Monthly Archives: August 2006

Terrorist Check-In Policy

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I watched a lengthy segment on the news the other day about the recent liquid explosives issue.  We were told that airline passengers could no longer bring liquids, gels, etc. onto a plane as carry-on luggage, but rather should take such items on as checked-in baggage.  Translation:  Muslim terrorists are now required to load their liquid explosives onto your plane as check-in baggage.  I guess that means they’ll need delayed or remote controlled detonators rather than manually operated ones.  That’ll show ’em.

Effective August 10, 2006, the TSA has advised that travelers are not allowed to transport any liquids, gels, lotions, aerosols or similar items on their person or in their carry-on luggage. This includes items such as beverages, hairspray, toothpaste and shampoo. Customers are advised to transport these items in their checked luggage or discard them before entering the security checkpoints.

Emphasis mine.  Seriously, am I missing something important here or is that insane?  None of the news anchors appeared to think anything was odd about the story.

Getting thrills from strange things

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It may not come as a surprise to many of my readers that I am just a little bit ‘different’ from most other people. Among my probable differences is that I get a thrill from seeing this in my sitemeter:

Domain Name   treas.gov ? (United States Government)
IP Address   199.196.144.# (Executive Office of Asset Forfeiture)
ISP   Executive Office of Asset Forfeiture
Location  
Continent  :  North America
Country  :  United States  (Facts)
State  :  Virginia
City  :  Dulles
Lat/Long  :  39.0853, -77.6452 (Map)
Distance  :  2,036 miles
Language   English (United States)
en-us
Operating System   Microsoft WinXP
Browser   Internet Explorer 6.0
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; FunWebProducts; .NET CLR 1.0.3705; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)
Javascript   version 1.3
Monitor  

Resolution  :  1024 x 768
Color Depth  :  32 bits

Time of Visit   Aug 24 2006 9:53:37 am
Last Page View   Aug 24 2006 9:54:37 am
Visit Length   60 seconds
Page Views   2
Referring URL http://www.google.co…en&lr=&start=10&sa=N
Search Engine google.com
Search Words seattle university blog
Visit Entry Page   http://blog.joehuffm…ttle University.aspx
Visit Exit Page   http://blog.joehuffm…d3-01f14d508357.aspx
Out Click    
Time Zone   UTC-5:00
Visitor’s Time   Aug 24 2006 12:53:37 pm
Visit Number   95,929

The “Executive Office of Asset Forfeiture” with the U.S. Treasury Department. Doesn’t that just warm your heart? It thrills me to be able to point out such an office exists and they are actively out there, hard at work, doing whatever it is they do, looking at my websites (they also visit Boomershoot.org).

I’m not paranoid but if I ever am I’m certain I’ll be able to find plenty of justification.

Bomb scare over penis pump

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They shouldn’t be violating our 4th amendment rights to begin with so this issues should never have come up. But now it has and I have been sort of following this story. I probably wouldn’t have commented on it but then he said:

Amin may not want his mother to know he has a penis pump, but he said he doesn’t consider it an unusual device to own.

“It’s normal,” he said. “Half of America they use it.”

Half of America would mean virtually all males. I don’t think so. My guess it would be in the fraction of one percent range, but then Dr. Joe hasn’t done accurate surveys on that particular topic.

I don’t think he should be prosecuted over this since the public embarrassment would seem to be sufficient punishment. I mean, if you were so embarrassed by it that you didn’t want your mother to know you had it and told security it was a bomb rather than a penis pump can you imagined the discomfort he is experiencing when the entire world can read about it and is making jokes at his expense?

Poor guy. Let that be a lesson to you. If are going to bring sex toys on the plane bring something that won’t be mistaken for a weapon. The only sex toy I take on my airline flights is my spouse which no one has yet considered a weapon (no, I’m not going to go for the joke, my own “homeland security” would come down on me way too hard). But if you don’t have one you might consider an anatomically correct inflatable sheep or something.

My Utopian view of a Federal government

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I sort of hinted at this in my comment in response to Lyle’s comment here but I’ll elaborate a bit now.

One thing I find lacking in our current form of government is a counter balance to creeping government power. In my Utopian vision the only function of the Federal government would be to protect our union of states from foreign threats (purposely left vague to include regulation of immigration and other issues) and to prosecute state government officials who, under the color of law, violated the U.S. and state constitutions. Hence the Feds would not have it in their power to legislate restrictions on, or enhancements for, individual citizens because that would be the sole domain of the states. This would mean, for example, any state/city/local officials that passed and/or tried to enforce laws against firearms would find themselves being prosecuted for violation of the 2nd Amendment. And any effort to fund roads, education, or social welfare would also be categorically out of the scope of Federal jurisdiction.

