone conform to what HE wants. Which is, no other term for it, bullshit. And threatening the guy? I'm tempted to say that only happens in places where the moron figures the authorities are so 'PC at any cost' that they'll back him up instead of the one he threatened; in other places, it might happen once. Upon which the one threatened would inform the moron that if he tried something, he'd be leaking air and bodily fluids through numerous mid- to large-caliber punctures. Or if he simply called them, the police would say something like "I don't care what it's like back where you came from, you can't threaten people's lives here for saying 'Good morning' to your wife."

My landlady, who has handled the complaint with tittering trepidation, hasn't helped dispel the friction. She has told me to adhere to the demands because the man "could be dangerous," directing me to literally turn my back to the couple as they pass, never make eye contact and never hold the elevator for them, no matter what.
Which indicates to me that the guy scared hell out of her, possibly threatened her; we'll never know.

This is absolute garbage, and brought on by well-meaning and/or submissive fools who think the way to deal with a threat is to bend over. Which is fine for a servant or a slave, not for one man or woman to another.

Found thanks to Five Feet of Fury

I have no idea who to thank for dinner, (updated)

as I saved the recipe but forgot where it was.

Yesterday, somebody pointed to somebody doing interesting things with meat and tomatoes and such, so I hied myself over there and found a recipe for carne guisada, which I've never had. And it sounded good. So I checked the freezer and found a chunk of rump roast(a little bigger than called for, but what the hell), and picked up some tomatoes- had everything else- and made it today. Which is why I'm stuffed; it was good. And there's leftovers for tomorrow at work, which makes it even better.

I'm not going to post the recipe, as I'm hoping desperately to find the blog again so I can point you there. I will say he used meat cut to bite-size pieces; I think next time I'll make long thin slices and make the gravy thicker, the better to wrap up in the tortilla with a pile of cheese.

Update: it's here, found thanks to James. After the sauce was simmering, I added a can of chopped green chilis and a little of Dad's jalapeno relish, just to tweak the flavor a bit.

It seems Rep. Waxman(Socialist Weenie-CA) is an even bigger

jerk than I thought.

A major critic of the guidance, Rep Henry Waxman (D-Calif), chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, urged the Obama administration “to carefully reexamine” the policy. Waxman accused Bush’s political appointees of giving drug companies “a long-coveted parting gift.”

“Despite revelations that drug companies manipulate medical journal articles to exaggerate the benefits and downplay the risks of their drugs, the guidance gives companies a green light to promote unapproved uses of their products by handing out these journal articles,” he said. “This fun­da­mentally undermines the requirement that companies prove to the FDA that each new use is safe and effective.”

If I may enlighten Mr. Waxman: When the FDA approves a drug they have already determined, within rather narrow though not infallible limits, that the drug is safe and effective; off-label use is an attempt to leverage that approval to treat additional ailments that are currently inadequately treated by approved medications. Waxman seems to operate under a sophisticated moral guidance system: Drug companies bad, FDA good. The pace of innovation in Medicine is already much slower than our technological progress would suggest it should be because of our regulatory environment. If drug companies are going to be required to spend billions to justify off-label uses of their products, even greater stagnation will ensue.

Yes, but it'll be stagnation that Waxman & Co. will be in charge of; and even if it screws things up, they want desperately to be in charge of it(and anything else they can be). And when they screw things up, why, they'll blame the companies(again) and threaten them(again) and deny any culpability in screwing it up.

Kind of like Barney Frank & Co. and the Fannie & Freddie mess.

The Humane Society of the United States:

"Don't you talk about us, unless it's good!"
To back up a bit, for some time now, I have been concerned about the radical animal rights philosophy being mainstreamed by HSUS. (I'm hardly alone.) Among other things, HSUS President Wayne Pacelle has said he wants to stop all hunting, and has spoken in favor of getting rid of all domestic animals:

We have no ethical obligation to preserve the different breeds of livestock produced through selective breeding. ...One generation and out. We have no problems with the extinction of domestic animals. They are creations of human selective breeding...Wayne Pacelle - Former National Director of Fund for Animals.

Under Pacelle, the HSUS hired notorious former Animal Liberation Front activist JP Goodwin, ("arrested and convicted for being the ringleader of a crew that vandalized fur retailers in multiple states during the 1990s") and placed him in a prominent position.

What annoys me the most about the HSUS, though, is not the pronouncements of its president or his hiring practices, but the fact that a lot of people still think the HSUS runs your local humane society, and that money given to them goes directly to animal care. Nothing could be further from the truth. HSUS is a PETA-style lobbying group, except they've got a wonderfully mainstream-sounding name and are therefore largely unburdened by the baggage that PETA's brand name carries.
...

WSB-TV is a local ABC affiliate in Atlanta, and not long after their story on HSUS aired, all hell broke loose. Not only was the story was taken down from YouTube for "copyright" issues, but the written report was pulled from the affiliate's website:

A cone of silence continues to descend over the original WSB-TV story on HSUS fundraising practises that continues to support the rumor of the unleashing of the HSUS legal team on WSB-TV for their researched & fact-supported story.

As I previously mentioned, the original story been removed from the WSB-TV website. When I wrote to WSB-TV that I was saddened to see the story removed from their website, I received the following response. A response that has been sent out to others who wrote in to WSB-TV over their disappointment as seeing the story vanish from view.

"Thank you for writing to Talk2Us. We appreciate hearing that you were engaged by the report about HSUS. We put up and pull down stories as part of our daily editorial process. We are working on an additional story about HSUS. - WSB-TV"

Its an odd response. How often does a network pull a story after less than 24hrs where the viewing is accelerating and the comments are still being logged at a rapid pace. (mostly supporting the article I might add. I have copies of the comments, just in case this is contested) Furthermore, the Youtube copies of the WSB-TV video have all been taken down by WSB-TV request through a copyright claim. Funny thing though, at last my count there were 254 Youtube video links that were WSB-TV video. Yet the video that they have taken down is the one with the HSUS investigation? Considering the current evidence, I fear a much less accurate follow up. I hope to be wrong.

The author's claim about other WSB YouTube video links being untouched is absolutely correct; there are hundreds of WSB videos, and many of them are over a year old. If the issue is "copyright," why is it being enforced selectively, and only with a story considered sensitive by a gigantic lobbying organization?

Take a look at the whole thing; I'd heard some bits & pieces about this organization, but nothing like this; even forcing the Google cache of this stuff to be removed? Damn, they really don't want people to hear anything they don't like, do they?

Rep. Henry Waxman

(Evil Party Enviroweenie Statist), it seems, is rather foggy on the details of the Rape The Economy & Control The PeopleCap & Trade bill he's sponsoring, and doing his best to shove through no matter what anyone thinks.

Don't you just love it that these clowns want to shove this crap down our throats in such a hurry that they can't even bother to read the damn thing themselves? Or even, y'know, know what's in it?