If you were to squint and hold your head just right you could say that is what our current U.S. constitution says the current state of affairs is (the constitution doesn’t explicitly say they are to police the state/city/local officials). But of course that’s not current reality. We have a long way to go before reaching utopia. I’m pretty sure even the “Skycycle” I mentioned in my comment will be inadequate to make that leap.

This is what happens in places without guns–Case XV

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The police can’t protect you. You are responsible for your own safety. The police are reactive and show up to draw the chalk outline on the sidewalk and make a good faith attempt at finding your killer. It’s too bad Mr. Woodhams and his family had to discover this on their own rather than the entire culture understanding the idiocy of banning the tools of self-defense:

The Metropolitan police have apologised for “any hurt” caused by their failure to prevent the fatal shooting of a 22-year-old father.

Peter Woodhams was shot in Canning Town, east London, on August 21st after confronting a group of youths and died later at Royal London hospital.

It later emerged that the TV engineer had been stabbed in the neck nearby exactly seven months earlier, but no-one was ever charged.

The victim’s fiancee claims that police did not launch a thorough enough inquiry in January and Commander Rod Jarman admitted that an internal police investigation was needed.

“We will robustly deal with any failings in our investigation of the previous incident and make sure that those matters are dealt with,” he said.

“I would also like to make my apologies for any hurt that that investigation may have caused the family.”

Questioning diversity

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In England there appears to be some thought given to the concept that all cultures are not just as valid:

Ms Kelly acknowledged that suspicions between communities were being fuelled by the events of 9/11 and its aftermath, as well as the recent arrests in Britain over an alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airliners.

“For some communities in particular, we need to acknowledge that life in Britain has started to feel markedly different since the attacks on 9/11 in New York and on 7/7 in London – even more so since the events of two weeks ago,” she said.

But in an interview on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme earlier, she ruled out changing British foreign policy in response to the strong disapproval voiced by some sections of the community. “I certainly don’t accept that it is the root cause of extremism, which I think is based on twisted ideology.”

Ms Kelly questioned whether exaggerated respect for multiculturalism in Britain had driven communities apart, an issue already addressed by Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality.

“We have moved from a period of uniform consensus on the value of multiculturalism, to one where we can encourage that debate by questioning whether it is encouraging separateness,” she said.

This is just a baby step but it is a step in the right direction. Ultimately they must realized that we must Destroy Their Culture.

Quote of the day–Jeff Cooper

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Way back when I was a student at Command and Staff School, the class was treated to an all day session by a group of white-coated biology professors who told us all about the limitations and capabilities of “biological warfare.” This session was very secret – evidently to the point where no one learned anything from it.

The professors in this case informed us that if biological weapons were to be used, no existing affliction would be involved – not anthrax or bubonic plague or typhus or anything else that anyone had seen before. The agent used would be a synthetic disease created in a laboratory and given a code name, such as “Q27.” All members of the attacking population could be immunized against it, but the defenders would have no way of combating it since they would not know what it was.

The professors further pointed out that the symptoms of the disease could be manufactured to order and need not be permanently serious. The affliction would have to last only long enough to allow ground victory by the attacking force. These professors pointed out to the class how humane that was. Well, maybe, but anybody who chooses to use anthrax as a weapon does not understand biological warfare.

Jeff Cooper
From Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries
Vol. 6, No. 3
March 1998
[Considering that Cooper is in his 80’s and hence this class must have been at least 50 years ago the current state of the art might be “very interesting”.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Jackie Mason

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My position is that anybody who’s in favor gun control is a fucking moron.

Jackie Mason
From Penn and Teller: Bullshit! Gun Control
See also Wikipedia.
[Actually, I can think of three other options. The gun control advocate could also be one or more of the following: 1) Ignorant, 2) Evil, 3) Insane. If you are a gun control advocate and are unsure as to your classification let me know and I’ll help you figure it out.–Joe]

Computer/email access

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My main computer just died. It won’t even get to POST. I’m virtually certain no data has been lost but I haven’t really verifed that yet.

The biggest issue is that my email access will be significantly impaired until I get it repaired (it may still be under warranty). Email sent to me after about 21:30 Pacific Daylight Time is in limbo for now as well. Resend if you sent me something that needs to be addressed soon.

Update: It is still under warranty and although I have to take it back to Moscow, Idaho (300 miles from where I am now) it might be ready when I return.

Quote of the day–Greg Hamilton

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They want to return the world to a pre-age-of-reason/age-of-enlightenment world. That is where the split took place that put the muslim world as second rate to ours. They believe that their world, following the will of God, must be able to express that as also being the best world in all aspects. If not they must in the eyes of God being doing something wrong. Since they cannot compete with us in this world, they must destroy it to return it to a state when they were the best (their enlightnment during our dark ages).

Greg Hamilton
August 8, 2006 6:58 PM
From the email list: insightstraining @ yahoogroups.com

Dark matter comes out of the closet

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I had long misunderstood. I had only causally paid attention but I thought dark matter was just ordinary matter that was in too low of energy state to emit light or other radiation. Wrong. And now they have actually proved it’s existence. What really got my attention was this:

The two galaxy clusters passed through each other at an incredible speed of 16 million kilometers per hour. As they did, the bulk of the luminous matter in the two clusters, which is in the form of hot gases, bumped into each other and slowed down. But the dark matter sailed ahead because it does not interact with normal matter the same way.

…

Sean Carroll is a cosmologist at the University of Chicago who was not involved in the observations. He says particle physics laboratories around the world are trying to capture dark matter in an effort to determine its properties.

“So there absolutely is a new particle that physicists get to go out there and find,” he said. “That’s great news because it tells theorists what to think about – to think about models for dark matter – and experimentalists what to do to go out there and look for that particle.”

A completely new type of matter which composes the majority of the mass in the universe. Wow! There has got to be some science fiction stories enabled by this. Parallel universes come to mind…

This is like going through life thinking people like you were the norm and then one day having the majority of the population “coming out of the closet” and finding you actually were a very small minority.

I wonder what this means

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You remember Jenny Price from the other day, right? I was just looking at who has been visiting me and saw this:

Domain Name   usdoj.gov ? (United States Government)
IP Address   149.101.1.# (US Dept of Justice)
ISP   US Dept of Justice
Location  
Continent  :  North America
Country  :  United States  (Facts)
State  :  Maryland
City  :  Potomac
Lat/Long  :  39.023, -77.1993 (Map)
Distance  :  2,059 miles
Language   English (United States)
en-us
Operating System   Microsoft WinXP
Browser   Internet Explorer 6.0
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; DOJ3jx7bf; SV1; DI60SP1001; .NET CLR 2.0.50727)
Javascript   version 1.3
Monitor  

Resolution  :  1280 x 1024
Color Depth  :  16 bits

Time of Visit   Aug 21 2006 7:30:47 am
Last Page View   Aug 21 2006 7:31:54 am
Visit Length   1 minute 7 seconds
Page Views   2
Referring URL http://blogsearch.go…22&btnG=Search Blogs
Search Engine blogsearch.google.com
Search Words guns & “jenny price”
Visit Entry Page   http://blog.joehuffm…55-698f2960fb51.aspx
Visit Exit Page   http://blog.joehuffm…/Thinking Small.aspx
Out Click    
Time Zone   UTC-5:00
Visitor’s Time   Aug 21 2006 10:30:47 am
Visit Number   95,122

I wonder why the DOJ is interested in what bloggers are saying about Jenny Price. Did she get a credible death threat or something?

Very interesting…

Quote of the day–Henry David Thoreau

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I quietly declare war with the State, after my fashion, though I will still make use and get advantage of her as I can, as is usual in such cases.

Henry David Thoreau
(1817-62), U.S. philosopher, author, naturalist.
On the Duty of Civil Disobedience (1849).
[I hope to expand on this theme in a blog post soon.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Michael Moriarty

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Islam, in and of itself, however, is an Allah-worshipping, Kamikaze Nation, exactly like pre-World War II Imperial Japan. It’s Bible, the Koran, can be read like Hitler’s Mein Kampf. It demands to rule the entire human race. Islam’s only idea of freedom of religion is the freedom of Islam to rule everything. Islamic Political Parties should be no more trusted than neo-Nazi, White Supremacists and David Duke of the Ku Klux Klan have been trusted. Tragically, the only language Islam, like Hirohito’s Japan, understands is violence. The measures Harry Truman took to end the war with Japan may prove tragically necessary with Islam.

Michael Moriarty
August 16, 2006
An Interview with Emmy-Winning Actor Michael Moriarty, Presidential Candidate

Missouri must be a “red” state

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The other night at the Jim Stafford show Stafford asked how many people had ever been called various names. One of those names was “Democrat”. A few people, perhaps ten, indicated they had been. Stafford commented sadly, “You find them everywhere.” He then asked how many had ever been called Republican. Most of the probably 150 people in the crowd indicated they had.

Another hint of the political leanings of the area comes from reading some of the local history:

Thus the stage was set for a conflict between the settlers, mostly Republican and law-abidders, and the natives, mostly Democrats who liked the status quo.

The status quo was:

… government for the most part had ceased to exist with anarchy reigning over the county.

Some things never change I guess (I’m thinking of the cities of New Orleans and Washington D.C.).